Reading Responses

Leu 1

This chapter explores the need for teaching new literacies via the Internet across all content areas in the curriculum. The students learn how to identify key questions, navigate through
a variety of networks to find relevant information, evaluate information sources, synthesize the information they find to answer their questions, and how to communicate their findings to others.
When students are able to use the Internet they are more excited about learning which usually leads to more learning. They are able to engage in more collaborative learning with people from around the world.
The new literacies are the wave of the future and students need to know how to use them for their continuted success at home, at school, and in the workplace.
The theoretical principles of the new literacies are new forms of strategic knowledge, socially constructed knowledge, critical literacies, changing new literacies, and teachers becoming more important although their roles change in the new literacy classroom.
Life long learning may be more important than learning specific new literacies now.
I really liked this chapter. The new literacies are here to stay and we need to teach our students how to use them effectively so they can function in the information age we are in now. It was nice to see a primary grade teacher's use of the Internet with her young students. I don't use the Internet with my Kindergartners so this chapter gave me some ideas I can use with my class. I would like to try a website for parents to go to for information on our class. Usually I send home a weekly newsletter to parents for class information. Sometimes the notes don't make it home. The website would be a very effective way to get around this communication barrier.
It would be exciting for my students to see their work online. How would you get around the confidentiality issue of student work?
I perused the smartfall web site and I am excited to try it with my Kindergarten students since our school doesn't have any money for an educational software program for the primary grades.

Xu Intro

Xu defines three definitions of popular culture. The first one is mass culture. It is culture that is produced for the general public by producers of popular culture. The meanings are the ones that are intended by the producer. The second one is folk culture. It celebrates popular culture for the general public, and believes that people interpret popular culture, not the producers. The third type is everyday culture. It believes that producers have the power to relay meanings, but the consumer have the power to analyze those messages.
Popular culture text contains print and nonprint text. It can be TV, DVDs, films, videos, hypermedia texts, musical CDs, comic books, trading cards, game texts, and zine texts (magazines). The authors want us to use popular culture texts in our literacy learning in school. They argue that students have a wealth of knowledge about popular culture texts and this literacy knowledge may not be evident to teachers if popular texts are not used.
Students will learn more if they are able to pick out the popular texts that interest them.
The book shows research based practices for using popular culture texts with students from diverse backgrounds. Part 1 of the text discusses research and teachers' lessons for using popular culture texts in conjunction with literacy. Part 2 gives specific instructions for using popular culture texts with literacy lessons.
I think that the arguments in the introduction of this book are valid. Students are immersed in popular culture. If we use their interests to educate them they are more engaged and learn more. I'm excited to learn more about this topic.

Moll

This article was about a research study that was done with working class Mexicans in Tucson, Arizona. The researchers analyzed household cultural dynamics, studied classroom practices, and developed after-school study groups with teachers so they could use the information they learned in the student's home to make use of each students' fund of knowledge. The teacher and anthropologist interviewed each family and came away with a more in depth understanding of the student in the home and this knowledge was very helpful for guiding instruction for this child.
I have tried to do at home interviews with each Kindergarten student before they start the school year with no success. My principal said it was a safety issue and I could not go into the home of each child by myself. The other concern was that we are a school of choice. The principal didn't want the parents to know who their child had for Kindergarten before the lists were posted on the door a few days before school opens.
It makes sense to me to interview parents and meet children so you are looking at the whole child in his environment. This would give you more information to plan appropriate instructional activities for each child.