Introduction

The following blog is a 3 cycle 6 action research, action, and reflection project on students and their use and creation of various digital literacy medias. This project has only begun to skim the surface of these new and important literacies in my teaching. In order to fully prepare our students for this vast and constantly changing world, it is of the utmost importance to prepare our students for the use of these 'new' literacies. "In contemporary societies, we must now include texts created via digital technologies when we speak of the texts that cocoon us in everyday lives and allow us to make our way through the city as we navigate our various social, political, cultural and economic obligations." (Carrington & Robbinson, 2009)

The following cycles take the reader through a collaborative and social process that begins with students using digital literacies for their inquiries, all the way to beginning the creation of a digital literacy project. Before being immersed in this digital literacy world as my students and I have been and continue to be, you will learn of my rationale for this project, as well as the positionality that brought me here. You will learn practical, and user friendly ways to make all of this happen in any classroom. This is the future of education, and the future is here!

Digital Literacy Roadmap

The Digital Landscapes in the Classroom blog is an ongoing research project into a group of third grade students' use and creation of various digital literacies, and my support and learning of them. After the introduction and this roadmap, the blog should be read, somewhat, in reverse order as follows.

I. Introduction

II. Roadmap

III. Project Rationale

IV. Researcher's Positionality

V. Research Context

VI. Action Research Reflection Cycle 1

1. Action 1: Using Digital/Media Sources to Further Their Inquiry and Research
2. Action 2: Using Student/Teacher Made Podcasts to Be Reflective Researchers
3. Action 3: Noticing Different Perspectives of a Research Topic on Various Digital Media Sources and Forming Our Own Point of View

VII. Action Research Reflection Cycle 2

1. Action 1: Critical Bloggers: Investigating Online Blogs as Critical Readers
2. Action 2: Creating Blogs with a Perspective About Their Research Topic
3. Action 3: Using Blogs to Foster Collaborative/Social Learning: Opening the Doors for Global Communication

VIII. Action Research Reflection Cycle 3

1. Action 1: Analyzing Websites
2. Action 2: Creating Content Area Wiki Pages
3. Action 3: Being Reflective About Our Wikis

IX. Final Thoughts: Final Reflection

Final Thoughts

The New Teacher

In his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms Richardson argues that in order for these 'new literacies' to be successful there needs to be a "redefinition of what it means to teach." Teachers must first be connectors, where they are connecting students to each other, to content, and others in the world. We must also be content creators, in which we 'ourselves' are working in and creating these mediums such as blogs, podcasts, videos, wikis, etc... Next, teachers must be collaborators. We need to collaborate with other teachers, with our students, and get our students to collaborate with each other. Another important attribute is that we as teachers need to be coaches. We should be demonstrating all of these new literacies for our students, thereby motivating them to want to do the same. There should not be a 45 minute long traditional lesson and lecture. That's the fastest way to get kids to do the opposite of what you want them to do. The final piece to this important puzzle is that teachers need to be change agents, and truly move away from the traditional forms of teaching and literacy. (Richardson, 2010) Beginning to move in this direction, during this project, was exciting and not as difficult as I thought it would be. All of theses elements are alive and well in the reading and writing workshops, which have been alive and well in my classroom the last few years.

The Three Questions

There are three questions Carrington and Robinson believe teachers should continuously ask themselves to make sure they are being effective teachers of digital literacy in their classrooms. "What styles of learning can be identified? What are the participants’ motivations for learning? How do they critique and seek to improve their own work ?" (Carrington & Robinson, 2009)

What styles of learning can be identified?

As the students and I progressed through this project together, I began to see how these 'new literacies' meet all learning styles and the different multiple intelligences. The multimodal texts that digital literacy provides hits the auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners all at the same time. I saw, first hand, how students who were stronger auditory learners tapped into digital content that contained audio clips, such as podcasts, YouTube, documentaries, etc... It was also interesting to see these auditory learners rely on the collaboration and discussion with their peers. Working with the keyboard and mouse as they constantly interact and construct within this digital realm made the kinesthetic learners feel comfortable and highly confident. For the visual learners, the possibilities with these 'new literacies' are endless.

Working with digital literacy hits all of the multiple intelligences, and fairly consistently. Just to touch upon several of them, visual/spatial intelligence is needed in order to navigate websites, create blogs and wikis, design various digital literacy presentations. For instance, when the students were creating their wiki pages they first needed to analyze websites to see how web designers created their spaces visually, then they began to plan their wiki pages spatially. Interpersonal and intrapersonal skills were crucial in theses digital literacy processes because the students had to first get an understanding for how others did things, and then collaborate with each other on all aspects of there work. It was also important for the students to be able to reflect about themselves, their work, and collaboration in all parts of the process. Being aware of the learning styles and multiple intelligences that digital literacy uses and enables, proves how important it is to incorporate digital literacy into all aspects of our everyday teaching.

