Sarah's New Literacies Entry

For my project Katie, Nikki, and I decided to use interactive maps to explore cultural literacy.  We used google maps and I learned how to create a map of the and how to drops pins and label the map.  The map was fairly easy to navigate and it was not too hard to enter in information.  We created a map of beginning teacher's salaries in some major states and cities in the US.  For the different states on our map we made sure to include teacher shortages such as math, science, or special education.  On our map we also included a little bit about each city we mapped and what attractions they offer for residents.   We also stated any interesting cultural attractions we discovered that these cities have to offer.  We felt that this topic would be interesting for not only us but for our classmates as well since we will soon be looking for teaching jobs and moving to new cities.  Overall, I thought this project was very beneficial since it allowed me to learn how to use a new technology in a creative way in order to make cultural literacy more interesting and interactive for students.  In the future I hope to have the chance to explore other technologies and implement them in the classroom.