New Literacies Project Reflection & Lesson

1.     YOUR CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING

My conceptual understanding of literacy has changed a great deal since the start of the semester.  At the beginning, I believed that literacy only consisted of the basic aspects we learn in school.  Writing and reading were the only parts of literacy that I even thought about regarding language arts instruction and was more than surprised when these new ideas were introduced to us.  Creating and viewing these research projects has really helped me to expand my working knowledge of literacies.  Seeing the cultural, social, visual, and emotional aspects of literacy has shown the diverse nature of language arts.  I now understand that in order to get a full education, these literacies need to be involved.  Having the general knowledge for each of these categories will help all students learn effectively because they will know how to show correct expressions, understand the people they are in school with and show how they have learned visually.           

2.     EFFECTIVE LITERACY INSTRUCTION

In order for literacy instruction to be effective, an instructor needs to understand their students and how they learn.  In the second grade class that I do my fieldwork in, the incorporation of emotional literacy has already been incorporated.  Therefore, introducing new technologies would be the challenge for this class.  I believe that there are a few things that are needed in order to successfully teach emotional literacy in the second grade.  Students, especially those at a younger grade level, become distracted extremely easily in the classroom.  Therefore the inclusion of hands-on activities makes it more bearable for the students to sit and pay close attention to the lesson.  Second graders, at least in my experience, are also very fascinated with the technology displayed in their classroom.  Using these technologies, and better yet allowing the students to use them, will dramatically increase their comprehension and retaining of the given information.              

3.     LESSON PLAN

Lesson Topic/Title:  Emotional Literacy using Weebly

Target Area & Rationale:  Learning about emotional literacy through the creation of a Weebly website.  Students will benefit from this lesson by gaining insight on the emotions that surround them everyday in an interesting and interactive manner.  Students will also gain experience with a new technology, which will increase their learning capabilities in diverse ways.    

List of Objectives:

·      Students will learn different emotions and be able to distinguish between them

·      Students will know how to effectively express emotions in correct and appropriate manners

List of Materials & Supplies Needed:

·      Computers

·      Smart Board

·      Internet

·      Weebly

·      List of emotions/feelings

Outline of Key Events: 

·      Read a feelings book

·      Discuss what feelings are and the different ones we have

·      Ask students to share feelings they have experienced that day or the previous day and how they know they were experiencing that emotion

·      Have each student choose an emotion

·      Create a general website for the feelings of your classroom

·      Tell students that they will be creating the pages on the website with information about their feeling

·      Explain to students that they will be creating drafts on paper before actually creating their webpage

·      Explain to students that they must include a short definition of their assigned emotion, a picture of themselves expressing their emotion, and a story or poem that expresses their emotion

·      Students will use class time to use computers to add their specific webpage to the class website

Closing Summary:

Once all students have completed the assignment, the teacher will set aside class time for presentation of the class website.  Each individual student will present their webpage briefly, including reading their written piece. 

Ongoing Assessment:

Students will add to their webpage throughout the year.  Each time a new way to show or express their particular emotion is learned, the students will incorporate them onto their webpage.  Example:  visual art.