References

Bradley, R.H., & Corwyn, R.F. (2002). Socioeconomic status and child development. Retrieved from http://learn.uq.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-157287-dt-content-rid-379490_1/courses/EDUC1702S_6320_22746/Bradley%20%26%20Corwyn%202002.pdf

Comber, B., & Kamler, B. (2004). Getting out of deficit: Pedagogies of reconnection. Teaching Education, 15(3), 293-310. doi:10.1080/1047621042000257225

ERO. (2012). Education at a glance: Transitions from primary to secondary school. Retrieved from http://www.ero.govt.nz/National-Reports/Evaluation-at-a-Glance-Transitions-from-Primary-to-Secondary-School-December-2012/Transition-from-Primary-to-Secondary-School/Responsive-curriculum

Inspiring Education. (2012, January 13). Diversity in alberta schools: A journey to inclusion [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c-3YCr7zR0&list=TLcXyB75kqIVo

Kalantzis, M., & Cope, B. (2012). Literacies. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.

Martin, K. (2008). The intersection of Aboriginal knowledges, Aboriginal literacies, and new learning pedagogy for Aboriginal students. In Healy, A. (Ed.) Multiliteracies and diversity in education: New
pedagogies for expanding landscapes (pp. 58-81). South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press.

Moll, L., & Amanti, C., Neff, D., & Gonzalez, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory into practice, 31(2), 132-141.

Parent/Teacher Communication [image] (2012). Retrieved from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTLds3crzc9I0DW3TFJ1NW4umsdkJaO5W6ZzWhyMvtvh-CwYGOnLF6VxvAvUbvKpq5Bnv5X5NDjuS7_wdXsNRJR86VWKvYqL9i1KUWx740VwyFnNfMdJnZZhSX3iBlFsCKs7WFz0OoGid2/s1600/parent+teacher+student.jpg

Payne, R. (2008). Poverty and learning: Nine powerful practices. Educational Leadership, 65(7), 48-52. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr08/vol65/num07/Nine-Powerful-Practices.aspx

 
Peters, S. (2010). Literature review: Transition from early childhood education to school. Retrieved from http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/ECE/literature-review-transition-from-early-childhood-education-to-school/chapter-two-successful-transitions 

Phillips, L. (2013). On the street: Primary children's personal literacies. Practically Primary,18(2), 24-26. Retrieved from http://www.library.uq.edu.au/coursebank/get.php?id=34067028086642.pdf&copyright=yes

Phillips, L. (2013). Week one: The what & why of literacies in the 21^st century [Powerpoint slides]. Unpublished manuscript, EDUC1707, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia.

Phillips, L. (2013). Week five: Home school connections [Powerpoint slides]. Unpublished manuscript, EDUC1707, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia.

School Bag [image] (2012). Retrieved from http://cloonfadns.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/schoolbag1.gif 

Pullinger, K., & Joseph, C. (2012). Inanimate Alice. Retrieved from http://www.inanimatealice.com/

QAG GOMA. (2013, February 26). APT7 Collection Highlights [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkCyikKA9eY

Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/

Skyes, J.B. (1976). The concise oxford dictionary. Walton Street, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Teacher to Parent Communication [image] (2006). Retrieved from http://www.maine.gov/education/images/parent%20teacher.jpg 

 

Week 5: Home school connections

Funds of knowledge refers to the idea of knowledges embeded in the community and home practices. This term developed by Moli, Amanti, Neff & Gonzalez (1992) recommend that teachers conduct ethnographic research of what is going on in the everyday life of students. Coming to understand the real lived experience of the families and children they teach, educators are able to build on their funds of knowledge and dispositions incorporating them into the curriculum, preventing vulnerable students from disengaging at school (ERO, 2012). Having the knowledge that there is a united front on both sides where students know that their family is valued in the school community cultivates mutual trust between both parties establishing effective two way communication.

I believe forming partnerships in the community is important as supportive parents help their child build a sense of belonging and security and flourish in the learning space. During my primary school years, my parents liased closely with my school by helping out in the classroom and in the community. Providing them with opportunities to have more direct contact with teachers, it also allowed them to see how the school operated and my progress in class to gain a better understanding of how they could support me better in my studies at home. Phillips (2013) highlighted a very important point to not see parents as a 'source of labour'. Having a huge range of expertise we need to ask them how they would like to be involved or what they would like to bring to the learning space.







