This week first reading is Traveling, textual authority and transformation—An introduction to critical digital literacies. As we all know that technology and digital literacies have made it possible to travel farther and faster than ever before, and we can communicate virtually with fellow travelers in real time, the human soul is now transported in virtual non-linear worlds.Additionally, digital literacies have changed who is consider literate and what counts as text.
In our daily life it is very common to see that the digital literacies are around our study and life all the time. Think it is really convenient than traditional literacies. Traditional literacies are very limited and have less to read. What people see are out of date. However, with digital literacies came out, people can see the current literacies as soon as possible. Critical digital literacies should appeal to a variety of educators, they offer alternative methods of teaching, learning, production, and assessment that have the ability to disrupt traditional banking systems of education. Moreover, critical digital literacies offer chances for students and teachers to become designers, instead of only customers , of powerful texts. However, there will be some problems when students reading digital literacies, how we deal with that? Do you have the purpose of literacy? How we educators do to help students build up a sense of purpose of literacy? 
The second reading is Developing Socially Just Subject-Matter Instruction: A Review of the Literature on Disciplinary Literacy Teaching. In this paper the author talks about conflicts between the intellectual work of teaching content concepts and the moral work of teaching those content concepts to human beings, that is, to people with varying perspectives on the value of the content, varying skill sets and ways of knowing that they brought to their learning, and rich and full lives that might or might not intersect with the content under study.
The concept of socially just pedagogy covers a vast territory to which the author does not able to do justice in this review. Teaching in socially just ways and in ways that produce social justice requires the recognition that learners need access to the knowledge deemed valuable by the content domains, even as the knowledge they bring to their learning must not only be recognized but valued.From a social justice perspective, opportunities to learn must not only provide access to mainstream knowledge and practices but also provide opportunities to question, challenge, and reconstruct knowledge (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995).Social justice pedagogy should, in other words, offer possibilities for transformation, not only of the learner but also of the social and political contexts in which learning and other social action take place (Saunders, 2006). Both socially just and social justice pedagogies require that teachers provide all students with equitable opportunities to engage currently valued forms of disciplinary knowledge (Moses & Cobb, 2001).
Here is a video about social justice pedagogies in literature classrooms. What's your opinion upon the socially just and social justice pedagogies? https://youtu.be/vnPSxnSjveI
Besides, in the part culturally responsive pedagogy, I agree that teaching also recognizes that needs and interests are always mediated by memberships in many different groups of people and by activities engaged in many different times, spaces, and relationships. However, the cultural knowledge and practices of some students—most often, students of color, English language learners and recent arrivals to the United States, or students from low-income homes and communities— are often unrecognized or dismissed in teaching practice, especially at the secondary level (Gonzalez, Moll, & Amanti, 2005; Heath, 1983; Ladson-Billings, 1994; C. D. Lee & Majors, 2003; Moll & Gonzalez, 1994; Nieto, 1994; Valdes, 1998; Valenzuela, 1999). As a member of English language learner and a teacher to English language learners in the future, I think it is important for both educators and students to play a role of language, cognition, and culture in disciplinary literacy pedagogy no matter what kind of color or relation they are.However, there are still many problems in this progress. What's your opinion about this?
Here is a video about social justice pedagogies in literature classrooms. What's your opinion upon the socially just and social justice pedagogies? https://youtu.be/vnPSxnSjveI
Besides, in the part culturally responsive pedagogy, I agree that teaching also recognizes that needs and interests are always mediated by memberships in many different groups of people and by activities engaged in many different times, spaces, and relationships. However, the cultural knowledge and practices of some students—most often, students of color, English language learners and recent arrivals to the United States, or students from low-income homes and communities— are often unrecognized or dismissed in teaching practice, especially at the secondary level (Gonzalez, Moll, & Amanti, 2005; Heath, 1983; Ladson-Billings, 1994; C. D. Lee & Majors, 2003; Moll & Gonzalez, 1994; Nieto, 1994; Valdes, 1998; Valenzuela, 1999). As a member of English language learner and a teacher to English language learners in the future, I think it is important for both educators and students to play a role of language, cognition, and culture in disciplinary literacy pedagogy no matter what kind of color or relation they are.However, there are still many problems in this progress. What's your opinion about this?
