Can E.T. help me reach my students?

E.T. was able to phone home using a Simon game.  It may not be as simple to reach my students.  Or could it?  Students of today are exposed to technology from the moment they are born.  They have learned to multitask like no other, listening to their iPods while searching the web for information to enter into their blog.  The challenge for teachers today is capturing and maintaining their interest while also providing them with the information they need to know and the skills they need to succeed.  We must be as adept in the technology they use as they are; we must not fear it, but rather use it.

Through my Literacy & Technology course, I am attaining skills, knowledge, and powerful resources for my future classroom in which I will need to engage my students in a way unlike the previous generations have been taught.  Students can attain the higher levels of thinking that are so important to their futures.  And it can be done while teaching them what is required for the standardized tests they still must take, and while integrating the technologies they are so familiar with into the classroom and their learning experience.  As teachers, we just have to be as creative as E.T., and them we can reach them.

It's Not Just Reading and Writing Anymore...

Literacy, as it is traditionally defined is the ability to read and write.  Through the years culture evolves because of new ideas, creations, and technologies.  In the last decade, technology has made such an impact on our lives and culture, that literacy now has a definitions, and encompasses more than just reading and writing.

As educators, we must now also consider computer literacy, information literacy, and integration literacy.  So long as you know how to use a personal computer, and understand how computers are used in industry, you are considered computer literate.  Look around.  Most people, young and old can be considered computer literate.  Even the grandmother with the cellphone at the ATM.  She knows and understands computers and their uses.  We have evolved by accepting technology and becoming literate in its use.

The concept of information literacy has not really changed.  What has changed about it is the vehicle by which we become information literate.  To understand what I just said, you need a definition of information literacy.  It is knowing how to find, analyze, and use information (according to Shelly, Cashman, Gunter & Gunter).  Previously, in education, we would go to the library, search through a card catalog and then a stack of books to find the information we needed.  Now?  Have you ever Googled something?  How about AskJeeves?  Maybe even looking in Wikipedia?  Using all these web based tools help us to become information literate in this technologically based era.

Finally, we must consider integration literacy.  This is how we enhance student learning with the use of computers and other technologies, along with a variety of learning and teaching strategies.  This concept has created so much debate among educators.  What technology is appropriate for use in the classroom?  How is technology used without taking away from the information you want to teach?  Some innovative educators have decided to engage their students by using all the technologies that students surround themselves with today.  They have integrated the use of cellphones, iPods, computers, and SMARTboards into their lessons and classrooms. 

What is the best way to test?

In Rethinking Testing for the 21st Century, Elizabeth Rich poses the question "How would you assess critical thinking skills on a standardized test?"

Asking the question is much simpler than answering it...

As with anything in life, there are positives and negatives to standardized testing. However, the way in which standardized tests are executed, perceived, and valued make the negative list seem so much longer. So much stress and pressure is placed on students and teachers, as well as school districts, to attain high scores on these tests. As a result, teaching has morphed into giving our students the skills and knowledge to attain those scores. We have forgotten about providing our students the skills and knowledge to develop their thinking, help them succeed outside the walls of the classroom, and encourage a love and interest learning, sharing, exploring all that is around them.
Standardized tests can help our students attain higher levels of thinking by integrating questions that require students to so. The lab practical for the NYS Regents exam is one successful example of this.
We can also help our students by reducing the importance of these tests, and placing more of an emphasis on personal achievement. There is a way other than increasing test scores to show yearly progress. Maintaining a portfolio of student work is one such way. Portfolios kept throughout the year show growth, the ability to attain higher levels of thinking, and student involvement in their learning.