What are the participants' motivations for learning?

Gauging the students' motivations for learning was easily visible within these 'new literacies.' There wasn't a single moment during this entire process where students weren't excited about what they were doing, or what they were going to be doing. When students are blogging, they are passionate about their topic and their perspective about their particular topic. The student bloggers are then highly motivated to get their point of view across, and post their blog so they can get a communication going through commenting. Working with and creating their own multimodal texts is within itself engaging because students are constantly being stimulated by all of their senses. Motivations for learning is never going to be a problem for participants of digital literacy, especially if the teacher models his/her passion and successes with the medium as well.

How do they critique and seek to improve their own work?

Analyzing and reflecting on their work in digital literacy was not something that necessarily came naturally for the students. I needed to model effective ways I critiqued and improved my own work in these mediums. It was also helpful to uses student samples of critique in order for students to see how they really could be successful with this. "When you celebrate good work, or students' unique ideas to drive further discussion, it goes a long way toward creating a community of learners." (Richardson, 2010) And isn't this at the heart of good workshop teaching as well? Once enough modeling and structures were put into place, the students really begaTn to critique and improve their work based on their reflection and analysis. The collaborative and social processes that digital literacy allow gave students an effective support system that helped critique become more comfortable for them, and gave students many opportunities to learn from each other. We were even able to bring many of our revision strategies and structures from writing workshop into play. Critiquing their work and seeking improvements is still an area where the students need to improve upon greatly, and I need to improve my coaching and collaboration with them. Change is constant in the digital realm, and improving our work through self and collaborative critique is essential for success.

Next Steps

This project has only begun to scratch the surface of working with digital literacy in my classroom, and making it a core part of my teaching and pedagogy. The next steps are boundless and infinite, just like digital literacy itself. The following are just a few examples of next steps I plan on taking with these students and future students; getting students to explore power relationships, creating collaborative stories on a wiki where global participants work on and create a story together, doing an investigation and case study with Wikipedia, etc... As I said the possibilities are endless, but teachers don't forget, you need to be versed in the technology before presenting it to your students. So, the professional development implications for teachers are vast and exciting, and make collaboration crucial. You don't need to do this alone.

I think Richardson sums up the direction of our world and education the best. "More and more content both new and old will continue to come online…the internet will continue to explode as the most comprehensive source of information in history…the trend is that the creation of that content is collaborative…students will be asked to work with others from around the globe collaboratively to create content for diverse and wide-ranging audiences….Compare that to an educational system that, by and large, asks those same students to work independently on paper for a very narrow audience, and the disconnect becomes painfully clear." (Richardson, 2010)

Researcher's Postionality

Technology is Here To Stay!

There are key positions I take, some without even realizing, that definitely impacted this project, and emerged within it. How I subscribe to technology had a huge impact on using digital literacy with my students. In an early part of this project I nonchalantly discussed how one day during my classroom research I whipped out my iphone, recorded a nonfiction book club's book talk, and BAM a podcast was born. This was not a premeditated action. Pulling the iPhone out without thinking shows how technology is embedded in my life; from my phone, to constant email and text correspondence, to Facebook, to personal blogging, etc... This is not a positionality that every teacher has, so when reading my blogs about this project it is important to take note of how I subscribe to technology in an active way. Of course not all teachers are ready to be involved in this discourse as I am, but just as with anything in teaching it is important to make sure that we are active participants in what we are teaching our students. Just as we keep our own writer's notebooks in Writing Workshop, we need to keep our own blogs and make our own podcasts. We all can do this in small steps. There's no need to overwhelm ourselves, but it is important to begin the process. I never subscribed to blogs before beginning this process with my students. That is why I pushed myself to present this project in blog form, as opposed to a traditional research paper. If we push our students to try new discourses, how can we not hold ourselves accountable to do the same?

Why Are We So Critical?

It's human nature to be critical of ourselves and others. Many think of this as a flaw, but being critical, especially in literacy, brings us to new levels of engagement and learning that are crucial in order to be active and successful citizens in our democratic society. Without even intending to do so, my project was loaded with critical literacy elements. Students were asked to critically look at others' online creations for content, points of view, and perspective. They were also expected to be critical of themselves and others as they worked within these digital literacies collaboratively. I feel it is important to see how others working in these new literacies subscribe to a certain point of view or perspective, because the students needed to form their own with their creations. Critical literacy is fundamental in keeping the collaborative and social aspects of literacy thriving. "By re-framing children's online text production as a positive and creative activity, the opportunity to develop children's critical digital literacy, and increasing mastery as effective and safe communicators in the twenty-first century, can only be enhanced." (Carrington & Robinson, 2010)