Students perform better in school when teachers openly communicate with parents

    






Teacher to parent communication

    Moreover, I believe a student's chances to succeed in their schooling are directly related to their level of familiarity with what is expected at school. Comber and Kamler (2004) investivate poverty and the effect on literacy outcomes. They further state that society have classified these people who are poor, disabled and non-english speaking as  'lacking'. I think that the mindset of teachers, in some respect, is that those groups are responsible for not doing well themselves because of their home situation, however, more often the most important variable at school in making a difference for students is the teacher! The core issue Comber and Kamler (2004) address is the importance of changing our way of thinking as educators which ultimately effects the way we teach.

Classifying myself as coming from a middle class family with my parents valuing an education, I had the opportunity to attend school, achieve an education and go onto further study. Even before I started school my parents were filling my 'virtual school bag' (Thomson 2002) by reading to me and providing me with books; opportunities children living in poverty may not be presented with contributing to their literacy outcome. According to Bradley and Corwyn (2002) these children are more likely to be exposed to inadequate nutrition, violence and toxins in their environment and are less likely to be spoken to in complex sentences, to be read at home and most importantly be provided with a challenging curriculum at school!  Developing communication between the parents and the teacher, together they are able to recognise and help their child counteract their difficulties effectively (Payne, 2008).



  

 




The virtual school bag

      
On the contrary, during my practicum visits the students oral language have been developed during reading groups where they are required to retell stories and answer comprehension questions. I think this is an effective method ensuring that as they are reading they are also understanding the meaning. In primary school I was faced in a similar situation. I was always good at reading and read beyond my years but had difficulty with comprehension. I believe this is a common issue at that age however by receiving specific help at school and visiting a speech therapist on the recommendation of my teacher, I was able to overcome my difficulty.

This week associate professior Elizbeth MacKinlay outlined links between home and school from a indigenous knowledge perspective. Adressing the notion of using performative pedagogy (music and storytelling) as a way to make home school connections to students was interesting to me as it got me interested and thinking about an event that was discussed a few weeks back - Walking Neighbourhood hosted by children which explores primary children's (focusing on Mali) personal literacies. According to Phillips (2013) the child curated walks foregrounded children's interests, streetscape observations and funds of knowledge. Through the development of Mali's walk his visual and digital literacy skills and colourful imagination became evident (Phillips, 2013) hence the idea that Mali could be singing rather than reading or telling a story based on the strength of his imagination surfaced to my mind. MacKinlay explained that 'It is about being brave enough and using skills as a teacher to bring a level of engagement and enjoyment to these children'. This is what I endeavour to bring to my classroom in the future.



References
Bradley, R.H., & Corwyn, R.F. (2002). Socioeconomic status and child development. Retrieved from
https://learn.uq.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-157287-dt-content-rid-379490_1/courses/EDUC1702S_6320_22746/Bradley%20%26%20Corwyn%202002.pdf
Comber, B., & Kamler, B. (2004). Getting out of deficit: Pedagogies of reconnection. Teaching Education, 15(3), 293-310. doi: 10.1080/1047621042000257225
ERO. (2012). Education at a glance: Transitions from primary to secondary school. Retrieved from http://www.ero.govt.nz/National-Reports/Evaluation-at-a-Glance-Transitions-from-Primary-to-Secondary-School-December-2012/Transition-from-Primary-to-Secondary-School/Responsive-curriculum
Moll, L., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & Gonzalez, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory into practice, 31(2), 132-141.
Parent/Teacher Communication [image] (2012). Retrieved from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTLds3crzc9I0DW3TFJ1NW4umsdkJaO5W6ZzWhyMvtvh-CwYGOnLF6VxvAvUbvKpq5Bnv5X5NDjuS7_wdXsNRJR86VWKvYqL9i1KUWx740VwyFnNfMdJnZZhSX3iBlFsCKs7WFz0OoGid2/s1600/parent+teacher+student.jpg
Payne, R. (2008) Poverty and learning: Nine powerful practices. Educational Leadership, 65(7), 48-52. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr08/vol65/num07/Nine-Powerful-Practices.aspx
Phillips, L. (2013). On the street: Primary children's personal literacies. Practically Primary, 18(2), 24-26. Retrieved from http://www.library.uq.edu.au/coursebank/get.php?id=34067028086642.pdf&copyright=yes

Phillips, L. (2013). Week Five: Home-school connections [Powerpoint slides]. Unpublished manuscript, EDUC1707, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Australia.   

