http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/content/cntareas/reading/li300.htm
The above link takes you to a site that discusses how integration of technology can be used to improve and enhance literacy among our students. I currently teach middle and high school intensive reading. This is not an easy audience to motivate. Many of my students are capable of reading, but they don't enjoy reading. This lack of interest leads to the fact that they don't practice enough and sometimes lose ground without having the literacy exposure. I have been recently introduced podcasting to improve reading fluency. I had my students read books aloud multiple times, using appropriate phrasing and intonation to help increase fluency. They thought is was just for fun and didn't recognize that they were learning, until I told them the purpose behind the podcasts. I was amazed by the excitement of the students the first day I brought in my Mac. They were fighting over who would get to read first and then argued when they finished, that they wanted to read again. I have never seen my students that excited about reading!
In exploring the above website, I found that there is so much more to literacy than what I first understood. The meaning has changed over time and I believe it will continue to broaden and will be transformed throughout the 21st century with all the newly available tools and resources. I am very excited to see where this transformation takes my students and where it takes me as both a learner and an educator.
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New Media Literacy in a participatory culture was suppose to be the name change for this class, but others decided against it. But I wanted to guide this class in that direction more. And I hope I am. There is a new book coming out that may help. But you are right, this is changing education and will be invaluable in the future. Read this week in the website. It applies to Media Literacy.
ReplyDeleteLinda Burns
This article provided some excellent resources to help me convince some of my peers on the importance of using multimedia. There is a desire among some administrators to encourage teachers to integrate media in the classroom; however, the argument always comes back to when do teachers have time to learn. Do you have any thoughts on this topic?
ReplyDeleteI have also found that my college students are much more engaged by the use of podcasts rather than textbook reading. Since adding podcasts as a tool in my online classes, the feedback has been positive. During the first week of each quarter (Sept 28-Oct 1, 2009 most recently) I conduct Introduction to Online Learning Sessions. Each participant was asked to be honest and indicate if they hate to read or simply avoid reading their textbooks on a regular basis....over half of each session raised their hands! Therefore I spent several minutes going over techniques of studying for those who hate to read. It was amazing to see their faces light up and hear the comments regarding the fact that they never knew that podcasts and other tools existed.
ReplyDeleteI have conducted several podcasting training sessions for my faculty and have had good feedback from the participants. Most experienced an increase in class participation due to podcasting. Podcasting is easy and helpful! Instructors must be encouraged and in some cases pushed to incorporate technology but in the end, it creates a rich learning environment.