Integrating Virtual and Traditional Learning in 6-12 Classrooms: A Layered Literacies Approach to Multimodal Meaning Making

160 Pages·2014·1.54 MB·English

by  Sandra Schamroth Abrams

INTEGRATING VIRTUAL
AND TRADITIONAL LEARNING
IN 6–12 CLASSROOMS
Integrating Virtual and Traditional Learning in 6–12 Classrooms introduces a model
of “layered literacies” as a framework for describing and illustrating how students’
digital experiences can inform educational methods. Through the lens of layered
literacies, educators can envision opportunities to draw upon adolescents’ out-of-
school interests and activities to meaningfully integrate digital practices within
academic contexts. Such an approach facilitates innovative teaching, inspired
learning, and successful pedagogy, and it thoughtfully highlights the role of
technology within mandated standards-based instruction in public schools.
Combining foundational and contemporary theories and supported by data
from multiple studies of adolescent learning, this text:
• helps educators reconceptualize the ways students learn through and with
digital texts and negotiate the connection between online and offline spaces;
• offers a layered literacies framework that is flexible and customizable, sustain-
ing differentiated and individualized learning opportunities;
• incorporates a range of alternatives to accommodate classrooms with limited
or unreliable technology;
• honors teachers’ and students’ experiences and resources, while offering ideas
for modification and growth;
• features vignettes of classroom practice written by classroom teachers and
education researchers;
• provides a window into effective, cross-disciplinary techniques that build
upon layered literacies.
Online resources to accompany the text (www.routledge.com/9780415656597)
complement the concept of layering literacies across disciplines.
With a foreword by Jennifer Rowsell and an afterword by Bill Cope and Mary
Kalantzis, Integrating Virtual and Traditional Learning in 6–12 Classrooms will be of
interest to experienced educators and administrators, as well as postgraduate,
graduate, and undergraduate students of education.
Sandra Schamroth Abramsis an Assistant
Professor of Adolescent Education in the School
of Education, St. John’s University, Queens,
New York, USA.
INTEGRATING VIRTUAL
AND TRADITIONAL
LEARNING IN 6–12
CLASSROOMS
A Layered Literacies Approach to
Multimodal Meaning Making
Sandra Schamroth Abrams
First published 2015
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2015 Taylor & Francis
The right of Sandra Schamroth Abrams to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014944461
ISBN: 978-0-415-65658-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-65659-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-07767-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Keystroke, Station Road, Codsall, Wolverhampton
To my children—
May the sparks of your imagination and creativity continue to
ignite possibilities.
To my husband—
Thank you for believing.
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BRIEF CONTENTS
List of Figures xiii
List of Spotlight Vignettes xv
Foreword:Layering Life into Literacy xvii
Jennifer Rowsell
Acknowledgements xxi
1 Introduction:Integrating Virtual and Traditional Learning—
The Online–Offline Connection 1
2 A View from Inside the Fishbowl:A Culture of Layered
Understandings 9
3 Teaching,Assessment,and Layered Literacies 27
4 Making Classroom Material Relevant Through Layered
Literacies 47
5 Layering the Classroom Experience 59
6 Creating a Rhythm-Based Culture that Layers Approaches
to Bridging In- and Out-of-School Practices 75
viii Brief Contents
7 But the Internet Is Down! Layering Literacies With (and
Despite) Technology in the Classroom 91
8 Rethinking Classroom Learning:Affordances of Technological
Change and Opportunities for Inspired Pedagogy 109
Afterword:Literacies of Life Meet Literacies of School 117
Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis
References 125
Index 133
CONTENTS
List of Figures xiii
List of Spotlight Vignettes xv
Foreword:Layering Life into Literacy xvii
Jennifer Rowsell
Acknowledgements xxi
1 Introduction:Integrating Virtual and Traditional
Learning—The Online–Offline Connection 1
Technology and the Classroom 2
What This Book Offers 5
What This Book Is Not 7
Looking Ahead 7
2 A View from Inside the Fishbowl:A Culture of
Layered Understandings 9
Introduction 9
Looking Back to Move Forward:An Overview of Research
and Thinking about Literacies 10
What This All Means in Terms of Technology and Layered
Literacies 14
The Layered Literacies Frame 15
A Culture of Participation 18
Agency 18