Source: http://www.magnapubs.com/files/newsletters/oc/oc-topics.jpg
The new
literacy that I would like to explore is threaded discussions, and I am
wondering if and how I can meaningfully incorporate them into my curriculum,
and if they will help our class communities and learning space(s) to be more
engaging, safer, and accessible. As Cathie English (2007) praises, “[threaded
discussions] are an amazing ally to the teacher who cares about giving voice to
every student in the classroom” (English, p. 56) and using a forum where
students can respond to prompts, engage in conversations with one another, post
links to new literacies they engage with, share resources both found and
created by them, is something that I have wanted to try for a long time. I like
the idea of providing a space for quieter students to have input, having a
learning space that is accessible 27/7, it may be a way for students who
wouldn’t normally speak with one another to connect, and I could see this being
very attractive to English Language Learners who don’t feel confident to
verbally contribute in class. However, I have not figured out how I want to use
this new literacy, or if I can employ it effectively.
In my
teaching context, I am fortunate to be a part of a pilot project where my grade
nine students are participating in a the One-to-One initiative, and I teach
them all year so I have time to employ Project Based Learning. One of the
documents I reviewed a few times to prepare for this change this year is the
Alberta’s Bring Your Own Device: A Guide
for Schools discussed in the Nahachewsky (2013) article (p. 77). Although
not all of my students have personal devices (I teach in a low socio-economic
community), we have a laptop lending system through our Learning Commons, so
access to technology has been fairly consistent. There have been some
challenges, mostly stemming from the variety of digital technologies that the
students bring in and my limited knowledge of how to troubleshoot on them. We
are also moving forwards with High School Redesign, a part of Alberta’s High
School Completion Strategic Framework and a couple of sample foundational
principals guiding this shift are to establish increased personalization of
learning and flexible learning environments. Exploring new literacies such as
threaded discussions is certainly going to be valuable in my work with this
school to move in this direction.
It has
illuminating to see what digital literacies my students are engaging with, such
as webcomics (one called “Homestuck” is very popular), online Japanese Manga, Fan
Fiction sites, Tumblr, deviantART, theChive, and a lot of online gaming, just
to name a few. Just this week, one of my students sent me a link to a story she
likes on a site called Creepypasta Wiki, and all of the works on there are
called “pastas.” Many publish their writing and artwork online, and engage in
chats with one another and others on forums. Their digital literacy skills and
practices are certainly “evolving [my] notions of what it means to be literate
in a rapidly changing and multimodal world” (Nahachewsky, p. 75) and I’ve moved
far away from my early teaching ideas of what is ‘literary enough’ for the
classroom. I am learning a lot about important characteristics of literacies, such
as being participatory and sociocultural, as many students seem to engage in
these multimodal texts for personal expression and exploration, as well as to
find a community (especially my LGBTQ students) where they feel safe and like they
belong; a space they may not feel they have at school. Now, I’m trying to use
as many of these, typically understood, “out-of-school literacies” (Vacca,
Vacca, & Mraz, p. 34) alongside our novel studies, drama studies, short
stories, poetry, and so forth. Threaded discussions might be a great way for
them to share these literacy experiences with one another, and I also want to
learn more about what they are reading and writing online.
Additionally,
I think that threaded discussions would be a great literacy to work on
especially because it’s a natural ‘next step’ for my practice; we are already
set up with Moodle and I know that I can use it to set up forums. I haven’t taught
myself how to do this yet, and in the past, I’ve given myself the excuse to put
it off because a few colleagues have told me that they dislike Moodle forums
which, as many of us know, look something like this:
Source: http://d35ufzcpfvyfn7.cloudfront.net/moodle_org_forum.jpg
I want to “catapult students into focused discussions that allow for exchanges
of opinions and information” (Rizopoulos & McCarthy, p. 347), and this may
be one strategy to start this process. In searching online, I found a helpful
video called “How to set up a Forum in Moodle 2.3” that provides a step-by-step
guide, and I plan to follow this during my prep work for second semester:
I’ve
also considered using Google + Communities, such as Google Hangout, as all of
my students already have school Gmail accounts. This platform appears to be much more engaging, visually interesting, and seems much easier to imbed photos, videos, and links into discussions.