Workshop for Everyone

My beliefs and positionality of the Reading and Writing Workshops played a huge influence on the success of this digital literacy action research project. Kids learn best by seeing someone modeling by wearing the love of what they are doing on their sleeve, by doing what is taught, and being coached as they begin their own collaborative and independent study. These are some aspects of workshop teaching, among others, that I value and found their way into my work with students in digital literacy. As Lucy Calkins says about Writing Workshop, "Children draft, revise, and edit their writing. They incorporate help from mentor authors, writing partners, and conferences with their teacher," (Calkins, 2001) I also believe these and other workshop elements enhance students' work with the various digital literacies. True workshop teaching creates and fosters the social and collaborative work that I expect students to do with these 'new literacies.'

Research Context

I. The School and Classroom Literacy Environment

The classroom literacy environment is important to establish, be aware of and reflect upon in order for literacy instruction to be at its highest level. The literacy environment I will be documenting is that of my own 3^rd grade classroom in Summit, New Jersey at Wayside Elementary. Wayside Elementary is a suburban school in an upper middle class community, and consists of grades 1-5. It is one of five elementary schools in the district, but is located in a section of town with the highest population of English language learners and lower income families, mixed in with high-income upper middle class families. The population of the school is 73.7 percent English speakers as the first language spoken at home, 17.2 percent Spanish, 3 percent Mandarin, 1.8 percent Hindi, 1 percent Russian, 0.8 percent Cantonese and 9.1 percent with Limited English Proficiency (LEP).

II. Wayside School Literacy Environment

Wayside school is a project school working with Teacher’s College, where reading and writing workshop is being implemented on a daily basis in all grades. Literacy is the catalyst for many decisions made in the school, such as assemblies, class trips, and decisions in science, social studies and other special subjects. The principal includes a substantial amount of money in her budget every year, for each teacher to order books for their classroom. Teachers are free to buy books each year to use in their balanced literacy approach. The books purchased can be used for read alouds, independent reading, book clubs, content studies, shared reading, etc…

Collegial collaboration is a major structure of the Wayside School community. Talk about literacy instruction is a big part of every faculty meeting each month. Grade level teams plan their reading and writing workshop units together, and meet regularly to support each other with lesson planning, trouble-shooting and assessment. Principal Tanner has fostered this sense of community in our school since she arrived in 2002. Long before our district began working with Teacher’s College, and long before Balanced Literacy was implemented in our district, Principal Tanner began an annual staff book club with professional literature about Balanced Literacy. Some past titles that the staff book club has read were Mosaic of Thought by Ellin Oliver Keene & Susan Zimmermann, On Solid Ground by Sharon Taberski, Reading with Meaning by Debbie Miller, Strategies that Work by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis, In the Company of Children by Joanne Hindley, Growing Readers by Kathy Collins, Units of Study for Teaching Writing by Lucy Calkins, and The Art of Teaching Reading and The Art of Teaching Writing by Lucy Calkins. The literacy environment and community established by the principal and teachers at Wayside School have set up some good practices in all classrooms. Teachers take risks, think deeply and show themselves to be continual learners of literacy instruction.

III. The Classroom Literacy Environment

There are 18 students in my classroom this year. Five of the students come from homes where English is not the primary language spoken at home, while the other thirteen students come from English speaking homes. There are four special needs students in the classroom, three of which are autistic. A special education teacher, Miss Reardon, provides in class support 3 periods a day for the special needs students. Miss Nelson is an instructional aide in the classroom, whom also provides support for the special needs students. Eight of the seventeen students are reading above grade level, four are reading at grade level, and 5 are reading below grade level for third grade at this time. The entire class is currently working on a character unit in reading workshop and are at various stages in a personal narrative unit in writing workshop.

The ideal “literacy learner” in this classroom is one who wears the love of reading and writing on their sleeve regardless of their level. An ideal “literacy learner” is also someone who sees the point to all of the strategies they are learning. So essentially they are in love with reading and, as Lucy Calkins says, “they must write from the heart.” (Freppon & Dahl, 1998) In order for this to take place inside and outside the classroom I believe it is of the utmost importance that the teacher wears a true love of learning, reading, writing, and strategy/skill use on his or her sleeve. When I am excited about what I am teaching and doing in literacy I notice that my students are dying to try the same things. When the students are begging me to read aloud and talk about my reading, or begging me to write with them then I know that my love of literacy is transferring to them. When the students are itching to get into their notebooks, and they are writing fast and long then I know again that my love of literacy is making an impression. By watching me model my thinking and strategies students will also see that there is not one way to do things, and that we need to be open to changing our thinking and being open to not always having the right answer, because we learn by being flexible. (Farstrup & Samuels, 2002)

