A10.4: Week 10 Participation Memo

Traci Girondo

October 26, 2007

Aims and Objectives: My personal goal for this week was to continue to learn about the literacy skills that individuals need to posses to be successful in a digital world. I also wanted to continue researching information on my research topic so that I could begin writing my I-search paper.

Declarative Knowledge: This week I learned about reproduction literacy. What I learned is that reproduction literacy skills are something that I possess and have been required to use, but never knew there was a specific name for them. I learned that reproduction literacy is the ability to take various forms of media and transform that material to create a new idea or meaning. I learned that this is something I have done numerous times when writing research papers and I paraphrase information I have found. This shows how reproduction literacy skills can be used in writing, but these skills can also be used in art. In art images, videos, and photographs can be transformed to create a new visual image. A good example of this is a painting of mona lisa with a mustache. Basically, I learned that reproduction literacy skills are skills that I possess and will be using throughout the rest of my life.

I also learned this week about myself and my work skills. I have become very accustomed to having specific readings and assignments that are due on a specific day. Since our work in this class is becoming more focused on our personal research I found that I have been putting off researching my topic since I wasn’t being required to do research and turn in an assignment on my research. Now that the due date is approaching I know I need to focus my time on completing this projet. I learned that my time management skills are going to become very important to complete my paper and movie on top of my work for other classes.

Procedural Knowledge: This week I did not learn how to complete a specific process, but I did learn that reproduction literacy skills are something that I will be using very soon as I begin to write my I-search paper for this class. From my research on this topic I will now know how to use these skills when writing my paper and creating my movie.

Conditional Knowledge: The information I learned this week will be something that I use both in my career as a student and as a future speech language pathologist. In both of these I will use reproduction literacy skills to create new ideas, meanings, and interpretations of pre-exsisting material. As a student I will use these skills when writing research papers and completing projects. I will use these in my future career in that I will constantly have to take information and transform it in to my own words so, that when I talk to parents and clients they will understand the material I am talking about. In my own life I will use reproduction literacy skills when I scrapbook as I take various forms or images and words and transform them in to a page that will help me to remember special times in my life.

A10.1: Reproduction Litercy

What do you know/can you find out about reproduction literacy skills?

Before researching reproductive litercy I new very little information on the subject. After completing very limited research on this topic I have a better understanding of reproduction literacy. Reproduction literacy the ability to take exsisting art, text, or sounds and manipulate it to create something new. A transformation is made to create new meanings and interpretations of pre-exsisting material. Specifically, reproduction literacy is important in the domains of writing and art. In writing, words can be rearranged and manipulated to change the underlining meaning of the original words. By doing this individuals can express how words can be manipulated and changed to develop new ideas. For the domain of art, various images can be pulled together to create a new work of art. An example of reproduction literacy skills being used in art would be when Salvador Dali put a mustache on a painting of Mona Lisa. Reproduction literacy skills are being more widely used as the use of the web is making it easier to recreate words and images.

What are your reactions to the idea that there are such skills?

I am not surprised that there are reproduction literacy skills. It takes a creative individual to manipulate words and images to create something new. I feel that it takes enginuity to take a someone elses words or art and then reproduce that material in to a new form that is your own. I can see where reproduction literacy skills could be important skills to possess because these skills are another way for a person to express themselves and showcase their creativity. These skills could be very influential in the development of new ideas and materials that would never have been developed if a person did not possess these skills. Personally, I use reproduction skills when writing papers. If I do not use a direct quote from a person than some of my ideas may be another individuals, but I paraphrase what they have said in my own words. I then give credit to the person who first had this idea, but I have now made it my own by reproducing it in a new form.

How do you think this “new” literacy will change education/schooling?

I feel that this new literacy will change education/ schooling in that students will now more educated on taking material and manipulating it to make it their own. I think more emphasis is being placed in school systems on what constitutes plagiarism and what is considered paraphrasing. I feel that since this new skill is being used more readily because of computers and internet that teachers will have to educate students more on not only how to simply use computers, but how to manipulate information on the computer to create new ideas and materials. I feel that reproduction literacy skills are very important for students to have because we are constantly being challenged to take ideas of other individuals and make them our own and create new material from this. In all actuality this is the basis of research. Researchers take an idea that is shared among many individuals and they study that subject and they search for information and ways to make that idea their own. This is how words, images, and ideas are improved. A person has reproduction literacy skills and is able to take those materials and create from it something that is even better than the original version.

Eshet-Alkalai, Y., & Amichai-Hamburget, Y. (2004, August). Experiments in digital literacy. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 7(4), 421-429.

Aphek, E. (2007). Digital, highly connected children: Implications for education. Retrieved October 26, 2007, from http://www.creativityatwork.com/articlesContent/aphek/digital-literacy.html

Eshet-Alkai, Y. (2004).  Digital literacy: A conceptual framework for survival skills in the digital era.  JI. of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 13(1), 93-106. 

