I recently read Chapter 8 “Final Thoughts: ‘My Grandchildren’s Time Zone’” from Dr. William Kist’s book New Literacies in Action. I found it interesting to read the different examples of high school teachers that have been using these new literacies in their classrooms. From the reading, it is easy to see that many teachers have been using these new literacies in various ways with different results.
One part of the chapter that I found interesting was that students often thought the new literacies projects were “an easy A” (Kist 135). In fact, many of the students did not know whether the class was “easy” or “hard” because they had never been exposed to a multimedia class and had no previous standard. I think the student statements help prove that modern classrooms are too homogenous and do not provide students with stimulating alternatives to the commonplace lecture. By giving students different ways to express themselves, besides written assessments, teachers may be able to engage them in content material.
The thing that made me question new literacies was when Dr. Kist talked about how much time students spent on their projects. While it’s great that students are engaged in and spend their time on a project or assignment, I wonder how much of that time is spent on figuring a piece of technology out? I think a student’s time is best spent interacting with the content material, not learning the nit-picky stuff that goes with a piece of technology. In the chapter, it sounded as if students spent more time figuring out how a piece of technology worked than thinking about the ideas they have to express through that technology.
Another part of the chapter that I enjoyed was the idea that new literacies did not have to deal with technology. Dr. Kist has been stressing this idea in class, but I did not realize that students working together and communicating count as a new literacy. When I think of myself as a learner, I find that I enjoy working by myself. But, I learn material better if I can bounce my ideas off of other people. So, apart from working in groups, I could have my students discuss material and course content in conversation pairs or groups, so they can talk through their ideas instead having them figure it out on their own.
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I read this chapter as well, and I also found it interesting. I agree with you when you say you prefer to work individually, but my reasoning for that, at least for me, is because of scheduling conflicts and trying to do time management. Other than that, I feel that I learn better in groups. I am someone that loves to listen to people's opinions, compare them to my own, and then perhaps re-evaluate my thinking. I feel that I learn so much more when I can just have a conversation with someone. At least that is how it works for me.
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