There is some evidence in my classroom of all four resources: code-breaker, meaning-maker, text user, and text analyst going on. When I was conferring with a student Kara the other day I saw all four of these resources going on with the one student. She was code-breaking because she was able to read fluently and used her “tricky word” strategies well when she approached a word she couldn’t decode. Various post-its plus her conversation with me about what was happening in her book proved to me that she was a meaning-maker. She was a text user because she used the text to make meaning and she referred back to parts of the text to prove some of her thoughts to me. I also found her to be a text analyst because she had put some post-its with questions in her book. When I asked her to talk about her questions and what she was doing to try and find the answers, she told me that she was reading on and looking for answers or clues to help her infer. This showed me that she was analyzing the text to try and help her find answers to her questions. Kara is a high student in my class, working above grade level in reading and writing, but I do feel with minilessons, coaching and strategy group lessons all of my students will be able to use these four resources well. Although the literacy environment of the school and my classroom continues to grow and change, I am constantly looking for ways to make it rich and supportive for all of the literacy instruction and work that goes on in our class.

Seeing literacy through the lens of multimodal learners, multiple literacies, and multi-media I want to expose my students to so much more in their reading and writing. Most of what I want them to use and create as literacy are things they probably already know a lot about, and in many instances probably know more about them then I do. Remember we, as adults are the “digital immigrants.” Bringing in literacy practices that utilize things such as Comic Life, Internet, movies and movie making, pictures etc… will expand and lift the level of literacy instruction and practice in my classroom. There is much more I need to learn in these areas, so I plan to continue to research and have discussions with colleagues about ways to make this happen in our schools now.

Project Rationale

Why Digital Literacy?

"Multiple literacies...texts as constructed differently when literacy is used to perform different functions in our everyday lives. We therefore see digital literacy as a set of social practices that are interwoven with contemporary 'ways of being.'" (Carrington & Robinson, 2009) It is for this very reason I decided to pursue digital literacies in my Masters Research Action Reflection project. This is the direction our world is already moving in, and I feel it is crucial to make sure that my students are prepared for it. The days of printed text being the only source of literacy use and creation are over. Traditional text and these new literacies must work parallel with each other. This is extremely new for me as an educator, but I do feel it was important for me to begin my own research process with these new literacies in order to begin implementing them as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Another important reason why digital literacy should be a strong foundation of students' learning is due to its multimodal aspect. Students today are multimodal learners, and traditional text does not meet their needs. "Multimodality...led the majority of students to make creative responses, and for so many of them to signal deeper, more engaged learning than was their usual experience." (Carrington & Robinson, 2009) This became even more clear to me as my students and I worked through the three cycles of this project together. Even the struggling readers and writers in my class came alive and produced thoughts, ideas, and work I never would have expected from them. This drove the point home further of how important it is for teachers to begin incorporating the 'new literacies' into their practices today!

Critical Literacy Component

We now know, from many researchers, how important it is to incorporate critical literacy into all of our literacy instruction. As Bomer & Bomer argue, "The critical mind is one that questions, tests assumptions, considers claims in light of their implications, entertains multiple perspectives, and gravitates toward the interests of vulnerable people." (Bomer & Bomer, 2001) Critical literacy and digital literacy go hand in hand: you can't have one without the other. In order to navigate through, use, and create the 'new literacies' well the students must bring their critical literacy skills with them.

One would argue that in order for our students to become full participating democratic citizens in society, it is important for them to have critical literacy skills, which will also lead them to social justice action. Digital literacies are a great way for students to use, fine tune, and begin to perfect their critical literacy skills, just as using critical literacy skills are an important way to tackle multimodal digital texts. "Critical reading will help pupils to explore the meanings and nuances of online texts and it will also make them safer and more responsible participants in our networked society..." (Carrington & Robinson, 2009)

Questioning and It's Implications for Digital Literacy

Questioning is needed to propel our investigations with digital literacies further. When the kids were using the various digital mediums for their research questioning was an integral part of the process. They started with questions to drive their research, they formed more questions as they encountered new information, and they used questioning strategies to interpret meaning and perspective. They even used questioning to reflect and analyze their own use of digital literacies. Questioning is also an effective tool to get kids involved in the social-collaborative process of literacy that drives success in the 'new literacies. "A powerful benefit of mini-research is that it offers the perfect avenue for getting started with small group inquiry. As kids ask mini-research questions and search for answers, we can teach them important literacy, collaboration, and inquiry strategies." (Harvey & Daniels, 2009)

