READING REVIEW: LITERACY IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Hello All,
As a teacher of tiny (Grade 2) humans in the 21st century, there is an expectation that students will leave school with the knowledge and competencies to navigate the online, digital world. As indicated by the Redesigned BC Curriculum, for intermediate students, these competencies may include areas such as robotics, drafting, power technology, media arts, computers and communication devices, digital literacy, and entrepreneurship and marketing. What, you might ask, does this look like in the primary grades? A screenshot of the Grade 2 curriculum for Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies tells us that no, 7 year olds are not expected to create their own webpage, robot, or iMovie; however, they should be provided the chance to play and explore foundational skills to one day be able to create a technologically advanced product. Much like how the primary years are used to refine printing, sentence structure, decoding, number concepts, and addition and subtraction strategies, they are now the years in which children should also be learning to type, code, safely surf the web, and share digital documentation (pictures and videos) of their work.
I am very interested in further developing my Guided Reading/literacy program and using technology to engage my tiny humans. I have begun to weave technology and, without my students realizing it, digital literacy, into my Guided Reading blocks which last about 1.5 hours, 3 times a week. I have booked the school iPad cart for this block and have taught my students how to use an app called SeeSaw. My students learned very quickly how to identify and open the app on their iPads, login to their accounts through scanning a QR code that I have posted in the classroom, take pictures and videos of their work, upload this content to their accounts, and then comment on their work! The students also have the opportunity to login to their RAZkids online reading accounts where they have access to digital books that have been levelled to meet their needs, answer multiple choice comprehension questions about what they have read, and they have the option to listen to the story while watching the words being highlighted as they are read. I see a lot of potential for using technology to teach literacy which I will share in the following section.
Technology Applications in Early Literacy:
Technology Concerns in Early Literacy:
I would like to focus on Guided Reading as an area for further technological integration because while I am working with small groups, I am trusting that the rest of my class is on task working on some sort of literacy activity (e.g., work work, spelling sentences, reading comprehension, or literacy games). Due to my students high level of engagement when working with technology and the opportunity for a personalized curriculum (Richardson, 2012),I am confident that I will be able to better reach my students’ literacy goals with a digitally integrated Guided Reading program.
ReferenceRichardson, W. (2012). Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere [Kindle Single]. TED Conferences.
As a teacher of tiny (Grade 2) humans in the 21st century, there is an expectation that students will leave school with the knowledge and competencies to navigate the online, digital world. As indicated by the Redesigned BC Curriculum, for intermediate students, these competencies may include areas such as robotics, drafting, power technology, media arts, computers and communication devices, digital literacy, and entrepreneurship and marketing. What, you might ask, does this look like in the primary grades? A screenshot of the Grade 2 curriculum for Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies tells us that no, 7 year olds are not expected to create their own webpage, robot, or iMovie; however, they should be provided the chance to play and explore foundational skills to one day be able to create a technologically advanced product. Much like how the primary years are used to refine printing, sentence structure, decoding, number concepts, and addition and subtraction strategies, they are now the years in which children should also be learning to type, code, safely surf the web, and share digital documentation (pictures and videos) of their work.
I am very interested in further developing my Guided Reading/literacy program and using technology to engage my tiny humans. I have begun to weave technology and, without my students realizing it, digital literacy, into my Guided Reading blocks which last about 1.5 hours, 3 times a week. I have booked the school iPad cart for this block and have taught my students how to use an app called SeeSaw. My students learned very quickly how to identify and open the app on their iPads, login to their accounts through scanning a QR code that I have posted in the classroom, take pictures and videos of their work, upload this content to their accounts, and then comment on their work! The students also have the opportunity to login to their RAZkids online reading accounts where they have access to digital books that have been levelled to meet their needs, answer multiple choice comprehension questions about what they have read, and they have the option to listen to the story while watching the words being highlighted as they are read. I see a lot of potential for using technology to teach literacy which I will share in the following section.
Technology Applications in Early Literacy:
- Students film themselves reading a passage and then listen to the recording to self-assess for fluency, expression, etc.
- Students use voice to text to assist them spelling words in writing activities
- Students can search unknown words online to provide instant context including image, written definition, and pronunciation (e.g., cougar)
- Individualized reading content based on interest and reading level at your fingertips
- Hyperlinks in text to delve deeper into subject areas and promote interaction with content
Technology Concerns in Early Literacy:
- Students relying on autocorrect in their writing instead of learning phonological patterns for spelling
- Students relying on grammar error recognition to fix sentences instead of learning grammar rules and conventions
- Students losing the skill of printing in favour of typing
I would like to focus on Guided Reading as an area for further technological integration because while I am working with small groups, I am trusting that the rest of my class is on task working on some sort of literacy activity (e.g., work work, spelling sentences, reading comprehension, or literacy games). Due to my students high level of engagement when working with technology and the opportunity for a personalized curriculum (Richardson, 2012),I am confident that I will be able to better reach my students’ literacy goals with a digitally integrated Guided Reading program.
ReferenceRichardson, W. (2012). Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere [Kindle Single]. TED Conferences.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good first post! You have a strong focus for further reading and research. I am interested in seeing where your learning takes you.