School Bag [image] (2012). Retrieved from  http://cloonfadns.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/schoolbag1.gif 

Teacher to Parent Communication [image] (2006). Retrieved from http://www.maine.gov/education/images/parent%20teacher.jpg 

Week 3: Literacies and learner differences

School education practices "need to recruit, rather than attempt to ignore and erase, the different subjectives - interests, intentions, commitments and purposes - that students bring to learning" (The New London Group, 1996, p.72). We have to make the differences visible, include and recognise how rich and exciting the learning community can be because of the different life experiences, interests and knowledge everybody possesses. We all bring great diversity to the literacy space! As a professional educator, we need to devise ways that can welcome these diverse ways of engaging with learning.

Kalantzis and Cope (2012) propose that we engage with the great diversity of human society and recognise and celebrate the differences. I experience this in my everyday life. For instance, as I have ventured into my practicum experiences, I have observed children being organised into specific reading groups in accordance to their ability, encountered a student who learns at a much slower pace compared to the rest of his classmates and students who speak languages other than english. Intead of 'categorising' these students we need to build on their existing funds of knowledge valuing and incorporating them into classroom activities instead of altering it (Peters, 2010).

Today, having a multiculutral mix of students in the classroom is much more prevalent. It is generally felt that Indigenous people feel disempowered about speaking. Martin (2008) further emphasises the importance of ensuring that Aboriginal students are not silenced as it reduces the importance of Aboriginal worldviews and literacies, or worse making them invisible. Having the opportunities to draw on and express their knowledges about themselves, their worlds and their stories, not just from people but from other elements (animals and plants) reinforces the importance of working with what students bring with them to the classroom as life-world interests and knowledges. According to Martin (2008) engaging, conceptualising and analysing sufficiently to provide spoken text and write using aboriginal terms is an essential process before thinking, viewing conceptualising, speaking and writing in English. 

It is sometimes easy to forget that everyone learns at different rates having unique ways of engaging with learning in the literacy space reinforcing the importance of adapting your pedagogical methods to suit their needs. I have always strongly believed that school community and a sense of inclusion regardless of differences is vital as if children do not feel like they are in a safe, inclusive and supportive environment they will have a trajectory that does not progress hence impacting significantly on their learning and growth in development. The video below explores this notion of inclusion and diversity in classroom settings.

  

Moreover, the most obvious contributing to differences in literacies learning is group demographics (that is differences in human population e.g. sex, gender. social class, disability, race and ethnicity). Providing a flexible, multimodal and synaesthetic learning environment improves the learning ability of all students by breaking down the barriers to learning (Kalantzis & Cope, 2012). In a classroom setting, I endeavour to use imagery and diagrams in conjunction with visual text to help support and explain concepts to my students.

On another note, as a way of getting to know our students Kalantzis and Cope (2012) have outlined the importance of investigating the lifeworlds of the children that you work with. Creating a multimedia presentation of images to represent and reflect our own unique life world can be effective effective in conveying a lot more meaning than words. Given our recognition of differences; our role as educators is to get to know the lifeworlds of children - their life experiences, personality, languages, values, interests, thinking and communication style.

MY LIFEWORLD:

https://workspaces.acrobat.com/app.html#d=c9AUBFdGX2cOZtkMjJx7Rg



References
Inspiring Education. (2012, January 13). Diversity in alberta schools: A journey to inclusion [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c-3YCr7zR0&list=TLcXyB75kqIVo
Kalantzis, M., & Cope, B. (2012). Literacies. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
The New London Group (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard educational review, 66(1), 60-92.
Martin, K. (2008). The intersection of Aboriginal knowledges, Aboriginal literacies, and new learning pedagogy for Aboriginal students. In Healy, A. (Ed.), Multiliteracies and diversity in education: New pedagogies for expanding landscapes (pp. 58-81). South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press.
Peters, S. (2010). Literature review: Transition from early childhood education to school. Retrieved from http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/ECE/literature-review-transition-from-early-childhood-education-to-school/chapter-two-successful-transitions

Week 2 - Multiliteracies: beyond text and the written word

This week I delved further engaging with the notion of multimodality in text. Interactive websites including Inanimate Alice displays how we are much more active consumers and producers of text (we are not passive anymore) as it captures the idea of a digital novel and the hand held console, central to the novel, is a contemporary tool of our lifetime. I could visually see all these images that you would have otherwise imagined compared to a storybook which is all about training the imagination. 

The idea of synaesthesia (switching between modes to express meaning) as described by Kalantzis and Cope (2012) is an interesting concept I found particularly relevant to Inanimate Alice. I found that I was engaging with multiple modes at any one time as when I was hearing sounds I was also imagining visuals. Therefore, I think this text is particularly useful in the classroom as it is designed for school students to engage and emphasise the multimodality in text and at the same time broaden their thinking. 