The Social and Collaborative Aspect of Digital Literacy

Perhaps the most important thing for teachers and students to remember about literacy is that it is social and collaborative, not solitary. It is also important to know that in order to achieve success in today's world it is important to have good social and collaborative skills. What jobs and careers today thrive without these? Even if you are working alone on a computer, you must collaborate and communicate online with others, and often times others who live and work across the globe. There is no better way for teachers to prepare themselves and their students for this social-collaborative world, than with digital literacy. When students were blogging and commenting on others' blogs during this project they began to see the importance of this philosophy. "Giving students a chance to share their work with a global audience is an important first step. It's the conversations, the links, and the networks that grow from them afterward that really show us the profound implications for lifelong learning." (Richardson, 2010)

In thinking about these and other important components of digital literacy, how students would use digital literacy, and eventually how students might begin to create their own digital literacies, I formed my research question which is: "How can I support students in using digital literacy to foster their inquiry and research and in turn create a digital literacy project based on their inquiries and research?"

Action Research Reflection Cycle 3

Introduction:

Cycle 2 of this study focused on understanding the purposes for blogging, creating their own blogs about their research topics for a purpose and responding to others' blogs in order to begin a continuous online communication and learning process. In Cycle 3 students took up many of those same discourses but took them even further by researching websites for structure and content, and then turning around to create their own website through a Wiki page. The keys to the construction of these Wiki pages are the students' understanding for their choices of structure, writing to inform, and most importantly working together socially and collaboratively. "As we continue to move toward a world where everyone has access to ideas and where collaboration is the expectation rather than the exception, wikis can go a long way toward teaching our students some very useful skills for their future." (Richardson, 2010)

The students in this cycle were also pushed to tone down their perspective and points of view in order to make their Wiki pages more neutral. Most informational websites are presented in neutral ways in order to get readers to form their own points of view and perspective. The students became so used to trying to get their readers to think and feel a certain way that was challenging for them to make their texts neutral. After creating the Wiki page, the students were expected to reflect and critically analyze their work. This final cycle in my research will help me to see how I can support my students further, in working with and creating their own forms of multi-modal digital texts.

Action 1 Analyzing Websites

I began the first action of Cycle 3 by telling students to find a website that went along with their research topic, and analyze it for structure. This first attempt was not successful at all. I made the mistake of assuming that, because students had spent a few months working with and creating various digital literacies, they would have no problem analyzing websites in order to start planning their own. The students still needed a lot of structure to support them in this next endeavor. It is vital that students are equipped to analyze websites and online content as they will continue to need these skills, and more, as we move into the future. “Ignoring new communications technology could well increase the polarization of in-school and out-of-school literacy practices, widening the gap between the school curriculum and the pupils who are taught.” (Evans, 2005) Before students can be expected to create something on their own, they should be provided amble time to research and analyze similar work, to scaffold and support what they will be doing. I gave the students an analysis sheet to fill out as they researched a website about their research topic. They were told to answer the questions completely, and with detail. I also told them not to that if there was anything else they felt deserved merit for analysis and commenting, good or bad, to do so.

Cycle 3 Action 1 Teaching Points

Data Samples

The students were given a website analysis sheet to fill out while they observed and analyzed a website with their group. Each student worked with a laptop while one of the students worked as a recorder jotting down the groups thoughts and ideas. The recorder was also using a laptop to analyze the website. The data samples below are copies of some of the groups' analysis sheets, followed by my research and analysis of their work.

Data Sample 1

The students in this group are analyzing a website on sharks. They are seeing that the author is choosing some features for specific reasons, such as choosing photographs of sharks that are less harsh looking because the website is not focusing on the horrors of sharks. The students in this group made a good attempt to comment on links to other sites and other parts of the website, but they failed to elaborate on 'why' and 'how' the author did it. They only touched on the organizational aspect. One insightful observation they had was regarding the captions. They noticed that their site used captions to summarize quick important facts so 'busy people' would not have to read the entire content. "The speed with which an individual can locate the highest quality information available is an important concern in a richly networked technology for information and communication such as the Internet." (Farstrup & Samuels, 2002) This group is also noticing that a good website is a true multi-modal text that incorporates various modalities such as videos, links, pictures, charts, etc...

Data Sample 2

This group felt that the way the author used links on his/her site was confusing. The author had pictures of animals that linked to pages about that animal. Since this group was studying great white sharks, having links of other animals didn't make much sense to them. They were being critical readers, because when I asked them about this they said that they felt the author should have done a website just about great white sharks, and that it should link to other shark sites not different animals. This group also noticed how the author included maps to give the readers an understanding for 'place' in the world. I'm not quite sure they have a good understanding yet of the importance of multi-modal text construction, since their final reflection talked more about content as opposed to structure, and they didn't take their observation of the different animal links any further. "...with digital texts becoming increasingly multimodal, we now need to broaden our notion of what it means to be literate and include image production and analysis as a part of normal procedure in the literacy classroom." (Carrington & Robinson, 2009)

Data Sample 3

This group was able to give some basic observations that will eventually lead to some possible good insights. They need to be coached to elaborate on their observations more. For example they connected how the author used captions and short descriptions to highlight photos on the website, but they didn't analyze that further to see how they were used and how they helped the overall website. Another example at the lack of elaboration can be found in the way they were able to identify that some videos and research facts were confusing, but they were not able to state why, or come up with some alternative solutions. The group was able to gain a good understanding for how links were used to organize the website, which will help them when they use links on their Wiki page.

