Reflecting back on this course, Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom, I take away with me an abundance of new and vital information. As an educator, I feel much more confident about moving out of my comfort zone of the “paper classroom” and venturing into the “paperless world” of the Internet. I feel eager to embark on teaching my students the “strategies for managing information on the Web” (Eagleton & Dobler, 2004, p. 1). Furthermore, I now realize that it is acceptable to learn along with my students; to me, this is a 21st century skill in and of itself. Two years ago, I would have never contemplated this idea. I was that teacher who had the mindset that if I did not know how to do it, then I surely could not teach it. I knew very little about technology, and I refused to go out on a limb and chance looking incompetent in front of my students. In the past few months, I have discovered that not knowing as much as your student, or just not knowing an abundant amount of information regarding technology, is acceptable and should not deter a teacher from testing the waters with their students. David Warlick firmly believes that as long as you and your students are learning, it is acceptable to make mistakes because “you adjust and you learn from that” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). I am making a concerted effort to heed David Warlick’s advice, and have slowly begun to implement more technology into my lessons to help my students progress efficiently and effectively into this ever present digital world.
This course has also taught me to reevaluate how I view literacy. I understand now that “literacy is changing, it is evolving” and I need to “prepare my students for their future” because their future will be technology driven (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). In order to accomplish this goal, I must ensure that my students are well versed in what Dr. Douglas Hartman refers to as “the new literacies” which he has expressed as five different strategies: “questioning, searching, evaluating, synthesizing, and communicating” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). Students will need to apply these new litercies as they “read and write online” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). In order to ensure that my students comprehend these new literacies, I will teach them how to “develop good questions”, “read search engine results”, “fact check and cross reference” the information to ensure it is “trustworthy”, how to fit all of the information they have compiled and “fit it all together” so that it is coherent and understandable. Finally, I will teach my students how to communicate all of this information, so they can share it with students “in the online world” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010).
In order to accomplish the above mentioned goals, I will continue to apply these strategies as often as possible into my lessons. For example, the first thing I plan on doing is modeling for my students how to use search engines to locate websites and then test these websites for reliability because I do not want my students to think that because a website is on the Internet, it is credible. Next, I will work alongside my students and create with them an inquiry-based project where they will “identify essential questions to explore” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). I have always modeled for my students how to answer open-ended questions-I have offered them strategies to aid them in the process of thinking more deeply about a question so they could answer these types of questions more critically. For example, when I have my students in literature circles and they are preparing to ask their classmates questions, I always tell my students to make sure they ask the type of question that will promote discussion. Never ask a question that requires a yes or no answer. I have learned through this course that “taken literally, inquiry means not just questioning, but questioning into something” and that if the students’ questions are rich and deep, they will inevitably “lead to more questions” (Thornburg, 2004). In essence, this will “form the basis for a research project. Since my students and I work on answering open-ended questions throughout the school year, I believe this will help them in the question phase of the inquiry-based project.
Another goal I plan on achieving is to become more adept at using specific technologies such as Jing, Audacity, Google.docs, and Moviemaker. The speech and drama teacher in my school set up his own webpage using Jing, Google.docs, and Audacity. One week before school started, his students received a letter supplied with the information they needed to log onto his website. When his students logged on they were warmly greeted personally by their teacher; he welcomed them to the course and he informed them of his expectations, and he explained how to maneuver around the site. Another terrific aspect of this use of technology is that the students can access their teacher’s website from home, so if they are absent for whatever reason, they can find homework, future projects and or assignments with the click of a button. I would like to create a website for my English class by next school year. I also relish the idea of creating book trailers with the use of Moviemaker. What a wonderful way to spark students’ interest and possibly turn some of my “non-readers” into readers.
In closing, I think that educators need to realize that “the nature of information has changed; information has become increasingly networked and increasingly digital” and this in turn affects how we learn, it affects the nature of literacy” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). Educators need to let go of that “I am not technology-savvy mentality” and realize that it is acceptable to make mistakes as long as you are “learning from that experience” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). It is necessary for educators to expose their students to the Internet and all it has to offer so that their students will be successful in and out of school.
References:
Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the Web: Strategies for Internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Essential questions in inquiry projects. [DVD]. Supporting information literacy and online inquiry in the classroom. Baltimore, MD: Author
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). New literacies. [DVD]. Supporting information literacy and online inquiry in the classroom. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Skills for the future. [DVD]. Supporting information literacy and online inquiry in the classroom. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Thornburg, D. (2004). Inquiry: The art of helping students ask good questions. (Excecutive Briefing No. 402). Retrieved from http://www.tcpdpodcast.org/briefings/inquiry.pdf
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Week 8 Reflective Essay
I have never been a very technologically savvy person. I have always been overwhelmed by the thought of learning how to use the various tools and programs that were offered on the Read/Write/Web, let alone even thinking about implementing them in my classroom, but after completing this course, Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society, I am proud to say that I now know a little bit about a few of the many technological tools that the Read/Write/Web has to offer. By no means am I technologically literate, but as I forge ahead and continue my learning, I hope to eventually become as enriched by technology as I possibly can. I must be able to teach my students, these digital natives, how to use technology as an educational tool, because as it stands now, they are mainly using technology for social purposes.
