Looking back to the beginning of this course, I can see that my understanding of literacy has changed drastically. I used to have the idea that it merely included reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing. However now, I understand the term to include a much more wide range of components. After learning about emotional literacy, I now know that one can be emotionally literate or illiterate. In the past, if anyone would’ve asked me what emotions are, I would’ve simply answered something like happy, sad, excited, bored, etc. I used to think that they were merely just feelings in life and that everyone naturally learns about them as they go through life. However, after this project, I now know that emotions are something that people are not always naturally good at and that there are many people, especially children, whom are emotionally illiterate. Furthermore, I now know that dealing with emotions is something that can be learned and implemented into a classroom.
After reviewing the various literacy projects on the wiki, I have seen the importance of being literate in many more areas than just reading, writing etc. Knowing this, I think it is important for a language arts teacher to recognize and take necessary steps at helping his/her students develop literacy skills in these areas. I think that if children can become literate in as many areas as possible, it will benefit them academically and give them overall life success. As shown in many of the projects, there are books, games, songs, activities, etc. that can be incorporated in the classroom to help students become literate in these subjects. In particular, for emotional literacy, I learned that we can use three basic strategies in helping children become emotionally literate. These strategies include, practice expressing emotions, label children’s feelings, and do activities that deal with emotions such as play games, sing songs, and read books.
Furthermore, I think using technology can be incorporated into the classroom to help students on their way to emotional literacy and digital literacy as well. The technology I used for my project was the Prezi. Although there are many ways to teach emotions to kids such as books, drawing, singing, etc, I think a Prezi presentation could be more attractive to students and grab their attention better. The Prezi allows you to present information in different ways than a traditional power point. It helps the presentation come to life with the movement and zooming features and unique ways to add vivid pictures and videos. Before this class, I had never even heard of Prezi and probably wouldn’t have wanted to use such a program in my classroom. But after this project, I have learned that working with new technology can be a very easy and effective way to present information to all ages.
When it comes to effective literacy instruction, my view is very different compared to the beginning of this semester. Referring back to my original concept map, there are a few things that have been added such as the use of technology, meaningful discussions and now, different types of literacy such as emotional, social, cultural, environmental, visual, etc. After all my research on emotional literacy and my learning of a new technology, I was able to find out how much more there is to offer students. Emotions should not be merely expected to learn throughout life but rather, they can be taught about and dealt with in order to help them become more successful. And if we can incorporate technology into our lessons, then we as teacher may be able to better impact our students.
As a future teacher, I will definitely incorporate this new literacy and technology into my classroom. Depending on the students’ grade level, I can either create an ‘Emotions’ Prezi presentation for the class or have them create their own. Regardless if they are simply watching my presentation or making their own, I think it will help them become more interested and attracted to the information being presented. I would definitely use tools such adding sound and video to make it even more exciting. For example, in my Prezi, I added YouTube video of a song called, ‘Feelings’. I think this tool could be a great way for the kids to hear a song and watch the video at the same time. This way, students can sing along and even copy the dance movements. Experiencing a Prezi could allow students to become more interested and engaged in the lesson being presented. Further, student can have the opportunity to become creative with a simple subject of emotions and help them see emotions in a whole new, non-linearly way.
Of course, in order to use this technology, students will have to possess some amount of literacy in reading, writing, and viewing and listening and speaking to be successful. For early grades who may not yet know how to write, they might have trouble creating their own Prezi since they would struggle forming or spelling words. Also, at this level, students may not have gained much digital experience, also hindering them from making a presentation such as the Prezi. However, I think they could successfully view, and listen as I gave them a presentation and reach learning goals as well. In the older grades, perhaps 4th grade and up, I think students may have a better chance at developing their own presentations. At this age, they are more experienced with technology such as their ability to use computers, search for images and videos, copying and pasting, and so on. Additionally, their reading and writing abilities are more advanced so they would have an easier time reading, researching information and entering it into their presentations.
Although the Prezi is easy to use, students who are learning it for the first time may need several instruction periods until they can do it on their own. Even students in older grades will need lots of practice with this technology. Just as I was working with Prezi for the first time, I had to learn how to properly use the technology and it took me several hours of learning how to do it on my own. Knowing this, I think it would be a good idea to give students plenty of time to experience the website and look at some sample presentations. Another thing that would help them learn about Prezi is if I created one right in front of them. I could use something like a smart board and model how to use the technology and create an awesome presentation. Students may also be inexperienced with developing the content of their presentations. If we were creating Prezis about ‘Emotions’ I may have to teach them about emotions prior to using our technology. I could do a lesson, have a discussion, play a game, watch a movie, or do any other activities dealing with emotions. By doing this, students can develop a background knowledge about emotions to help them know the type of content to put into their presentation. I may even have to model for them how to brainstorm ideas to put into the presentation, how to research needed information, summarize findings, etc. After modeling, I could have them try it on their own, but also helping them as needed. Scaffolding would have to be the goal here as I help them here and there but then gradually allow them to perform the task on their own.
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