EDUC 3610 Saleha Iqbal

Professor Heather Lotherington 213542089

New media literacies and culture in my educational story – Edit & Final Project

Hi Professor Lotherington, I decided to make a journal entry that highlights the progress I

have made in thinking about the new media literacies in my educational experience.

Now that I have a better understanding of what “new media literacy” means, from the

Lankshear and Knobel article, “as a historical period of social, cultural, institutional, economic

and intellectual change that is likely to span in many decades” (Lankshear and Knobel, 2012,

page 45), it creates a broader perception than I had before. I used to think that new media

literacies were ways to write or send information in writing form; however, when I read Susan

Marcus’ article on the sensory alphabet, I remembered quite a few different experiences from my

education and teaching practices. For instance, in grade 6 to grade 8, I played the clarinet and the

sounds that came out of my instrument not only gave me emotions but also acted as a way to

express myself. In grade 8, I remember writing a music piece that describes my future goals in

life, including being a teacher – in this music piece, I began with a calm music note as I

described how I wanted to become a teacher, and then I increased the pace and volume of my

clarinet demonstrating the sound in my future, action-packed classroom with my future students.

Moreover, Susan’s article also discussed colour, line and shape, and s p a c e. In my

elementary school years, I remember colour played an important role in my artwork because red

would always represent love and anger, and green would represent nature and life. In my middle

school and high school classes of visual arts, I thought about how important it was for me to

have line, shape and space in my artwork, as well as in my writing. Moreover, my religion

has a large impact on new multi media literacy because when I used to read the Qur’an in the

Arabic language, I attempted to copy the voice of famous Qur’an reciters, like Shaykh Abdul

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Rahman Al-Sudais, who understood the Arabic language. In this case, the movement and sound

in the voice of the reader helped contribute to the listeners what the Qur’an was saying and

provided meaning-making. Here is a clip of what I mean by this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD6Ov8JHTfk

Furthermore, as I was reading the article, Multimodality: Out from the Margins of

English Language Teaching, the authors mention how Professor Lotherington and Professor

Chow studied the use of digital media to develop writing (Early et al, 2015, page 449). I

remember in grade 7, I made a comic book using an online storyboard creator – this was a great

assignment because I was horrible at drawing, ultimately giving me an alternative way to perfect

and express myself. However, I must say that I was the only student who actually completed the

assignment and my teacher did not even grade it or look at – this got me upset because I spent

hours in making the comic, but was not appreciated for it. Additionally, in my later years of high

school, I used Microsoft Publisher a lot as I clearly remember making a parenting magazine for

my Children’s Studies class (see next page), as well as a children’s book for my Grade 12

Natural Disasters class (see below) – again, in this way, I was never the best artist, however these

online technologies gave me an alternative way to maximize my creative abilities.

Children’s Picture Book

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Professor Heather Lotherington 213542089

Parenting Magazine

As Professor Lotherington mentioned multimodality and semiotic resources – symbol, icon, and

index, I was reminded of my placement kindergarten class. Although the students did not know

how to read, they knew that the blue letters and yellow star meant , and the

colourful letters with the blue star in the middle meant . This fascinated me

because both stores had letters and similar shapes; however, the four and five-year olds knew the

distinction! It further demonstrated how symbols and icons create meaning-making.

Moreover, Professor Thumlert’s twine workshop reminded me of the new media literacy

experience I learned in my Grade 11 class. With the use of “if”, “then”, and “or/else”

commands in the Turing programming software, I was able to create an entire menu online,

Christmas cards, and an emotional workshop. This emotional workshop was a means for users to

ask how their day was going and in what ways it can become better! Likewise, as I was reading

the article, The Maker Movement in Education, the authors stated “maker culture has become a

way to express creative and communal drive” (Halverson and Sheridan, 2014, page 495). With

this reading, I was reminded of my practicum school where the school librarian did all kinds of

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maker projects with his school students such as building robots and circuits and it fascinated me

how they incorporated literacy into their projects without any student being bored.. Hence, this

demonstrates how multi modal literacies was a great advantage to my education. In the final

analysis, I slowly see my educational narrative evolving from my first scratchpad experience as

my definition of “multi modal” and “literacies” becomes more informed.

