Looking Back!

Students come to school already equipped with many special skills. I always believed that many of my students were very knowledgeable when it came to using technology, but as I gained more information pertaining to the new literacies that must be taught in our classrooms, I quickly realized that the truth of the matter is that my students still had a long way to go in order to become a “technology native.” In this week’s video resource, David Warlick states, “students are already good at playing technology. They need us to help them learn how to work it within context that is meaningful to the curriculum and to their future” (Laureate, 2009). Yes, my students are very skilled when it comes to “playing technology,” however; they lack the ability to effectively utilize those skills when it comes to relating it to things they are learning in the classroom.

The skills and information that I have gathered from this course will allow me to better prepare my students for the time when they will be required to independently make use of their new literacies. Throughout this course, I have been made aware of the fact that when providing students with new tasks I must not assume that they already have the skills and knowledge they need in order to be successful. I must take the time to teach my students the proper way of interacting with individuals whether it is on the web or in person. I must also provide models and step by step examples of the proper ways of finding/evaluating information that students would use in class reports. To make the assumption that students can properly make use of their resources because they are very skilled are using the technology can ultimately put students in a situation where they will more than likely fail.

In order to continue to provide my students with the skills needed in order to succeed in school and in the future, I plan to continue to strengthen my skills in the area of teaching the new literacies. Just as with anything in the education profession, these literacies are bound to change; therefore, I plan to take part in professional development opportunities that teach the importance of including these literacies in the classroom. I also would like to lead my colleagues in learning more about these important skills in order to better prepare our students for the world outside of school.

Reference: Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom. Baltimore: Author.