Metacognitive Essay
Educators are often called upon to verbalize their personal
philosophy of teaching. This may evolve
and transition as our educational experiences develop, as new research shapes
our thoughts and ideals, and as our contemporary reality shifts and changes. The “constant”, however, for any dedicated
professional, is the innate desire to provide and facilitate a learning
environment that provides for the best possible outcomes for our students. This implies a commitment to life-long
learning and the pursuit of methods of instruction that avoid bias, enable all learners, narrow participation gaps,
and promote critical thinking skills.
The coursework for New Media and New Literacies opened a new
realm of possibility in my academic “toolkit”.
I was able to connect the content to my teaching experiences, while
keeping my original philosophy intact.
This was insightful, however unexpected.
Although I appreciated all of the required readings, video
offerings, and audio clips--there were four components these last weeks have
had the strongest impact. The first was
the discussion of participatory cultures and the challenges that accompany
them-particularly the participation gap.
This resounded with me because of my strong commitment to advocacy and
reducing any barriers for student success.
This remains a strong component of my teaching philosophy, and the
reading illustrated a definite need for equity of access and connectivity. The search for ways to “level the playing
field” in this respect, will be an added piece to my existing philosophy.
The second component that I was able to connect was the
discussion forum on the social implications of technology. This was further enhanced by the NPR
broadcast and interview with Sherry Turkle (Turkle, S., October 17, 2012). Turkle expressed concerns, with regard to the
social implications of technology use.
Concerns included a loss of the social skills necessary for negotiation,
reading each other’s emotions (in face-to-face interaction), and facing
confrontation through problem-solving skills.
This served as a reinforcement for my own philosophy of teaching, in
that educators need to be mindful and intentional in preparing learning
environments—including the implementation of technology and digital media.
The third aspect of this course that had the strongest
impact on my learning was the advertisement deconstruction assignment. This was such an interesting project, and it
really served to illustrate the hidden biases that are present in media
offerings. The activity demonstrated the
importance of teaching our students how to think critically and search for
hidden biases with regard to online offerings—what they read, see, hear, and
say. This will drive my future practice
in the sense that I have a clearer view of digital responsibility and the need
for instilling the importance of developing critical tools with my
students—right from the start. It also
illustrated the need for on-going professional development opportunities for my
staff. This will, indeed, drive my
future practice- in that, I will prioritize making these opportunities
available for educators in my facility.
The fourth and final aspect of this course that really
resounded with me, was the statement by Don Tapscott that we need to “change
the model of our pedagogy to meet the needs of our students” (Growing Up
Digital, March 3, 2011). This really
summed up the content of this course for me.
We have received a lot of excellent information through the readings,
videos, and audio recordings. It will
take some time to digest it all, and move forward with the determinations we
make. One thing, however, is clear: We,
as educators, must approach new media and new literacies with our eyes wide
open, and backed by solid preparation.
As with any facet of our pedagogy, our approach must be mindful,
intentional, and responsibly implemented.
This is how we meet our students “where they are at”, and best prepare
them for successful outcomes.
What questions or “ah-ha” moments do I have at the
conclusion of this course? I was surprised to find that I was able to make such
strong connections between the content of this course and my own
experiences. I had fairly strong
convictions, upon starting this class, that I would struggle to find correlations
to the field of Early Childhood Education.
It was enlightening and exciting to be presented with so many options
and opportunities for advocacy and developmentally appropriate practice.
The question ahead involves determining a thoughtful
approach to implementation, while maintaining a commitment to best
practices. It seems that as I move into
an administrative role in my facility—it will work in my favor that I will be
starting with a blank slate. I have a
unique opportunity to develop policies and programs that will embrace new media
and new literacies. I intend to face this challenge head-on.
References
Jenkins, H. (2009). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press
Lankshear, Colin, and Michele Knobel. Literacies: Social, Cultural and Historical Perspectives.
New York: Peter Lang, 2011.
Tapscott, D. (2011). Growing up digital. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com
Turkle, S. (2012). Alone together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other. Retrieved from: http://www.npr.org/2012
