When I think about designing classroom activities across spaces, I remind myself that learning doesn't begin and end on a screen. For the group I work with, learning is most powerful when it moves between hands on experiences, guided conversations and carefully chosen digital supports. Donohue explains that digital literacies give students new wats to represent knowledge and build meaning, but those tools are only one part of the bigger picture. In my classroom, I want to be intentional about showing children how technology fits into their broader literacy practices rather than letting it stand alone. 

Engaging children in conversation around new literacy can be simple but purposeful. For example, when I use digital story telling app, I can pause and ask, "Who might want to hear a story?". conversation can help my students see the tool not just ask a task but as a way to connect with each other in their group.

Philips and Garcia remind us that even though today's children are growing up surrounded by technology, pedagogy must remain important. In other words, simply putting an iPad in front if a child is not enough, it is the intentional teaching choices we make that determine whether technology deepens learning or just distracts from it. This resonates with my preschool classroom, where students may be drawn to digital apps but still need adult modeling, structure and scaffolding to understand how those tools connect to literacy and communication. 

Equity and engagement are always a worry as not all children have equal access to technology at home. To support this, I sometimes create activities that have multiple entry points, so if a child struggles with the digital, they can still participate in the hand on work. 

A project I would love to try is a "Community Helpers Project" We could begin with the student's role-playing different community helpers (Doctors, firefighter, policeman) using props and costumes. Then, we could take photos and videos of the children in their roles and compile them into a digital class book or a slideshow using an app calked Book Creator. I love this because it uses imaginative play with digital publishing, giving the children a product to share with families. The tension, of course is ensuring that technology supports rather than replaces play. To help this, I would keep the focus on the role play itself and use the digital tool as a way to capture and celebrate student learning.

References 

Donohue, C. (2015). Technology and digital media in the early years: Tools for teaching and learning.

Philips, L. A., & Garcia, M. (2013). The importance of still teaching the iGeneration: New technologies and the centrality of pedagogy. International Journal of Educational Research, 62, 257–265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2013.09.002

 

     One of my main takeaways from the reading is that digital literacies are not just about technical skills, but also about meaning making, communication, and identity. We have learned that literacy is and has been a collection of communication and sociocultural practices shared amount communities and that involves communities withing schools ("Definition of literacy in a digital age," 2022). They include the way we use texts, images, and multimedia to represent themselves, give knowledge and participate in communities. In my preschool classroom, I already see how children express themselves through movement, images, or even technology-assisted play. In my area literacy is about communication in its many forms, not just reading words on a page. It can be said that I am using the concept of multiliteracies. Multiliteracies came about as a way to move beyond the old idea that literacy is just reading and writing and instead recognize all the new ways to share (Sang 2017).

    Literacy is not static; it changes as technology and society change. "The new " was the idea that literacy is always tied to social practices rather than just skills (Knobel and Lankshear's 2007). They describe how new literacies often focus on participation, collaboration, and creativity. What children bring into a classroom today often looks very different from the school-based literacy practices we use to have and value. In my reading I learned that digital literacies are not just access to tools but about using them critically and equitably (International Literacy Association 2018). This challenges me to think about how I introduce technology in my preschool special education classroom. It is not enough to put a tablet in a child's hands, I need to be intentional about how it is used, making sure it promotes expression and inclusion not just rote learning. In this article I learned that it is just not about how one often thinks that about digital literacy in terms of helping students keep up with technology, but it shifted my thinking towards how literacy can also empower students who are marginalized. This challenged me because as an educator. I sometimes worry that very young children may not be ready for "big" concepts.  

    In my preschool classroom I see how important it is to expand what counts as literacy. Some of my students may not communicate through traditional reading or writing, but they can tell a story with pictures, movements, or digital recordings. Expanding the definition of literacy allows me to meet them where r they are and give them the tools to grow into confident communication in a digital world.

                                                                        

                                                        References

Definition of literacy in a digital age. (2022, April 19). National Council of Teachers of English. https://ncte.org/statement/nctes-definition-literacy-digital-age/

(n.d.). ERIC - Education Resources Information Center. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1139059.pdf

(n.d.). International Literacy Association. https://www.literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/where-we-stand/ila-improving-digital-practices-literacy-learning-justice.pdf

(n.d.). Narrate Annotate – Storytelling and Learning in the Open. https://narrateannotate.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/lk2007ch1.pdf

 In my work as a preschool special education teacher, I see every day how literacy is much more than reading and writing traditional print. Many of my students are emergent communicators, and their "literacy" might come through picture symbols, gestures, assistive technology, or digital storytelling rather than only printed words. 

In my reading I learned that the “technical stuff” in New Literacies is “new” because of two distinctive characters. First, while the “old technologies” mostly consist of simple forms of production, the new “technical stuff” is a “hybridization of multimodal media” that includes texts, images, music, videos, etc., which altogether create interactive and interconnected forms of production that can be retrieved conveniently (Lankshear and Knobel, 2007). 

Recognizing these as valid literacies allows me to value and build upon each child's strengths, rather than limiting them to one traditional pathway.

Look, if we're going to treat "literacy" like it's just reading and writing in perfect academic English, in one cookie-cutter dialect, we're totally missing the point. Tons of kids, especially those from different cultures, or who use language in unique ways get left out when we're that rigid.  A preschooler who is bilingual or uses augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) may have strong skills in meaning making and self-expression, but these could be overlooked if we only value standard print English.

New literacies practices broaden this definition to include digital media, multimodal expression (images. audio, video, symbols), and community-based forms of communication.  This can support equity and access by recognizing the literacy practices students already use in their daily lives and connecting them to learning in school. In my own classroom, we use tools like ClassDojo to share photos and videos of students' work with families and integrate music and movement into storytelling.

At the end of the day, I believe literacy is about connection, helping students find their voice and giving them the tools to share their ideas in ways that are meaningful them. In my preschool special education classroom, that might mean a student tells a story through a sequence of pictures, sings it, or uses an iPad to record their voice. When we look at literacy through a bigger picture, we open more doors for students to be heard and capable. That's the kind of classroom I want to build every day.

References

Knobel, M., & Lankshear, C. (2007). A new literacies sampler. Peter Lang
 

 Hello and welcome!!

My name is Flora Rivas, and I am so excited to share this space with you throughout our course. This blog will be my place to share ideas, reflect and just talk about the learning and teaching journey as I work towards a master's in education while continuing my role as a lead teacher in a preschool special education setting.   

A little bit about me: I am always in need of rest! I work two jobs because I have three children.  I pray and ask for the grace to keep my strength up as I complete my goals. I love watching my shows and reading.   I look forward to this learning ride as we all push through to complete our goals!!!