Reflection: EDUC-6712D-1 Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom

The most striking revelation about teaching new literacy skills to my students is learning the importance of teaching students how to be literate using the Web. Until this course, I never thought about the importance of teaching students how to use the Internet in ways that would help them to improve their literacy skills. For example, students can use digital storytelling to persuade someone in writing, tell a story or retell a story to show understanding of story elements, or to recall information from something they read, and using technology to put together a multimedia presentation as part of a performance product.

In my course studies, I learned that a teacher, Vicki Davis, "empowers" her students by teaching them "how to learn" (edutopia.org). She enables her students to collaborate via the Web with students around the word. The students discuss content area learning with students across the globe who are studying the same thing. This allows students to use the Web in ways they use it in their personal lives, to communicate with others their age, and in ways that focus on learning. This empowers students by working with a method of learning the students already relate to and taking their learning across the globe to gain a new perspective from other students. My students enjoy working with each other in small groups. They would benefit from lessons, such as the ones that Vicki Davis has used with her students. My challenge is working with Internet security and school wide Internet policies. In this course, I learned of some Internet safe sites for educators and children. A wiki space for educators is one (edutopia.org).

The knowledge and skills gained in this course will help me to better prepare my students for using 21st Century Skills that will carry with them throughout their education and future careers. My students will be engaged in learning that promotes use of hands on technology and collaborative communication skills that build upon literacy skills needed to promote learning across the curriculum. My students are currently building a Wiki Space to answer essential questions related to content area studies. They will soon develop their own essential questions and answer each other’s essential questions. The Wiki Space is a nice way to get students engaged in content area learning, while promoting literacy skills by having students read and write about what they’re learning.

One professional development goal that I have that builds upon learning from this course, is making a commitment to stay abreast of new educational technology trends, and take courses related to teaching these new discoveries. The second part of this professional development is making a commitment to using what I have learned to teach my students and engage them in literacy skills using technology that will promote use of these skills.

This course has opened my eyes to thinking about using technology that promotes literacy skills and will engage my students in learning about content area studies. It's not just about teaching children how to use technology; it's more about teaching them how to learn.

References
Edutopia.org (2009) Davis, V. (Speaker). "Harness Your School's Digital Smarts." http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-teachers-vicki-davis, retrieved October 30,2009.