"Traditional literacies are very limited and have less to read". This reminds me of "Ray Bradbury’s seminal novel, “Fahrenheit 451,” which is dystopian novel about an America where books will be burnt. This novel was written during (I believe McCarthy's time when political repression was gaining unprecedented heights). When Bradbury was later interviewed about the relevance of his novel, he referred to the pervasive influence of mass media and how it had overtaken people's desire to read. He seems incredibly prescient in the light of your comment. Bahrani in a New York Times article (May 10th 2018) writes "Bradbury was warning us about the threat of mass media to reading, about the bombardment of digital sensations that could substitute for critical thinking."
ReplyDeleteHave we arrived at this point when we see no relevance to reading?
Can we engage in critical literacy practices primarily centered on digital media and visual texts without having access to the theoretical frameworks and funds of knowledge that allow us to engage in those literacies? Has reading become obsolete? Have the pre-dominant discourses of power become so entrenched that we see no value in engaging in practices that might enable us to understand them?
Has reading become obsolete?
DeleteI think that reading has taking on a new format through establishment technology, online communities, and texting. Students are constantly reading, but not in an academic sense. I believe that teachers need to be better prepared and change their instructional strategies to meet the new ways of literacy in the 21st century.
Well yes, teachers should always meet the students where they are but then if we leave them there then what purpose did we serve? Do you think there is no value in re-engaging students in reading in the 'academic sense'?
DeleteTime changed, media of reading changed, but the significance of reading has not changed. Reading is very important even in the future. Educators can use the update digital media but the meaning of teaching is still there. Knowledge is still there even though the media of teaching had changed.
DeleteHi Xuezhi！
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing！With the advent of the digital age, our printed books are gradually replaced by digital literature. While digitization leads to teenagers' problems to some extent, its immediacy also makes the learning process more convenient and broadens eyesight of the students. When it comes to social justice, I totally agree with your words that social justice pedagogy should provide possibilities for transformation. As educators, we should not only focus on the learner but also should focus on the different social and political contexts in which learning and other social action take place. Thus, I personally believe that digital literacies are a great tool to help students question social justice issues that pertain to them. In turn, they build knowledge on those issues and learn to defend their rights and dignity, and eventually contribute to the development of a better society.
Hey, Wangeng. Thank you for your feedback. I do agree that as educators, we should not only focus on the learner but also should focus on the different social and political contexts in which learning and other social action take place. Students are different, it is very important to help them and take care of them not only their study but also their life.
DeleteHi thank you for writing this week. Technology is becoming an important part of our lives and the use of it in the classroom is important in order to address real world problems students might face. For the comment that says reading is obsolete, no it is not. Reading will forever be important and critical in our lives and understanding of the world. The mediums through which we read can drastically shift, especially in the lens of the technological world, but reading is still important nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteYeah, reading is very important not only in the past, now, but also significance in the future. The media of reading may be change but the significance of reading will not change.
DeleteThis was an interesting post to read. I think we can all agree that some forms of literacy are valued over others in the classroom, particularly those of the white middle-to-upper class. However, for teachers attempting to combat that fact, I think that grading can be challenging. As a future history teacher, I know that I will encounter many different styles and forms of writing from students. In order to be as fair as possible, I plan to focus on the content of the class and have very specific criteria that I am grading on so as to mediate against the biases that I have regarding which style of writing that I prefer.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your feedback.I agree with you that there be many challenges, many different styles and forms of writing from students. I think your method is pretty well. And I believe you will be a good history teacher in the future.
DeleteThank you for sharing, Xuezhi. In my opinion, we should not only focus on textbook but also should know how to use social media. As you said , digital literacies are literally changing our life right now. As teacher in the future, we can learn how to make social media, technology and digital literacies more useful in our class. And we should combine traditional text and modern context to make our class more active.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it is important for educators use different kinds of media to teaching, and let students accept as much knowledge as they can.
DeleteThanks for sharing your thoughts about digital literacy. I think a lot of us grew up in an interesting time where we were not raised with a lot of technology, but the older we got the more technology we exposed to, so we are still technologically literate. Technological literacy is a super important part of life today, and even though we may not have gotten a lot of that in school, its something we need to incorporate into our classrooms.
ReplyDeleteYeah, you are right. The era we lived is very interesting. When we were very young there were not much digital literacy as today, many of us read textbooks and listen to people around us said. Now, we can found information by ourselves. I think it is more convenient than before.
DeleteThank you for sharing! Digital literacy is very important. Technology is everywhere and because of this it definitely should be incorporated in classrooms more. Digital literacy can be a great way for students to utilize what they practice almost everyday, in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it is convenient and helpful for educators to use digital literacy in the classroom.And with the digital literacy, students can accept more information than we were young.
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