Data Sample 4

This group seems to understand the importance of the structure and organization that needs to go into creating a website. For instance, they understand that headings and links are there to signify that specific things will be discussed in that section. One interesting thing this group noticed was that some links were confusing because, "...if the title of the link is not clear then you do not know what you are going to see." I challenged this group to first, think about why, or if the author meant to do that, and second to use these thoughts about links when they are creating their Wiki page together.

Action 1 Reflection

The students are taking the work of analyzing websites seriously. The evidence of this was seen in my observations of the way they worked studiously, collaborated together as a team and made comments to each other about what they would or would not like to do when they start to design their Wiki pages. One of the things I need to work on with the class as a whole is helping them to elaborate the ideas they are forming from their analysis. They are uncovering important things, but many are not getting to the heart of what will actually help them in their own design, because they aren't making their thoughts and observations deep enough. The next time I have them analyze a website I will have them focus on one part at a time, such as the links the author used, and elaborate as much as possible before going on to the next item.

All groups touched on the multimodal aspects of the websites in some way, some more than others. This is showing that they understand the importance for multimodal text and that the multimodal texts they have been using all year have been making an impact on them and their learning. "...the switch from one text-producing context to the next is just a normal part of what it means to exist in a twenty-first century multiliteracies landscape." (Carrington & Robinson, 2009) The students will do a bit more observation work on website structure and design, before moving into creating their own Wiki page about their research topic, which will be showcased in the next action of this research cycle.

Action 2 Creating Content Area Wiki Pages

The next action in cycle 3 was allowing students to take what they learned in their website analysis about multimodal text, their background knowledge for websites, as well as the content they had encountered the last couple of months in their research to create a Wiki page about their topic. They did this collaboratively with their research team. The only group that has gone so far is the penguin research team. Since this is the first time I am doing this project in the class room I thought I would start with one group, and then use them as a model for the rest of the class. Essentially this research group would become teachers for the rest of the students.

Before this team began their Wiki page I did some small group work with them, modeling how to create a wiki page in a multimodal way. I began to create a website/wiki about black bear on PBworks.com. This was the same topic I used to model blogging. The modeling helped to scaffold this new learning for the group, and made them feel confident that they could do it on their own as well. This modeling was important for the students. I plan to have this group model for the rest of the class as they begin their collaborative Wiki pages. Stephanie Harvey and Harvey Daniels state in their book Inquiry Circles in Action, "The lack of models has always been a problem. When the teacher doesn't show examples of successful student products - perhaps some collected from previous years - kids have no choice but to guess what the teacher had in mind. Doing a research project under these terms is much like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle without the picture on the box!" (Harvey & Daniels, 2009) This action is meant to show the students how far they can progress in their research and presentation of that research; from notes, to information books, to blogs, and now to a Wiki page. It's also another way to show them that their research and communication of that research never stops, it is ongoing.

Cycle 3 Action 2 Teaching Points

Student Data for Action 2

The following student data are snapshots taken from the group's Wiki page on Penguins. The entire page can be found at http://3dgreats.pbworks.com/Penguin. If you are prompted to put in a username and password they are, username: fjderobertis@yahoo.com password: 3drules10. The account is under my name, so the students were asked to sign their comments and entries with their group name.

Data Sample 1

The penguin group designed a user friendly home page. They gave some general information about penguin, then made links to other pages on their Wiki. These links are the subtopics they had studied, so in a sense all the work they did previously in the nonfiction reading and writing workshop units, as well as their blogs, prepared them for this phase.

Data Sample 2

The students used another form of multimodal text here by including a link, on their homepage, to a podcast about penguins. It's a 'general' podcast about penguins that fits well on their general homepage, but we did discuss some other powerful ways of using podcasts. They could search for other specific podcasts to drive home the points of specific subtopics on the specific pages.

Data Sample 3

The students organized this page differently than their other wiki pages. Instead of writing in paragraph form they decided to write in list form. Their list then matched up with detailed and labeled photographs of the various penguin body parts. The picture they included of the penguin sliding on it's belly really illustrates the usefulness of the belly, as opposed to just showing and labeling that body part. The students did some smart work and showed good collaboration by deciding together that a list form of writing would work well with this part of their text.

