LITERACY EDUCATION VIA ELECONTRONIC TECHNOLOGY and TECHNOLOGICAL LITERACY As I m sure you know children and adolescents today are immersed in an electronically based technology driven world Most of your students will have never known a world without television CDs DVDs TIVOs iPods podcasting cell phones texting the Internet instant messaging Xboxes PlayStations and Wiis Increasingly articles are being written about the pros and cons of electronic media in the lives of children Do uses of these media change children s brains Do they affect reading and writing abilities Creativity Levels of activity and ability to sustain attention What are the effects of the digital divide Should teachers use computer games web based resources and Internet research to support student learning How are students being taught to find evaluate and make appropriate uses of Internet resources These are all questions you will need to answer for yourself To start you in that process you will complete a technology resource notebook DUE WEEK 10 OF WINTER QUARTER that includes 1 Summaries with your responses of articles that you locate about SmartBoards electronic grade books the digital divide and when it is developmentally appropriate to use computer based or web based technologies with children and adolescents 2 an interview with the technology specialist in your school in which you determine the ways technology is used in the district resources teachers can expect how students are taught to use and critique Internet resources and any debates or conversations that are occurring among teachers parents and administrators 3 descriptions and critiques of at least five of the websites linked to the web addresses below 4 summaries and critiques of two or three articles or websites you find about innovative uses of technology not covered by the links below As you peruse the websites use the following questions to guide your critiques These are the same questions that would be helpful for your students to answer as they make use of electronic resources These questions were adapted from The Power of Questions pages 55 56 by Beverly Falk and Megan Blumenreich Your critiques should answer these questions and then contain your conclusions about the relative strengths weaknesses and potential usefulness of the sites 1 Who is the author of the site If the author is one person what are that person s credentials If the author is an organization check it out in the Encyclopedia of Associations Is there an address or email address given Why does it matter to know this information 2 What country or state does this website come from Why does it matter 3 How objective is the website What is its purpose to inform you convince you of a point of view sell you a product or service amuse or entertain you 4 How current is the website s content Has it been updated to reflect current news and trends Check the date of creation the last update and if the links are up to date 5 What is the intended audience for the site At what age or reading level is it aimed 6 How is the site organized Is it organized logically Is it well designed Is it easy to navigate Does it overwhelm you with ads 7 Does it represent any biases against gender ethnicities religions sexual orientation gender 8 What are the underlying assumptions about how learning occurs In terms of literacy instruction what model does the site seem to represent ESL PowerPoint Presentation by an ESL teacher about uses of technology to support learning English as a second language http www missioncollege org depts esl fac chan Pres IntegTechESL html READING AND LITERACY ASSOCIATIONS International Reading Association This site was created and is maintained by a teacher Click on On line writing resources and WebQuest The WebQuest links provide numerous links to multidisciplinary learning quests that require reading and writing http www zianet com cjcox edutech4learning index html National Reading Association and International Reading Association The next several sites can also be found through the ReadWriteThink website s resource page at NCTE or IRA http www readwritethink org resources index asp Be sure to look over the Web Resources Then take a look under the student materials tab http www readwritethink org student mat index asp You ll find lesson plans for different grade levels under the lessons tab http www readwritethink org lessons index asp Software tutorials for the classroom in basic programs like PowerPoint and FrontPage the tutorials are pretty easy to follow http www actden com index htm Teaching with technology lots of tools like Quizstar for creating online quizzes and organizing results and ThinkTank which is for helping students develop a Research Organizer a list of topics and subtopics for reports and projects http www 4teachers org Take a look at the tele collaborative projects http www 2learn ca SPECIAL EDUCATION Learning Disabilities OnLine Provides links and information for educators about how technology can support the learning of students with learning disabilities http www ldonline org educators strategies technology National Association of Special Education Teachers This page provides an introduction to the uses of assistive technology and their potential difficulties http www naset org assittech2 0 html
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