New
Literacies
When you stop to think
about it the impact the Internet has had on every day life is incredible. The
Internet allows us to do, learn, and become involved with things that were
never possible in the past. One of the greatest things is seeing this
technology move into the classroom more and more. When technology is used
properly and is made available it can be such a wonderful means of motivating,
engaging, and assisting our students in their day-to-day lives.
New Literacies encompass a
whole host of materials and opportunities on the Internet. It involves creating
opportunities to navigate through, search for, read about, and create projects
on anything you can think of. These new literacies have already had such an
impact around the world on people’s lives it’s time that it be seen as a
crucial part of every classroom.
I wish I can say that I
have incorporated all kinds of technology into the work that I do with my
students, but to be completely honest I haven’t. I think we get so wrapped up
in our day-to-day assignments that certain things get pushed to the side.
Although I do use a Smart Board, IPad, and IPods I know I’m not using them to
their potential however, I look forward to giving some new ideas a try like
creating digital
storybooks and finding new apps to use on the I devices like Puppet
Pals, which I came across when I was watching this youtube video:
NETS
Due to the ever-growing
need for individuals to be “Internet savvy” there must be a means of
determining proficiency with technology. There is an organization International
Society for Technology in Education that puts out The National
Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for students, teachers, and
administrators. No longer will student’s just “use” the Internet we now
need them to be critical learns through use of the Internet. The six areas that
are concentrated on for students are: communication and collaboration, research
and information, critical thinking, creativity and innovation, technology
operations, and digital citizenship.
I think it’s just as
critical that teachers are held accountable to be up to date on new and
exciting technology and for this reason the NETS have standards for teachers
that include the following areas: digital age work, digital age learning,
student learning, professional growth, and digital citizenship. This allows
teachers to stay up to date on new and exciting technology and provides them
with further resources to use with their students.
Love this! Is it only on the iPad? I think the kids would love using it since it is on the iPad.
ReplyDeleteIt is like the website kerpoof.com, kids can create a stories, make movies, etc. A teacher from another school shared it with me but I haven't played with it much yet.
Darci- I totally agree with you about using technology in our classrooms. I only hope that I am never afraid to try something new!!! Even if it does not go as planned the first time-it is worth incorporating something new like Digital Storytelling to benefit our students.
ReplyDeleteTaini- I spent some time with Kerpoof Studio- how easy! I think this could be a quick and fun tool to create stories with students- especially younger students. I'm thinking about using this with some of my ELL students to increase writing skills. So excited!
I will have to agree with you about the use of technology in the classroom. Although I use my Promethean board on a daily basis, I know I am not using it to it's or my fullest potential. There just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to do all we have to do and time to explore and learn the things we need to, in order to teach these applications to the students. I also wish there was some mysterious money tree that could provide iPad's to every student and or classroom. This way the technology would be available to all. I see my 3 year old on my personal iPad and my student with special needs using the SLP's at school. They learn and naturally explore so easily. It's amazing. I just wish all students could have this experience.
ReplyDeleteDarcie, it's so true! I completely agree. it is a shame that we have these standards, and yet the majority of teachers have no clue about the technologies available. My school just did a survey to find out our technology knowledge for the next Professional Development and none of the things we are learning about were on them. They still asked about , email, Word and Excel proficiency. It is so sad.
ReplyDelete