ALT Strand
(Arts, Literacy, and Technology)
Rusty Clevenger, USD 116 Fine Arts
Betty Allen, USD 116 Fine Arts
Lynn Burdick, University of Illinois
Haeny Yoon, University of Illinois
The Arts & Literacy &
Technology Connection:
Literacy has always been a collection of cultural and
communicative practices shared among members of particular
groups.
As society and technology change, so does literacy.
Because technology has increased the intensity and
complexity of literate environments, the twenty-first century
demands that a literate person possess a wide range of
abilities and competencies, many literacies.
These literacies—from reading online newspapers to
participating in virtual classrooms—are multiple, dynamic, and
malleable. As in the past, they are inextricably linked with
particular histories, life possibilities and social trajectories of
individuals and groups.
M.A.K. Halliday’s Functions of
Language
• Learning with Language: Using
language to understand norms, rules,
content, ideas, etc.
• Learning through language: Using
language to accomplish goals and to
interact with others.
• Learning about language:
Understanding the syntax, forms, parts
of language.
Literacy and language use
satisfies multiple needs:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
To get things done
To understand
To communicate a message
To express oneself
To build social relationships
To satisfy needs
To control/empower/overpower
Working definition of literacy
• It is a social, interactive process.
• Language encompasses multiple symbol systems that are
used to communicate (i.e alphabet, numbers, codes,
gestures, digital symbols, etc.)
• Being literate varies across different contexts (time, place,
events, etc.).
• Literacy is not just about grammar, spelling, decoding,
punctuation, but about making meaning.
• Literacy involves using language to communicate: talking,
reading, writing, drawing, movement, and technology in an
interrelated way.
• To be literate is shifting and changing.
• Children are already competent communicators before they
come to school.
Synthesis
All creative products and solutions
are a form of expression where we
use our body, voice, and mind
through multiple, cultural tools.
Art is a language… not a decoration
What is Arts Infusion?
Arts Infusion is an approach to teaching and
learning that integrates skills and content from
an art form (art, dance, drama, music) with
another subject (math, science, reading…).
By having instructional objectives in both areas,
the goal of this blending is to deepen student
understanding in the subject area as well as the
art form, allowing both disciplines to mutually
support and strengthen each other.
Pine Street Elementary School
Why Infuse the Arts?
Children need to be competent in multiple modes
of communication and expression.
Using the arts should not be an after thought or
add-on, but it should be a vehicle to all learning.
Arts are a main mode of communicating our
culture through artifacts: art, dance, drama,
music, writings, etc.
What’s so GREAT about
the ARTS ?
Collaboration
Communication
Critical Thinking
Creativity
21st Century Readers and Writers
need to:
Develop proficiency with tools of technology.
Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems
collaboratively and cross-culturally.
Design and share information for global communities to
meet a variety of purposes.
Manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of
simultaneous information.
Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multi-media texts.
Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these
complex environments.
Digital Literacy: The New
Literacy
Working definition of literacy
• It is a social, interactive process.
• Language encompasses multiple symbol systems that are
used to communicate (i.e alphabet, numbers, codes,
gestures, digital symbols, etc.)
• Being literate varies across different contexts (time, place,
events, etc.).
• Literacy is not just about grammar, spelling, decoding,
punctuation, but about making meaning.
• Literacy involves using language to communicate: talking,
reading, writing, drawing, movement, and technology in an
interrelated way.
• To be literate is shifting and changing.
• Children are already competent communicators before they
come to school.
Literacy and language use
satisfies multiple needs:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
To get things done
To understand
To communicate a message
To express oneself
To build social relationships
To satisfy needs
To control/empower/overpower
Advantages
• Digital text can be
– marked
– transformed
– linked
• Digital technologies
– facilitate tiered scaffolding
– capitalize on student strengths
– engage students
Two Layers
• Using technologies to facilitate
traditional language/literacy
– Traditional definition of literacy
– Adding “digital” advantages
• Acquiring “digital literacy”
– Learning 21st century skills
Digital Literacy Competencies
• Use: Ability to engage with technology
• Understand: Ability to comprehend,
contextualize, and critically evaluate digital
media
• Create: Ability to produce content using media
tools
“The New Literacy”
“Computers are causing us to rethink
both our definition of literacy and our
approaches to teaching it. We are in a
transition period, beginning to move
away from print-dominated classrooms
where literacy focuses almost completely
on tasks related to effectively dealing
with text”
“The New Literacy”
“New technologies and new media are
broadening our perspective on the goals
of teaching literacy, shedding new light
on the learners we are trying to reach,
what we should teach them, and how
they should be taught.”
“The New Literacy”
“’Write your name on your paper’ no
longer covers all the options. Saying to
the students, ‘Identify the piece of work
as yours” could result in them typing
their names, making a digital recording,
pasting a personal logo or a scanned
photo of themselves into a document, or
creating a link to their home pages.”
Moving Forward and Not Backward
The significant problems we face cannot be
solved with the same level of thinking we
used when we created them.
- Albert Einstein
Changing Education Paradigms by Sir Ken
Robinson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U