Data Sample 4

The students included some detailed information here, as well as a video and picture that matched what the text was saying. However, the group and I did talk about labeling their features more specifically with specific titles or captions. This way the readers of their site can get a good gist from their pictures and captions if they don't have time to read the whole text passage that is there.

Data Sample 5

The group did a nice job of including appropriate links on their Wiki pages to websites or web pages that contained relevant content to their particular page. I was impressed with the creativity of this group because collaboratively they decided that the links did not just have to be to more information. For example on their Penguin Babies page they included a link to a relevant online game kids could play, and on the Penguin Bodies page they included a link to a printable worksheet about penguin bodies. This wasn't something we even discussed in our small group sessions. They came up with this concept on their own through their collaboration. Another example of how important the social and collaborative processes of literacy are.

Action 2 Reflection

This small group of students did a fantastic job of creating Wiki pages, especially with it being their first time. It will be exciting to see what the other groups create about their topics. The collaboration that took place with this group was the key to their success with the Wiki. They were able to perform as Richardson suggests. "It's a very democratic process of knowledge creation. In using wikis, students are not only learning how to publish content; they are also learning how to develop and use all sorts of collaborative skills, negotiating with others to agree on correctness, meaning, relevance, and more. In essence students begin to teach each other." (Richardson, 2010) This was clearly seen even in the simple act of the group's decision to include relevant links to activity based websites.

It is clear that this group of students also understood the need and helpfulness of structure and organization when building a website or Wiki page. The students organized their links to their various pages in a clear concise way that made it easy for anyone to navigate. The one thing I would criticize, and it is a criticism of my teaching and guidance not the students, is the pattern effect that seemed to develop on all of their pages. The pages all seem to be organized in the same way; title, descriptive paragraph, pictures, video, and links. One thing I should have pushed them to notice is that most websites do have a structure that goes throughout, but their pages have differences, even though slight, in order to keep the reader interested, and keep the content feeling fresh and new. The Wiki page that this group created together on penguins was impressive, informative, and multimodal, but there is always room for growth and improvement. One of the things I want students to come away with in this digital literacy journey that we are on together is that there is no end. All of this work we are doing can be used on a global scale and we can forever change, revise and make things better as we continue to learn and communicate with each other. This definitely brings me to the next and final action in the Masters Action Research Project, which is getting the students to be reflective of their work. I want them to notice the things they did well, as well as the things in which they want to improve upon.

Action 3 Being Reflective About Our Wikis

Action 3 of this cycle is the final cycle in this research project, but it is only the very beginning in getting teachers and students to participate in digital literacies across the curriculum. It is important to be reflective participants in any literacy practice we do, but since digital literacies are constantly changing and growing it is even more important to make sure we are doing so in all that we do. In this action we return once again to the penguin research team, as they are pushed to analyze their own work, decide what they did well with, and reflect and take action on what they could make even better. The same revision work we teach the kids to do in writing workshop can be used to 're-see' their work in this type of digital medium. Just like Lucy Calkins says, "The most sophisticated and important sort of revision isn't fixing up one's text so that it works more effectively to convey one's meaning. Instead, the most sophisticated sorts of revisions involve the writer looking through his draft in order to come to a deeper, more nuanced, more thoughtful understanding of the writer's content. This sort of revision begins with the writer asking, "What am I trying to say?" and then revising to highlight that meaning." (Calkins, 2006)

I first told the group to go back and reflect on what went well for them on their Wiki site, and what they needed to improve upon. You think I would have learned from my previous mistake, of not giving them a structure within which to do this type of reflection. As you will see in some of the student data samples, their initial reflections were not very complex. I then gave them some 'reflective lenses' to use which made their reflective comments deeper and more insightful.

Data Sample 1

These two samples of reflective comments were basic comments stating what they thought they did well on, but they don't provide reasons or examples to back up their thoughts.

Data Sample 2

Here is another example of this group just stating the obvious. Their comment is appropriate, because the pictures do work very well for their purpose, but it is not very insightful. Also, the team is yet again not addressing any ways to make their work even better.

Data Sample 3

Before this sample comment was made the students were given some sample reflection questions to use as 'reflective lenses.' They were to use each lens, one at a time, for every page on their Wiki. For example, they used these questions as lenses, "How did you use photographs and captions well? How could you make your use of photos and captions even stronger?" After providing students questions like these, their reflections became deeper, and revision plans began to emerge for their Wiki pages.