At this point in time, the one tool I feel most comfortable with is blogging, but this course has forced me to try my hand at two tools I have never experimented with before: wikis and podcasts. These two tools were extremely challenging for me, but I muddled through and even though I barely scratched the surface where these tools are concerned, I can see how vital and indispensable they are and can be for the 21st century learner. During this course, I made a point of attending a technology workshop on wikis and podcasts to learn as much as I could about these two great tools, and I plan to continue to attend additional technology workshops in the future. Before this class, I was too intimidated to even consider attending a technology workshop; this class has forced me out of my comfort zone and has allowed me to try new things and to begin to consider teaching what I have learned to my students.
This course has also taught me the importance of teaching foundational 21st century skills, because today’s students will need these skills in order to “thrive in the 21st century” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2007). In my classroom, I largely focus on critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork and collaboration, and this course has taught me the importance of these skills and how they are needed more so now than they were “in previous generations” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2007).
One goal I wish to set for myself is to implement technology into my classroom little by little. I want to start a classroom blog initially, and when I become more comfortable with wikis, I would like to start a class wiki. I plan to set aside time to learn from fellow colleagues the best way to use wikis in the classroom. I have made a point of attending workshops that fellow teachers have presented on technology. My students are always working in groups whether they are peer editing, engaged in literature circles, debating, or working on study guide questions. Group wikis would allow me to truly monitor my students’ progress, and it would help me to keep track of who was actually putting in the time and who was falling short. I think using wikis to peer edit essays would be a great way to make sure all students were on board and collaborating to help each other progress and succeed. Wikis would encourage students to become better writers because they would be writing to an authentic audience and they actually care what others think.
A second goal I would set would be to allow my class to “go global”, to step foot into the global world and experience how students from other parts of the country and or other countries write and think. This would be a terrific educational experience for my students and me, and I plan on making sure this goal comes to fruition. As Will Richardson states in his book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, “Giving students a chance to share their work with a global audience is an important first step, but there is much more to it. It’s the conversations, the links, and the networks that grow from them afterward that we really begin to understand the professional implications for lifelong learning” (Richardson, 2009).
Reference:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2007). “21st Century Skills”. [Motion picture]. Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society. Baltimore: Author.
Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Week 8 Reflective Essay
I have never been a very technologically savvy person. I have always been overwhelmed by the thought of learning how to use the various tools and programs that were offered on the read/write/web, let alone even thinking about implementing them in my classroom, but after completing this course, Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society, I am proud to say that I now know a little bit about a few of the many technological tools that the read/write/web has to offer. By no means am I technologically literate, but as I forge ahead and continue my learning, I hope to eventually become as enriched by technology as I possibly can. I must be able to teach my students, these digital natives, how to use technology as an educational tool, because as it stands now, they are mainly using technology for social purposes.
At this point in time, the one tool I feel most comfortable with is blogging, but this course has forced me to try my hand at two tools I have never experimented with before: wikis and podcasts. These two tools were extremely challenging for me, but I muddled through and even though I barely scratched the surface where these tools are concerned, I can see how vital and indispensable they are and can be for the 21st century learner. During this course, I made a point of attending a technology workshop on wikis and podcasts to learn as much as I could about these two great tools, and I plan to continue to attend additional technology workshops in the future. Before this class, I was too intimidated to even consider attending a technology workshop; this class has forced me out of my comfort zone and has allowed me to try new things and to begin to consider teaching what I have learned to my students.
This course has also taught me the importance of teaching foundational 21st century skills, because today’s students will need these skills in order to “thrive in the 21st century” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2007). In my classroom, I largely focus on critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork and collaboration, and this course has taught me the importance of these skills and how they are needed more so now than they were “in previous generations” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2007).
One goal I wish to set for myself is to implement technology into my classroom little by little. I want to start a classroom blog initially, and when I become more comfortable with wikis, I would like to start a class wiki. I plan to set aside time to learn from fellow colleagues just how to use wikis in the classroom. I have made a point of attending workshops that fellow teachers have presented on technology. My students are always working in groups whether they are peer editing, engaged in literature circles, debating, or working on study guide questions. Group wikis would allow me to truly monitor my students’ progress, and it would help me to keep track of who was actually putting in the time and who was falling short. I think using wikis to peer edit essay would be a great way to make sure all students were on board and collaborating to help each other progress and succeed. Wikis would encourage students to become better writers because they would be writing to an authentic audience and they actually care what others think.
A second goal I would set would be to allow my class to “go global”, to step foot into the global world and experience how students from other countries write and think. This would be a terrific educational experience for my students and me, and I look plan on making sure this goal comes to fruition. As Will Richardson states in his book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, “Giving students a chance to share their work with a global audience is an important first step, but there is much more to it. It’s the conversations, the links, and the networks that grow from them afterward that we really begin to understand the professional implications for lifelong learning” (Richardson, 2009).
Reference:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2007). “21st Century Skills”. [Motion picture]. Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society. Baltimore: Author.
Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
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