New Literacy Project Reflection

1) YOUR CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:

My conceptual understanding of literacy in the beginning of the class was limited to the idea that it was one’s ability to read, write, and speak. I associated one’s who were literate as being able to read and comprehend what they were reading, write effectively and get their message across effectively through speech, and most commonly associated with Language Arts. This is not to say that literacy is not all of these things but I have learned that it is much more. I have learned that literacy is not only Language Arts but it is Math, Science, and Social Studies and that we can teach literacy in all of these subjects not just solely Language Arts. Before doing this project I really had no idea that there were many different forms of literacy and the area of Emotional Literacy really interested me. I wanted to find out more about Emotional Literacy because being in touch with ones feelings and understanding others can strengthen your learning across the board. Exploring this area of literacy has really informed my thinking that literacy is all around us and can be integrated into every subject in many ways. Also my development of digital literacy has grown throughout this project and I have found effective ways to integrate digital literacy into the classroom while simultaneously teaching another type of literacy. Throughout this project I have found the importance of Emotional Literacy and the foundation it sets for students to better their learning and awareness of themselves and others. It is so important that students learn this type of literacy at a young age so they can appropriately manage their emotions and deal with others emotions as well. I have found that if you implement Emotional Literacy early on students can then get down to the academic aspects of literacies without having to deal with the emotional hardships one might encounter because they would know how to effectively cope with them. This new literacy is very different from traditional literacies because it really focuses on the student and their emotions rather than the academic aspects of literacy. If a student cannot effectively deal with their emotions then they might not be able to effectively learn and comprehend the academic aspects of literacy.

2) EFFECTIVE LITERACY INSTRUCTION:

To provide effective literacy instruction to diverse learners means one uses different strategies and resources to help implement the goal and to cater to everyone’s needs and as well as strengths. Everyone learns in different ways and at different speeds and needs different instruction to learn the information provided and it is the teachers’ obligation to provide students with these opportunities so they can effectively learn literacy. Using visual aids, hands-on activities or different methods can help effectively teach literacy and provide for stronger learning among all individuals. My research on my new literacy has informed me how important it is for students to be in touch with their emotions and effectively deal with them and has shown me that everyone deals with their emotions in different ways. My development of my digital literacy, a Weebly website has also taught me that students can learn on many different mediums to provide effectively literacy instruction. As teachers in the 21^st century it is important that we provide students with the opportunity to explore digital literacies and learn through new mediums of technology.

The implications for me, as a future teacher in doing a similar project with my Kindergarteners would be to evaluate my students on their knowledge of Emotional Literacy and also figure out how to effectively integrate a website or some sort of technology into the project. To teach Emotional Literacy and the use of digital literacies, my students would need to be able to first and foremost understand what an emotion is. My students would need to understand that emotions are feelings we have and they change daily depending on certain situations and we can handle our emotions in different ways. For the use of digital literacies I would could use a Weebly like in my project and present my students with different types of emotions and have them figure out what emotion is it and also possibly use the digital literacy of a video, like on youtube, about emotions or a story about emotions. My students are already very in touch with their emotions but often times have trouble expressing them in appropriate ways and I could help them find better coping mechanisms and use skits or situations to help them show how one would handle certain situations and emotions. My students could also use the digital literacy of video making and make a video expressing different emotion which would be a fun acitivty for students, especially at this young age. Teaching my students about Emotional Literacy would be perfect to start in Kindergarten or even earlier because the earlier it is taught the better and it would be easy to integrate a digital literacy like I had mentioned before.

3) LESSON PLAN:

Lesson Topic/Title: Emotional Literacy using Weebly

Target area and rationale: Learning about Emotional Literacy while making a website like Weebly is beneficial to students because they will gain insight on how to appropriately handle their emotions as well as deal with others emotions and learn about emotions while making a Weebly. Emotional Literacy is very important to begin at a young age so students can continue to build on their skills of handling emotions as they grow older. It is important for students to learn about different types of literacies and using a website like Weebly will strengthen their skills in Digital Literacy while also strengthening their skill in Emotional Literacy.

Objective: Students will choose an emotion and act and demonstrate how to appropriately handle a situation where this emotion may arise and explain the emotion using Weebly to present their information.

List the materials and supplies needed:

• · Computer

• · Internet

• · Smartboard

• · Weebly

• · Feelings Chart with Velcro spots for students to put name tags on

• · My Feelings Song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_NLAT-n3ko

Outline of key events:

• · Have a discussion on what an emotion is and the types of emotions one can have

• · Discuss situations where one might have difficulty expressing their emotions; got into a fight with a friend, and how to appropriately handle their emotions as well as act on others emotions appropriately

• · Explain to students what Emotional Literacy is; the ability to recognize, understand and appropriately express our emotions and that it is important that we all learn about emotions and the ways to handle certain situations so we can stay safe, happy and can be the best students we can possibly be!

• · Show them the Feelings Chart and explain how we can use this when we are having trouble trying to express ourselves. We can use this chart when we want to say how we feel but are having a hard time expressing it! Explain to them this chart will be up in the classroom and each day when they come into the classroom I want them to stick their name on the feeling they are feeling in the morning and when they leave school to change or leave their name on the feeling they are feeling then

• · Tell students we are going to make a website that we can all use and learn from that teaches everyone about emotions and Emotional Literacy

• · Assign two students with an emotion and explain to them they will need to think about what this emotion looks like and how one might act when they are feelings this way

• · Use the Smartboard to show the students the website and explain to them that each day we are going to add to this website a new emotion and have a student come up and present the emotion. Explain that when we talk about that emotion we will talk about situations that may arise and how to handle them appropriately

• · Choose two students to come up and begin working on the Weebly letting students pick the colors for their page and how they want it presented. Have a discussion with the class about that emotion

• · Assign the emotion for the next day with two other students

Closing summary:

• · After the first two students have gone pull up the My Feelings Song and teach the students the lyrics to the song

• · Perform the song using facial expressing and movements to mimic the feelings

Ongoing assessment:

• · Each day students in a group of two will present a new emotion using Weebly and the class will have a short discussion about that emotion of the day

• · Students will come in each day and put their name on the emotion they are feeling in the morning and change or keep that emotion at the end of the day. If there are changes in students emotions throughout the day then there can be discussion on how they handled their situation appropriately or not with the teacher