Week 12 Reading

1. How did the Ask Anansi game support critical literacies?
“These instructional practices combined tenets of critical pedagogy with critical and sociocultural literacies.” Students were asked to share their opinion and thoughts on topics of the world. This game supported the idea of space for questions and different ways of understanding positions and views on certain issues. The scavenger hunt helped enforce critical literacies beyond the walls of the classroom.  

2. How did the Ask Anansi game support academic literacies?
The game allowed students to find answers to solutions from hints and instructions. So the students were learning the content, but at their own will in order to complete the game. The students also engaged in critiquing topics and providing “counter-narratives” to stories they engaged in.

3. How did the Ask Anansi game support digital literacies?
This game allowed the students to use iPods to complete parts of the game. The literacies that were incorporated dealt with students using appropriate information. Also it helped students know when digital tools are most effective and they do not need to consume the entire aspect of learning. The book makes the statement “A pedagogy of participatory media,…, responds to the needs and interests of youth and engages them in practices they are familiar with to develop a transformative, community-driven voice.” This game reinforced the idea of involving the thoughts of the youth and making sure their voice was heard.

4. What is meant by the term "reading the word and reading the world and writing the world"? Give an example from the chapter.
This term involves individuals reading what is written, reading how it is in the world, and reinventing and “re-interpreting” the texts that exist in the world. Basically I see it as forming your own opinions based on what you have read and seen in action.
The example from the chapter is when the students were asked to create a counter-narrative from the research they had been involved in.


QUOTE FROM READING:
"Teachers must bridge the gap between school and society and play some part in the fashioning of those great common purposes which should bind the two together."
A lot of times teachers get hung up in the idea of teaching just content.  One of the things I try to do is have some type of off-the-wall discussion to allow the students to learn something other than math.  It is important that students see how they should act and what society expects after high school.  Instead of just teaching content, we should teach social concepts like modesty and manners and work ethic.  Ensuring students to a successful future goes beyond the CSOs that must be covered for some type of test. 
Below is a picture of puzzles being connected by chains.  I see this as follows: Teachers are the chains that help connect what the students knew before and what they need to know in order to cross the bridge into their next chapter of life. 

Reference

Avila, J., & Pandya, J. (2013). Critical digital literacies as social praxis. (Vol. 54). New York: NY: Peter Lang Publishing Inc.

http://thegradstudentway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/gap.jpg