Blog #4
In reading the article, "No Longer a Luxury: Digital Literacy Can't Wait," I found myself nodding to the five practices that destroy digital literacy. I was not nodding in agreement, but acknowledging that I am guilty of doing each and every one in my classroom at one time or another. This is truly an area that we, as educators, need to address. The question is how to do this with educators who have been teaching for years? Excellent teachers who may be intimidated to admit that something is new and unfamiliar. In my building, we are fortunate to have great resources within our faculty. Administration recognizes this and offers professional development sessions given by our faculty members. In an effort to offer opportunities to teachers, information about software programs and Google apps/extensions is often relayed through an email. Having a faculty member give a demonstration is far less intimidating for some as opposed to watching a podcast. I feel that we at ASFMS are Access Academy; however, we are recognizing our deficits and working to share our knowledge to collectively overcome them. Switching gears a bit, I would like to acknowledge the important of teaching students to question what they read online and to understand biases. The sixth grade curriculum includes teaching about academic databases, credible sources, and proper citation. We need to broaden our teaching to include other digital sources and not just .edu or .org websites.
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Ms. Boyd's podcast. As the title of her podcast suggests, she discusses the good, the bad, and the ugly of the internet. Ms. Boyd talks about the moment she realized that her computer was made up of people. This is a powerful statement recognizing that behind every text, tweet, post, and/or comment, there is an actual person typing and real people receiving and reading the message. It seems like a simple statement, but holds so much truth. Although her comment connected her to a world of people sharing her same thoughts and perspectives, this simple message is an important one to teach our students. Students need to know that their words have meaning and emotion and that others will be affected by what they read. The internet is a double-edged sword, when someone opens up online for advice or simply to share, they also open themselves up to criticism and hurtful comments.
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Ms. Boyd's podcast. As the title of her podcast suggests, she discusses the good, the bad, and the ugly of the internet. Ms. Boyd talks about the moment she realized that her computer was made up of people. This is a powerful statement recognizing that behind every text, tweet, post, and/or comment, there is an actual person typing and real people receiving and reading the message. It seems like a simple statement, but holds so much truth. Although her comment connected her to a world of people sharing her same thoughts and perspectives, this simple message is an important one to teach our students. Students need to know that their words have meaning and emotion and that others will be affected by what they read. The internet is a double-edged sword, when someone opens up online for advice or simply to share, they also open themselves up to criticism and hurtful comments.
I agree with your comment 100% about how there is an intimidation factor with some of the new technology and tools that are out there. For those experienced teachers that have not previously been exposed to it on a broad level, an email sometimes just won't cut it. That is why professional development days are such a big help. I have a friend who has been teaching for 20 years who cringes when her technology glitches and one of her students has to come help her with it. It can be a very humbling experience when this happens! But she steps back and uses it as a learning moment as opposed to a time to be embarrassed that her students sometimes know more than she does.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your idea on opening up to other digital sources, not just .edu or .org websites. I remember my high school years and the constant reminder to use only these sources. I think by using only these websites students are put into a box and their minds are not exploring as much as they should. I also like that statement made by Boyd. It is important to remember that other people are online and sometimes we get lost in the idea that they can't see me so I have the power to write whatever I want. I agree, this is something we need to teach our students because we want them to be kind and mindful of others' opinions. Great post!
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