Improving Literacy Through Technology
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/content/cntareas/reading/li300.htm
The above link takes you to a site that discusses how integration of technology can be used to improve and enhance literacy among our students. I currently teach middle and high school intensive reading. This is not an easy audience to motivate. Many of my students are capable of reading, but they don't enjoy reading. This lack of interest leads to the fact that they don't practice enough and sometimes lose ground without having the literacy exposure. I have been recently introduced podcasting to improve reading fluency. I had my students read books aloud multiple times, using appropriate phrasing and intonation to help increase fluency. They thought is was just for fun and didn't recognize that they were learning, until I told them the purpose behind the podcasts. I was amazed by the excitement of the students the first day I brought in my Mac. They were fighting over who would get to read first and then argued when they finished, that they wanted to read again. I have never seen my students that excited about reading!
In exploring the above website, I found that there is so much more to literacy than what I first understood. The meaning has changed over time and I believe it will continue to broaden and will be transformed throughout the 21st century with all the newly available tools and resources. I am very excited to see where this transformation takes my students and where it takes me as both a learner and an educator.
The above link takes you to a site that discusses how integration of technology can be used to improve and enhance literacy among our students. I currently teach middle and high school intensive reading. This is not an easy audience to motivate. Many of my students are capable of reading, but they don't enjoy reading. This lack of interest leads to the fact that they don't practice enough and sometimes lose ground without having the literacy exposure. I have been recently introduced podcasting to improve reading fluency. I had my students read books aloud multiple times, using appropriate phrasing and intonation to help increase fluency. They thought is was just for fun and didn't recognize that they were learning, until I told them the purpose behind the podcasts. I was amazed by the excitement of the students the first day I brought in my Mac. They were fighting over who would get to read first and then argued when they finished, that they wanted to read again. I have never seen my students that excited about reading!
In exploring the above website, I found that there is so much more to literacy than what I first understood. The meaning has changed over time and I believe it will continue to broaden and will be transformed throughout the 21st century with all the newly available tools and resources. I am very excited to see where this transformation takes my students and where it takes me as both a learner and an educator.
2 comments:
- lindaleea said...
New Media Literacy in a participatory culture was suppose to be the name change for this class, but others decided against it. But I wanted to guide this class in that direction more. And I hope I am. There is a new book coming out that may help. But you are right, this is changing education and will be invaluable in the future. Read this week in the website. It applies to Media Literacy.
Linda Burns- Technology Tools for Teachers said...
This article provided some excellent resources to help me convince some of my peers on the importance of using multimedia. There is a desire among some administrators to encourage teachers to integrate media in the classroom; however, the argument always comes back to when do teachers have time to learn. Do you have any thoughts on this topic?
Blog Entry Title: Improving Literacy Through Technology
Blogger Name: Jolene Tucker--Tucker's Tidbits
URL retrieved on September 28, 2009 from http://jojoteach1109.blogspot.com/
Dr. Young's list of literacies is particularly notable. It shows how much our goals for young learners must change. I fear that many schools and districts are still very short sighted in their focus. We need to move beyond the limited micro expectations of computation and decoding and interpret these skills in the larger context in which students will need to function.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to hear your student's reaction when you bring podcasting into the classroom. Sad to say this is so novel an experience for them.
"I currently teach middle and high school intensive reading. This is not an easy audience to motivate."
ReplyDeleteDiane, I can understand how you must feel on this topic. It is my opinion that most students k-12 are not much on reading. They are soo over stimulated by media elements. They would rather YouTube than read. I know are doing a great job with these students.
- Graham