Reflection

This was a really unique experience for me. I came into this class as a self-described "user" of technology with not working knowledge of how to produce anything with the technologies I used on a daily basis. By the end of this project I had helped develop a google page to present our findings in a virtual space that would create an interactive forum for other to discuss and analyze our findings and conclusions. I found this experience to not only be useful for this class, but also to give me tools I can use in my future classroom.

I feel I really lucked out with the group dynamic will created during the project. We were very flexible and really allowed ourselves to deal with the topic discuss in the paper as individuals, which led to a lot of discussion during our planning session. We really allowed each other to deal and analyze their own conceptions of literacies and how the theories we discussed in class applied to the video we analyze. We did not force each other to write about certain topics or certain clips, but allowed each member to provide their own rationale for their project work.

Doing this project allowed me to see that creating a "community of learners" is not just a piecemeal process, but a wholesale rethinking of the context of schooling. It also allowed me to grapple with own philosophies, practices, and teaching ideas.

Project Reflection

The chance to watch the literacy practices of an eighth grade classroom was a great experience. I found this as well as the group project to be an experience worthy of my time. The experience of group learning for this project went well. The project could have gone the other way given working with three different people with conflicting schedules and forced to complete this on a condensed summer schedule. The project was divided equally amongst the four group member and we shared our information with one another through email as this was the easiest and fastest way to provide one another with the information that we created for the paper. Preparing our project in this manner made it easier for group members to read and edit information and make suggestions in order to create a more cohesive end product.

For this project each of us took an active role in contributing to the final product. In class we managed to create a genuine community of learners, which positively influenced our small group discussions and ideas surrounding our project. Often in the past I have been assigned to group projects and typically the work load is divided - sometimes evenly sometimes not - and members complete their assigned task, but fail to work collaboratively and engage in social learning. This experience was quite different. I enjoyed having time designated for group work, and we were productive in completing a multi-genre, interactive, and technologically centered piece. This is quite a task considering the time constraints surrounding summer courses. Our research was intended to connect theory and practice. We noticed that theoretical literacy practices may have guided the original intention of the lesson, but the implementation failed to produce successful results. We determined that most of the weaknesses in implementation were due to a lack of authentic engagement, and that student-centered instruction may not have been a priority. In the future this research will undoubtedly guide my instruction.

Lost Opportunities Reflection

This research project provided a wonderful opportunity to observe literacy in actual practice. Not only was I able to observe an actual 8^th grade classroom, my participation as a member of this group further exposed me to a variety of literacy practices. While I generally have not engaged in group work, I found this to be a refreshing and rewarding experience. The group was very flexible and collaborated on all aspects of the project. Even though we each had our individual parts of the project to finish, there was never any hesitation to contact a group member for support or questions. I also found that we began to truly develop a community of learners approach to the project, which started to spill over into the Tuesday and Thursday classes. I feel that this project exposed to me a wide variety of literacy experiences as well as preparing me for my future career in education.

Conception of Blog

This blog was created to enhance discussion based on our final project. However, we free to actively discuss and engage in other topics should they arise.

Cheers
-Doug