Reflection

For decades, education has been mostly about the teacher communicating information to students and student reading a textbook. Then, the students spit back what they have learned, most frequently through paper and pencil tests or a report. Through this course, I have learned that education is no longer about simple teacher-textbook-student interaction; it is more about communication and connectivity. It is about students connecting and communicating with each other, to their textbooks and content, and to people outside of their classroom (Laureate Education, It’s not about the technology, 2009). Our world is changing at exponential rates and as educators we need to prepare our students for that change. We need to teach them how to learn; how to be resourceful and how to use resources. David Warlick points out that we need to prepare students for their future and not our past. Our students’ future is digital media and an online world. (Laureate Education, Skills for the future, 2009). That leads me to this question- how does a digital immigrant, someone who grew up without technology and digital media, teach the digital natives of today?

My goal is to utilize technology in my classroom that will allow my students to connect and communicate with each other and people outside of the classroom. Standards for the 21st Century learner include: (1) Pursue personal and aesthetic growth; and (2) Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society. (American Association of School Librarians, 2007). This goal has two parts, both of which will cover the standards I mentioned. First, I want to use blogging with my students and create a class wiki page based on the informational passages we read in class. Second, I want to make a connection with other Read 180 teachers and possibly connect our students.
Using a blog with my students will become much easier in the fall. My district will be utilizing new software that will allow staff to incorporate a blog on the staff web pages. My goal is to start a blog with my students that discuss the books they are reading during Silent Sustained Reading (our school has an SSR period everyday for 15 minutes before the start of block 1). I overheard my director of technology say, “Blogs are just opinions.” I wanted to tell him how wrong he is. Maybe some blogs are about gossip and opinions, but they can be so much more. Blogging in about communication; it is about using language to accomplish a goal ((Laureate Education, It’s not about the technology, 2009). I feel that if I can get my students talking about what they are reading, they may become more excited about books and reading. The reluctant readers may just be motivated to pick up a book based on the opinions of a classmate. I want to facilitate that communication. I have a feeling that sounds very basic, but for a digital native with very little experience in “web 2.0 tools”, this is a big step and one that will still benefit my students.

As for my other goal, Read180 is taught all over the country. Scholastic has set up a wonderful website where teachers can connect and share ideas. I have not taken full advantage of this and I believe this has been a mistake. If I want my students to connect and communicate I must be willing to do it myself. One thought I have is the possibility of connecting with another read 180 class and maybe creating a wiki page that builds upon the informational passages we read in class. Since all students will read the same passage, they will have the same prior knowledge to work with and can work together to build upon that knowledge. Before that can happen, I must teach my students how to create their own wiki page with each other (and make sure I can manage it!).

I felt this course had many aspects- online literacy was a large part of it, but also within the many articles there was discussion of becoming digital citizens; how to become part of the online world and how to behave in it. I think this is the part of the course I took the most away from. Learning how to navigate the web, ask questions, conduct research, and transform information is important; but I think knowing how to use the internet ethically, legally, and appropriately from a social and human standpoint is important as well. That is where I want to start with my students.

References

American Association of School Librarians (2007). Standards for the 21st century learner. Retrieved June 27, 2010 from http://ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom. Baltimore: Author.