A10.3: Revised Project Prospectus

Traci Girondo

October 26, 2007

1. Research Question/Foundation Questions:

In what ways can teachers foster the development of literacy skills in children from impoverished environments?

1. What literacy skills are common among all school-age children?

2. What literacy skills are unique to children from impoverished environments?

3. What is the teachers role in fostering the development of literacy skills?

2. Tentative point:

Through my research, I plan to make the point that teachers can be influential in fostering the development of literacy skills in children from impoverished environments by focusing on the areas of literacy these children struggle with.

3. Discussion:

Before beginning my research on this topic I knew that poverty had an effect on a child’s literacy skills. My knowledge on this came from a Read Aloud program that I participated in at Marshall University. In this program we were assigned to specific schools in the area that were noted as being at risk schools. These schools were recieving low test scores and very little federal funding. The goal of this program was to get the children actively involved in reading. In this program I came to the school once a week and read aloud to the class. The children were encouraged to ask questions about the book. Typically, after I read the book then the children participated in a reading activity with their teacher. I noticed while at the school that many of the children struggled with reading. I discussed this with the teacher and she noted that many of the students did not have family at home to encourage literacy skills such as reading. Factors such as this can affect literacy because the children are not recieving as much stimulation as other children and have less literacy experiences. Since I am aware of how impoverished environments and parent interactions can affect literacy I wanted to focus my research on an area I was unfamiliar with. I want to specifically look at an educators role in the development of literacy in children from impoverished environments.

The information I am learning on my research questions is giving me a better idea of how a child’s environment can affect their literacy skills and how teachers can help in the development of their literacy skills. From my research I am learning a lot of new information that I was unaware of before. I am finding many differences in the literacy skills of children who are raised in an impoverished environment as compared to other children’s literacy skills. The implications in research are that children who are raised in an impoverished environment fall behind their same aged peers when it comes to reading skills. Children from impoverished environments have more difficulties with reading comprehension, phonemic awareness, and word recognition. These problems seem to stem from the lack of stimulation and literacy experiences the child is recieving outside of school. These limited experiences set the child up for delays when they enter school which is why it is important for teachers to be aware of how to remidiate these delays. The research I have found in regards to ways teachers can increase literacy skills in children is for them to chose reading materials that are age appropriate for the child. Also, it is important to incorporate visual images until the child is more comfortable simply reading text.

From what I am learning I developed 3 research questions to help me focus my research so that I would be able to answer my research question. When coming up with these research questions I wanted to focus specifically common literacy skills among all school age children, literacy skills specific to children from impoverished environments and what a teachers role is in the development of literacy in students. I felt that these questions would allow me compare and contrast children from impoverished environments to their fellow school age peers and see if there are any spevific literacy skills that are only common among children from impoverished environments. If there is I then want to determine how teachers can help to develop these skills the children are lacking. I feel the most important thing for me to accomplish by answering these questions is to find relevant information that will help me answer my research questions. I feel that the questions I have developed will give me a well rounded view of the topic and help me to focus my research to answer my research question. I am sure as I continue my research these questions will expand and change.

There are many challenges I foresee when thinking about the research to answer my research question. I am having a difficult time finding information that looks specifically at children from impoverished environments and their literacy skills. There is a lot information available on literacy, but literacy itself is a very broad topic. I have also found a lot of information on adult literacy, but limited information on children. I feel that I will just have to spend a lot of time searching for articles that pertain to the subject matter I am researching. I need to make sure that the research I am finding is valid and reliable. I know it is going to be a lot of work searching for information that helps me answer my research question, but I am up for the challenge. I think the end result of this research is going to be vast amount knowledge on a topic I feel is very important. There is no reason why children should not have every oppurtunity to succeed.

Baydar, N., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Furstenberg, F.F. (1993, June). Early warning signs of functional illiteracy: Predictors in childhood and adolescence. Child Development, 64(3), 815-829. Retrieved October 6, 2007, from the PsychINFO database.

D’Angiulli, A., Hertzman, C., & Siegel, L. S. (2004). Schooling, Socioeconomic Context and Literacy Development. Educational Psychology, 24(6), 867-883. Retrieved September 18, 2007, from the ERIC database.

Kainz, K. & Vernon-Feagans, L. (2007, May). The ecology of early reading development for children in poverty. Elementary School Journal, 107(5), 407-427. Retrieved October 6, 2007, from the ERIC database.

Leavy, J., Masters, A., & White, H. (2003, November). Comparative perspectives on child poverty: A review of poverty measures. Journal of Human Development, 4(3), 379-397. Retrieved October 6, 2007, from the Academic Search Premier database.

Nancollis, A., Lawrie, B., & Dodd, B. (2005). Phonological Awareness Intervention and the Acquisition of Literacy Skills in Children From Deprived Social Backgrounds. Language,Speech, & Hearing Services in Schools, 36(4), 325-335. Retrieved September 18, 2007, from the Academic Search Premier database.