Data Sample 4

The group used various 'revision lenses' to reflect about their Wiki page as a whole. Here they were able to do a nice reflective mix of what they did well, and what they could make even better. One thing that surprised me was the part where they stated, "Other people need to see our website and leave comments so we can comment back to them and talk about penguins. We'll learn more and make our wiki better." This was a pleasant surprise because even without having a conversation with them, these students were understanding that this is all part of something bigger. Digital literacy is about an ongoing global communication where we learn from each other in a continuous process. The students carried this concept with them throughout the whole process, which proves the lasting power of using digital literacies in the classroom.

Action 3 Reflection

This group of students was able to move from basic reflection of their work to a deeper, more insightful, reflection just by providing them with a little structure. When it comes to reflection and revision I see now that students need small steps, and they need to be provided with structure and explicit modeling. It's one thing for students to be able to see and tell what could be better in their work, but its another thing for them to get deeper and think why something is not working, and how they can improve it. These are strategies that need to be modeled continuously because they are abstract for many students.

When I begin this process with the rest of the research teams, It is important to begin by giving them the strategies of using different 'revision lenses' to help them to be reflective about their wiki pages. The students also need to understand that what they are creating is for a larger audience, and that larger audience will generate ongoing communication about the content. Reflection and revision will continue as long as the communication between readers and writers continues.

Cycle 3 Final Reflection and Themes

In order to succeed and participate in today's society, collaboration is crucial. In this project students collaborated with each other in order to figure out the best practices authors were using to create effective websites. They then collaborated effectively when they created their Wiki page about penguins. When they reflected about their project, and came up with revision plans to make it even better for public consumption, they worked as a strong team. As Richardson argues, "The collaborative environment that wikis facilitate can teach students much about how to work with others, how to create community, and how to operate in a world where the creation of knowledge and information is becoming more and more a group effort." (Richardson, 2010) This concept will also trickle down as this collaborative process is opened up to a larger group, the world, when the students open their wiki page up for others to read, analyze, and comment on. This process has only begun for them.

So the further goal of these digital literacy mediums, such as the wiki, is to extent the community beyond the classroom. Students should feel confident that their work is worthy of others' attention and analysis, and be open to disagreements. We as educators need to look at where we are in this process. As Carrington and Robinson outline in their book Digital Literacies, "These wikis can productively be analyzed along a continuum towards increasing engagement with the principals of participatory culture." (Carrington & Robinson, 2009) I definitely feel it is important to prepare our students for this 'participatory culture' because it is the fast paced direction our world is moving in at a fast pace. It is important that our students know how to handle themselves and participate in such a global society. So, teachers need to decide if they are just incorporating digital literacies like wikis into their already existing curriculum, are they trying to get students to communicate with each other and their closer communities through digital literacies, or are they on the higher end of the continuum where they are beginning to move their students' use of digital literacies into a 'participatory culture?' (Carrington & Robinson, 2009) All of the themes that emerged from the previous action/research cycles are still prevelant, but a few more seemed to emerge from this cycle.

I. Analysis and Reflection

Analysis and reflection are themes that prevailed in all three cycles looking back, but they seemed to really stand out the most in this final cycle. In order for students to work together in a social and collaborative way, and in order for them to prepare work to present to a larger audience for further communication and learning, it was vital for the students to analyze their work and reflect on the positives, as well as their areas of weakness. "This process of questioning, putting a name to something you are seeing in the data, reminding yourself about an idea or issue, is all part of the analytical process. Each time you do it you will arrive at a deeper stage of understanding." (Falk & Blumenreich, 2005)

II. Standing on the Shoulders of Others

Analyzing similar work to what you will be doing is an important part of any creation process. This is why explicit and direct instruction that entails some sort of modeling is crucial to move students along the continuum of skills and strategies. Collaboration also comes into play here because students will learn from each other as they interact. They will also learn from others in other communities, because participating in digital literacies provides us with those amazing opportunities. "In essence, we write not just to communicate but to connect with others who can potentially teach us more." (Richardson, 2010)

Next Steps

The steps I want to take next are probably the biggest ones of all. I want to move my students in the direction of working in a 'participatory culture.' It is important for students to see the power there is in learning from others outside the classroom walls. Our world today requires us to work with others across the globe. The students have already begun using some of the digital literacies we have learned together, in their own and creative ways. Some students have begun to do online book review blogs about books they have read in reading workshop. They are hoping to start online book talks through these blogs. Other students have suggested that we publish our writing workshop stories online as a blog or on a wiki page, so others can comment on their stories and give them ideas to make them even better. The students will also be creating digital story books, podcasts, and iMovie documentaries with flip cameras and other online content. It is exciting for me to see my next steps are coming directly from the students. The digital literacy era has already begun in my classroom, but we are just at the very beginning. As an educator it is exciting to know there is still so much more for me to learn, and at the rate digital literacies continue to morph and grow, there will always be something new to learn alongside my students.