Reading Response and Class Expectations

My first thought that came to my mind after reading the first chapter of both Technology to Teach Literacy and Literacy 2.0 was that the meaning of "literacy" is ever-changing. When I think about literacy, I imagine students learning to decode in order to read and of students writing essays. Now, I realize that literacy encompasses the learning and uses of many other information sources. It was not long ago when students were considered literate when they were able to read and write to function in life after school. Now, students must learn to evaluate many forms of media and information to become responsible, knowledge members of society. Teaching truly is about teaching students to think about their thinking (meta-cognition abilities). Secondly, I did not realize there was a structure to help students make meaningful posts until after I read the blog post “Ten Habits of Blogging that Wins” written by Vicki Davis. She explains how students need to view and read several quality blogs before even creating their own posts. I recommend reading blog post because it contains information which you will not conceive with common sense alone.

Finally, I expect to learn how to use technologies to motivate students to read, write, collaborate, and share original pieces/thoughts. I hope I can design more “Constructivist” authentic projects to help students learn how to use all the resources available to them to solve a problem or convey an idea/opinion. Through this design process, I wish to identify how to teach students to have cyber-citizenship while giving other students feedback on their creations. I know reading, writing, and content can be maximized when they are incorporated into cohesive lessons – that’s why I love authentic technology projects!