New Media & New Literacies

ParentSquare is a communication tool that my district uses to increase and improve engagement within my district. On this platform, the district can communicate with family members, and teachers can communicate with parents. Teachers can post general messages to the parents of each class they teach, or private message parents directly. There are various modes in which participants can receive messages, including email, text, or just through the app itself.  Through analyzing the data provided by ParentSquare, my district can review how many families are being reached through the platform. If many families are not signed up, guidance can reach out to encourage families to join the app. This way, there are more lines of communication between parents, teachers, and districts. While phone calls are helpful, ParentSquare helps to eliminate the “phone tag” that sometimes occurs between parents and teachers. I usually look to reach out to families on ParentSquare first prior to calling ...

  For this project, I’m interested in examining digital tools and how they can be used to assist and improve student learning within the science classroom. There are various digital resources that can be used to enhance student learning. In the realm of Earth Science, my students often use their Chromebooks in the classroom when looking at simulations, websites, or for collecting information. However, there are far more ways digital tools can be implemented to incorporate digital literacy while also enhancing learning. While some tools may work for some students, they may not work for others. This is why it is important to keep in mind the “partialness of the perspectives” when considering incorporating various resources within the classroom (Gitomer & Crouse, 2017) References: Gitomer, D., & Crouse, K. (2017, November 9). Studying the use of research evidence: Methods and measures in a complex field. William T. Grant Foundation. https://wtgrantfoundation.org/studying-use-...

As educators, it is important that we implement digital literacy within our classrooms. In a time where we are all surrounded by various modes of digital resources and media, our students need exposure as well to prepare them with skills required to critically think and analyze the world around them. Students must "be able to consider how technologies behind the screen shape how we experience the digital world." (Aguilera, 2017). By implementing various forms of digital literacy within the classroom, students are building skills that they will carry with them far beyond the classroom.  Within my classroom, I try to balance the use of technology and traditional pen and paper. We must remember that technology should be used within the classroom as an additional tool, rather than a "quick fix to educational issues" (Philip & Garcia, 2013). Within the science realm, there are many topics that are challenging to bring into the classroom due to their scale. This is wh...

While we live in a digital world, our classrooms should maintain a balance of digital and nondigital approaches. It's super convenient to post assignments online rather than give out paper, especially since most students have one-to-one devices (that is- if they have a charger or remembered to bring their device to school). However, many students that I've asked said they prefer assignments on paper. Furthermore, many students have told me their other classes almost exclusively complete assignments online. The International Literacy Association touched upon the idea that our lives still have digital and nondigital aspects, so it is important that our classrooms mirror that. We must incorporate both, as “digital and nondigital contexts for learning are not discrete, and modern offices are still peppered with print-based texts. So, too, our classrooms must move fluidly between the digital and analog worlds that we simultaneously inhabit." (2018). Having students complete eve...

I can recall the first literacy class I took during my undergraduate career. Going into it, I only knew literacy as the ability to read and write. This understanding of literacy as exclusively being reading and writing primarily in English can be extremely limiting to the success of our students both inside and outside of the classroom. Preparing students to only be literate in the form of reading and writing hinders their ability to learn and grow. I have many students that are either learning English or speak another language. The traditional definition of literacy “is restricted to paper-based, formalized, and standardized forms of language that only reflects the dominant language and culture.” (Sang, 2017, p.1). The definition of literacy being centered around just the English language limits all of our students, and limits our ability to properly assess their prior knowledge and skills.  Now, recently, the term new literacies and multiliteracies is often used to describe a “mu...

  Hi everyone! My name is Carolyn Formichelli and I am a high school Earth and Space Science teacher in Suffolk County, New York. I graduated from SUNY Oneonta in May of 2022. I am currently in my third year of teaching. During my first year of teaching, I taught 8th grade science, though I much prefer the high school level. I chose this program because I felt it would provide me with insight and skills that are beneficial to this profession. Outside of my job, I enjoy traveling, hiking, and reading! With the accessibility of technology, I would like to learn new skills that will translate into the classroom. Having more media skills would greatly benefit my students. I am hoping to gain new knowledge and media skills that will elevate my teaching to further assist my students.  Attached is a geology meme that includes my students favorite rock (and it's not gneiss)!