There is also opportunity for video hangouts to be paired with the chats, as
shown in this picture:
Source: http://nettnyheter.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Google-Hangout-Barack-Obama.jpg
I know
that for my students, the visual component is crucial, so I’ve set up a meeting
during my exam break with a new learning coach at our school to help me figure
out which platform would work best. One element that I'm concerned about for assessment is how I'd "save" these Google Hangout chats, or if I'll have to participate or observe and assess on the spot. However, because I’ve now participated in threaded
discussions in Dr. Begoray’s course, I find it helpful that I’ve seen her model how to facilitate and I’ve experienced it as a student. I found the discussions really valuable
and I learned a lot from others. We shared links, resources, lesson plans, in
addition to our learning. My initial ideas for my own classes are to run
something akin to ReadWriteThink’s Accountable Book Club: Focused Discussion with
my grade nines. The link to this lesson is:
Also,
I already have my grade nine students writing their own personal blogs on
Blogger, and so as the Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz (2014) article suggests, I
could “assign[] read pre-selected blogs, related to class projects, make
comments on the blogs, and then report back to the class, perhaps in the form
of their own student blogs” (Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz, p. 48). I could have
them engage in a dialogue with one another’s creative and personal writing, if
they feel comfortable sharing their work in this manner. This is something that
I will have to negotiate with them.
The
Rizopoulos & McCarthy (2009) article gave me the idea to use threaded
discussions for my Tuesdays With Morrie study
that I do with my English 30-2 students, as they use this text as an example in
the article; “[a quote] for the story is posted for students’ consideration and
response…[and questions such as] What does this quote mean to you? To the
context of the story? [are posted]” (Rizopoulos & McCarthy, p. 375). However,
I think that threaded discussions would be especially useful for exploring
critical literacy, and to encourage risk-taking in the students who may feel
more comfortable responding to ‘edgier’ or more intense works, issues, or themes
when they can take time to carefully craft their response in their own time.
Particularly, I teach “A Streetcar Named Desire” in English 30-2 and we discuss
healthy relationships, dating violence, domestic abuse, sexual assault, and
rape as we move through the text. I’ll be pairing this play with the film
“Silver Linings Playbook,” which largely explores mental health issues. Threaded
discussions may be a far less threatening space for students to discuss these
sensitive issues as opposed to engaging in whole group or even small group
discussions.
For
assessing threaded discussions, I’ve been looking for exemplars and ideas on
how to make it work for my students. The Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz chapter
provides some examples of rubrics that I use or modify, with criteria such as
“Participation and Timeliness,” “Relevance,” “Content Quality, and “Writing
Mechanics” (Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz, p. 48). I am also considering building a
rubric with my students so that they have input as to what criteria they value.
In addition to the articles, I found a helpful resource through Rutgers called
“Grading Threaded Discussions”:
I
found this to have valuable advice, as well as a useful “Other Resources” list
at the bottom of the page, with links to other cites and articles such as an
article by the American Psychological Association called “Avoiding Web Discussion
Pitfalls.” I found some of these tips quite helpful, such as to frame questions
in terms of concepts, to encourage role-playing such as playing ‘devil’s
advocate,’ and encouraging students to initiate conversations.
I am
looking forward to exploring this new literacy with a couple of different
classes and grades (likely, grades 9 and 12). I am excited to see what new
literacy characteristics emerge as a result, and I’m hopeful that integrating
this “new technical and new ethos stuff” will help me to purposefully “foster
students’ new literacies in the ELA classroom” (Nahachewsky, p. 77).
Reference List:
English,
Cathy. (2007). Finding a Voice in a Threaded Discussion Group: Talking about
Literature Online. English Journal, 97(1).
56-61.
Nahachewsky,
J. (2013). Understanding the importance of ethos in composing the “everyday”
new literacies classroom. Language and
Literacy, 15(1). 74-92.
Rizopoulos,
L. & McCarthy, P. (2009). Using Online Threaded Discussions: Best Practices
for the Digital Learner. J. Educational
Technology Systems, 37(4). 373-383.
Vacca,
Vacca, & Mraz. (2014). Part One: Learners, Literacies, and Texts, Learning with New Literacies. (pp.
30-57).
