blog : March 2013
Connecting Literacy Skill Development to the 21st Century
3/12/2013
When we were in high school and college, we learned how to use the Dewey
decimal system, note cards, microfiche, and setting the margins in an electric
typewriter. We were the last generation of students that actually pounded out
papers and research on an electric typewriter and actually memorized the
abbreviated guide in the Periodic Guide of Literature as a means to save time. The
embodiment of a “good” student in our generation was the ability to ferret out
morsels of information that were buried in the library shelves and microfiche
drawers. This took an exceptional amount of time. Some fellow educators argue
that this is actually rigorous and teaches academic discipline. Perhaps it did, we’d
like to think so. Yet as literacy educators, we know that school is very different than
our experience as teenage students in the 1980s.
Today, what took us hours to accomplish in the library, our students can accomplish
in minutes. A Google search will produce millions of informational pieces that
students need to quickly analyze and synthesize. We would argue that this takes an
rigor and academic discipline just as we did in the dusty library stacks. But there is a
very marked difference. Out students can do this in minutes or even seconds.
Here’s another thought. As educators we are quite familiar with Bloom’s Taxonomy
for understanding. If we look at the bottom levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, we know
that the lowest level of understanding include recall and the harvesting of
information. As teenagers, we spent hours harvesting information because we went
to school (a crazy thought) without the Internet! Now, that stage is almost
eliminated. As a result, we would contend that our 21st century students spend far
more time in higher levels of understanding (according to Bloom’s Taxonomy) that
include analysis, synthesis and representation. This is an essential difference in our
21st century students than what many of us may have experienced as students.
What does this mean for my classroom?
The ways, in which we read text, create text, use text, and how text effects us has
completely changed. As we readily know, we are now in the midst of the technology
or digital age and as educators, we often talk about 21st century skills and what
these mean now for our students (as most recently articulated in the Common Core
State Standards).
If our students are spending more time and focus analyzing, synthesizing, and
representing what they know and understand (rather than collecting and memorizing
information) we know that this is far more rigorous. Instead of facts and storing
massive amounts of content, our students need to develop skills that facilitate the
higher-level skills of analysis, synthesis and representation. Effectively integrating
technology in literacy learning so that students are creating expanded and original
expressions of comprehension and understanding.
How do I effectively integrate technology to develop student literacy skills?
Start small and build. Integrate a few technology tools and build. The following
short list is meant as a means to get started.
This list of suggestions is meant to be a starting point and is no means exhaustive.
- Blogs—Encourage your students to read blogs as well as teach students how
to write blogs. Warren’s students use blogs to research, learn, and comprehend
new information. They also use blogs to share their work. Here are some sample
student blogs from Warren’s students:
gcevoices.com
-
Use a backchannel. When you have large group discussions or when the
students are engaged in small groups, you can use a back channel like
www.todaysmeet.com as a platform where students can report, question, and
present what they know and understand.
-
Google Docs. Warren regularly uses Google docs with his students as a tool
for collaboration, classroom discussion and sharing information and ideas. What is
particularly exciting about Google docs is that students can see each other’s thinking
as they all contribute to the document.
- Think Facebook for education when you explore the possibilities with Edmodo. This web 2.0 tool is social networking site that can further classroom discussions. In the work that Katie has done in schools across the country, she has seen teachers use Edmodo as a means to organize and share group work as well as continue and expand classroom discussions.
Remember, as you rethink and revise your literacy curriculum to develop 21st
century “literacy skill ready” lessons, start by using applications that are familiar and
build from there. For example, you’re likely to use Facebook in Education if you’re
already using Facebook for social media. Similarly, if you use Google as a search
engine, and Microsoft Word to type and share reports then you are likely to find
Google docs an accessible and worthwhile investment. In any case, we need to
continually evolve the ways in which we effectively develop literacy skills in
students.
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