Week 8.1 -- BABR 5, Ira critical literacy, Wood, Literacy circles, Kingsley, O’Byrne

Hi, everyone. I've been under the weather (and stressed beyond my limits, it seems) so this is a day late. This week is a little different. According to Dr. Beach's blog:

There are 5 articles and 1 chapter of BABR to read this week.  I'd like everyone to read the BABR chapter and the IRA Critical Literacy piece. Divide up the other 4 articles so each person reads 1 of the articles.  If there is only 3 in your group, leave out the Digital Lit Circles piece.  Then, the blog leader will lead a discussion on the common readings and summarize key points of his/her article and ask for connections to inquiry, research, critical thinking and the main readings.  The rest of the people in the group, as part of your response to the blog and your participation in the discussion will need to summarize your unique article and make connections to the theme of the week and the other readings.  Please use the following vocabulary in your discussions:  multiliteracies, curator, constructor, critical response, critique, online collaborative inquiry, searchability, annotations, integrate ideas, triangulate data.

So, this week, we need to divide the articles up. I was going to have everyone choose an article, but I know I appreciated it when John divvied up the apps for us, so in the interest of time, I'll just assign everyone an article to read.

John: Wood, et al., 2014 -- The Reading Teacher
Barbara: Kingsley, et al., 2014 -- Internet Inquiry
Mackinley: Digital Lit Circles
And I figured I'd take the O'Bryne article about the reader-writer in the digital age.

We are all supposed to read BABR and the IRA Critical Literacy article; and once our individual articles are read, we'll come back and summarize them here. However, we are also supposed to be talking "in person" in a virtual space this week, before the 18th, and summarizing it for Dr. Beach. I am in the PET/RCR training class this weekend and, since I work three jobs in addition to school, don't have much time to be able to meet with anyone this week. I do, however, have some time tonight and Thursday. If we can't do it those days, I'll get with Dr. Beach to see if there's a way you guys can all talk and I can make it up somehow.

One of the things I noticed in the IRA article was the repeated use of phrases like empowerment, collaboration, co-constructing knowledge, and so on. I love this. Now we are moving beyond what new literacies are and into what they can do and how they change the way we learn and communicate. So, Dr. Beach (in her infinite wisdom) has created a situation this week where we will be approaching "reading as a social collaborative practice," co-constructing a full knowledge of critical reading while critically reading and collaborating ourselves.

So, if you would, let's take today to decide when to virtually meet and, if you can, post your summaries (I know Barbara, like me, has very limited time to get all of this done with her sanity intact and I'm sure all of you are in the same boat, so lets get this hashed out). I'll be checking back throughout the day, but I am off to work right now, myself.

Have a great day, folks!