Thursday, June 26, 2008

Miller Reading Part I

Please read Needed: New Literacies for New Times through Teacher Professional Development on New Literacies.

Please post your response to the reading. What ideas resonate with you? Are their theoretical or pragmatic ideas which you think need explanation, emphasis or clarification? Be sure to include an overview of what you read as well. In terms of length I would assume that your post would be a couple of long paragraphs.

I will be using your posts to lead the discussion we have next Tuesday. While not required, feel free to respond other posts if you feel the spirit to do so.

Introductions


Welcome to Digital Literacy

My name is Keith Hughes and I will be your instructor. I have been teaching at the high school level, at McKinley High School for for eight years and at the college level for four years. In addition I have also been the lead instructor for City Voices, City Vision for six years. Adopting the new literacies model I seek to expand the adoption and use of multimodality in our classrooms to facilitate learning. I believe with my heart and soul that young people crave learning. I also believe that as an educator my job is to facilitate their journey to self sufficiency and academic success. There is a saying that I've adopted in my classroom, "Where attention goes, energy flows". Whether it is a dynamic lecture, a student produced video project or writing a research paper, when a student can be convinced to devote their attention to a task the possibilities become endless.

I Grew Up
My roots are sown in the lower N.Y. Hudson Valley in a small town named Putnam Valley.

My Hobbies
Videography has been a creative outlet for me for the last 6 or 7 years. I also have a bit of political junky in me as well.

Favorite Books
Catcher in the Rye (Salinger), Breakfast of Champions (and anything by Kurt Vonnegut) and Howard Zinn's, The People's History of the United States.

Why I Do What I Do
Teaching is in my DNA.

My Family
One wife, two daughters, two dogs, three cats, two rabbits and a partridge in a pear tree.

Now tell us about yourself. Who the heck are? Why are you here? What experience do you bring? What would you like to get out of this summer class?