Friday, August 20, 2010

Reflection

At the close of my most recent course towards integrating technology into my classroom, I feel more confident about incorporating 21st century skills into my everyday teaching, especially through new literacies. My students are flooded with literacy through way of digital delivery and unlike the information that I received through traditional text as a student, they have to be able to decipher between what is a valid resource and what is not.
One tool I found invaluable throughout this course, Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom, was looking at a website using the ABC’s provided by Beth Phillips. If we teach our children to look at websites objectively looking for an Author, a Bias, correct Content, official Dates and Evaluation of facts, they will experience much more success when gathering information. Before beginning this course I believe I had a much narrower scope of what I believed to be out there on the internet and now I am much more aware. I also feel I have grown substantially in allowing my class to become more student centered with project based learning, rather than guiding them through every piece of curriculum that we tackle.
One professional development goal I have set for myself as an educator returning to my classroom this fall is to incorporate new literacies into my art room setting. Gathering information through digital literacy should not fall simply within the realm of a core classroom setting, but should be explored in my content area as well. There are many ways I plan to do this and am excited for what lies ahead!
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom. Baltimore: Author.