I cannot believe that the first semester of my sophomore year is already over. People really weren’t joking when they said that high school goes by fast, but college flies by. This semester I was really lucky to have such great teachers. It was my first semester that I took major courses, as I just declared English Education. I have learned a lot- specifically, from this class. Meeting Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays wasn’t always ideal, but turned out to be rewarding in the end. I got to fulfill my manifesto of learning something new every day when I went to this class.

I think that I was the most successful in getting the work for the class done. For most classes, I do assignments just to get the good grade. Rarely do I see their relevance to my life or future career. However, each assignment or blog that I did really taught me something. I loved writing the blogs in our class. I loved being able to write whatever came to my mind and be encouraged to voice my own opinion rather than conform to that of a textbook. The book clubs were great- I thoroughly enjoyed getting the opportunity to “relive” junior high by reading the book “Just Girls” with my book club. I pulled out new ideas from this book as well as from hearing other group’s findings. I am eager to apply them in the future when I am a teacher, or even use them as a student myself.

I learned so much in this class that I don’t know if I can fully debrief and unpack it in a simple blog. Going into this course I wasn’t too confident on what literacy really means. It is much more than the simple ability to read and write- it is the mechanics behind that, and how we communicate with one another. Reading novels and texts was once what was considered the practice of literacy and learning, but our generation has changed that definition drastically. I think as a future educator it is so important to acknowledge that literacy isn’t limited to the old fashion practices. We read and write so frequently, but it has just taken a different form. Although I don’t play video games, one take away from the gamer group that I got was the idea of failure not being shunned, rather being encouraged. This theory gives students the chance to learn from their mistakes and master a certain subject. We need to take into account that each student learns differently and no way is better than the other.

Before taking this course, I was on the train of being disgusted with where technology is taking us. I felt like essential parts of learning, playing, and growing up have been destroyed. The destruction was mainly attributed to things like social media, cell phones, or video games. I came out on the tail end of the generation that didn’t grow up with this, and so I saw a huge difference in myself versus those younger than me. This class taught me that just because the technological generation is different, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is bad. It means that we need to find new ways to reach out to our students, to relate to them, and to encourage them to learn.

I think the biggest thing that we discussed that I will apply in my classroom is the idea of a repeat, like in a video game. One of my junior high teachers did this, and I remember having to relearn the material in order to retake a test. However, I think that this method is both effective as well as encouraging. It shows students that it is okay to fail and makes them more apt to learning and the process of it. Instead of getting frustrated when they don’t immediately comprehend a topic, they feel that a second chance is acceptable and deserved.

I am kind of bummed that this is my last blog. I have really enjoyed someone being forced to read my thoughts that made me feel valued as a student. I am certain that the things I learned will help me become a better teacher and contribute to the future of our society.

I was fortunate enough to have my last two group projects somewhat reflect each other, in terms of what they are researching and ideas we get to dive into. For book club, I read “Just Girls” with my group, which discussed how junior high aged girls find and develop their identities. My article group has been reflecting on the ideas of adolescent identity and literacy. We have had the opportunity to delve into many different articles that discuss different aspects of adolescents and different sources they seem to find their identity from. Although we split up the readings between different members of our group, we each summarized what we read into basic thoughts to contribute to a greater idea of adolescent identity and literacy.

The article that I read and got to share with my group is called “Annotated Bib of Moje’s Work” (http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/3168). The main point that I got from reading this was that literacy in the classroom versus literacy outside of class do not correlate with one another. The skills that are tested in the school setting are not at all reflective of things that adolescents practice in their real life world. In the other articles, technology seemed to be the source of adolescent identity. Social media has played a huge role in the way that teenagers try to shape their lives; likes, dislikes, and the perception of how they should be. Adolescents feel challenged to make themselves conform to the general societal likes, as well as get their self worth from approval on social media.

https://prezi.com/fup8ltvcuxe5/identity-meets-internet-the-effects-of-social-media-on-adolescent-identity-development/

I found this Prezi presentation to be both relevant and helpful in explaining what we are learning, and providing back up information on our topic.

The reading that Keri Franklin wrote about learning a new literacy kind of made me laugh before I really thought about it. How could someone “post a tweet incorrectly?” Twitter is something that I have just been using for so long, I really forgot about the literacy required to use it. When you think about it though, there are really so many technicalities behind this social media, and constantly changing rules or settings to it. I have had a twitter since I was a freshman in high school, so since about 2010. Even since then I have seen changes in Twitter, the users, how it is used, and the way people share their lives.

Sponsorship of digital literacies is something completely different from the sponsors of print-based literacies. The way we think of digital literacies is almost a different practice than print-based ones. Digital literacy is used more extensively to quickly spread news, thoughts, and ideas. We use it in order to share our lives with one another in the click of a button, and accessible practically anywhere. The sponsors of this are “today’s society,” which encourages us to stay up with today’s busy world. Not to say that print-based literacy is completely obsolete, but it is definitely not as encouraged or well used as digital literacies are. We see people reading actual books or the newspaper on paper so less often. It isn’t as well sponsored or encouraged because sadly, it just isn’t practical, as it isn’t the exact direction our society is headed.

College has forced me to become literate in technology I wasn’t familiar with. My high school and prior education didn’t revolve around using technology. It was actually more discouraged. So when I came to Chico, I had no idea of the existence of things that are super useful,  such as Google drive/docs. I was in a group meeting for class and they were discussing sharing our presentation using that. They were so baffled when I shared that I had absolutely no idea what that was- thankfully they were helpful in teaching me about this, and it is a pretty simple way to share information. Things like google docs, blackboard, and other online services that are required here at Chico State have forced me to expand on my technological knowledge.

The only thing that I have found challenging (besides learning how to use the technologies, but honestly they were all pretty simple) is accepting the fact that this is where literacy is headed. I can’t fight it, I can just learn so that I am able to keep up and succeed. I ended up spending extra money on some of my books last year just because I am stubborn and wanted the paper copy. I have learned to be excited that this is where we are going as a society.