M2: Blog Post 2 - How New Literacies are Relevant to Us
The irony in looking for online resources regarding New Literacies is that you have to use New Literacy research skills to evaluate the sites you are going to and eliminate the ones that seem irrelevant or non credible. Once you find the credible sites, further analysis is needed to locate ones that are on New Literacies, not just basic literacy. The beauty is that there are many credible and insightful sites and texts regarding New Literacies.
Reading Rockets, a division of PBS, offers a rich online library of evidence based classroom strategies to help young children become skilled readers. In the article, “The New Literacies” by Zach Miners and Angela Pascopella, they explore how students evaluate information online, what researchers are conducting studies on to improve curriculum.. As well as using researched based evidence to incorporate new literacies into the classroom.
“Knowing truth from fiction on the Internet is a huge problem,’ says Kenneth Eastwood, superintendent of Middletown City (N.Y.) School District. “Students might be good researchers, but they tend not to scrutinize the information.” (Miners 2007) Students of all ages are quick to believe what they read on the internet as truth. The article goes on to give an example of a made up tree octopus, that students believed was real when pointed to a website telling about the imagined animal. Educators need to give students opportunities and practice visiting websites and determining which ones are credible and which ones are just trying to convince you of tree octopuses. “And although digital natives (today’s students) may be tech savvy, they don’t use a lot of information, or at least they don’t know how to think critically about the information they use.” (Miners 2007) Students spend endless hours online consuming information, fact or fiction. They need practical exercises that help them glean what is true, what is opinion and what is fiction.
The New Literacies Research Lab at the University of Connecticut is conducting studies on the state of new literacies and is encouraging district leaders to realize the importance of such technologies. The problem with getting districts to buy into using new literacies is that economically challenged districts are already facing pressure to raise state tests scores in reading and writing. They don’t want to include online reading and using new literacies, so students are not learning these valuable online skills. Students in wealthier districts feel less pressure to include new literacies in their curriculum because these students already have access at home, and therefore the districts feel they don’t need to teach it at school. The New Research Lab is developing a three-phase instructional model for teachers, called Internet Reciprocal Teaching (IRT).
Learning the New Literacies requires various steps, starting with teaching students how to use a search engine and how to use the results. Don Leu, co-director of the New Literacies Research Lab at University of Connecticut says ”After receiving the search results, knowing what to do with them is incredibly important. They don’t know the grammar of reading a search engine output.” (Miners 2007) Then students need to use critical evaluation to practice solving problems using the Internet. Another valuable tool of using New Literacy is that students can do self inquiry using the Internet. Lastly, because technology is constantly changing students need to adapt with the changes. Students are very adaptable and adjust quickly, educators need to be well versed on the latest versions and updates. New Literacies makes students out of all of us.
Who better to teach students how to use New Literacies than an organization that has gone from a largely paper based, to now mostly internet based: The New York Times. From hard hitting journalism to Wordle, The New York Times is a well regarded source of information and educational fun. I had no idea that they also hosted a treasure trove of New Literacy exercises for students. In Dozens of Engaging Ways to Make Media Literacy Meaningful to Teenagers by Katherine Schulten, she says, “But now, at a time when mis- and disinformation, generative artificial intelligence and distrust in traditional meda are all on the rise; when young people are getting most of their news from social media; and when the president is demonizing the press, it is more crucial than ever to help students understand how media is made and why that matters.” (Schulten 2025) Under “The Learning Network” there are a host of New Literacy activities, from interacting with current articles, to listening to podcasts, talking to actual journalists, The New York Times is helping students use new literacies in powerful ways.
One new literacy that I’m going to implement next week in my classroom is “What’s going on in this picture”. A weekly post from a Times photojournalist without a caption. Three questions are posed: What’s going on in this picture? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can you find? Students have the opportunity to leave comments on the photo with their answers, then on Thursday afternoons, the caption is revealed along with some of the backstory about the photo and what it depicts. For my 7th graders, this New Literacy activity will strengthen their visual and new literacy skills, help them support their opinions with evidence, as well as have them use inference and critical thinking skills. There is also “What’s Going on in this graph” to help students read and understand statistics about issues that touch teens' lives
Overall, the two online resources I found were credible, insightful and inspiring. One gave rich research on how to bring New Literacies to the classroom and the other resource is giving me New Literacy practices I can implement in my classroom today .