Literacy is about meaning-making. Kalantzis and Cope (2012) allude to the notion that 'semiosis' also known as meaning-making is a dynamic process in which the primary ways in which we make meaning is closely connected.

• Representation: telling yourself
• Communication: telling others
• Interpretation: telling yourself what you think others mean  

In my experience, I naturally tend to think about what I am going to say or write before I communicate it.
What is illiteracy then? Viewing literacy from a mulltiliteracy framework - everyone has a capacity to communicate. People who are blind or visually imparied use braille and their senses including listening, feeling and touching (tactile literacy) as a form of communication illustrating that there is no such thing as being illiterate. We are constantly diverging between modes and different types of text in accordance to our situation.

Literacy as described by Kalantzis and Cope (2012) is a 'technology' and a recent trip to the Gallery of Modern Arts demonstrated this clearly. Along with visual there is an array of multimedia (videos, live presentations, cinema showing films), audio and interactive areas on display to support exhibitons.

Today, it seems as if reading and writing are losing meaning as a result of increasingly technological advancement. I do not even remember all my phone numbers because it is all programmed in my mobile phone! Although it is important to recognise that the digital tools used today encourage forgetfulness to an extent, it enables active learning environments. Incorporating new technologies and strong curriculum focus, GOMA encourages critical thinking and creative expression.

 


Multimedia - audio and interactive area


      

Today in this age we have become more active users of technology. It is inevitable as it is increasingly becoming much more accessible. One of the modes I engage with regularly is audio. Having always been interested in singing (always been involved in music at school) I started a youtube chanel. Below is a clip illustrating how text goes beyond the written word inferring and conveying meaning in other modes. Music is important to me as it provides me with a different way of thinking, accessing and expressing myself.









References
Kalantzis, M., & Cope, B. (2012). Literacies. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
Pullinger, K., & Joseph, C. (2012). Inanimate Alice. Retrieved from  http://inanimatealice.com/
QAG GOMA. (2013, February 26). APT7 Collection Highlights [Video file]. Retrieved from  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkCyikKA9eY&feature=c4-overview&list=UUISqv3TP_9Sl74x4gQuDvmg
Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/

Week 1 - What is literacy?

According to the Concise Oxford dictionary (1929)  literacy is defined as the ability to read and write. I must admit that today as I was walking towards the lecture theatre, I thought we would be discussing the conventional and traditional ability to read, understand and use information BUT the term has come to take a much broader meaning.

Sitting behind my desk at school for the past 17 years, I always thought literacy was just composed of the written word but today it has broadened my horizons to think beyond that notion. According to Kalantzis and Cope (2012) text can infer meaning and context by using different and combined modes of meaning (written, visual, spatial, gestural, tactile, audio and oral). Until now, I have never considered or recognised the multimodalities in text as described by Kalantzis and Cope (2012). Before today, I did not even realise that snapping a photo of my macaroon and uploading to instagram was a form of literacy!





Personally, Scrapbooking (visual and tactile mode of literacy) is a very enjoyable and creative way of mine to preserve memories.

  





Additionally, my corkboard is a form of visual literacy allowing me to preserve special memories including photos, certificates, messages, postcards and inspirational quotes and phrases. 

    

Record of everyday literacy practices - http://padlet.com/wall/p7mco3h6cn

Social Connections - we use texts to communicate with each other

- With the access to new technology (instagram), the use of images has become more prominent. Having the capacity to take photos on your phone has affected the way we communicate hence our comminication is much more visual and less linguistic.

- Frequent use of social networking sites such as facebook and twitter. Gone are the days of letter writing as social means of communication!

- In recent times, I have noticed we have become less able to express our emotions into words hence we use emoticons to express ourselves.

- Learning how to decode maps (particularly around UQ) is another form of text I frequently engage with. Maps are a spatial and visual text.  



In this age of globilisation, it is important to recognise not only the multimodality of text but also the social diversity in our current literacy practices (Phillips, 2013). I have come to the realisation that we use different language styles for different contexts; not just different cultural languages but different styles. For example, I find that my use of words, tone and formality is different, adjusted, and used appropriately in regards to sending an email to my course co-ordinator (formal and polite manner) and texting a friend (slang dialogue, abbreviations such as LOL).

Even now as I am typing this out, I am trying to wrap my head around everything I learnt today. It was enlightening and opened my eyes to a whole new perspective of literacy.

References

Kalantzis, M., & Cope, B. (2012). Literacies. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.

Phillips, L. (2013). Week 1: The what and why of literacies [Powerpoint slides]. EDUC1707, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia.

Skyes, J.B. (1976). The concise oxford dictionary. Walton Street, Oxford: Oxford University Press.