Compelling Question
How can teachers incorporate purposeful use of technology in the middle grades ELA classroom that increases student engagement, success, and global awareness?
Abstract
Introduction
Student engagement has always been important to me, as I believe it is tightly linked to student success in the classroom and beyond. For this reason, I have been incorporating project-based learning into my classroom for the past six years. Unfortunately, my students and I didn't always have proper access to digital resources, so when I was able to procure some limited use of technology, I wasn't sure how to incorporate it purposefully. Today, I think to myself, "PBL without technology?" but I was doing it-- I just needed more access and more professional development. WCPSS Teacher Leader Corps was a brief introduction to the world of purposeful digital resources and pedagogy, but New Literacies and Global Learning was the real deal-- the best professional development out there. In Theory and Research in Global Learning, one of the classes that kicked off this experience for me, I did my own Project Based Inquiry on using technology to connect students across cultures. Having the freedom to choose my topic, as well as presentation style, got me thinking about all the ways my own students could analyze and choose their own technology tools as well. I also realized what a large role technology and digital resources hold in students' lives all across the globe.
In today's world-- the world that also belongs to our students-- new technologies are unfolding every minute. Literacy is no longer just being able to read and write, but learning how to “read and write for specific purposes, in specific contexts...as well as how to be critical of what [one is] reading and writing” (Hicks, 2009, p. 8). Recognizing that literacy has been changed by technology is important. It must be understood and reacted with differently, and is impacted by every aspect of the world around us. Enter: new literacies. In his book, The Digital Writing Workshop, Troy Hicks (2009) explains The New London Group’s theory called a pedagogy of multiliteracies. Part of this theory encourages teachers to educate their students about “visual, aural, spatial, gestural, and other literacies that move beyond basic print texts…[to] engage in multimodal production of texts” (p. 9) because these are the texts our students interact with every day. Yes, yes, and yes! Each day, my students interact with videos, music, blogs, social media, interactive websites, and collaborative online spaces. These interactions with new literacies impact their day-to-day social interactions, therefore, their writing and verbal communication should mirror the way they receive and interact with information. More reasons why I wanted to focus on the incorporation of purposeful technology use and digital literacies with my students.
In a culture where "the explosion of online content [spurs] communication of ideas, information overload, documentation of current or personal events, networking, global connections, social interactions...and all kinds of new media," (Alcock et al., 2014, p. 7) our students must feel comfortable with digital literacy. In my classroom, students are able to engage with new literacies, choose how they want to communicate and collaborate with technology, be creative, and turn information into real knowledge that is meaningful to them. The incorporation of purposeful technology has increased my students' motivation, engagement, success in the classroom, and global awareness. Check out my Digital Teaching and Learning page to find out how!
In today's world-- the world that also belongs to our students-- new technologies are unfolding every minute. Literacy is no longer just being able to read and write, but learning how to “read and write for specific purposes, in specific contexts...as well as how to be critical of what [one is] reading and writing” (Hicks, 2009, p. 8). Recognizing that literacy has been changed by technology is important. It must be understood and reacted with differently, and is impacted by every aspect of the world around us. Enter: new literacies. In his book, The Digital Writing Workshop, Troy Hicks (2009) explains The New London Group’s theory called a pedagogy of multiliteracies. Part of this theory encourages teachers to educate their students about “visual, aural, spatial, gestural, and other literacies that move beyond basic print texts…[to] engage in multimodal production of texts” (p. 9) because these are the texts our students interact with every day. Yes, yes, and yes! Each day, my students interact with videos, music, blogs, social media, interactive websites, and collaborative online spaces. These interactions with new literacies impact their day-to-day social interactions, therefore, their writing and verbal communication should mirror the way they receive and interact with information. More reasons why I wanted to focus on the incorporation of purposeful technology use and digital literacies with my students.
In a culture where "the explosion of online content [spurs] communication of ideas, information overload, documentation of current or personal events, networking, global connections, social interactions...and all kinds of new media," (Alcock et al., 2014, p. 7) our students must feel comfortable with digital literacy. In my classroom, students are able to engage with new literacies, choose how they want to communicate and collaborate with technology, be creative, and turn information into real knowledge that is meaningful to them. The incorporation of purposeful technology has increased my students' motivation, engagement, success in the classroom, and global awareness. Check out my Digital Teaching and Learning page to find out how!