Miners, Z., & Pascopella, A. (2007). The New Literacies | Reading Rockets. Www.readingrockets.org.
https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/educational-technology/articles/new-literacies
Schulten, K. (2025, March 27). Dozens of Engaging Ways to Make Media Literacy Meaningful to Teenagers. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/learning/media-literacy-teenagers.html
I really enjoyed reading your post! You did a great job showing how important it is to not only find credible sources online, but also to teach students how to actually evaluate what they’re looking at. The “tree octopus” example really stuck with me too—I think it perfectly shows how easily students can believe something online without questioning it. I agree with you that practical exercises are essential for helping them learn to separate fact from fiction.
ReplyDeleteI also love the activity you’re planning to try with your 7th graders, “What’s going on in this picture?” from The New York Times. That seems like such an engaging way to get students to slow down, think critically, and back up their ideas with evidence. I like that it pushes them to use inference while also building their digital and visual literacy skills. I think your students will really get into it, and it makes me want to try something similar in my own classroom. Thanks for sharing such great resources!
Do you want m
This was a really great post. I appreciate how you not only read these articles, but are applying what you learned into your own classroom with your lesson for your 7th graders. I am very curious to know how this lesson went, and what your students observed! When using new literacies and teaching them, you're right in that many times kids are able to get access to so many online things; many not age appropriate. When teaching our students about technology and how it can be used as a tool, it is important to incorporate online safety, but also teach skills of how they can analyze what is real and what is trying to tell you that tree octopuses exist (very nice real-life example by the way!) I teach kindergarten, so as a grade level, my team and I really try to limit screen time due to the fact that our students are so young. However, when we do introduce IPADs to use educational programs like Happy Numbers and Lexia, we have many class discussions about safety and navigation. As a whole class we discuss IPAD rules of staying on these apps are for their own safety. We set goals and have time limits, so the students can learn via technology, but not get too much, "...classrooms must facilitate authentic learning goals
ReplyDeletefor students; these goals will lead to instructional practices that
may find support through digital resources" (Garcia). By working with students, they can learn that when used the right way, technology can be a great tool, but it doesn't replace the learning and skills via reading and writing!
Hi Annie!
DeleteI love your perspective from the kindergarten classroom! Limiting screen use, I'm sure is a big issue. I'm curious how much time you think your average student is spending online at home and how you think it's affecting their learning? My 7th graders definitely spend a lot of time online at home, but most of it is spend consuming new media. They play a lot of Roblox games and other types of games or are watching tik toks. I would love to get them to think critically about the new media they are interacting with, and even find ways to get them to create things online, more than just dance tik toks and worlds in Roblox games!
I tried the "what's going on in this picture?" today and it was a huge success. I did it as their daily bell ringer prompt. They LOVED analyzing the photo and came up with some great insights and inferences. I'll include the link below if you want to check out today's photo. I look forward to more of your insight from the kindergarten side of things!
The Learning Network. (2025, September 18). What’s Going On in This Picture? | Sept. 22, 2025. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/learning/whats-going-on-in-this-picture-sept-22-2025.html
I really enjoyed reading your post, especially the way you connected the irony of needing new literacy skills just to research new literacies themselves. It shows how literacy is constantly evolving and how teachers also need to model how to evaluate sources online. The example explained in the article about "tree octopus" also stood out to me. It is a reminder of how easily students, and even adults, can be convinced by something they see online.
ReplyDeleteI really like the "what's going on in this picture?" activity you planned because it seems very engaging. I think it will be a great way for students to build inference and evidence based reasoning while also including visual literacy. I was curious, how do you plan to guide students who might only give surface-level answers, like "I see kids playing," into deeper observations supported by evidence? Nice job!
Hi Rebecca,
DeleteThanks for your feedback! The tree octopus is definitely something that stuck out to me because I fear that I might fall for that kind of "animal" simply because I read about it online.
I tried the "what's going on in this picture?" today for the first time! It was very engaging. I'll include the link, so you can check it out. All my classes mentioned it was a mom on the skateboard, because of how she's dressed. Some classes thought the boy was showing embarrassment because the mom might be filming a tiktok, with a large ring light. They thought the ring light was what was giving the bright light and shadow effect. This was the first time doing this new media activity, so they were very eager to prove their points with evidence. But you're right, I need to prepare for when students just want to give answers without backing it up with evidence or inference. Thanks for your insight!
The Learning Network. (2025, September 18). What’s Going On in This Picture? | Sept. 22, 2025. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/learning/whats-going-on-in-this-picture-sept-22-2025.html