New Media & New Literacies

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)!