[ FINAL EDIT ]

In result to my educational multi modal experiences, there have many some teaching

pedagogy moments throughout the course. I realized how important multi modal literacies are

and how it is not limited to the Language Arts curriculum; if one was to look back at my

scratchpad, it shows how my definition of literacies were limited to writing on paper. This notion

was further reiterated when I was reading Professor Lotherington’s and Professor Jenson’s

article, Teaching Multimodal and Digital Literacy in L2 Settings: New Literacies, New Basics,

New Pedagogies. The article discussed how, “reducing L2 learning to the flat literacies of paper-

based resources in the classroom raises questions of authenticity in L2 learning” (Lotherington

and Jenson, 2011, page 228). Hence, it taught me as a future teacher to ensure that my teaching

does not simply revolve around the idea of paper-based work.

Throughout the semester, my peers and Professor Lotherington mentioned many digital

ways of teaching and learning. For instance, as mentioned in my second draft, I made a comic

book with quite a lot of difficulty. However, my peers mentioned an app called “Frameless”

which allowed for the creation of comics in such an easy way! Additionally, the Jenson and

Lotherington article mentioned how these new ways of learning are not completely discarding

the older ways of teaching, rather it is merging “cultural forms and practices” (Lotherington and

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Professor Heather Lotherington 213542089

Jenson, 2011, page 228). Hence, this was an opportunity for me to have a real teaching pedagogy

moment. This is because I realized that the increase use of technology in the classroom is only

because this is how our world is progressing; hence, our inside classroom will always be a

representation of the culture outside the classroom.

Moreover, the article also discussed how play is work and work is play; similar to the

video, Learning through Situated Production in New Media Ecologies. The video discussed how

there used to be a 15-minute slot in the school day where students were given the chance to play.

This can be seen as completely obscure in today’s culture because of the new kindergarten

curriculum. In my placement classroom, the kindergarteners would steer the lessons and

activities of the day based on student-generated questions and inquiry based learning; rarely, in

the class did students sit down and write a journal or do math worksheets. For instance, in my

kindergarten class, the students created an Aylesbury Farmer’s Market. This lesson was initiated

by a student in the class who brought apples for my mentor teacher after visiting an apple

orchard. The student – created market became an inquiry of the children because they wished to

build their own market (see picture below). In this notion, I learned how important inquiry based

learning was, and how real learning can always be student-initiated and outside of the classroom.

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Nonetheless, technology is great but when the conversation of big data and post truth

was mentioned in our class lectures, I stepped back to think about the limits of using

technology in the classroom. Boyd and Crawford’s article, Critical questions for big data:

Provocations for a cultural, technological, and scholarly phenomenon, discusses the current

oxymoron in society, the idea that “big data shows that with this free network and ideas, there is

increased control” (Boyd and Crawford, 2012, page 164). This shows that there are certain

disadvantages with using and bringing technology in the classroom. This includes the parents

preference if their children are allowed to use electronics, as well as, the accessibility of

technology, especially in schools that have the Bring Your Own Device (BOYD) program.

Consequently, the use of technology can result to students categorizing themselves as the rich vs

the poor. On the other hand, if the school is able to provide students with the electronics, such as

iPads, this can be a great asset in the classroom. To expand, when Professor Lotherington taught

us the use of storyboards and 1-minute clips, known as cellphilms, my group and I thoroughly

enjoyed the activity, and I am sure that my future students will too (If you

scroll down this webpage, I have attached our storyboard-cellphilm to watch

😊) Hence, the question comes down to how much technology is too much?

In the final analysis, this assignment was a great thought process for me to analyze the

new media literacies in my educational experience, progressing culture, as well as, my teaching

pedagogies. I was able to learn different uses of technology in my lesson plans, and reflect on

present day Big Brother. I endeavour to use this process in my future classrooms and hope to

give my students lessons that fit their interests and the culture we live in.

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Bibliography

Boyd, d., & Crawford, K. (2012). Critical questions for big data: Provocations for a cultural,
technological, and scholarly phenomenon. Information, communication & society, 15(5),
662-679.

Early, M., Kendrick, M., & Potts, D. (2015). Multimodality: Out from the margins of English
language teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 49(3), 447-460.

Halverson, E. R., & Sheridan, K. (2014). The maker movement in education. Harvard
Educational Review, 84(4), 495-504.

Lankshear, C. & Knobel, M. (2012). ‘New’ literacies: technologies and values. Teknokultura:
Revista de cultural digital y movimientos sociales, 9(1), 45-69.

Lotherington, H. & Jenson, J. (2011). Teaching multimodal and digital literacy in L2 settings:
New literacies, new basics, new pedagogies. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 31,
226-246.

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