SED 445_Fall2017

***As I'm in the midst of doing laundry far from Wi-Fi, I'm attempting to write this blog post via my smartphone, so bare with me if the looks of this post comes out funny. Anyways, I'm feel like both the Hicks' reading and the podcast were perfectly timed with how must I've been struggling to grasp digital literacy. It's certainly felt like the "talk" of this semester, but any time I've had field placement teachers ask me what digital literacy is, I haven't felt like I've been able to provide an adequate answer. Now, however, I feel like I'm starting to get the jist. The way I understand digital lit. is by asking myself one question: Does the use of said digital resource impact the quality of a lesson on the bases of students practicing and/or attaining deeper levels of understand? Even that question sounds a little wordy to me too, but what im 100% sure I do understand is that digital literacy goes far beyond just using technology....

This statement by Allan Johnson is one that really resonated with me this week, and it is something that I plan to take with me and share with my future students. No matter what backgrounds and lives my students come from, Johnson recognizes the multitude of difficulties that come with taking about privilege, power, and difference. Regardless, this is a conversation that educators need to continually have with students in order be active participants in shaping the world into a better place. What I plan to reflect on here are more questions that I have for Johnson about this piece, and what all of this means for me as an up-and-coming educator. First off, it seems like forever ago that I've seen that Diversity Wheel, so I'm glad that I can now point my brain to the author who is responsible. Anyways, a lot of my questions revolve around receiving resistance from students (and parents even) while trying to facilitate conversations about power, privilege, and difference. I appr...

At first glance, the readings for this week provided by the NCTE, Thomas, and Cadeiro-Kaplan all focus on varying topics. From teaching writing today, to pedagogy mindsets, to literacy ideologies, these pieces appear important but far removed. However, as I begin to hash out my thoughts through word, I'm starting to think that all of these "baby golden nuggets" interweave. Bare with me during this extended exploration, but I think  I'm putting together what could possibly be a "giant nugget" for the week. In Cadeiro-Kaplan's piece, she focuses on the four common ideologies of literacy. But as readers make there way through descriptions of each, it is clear that "critical literacy" is what teachers should be focusing on implementing in classrooms because it would give students the ability (and skills) to participate in the societal conversation regarding social change (13). However, because schools aren't quite putting this ideology into...

I must say, for a first reading to start off a course, I am beyond inspired by the wordy wisdom of P.L. Thomas' in the article, "To High School English Teachers (And All Teachers) and Kelly Gallagher's opening chapter of,  Teaching Adolescent Writers (shout out to Dr. J!). Not only did I find Gallagher's textbook surprisingly (but not too surprisingly) easy to read because of a powerful voice presence, but I also felt comforted by Thomas' advice as if the piece was like something coming from a  "pedagogy Yoda" for lack of a better term. Anyways, I'm going to pretend like I have the fortunate opportunity to have dinner with these two educational scholars, and lay out the #1 thing I would want to discuss with each of them. I'll start with E.L. Thomas first because that article just so happened to be the first I read. Similarly from this article, the subject of professionalism with teachers has been a hot topic for practicum. On the surface, I de...