Literacy 2.0 Tools

There are a number of tools that I want to include in my teachings this year but my main focus I think will be podcasts and Twitter.

I have been a little bit nervous about wanting to try podcasts because I struggle with the management piece of it, but I think I need to just try it out and see what works.  Podcasts are audio recordings that the students would create and record.  I think that they could respond to the read alouds we do, different books that they have read, or even combine it with a writing assignment.  For the management piece, I think that I would have the students come together to make a script that would need to be checked by me before they do any recording.  I think that this would get my auditory learners very interested in reading besides just from listening to audiobooks.  I love that podcasts involve them creating their writing and listening to their work.

Another tool I want to implement would be a classroom Twitter.  I have my professional twitter and I have used a classroom twitter in the past but it has been primarily run by me.  Twitter is a type of social media where you post up to 140 characters each time.  You can connect with other people and follow different subjects by using hashtags.  I think it would be a great Literacy 2.0 tool if I had the students each take a week where they would be in charge of running the classroom Twitter page.  This would require them to recount the important activities to our followers as well as making their language concise as Twitter only allows 140 characters per tweet.  This would also give the students a sense of ownership of their classroom, which I believe as a teacher is extremely important.

Sometimes implementing these tools in your classroom can seem somewhat daunting, but I believe that the students have such great experiences at the end and can learn so much through these tools.  It is important to keep introducing new tools year after year, as there are so many new tools to use!

Literacy and the 21st Century Classroom

As technology constantly evolves, so does education.  We as teachers need to stay up to date and current with technology and current instruction to better meet the needs of our students.  Our students are growing up in the 21st century which is completely engrossed in technology.  These children live and breathe apps, devices, and the Internet.  They are constantly connected with each other and this needs to be represented in our classrooms.

Technology has completely changed instruction as well as literacy.  In today;s world students are constantly collaborating with one another.  It is no longer the teacher giving a lecture but the students participating in project based learning and experiencing what the lesson is on their own with the teacher overseeing.  In regards to literacy, the teacher can do so much more now then having students participate in book clubs and write in their journals.  They are able to post discussions online via Edmodo or Padlet and read books online using apps such as Epic!, Storia, and RAZkids.  Technology is being interwoven so that students are collaborating online and being connected through technology.  They are able to achieve lots of different activities using technology.

No longer is reading just primarily in a paper format.  I wonder what is to come in the next 5 or 10 year with technology and literacy.   As technology changes and improves, educators must change and improve their teaching in order to implement technology to enhance our student's learning.