One of the
implications for me from the module will be supporting the role of technology
within the classroom in enabling children to create. This also links into a
literacy context, where children are creating books, videos, animations,
captions, soundbites: all of these supporting speaking and listening as well as
reading and writing. Using iPads in the classroom was a fairly foreign concept
to me at the beginning of the module, but our day at Shirley Warren school
demonstrated that technology can be used to create fantastic and purposeful
literacy work (conveying a communicative message to the audience). Purposeful
use of technology can encourage the cognitive and social growth of young
children (Clements and Sarama, 2002 in Beschorner and Hutchinson, 2013). This
was reflected at Shirley Warren when we observed children using iPads and
developing their problem solving skills and resilience. When confronted with a
problem, the children were actively thinking to evaluate their work and talking
collaboratively to improve aspects of it.
The
module has also increased my interest and support in the use of popular culture
texts in the classroom to support reading, particularly for the development of
boys’ interest in reading. This is as studies have found that ‘girls enjoy
reading more, they do it more often, they hold more positive attitudes towards reading
and they seek out more reading opportunities (e.g. library visits) than boys’
(Clark, 2012). This suggests to me that classroom texts are not as engaging or
appealing for boys as they are for girls. Contrasting this, the study that I
conducted with a parent reflected satisfaction that their son had a growing
interest in reading graphic novels – suggesting many parents would be happy to
have their child enthused by their reading material, not regarding the reading
genre. Supporting children in reading comics or graphic novels also supports
their reading development unlike conventional literature, as children have to make
meaning with an understanding of relevant social, linguistic and cultural
conventions to support them in reading comprehension (Tilley, 2009). The module
has therefore increased my desire to encourage children to read a range of
literacy texts in the classroom, purely to secure children’s early engagement
and interest in reading.
An area of personal interest that the module
has revealed to me is the idea of teaching children to be ‘critically’
digitally literate. We need to teach children that digital media we see or use has
been created with a purpose, to develop children’s ideas about objectivity. The
role of media literacy in education has been supported by parents, who argue
that we do not wish children to become a passive, unquestioning user of
multimedia or technology (Marsh et al, 2005). Education that involves analysing
techniques used in multimedia texts (e.g. adverts, television shows etc) can
develop children’s understanding that we are being positioned to react to
something in a certain way. This is
increasingly relevant in the world of the digital native, in which adverts are seamlessly
and subliminally included across media platforms.
(494 words)
Bibliography
Beschorner,
B. & Hutchison, A. (2013). iPads as a literacy teaching tool in early
childhood. International Journal of Education in Mathematics, Science and
Technology, 1(1), 16-24.
Clark, C. with
Burke, D. (2012) Boys Reading Commission 2012: A review of exsiting research
to underpin the commission. London: National Literacy Trust, p.4
Marsh, J.
Brooks,G. Hughes,J. Ritchie, L. Roberts, S. Wright, K (2005) Digital
beginnings: Young children’s use of popular culture, media and new
Technologies. University of Sheffield, p.46
Tilley,
C.(2009) For improving literacy,
reading comics is no child’s play. Illinois: News Bureau. Found at: http://news.illinois.edu/news/09/1105comics.html
(Accessed: 30 October 2014)
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