Blog Entry #1 RDNG 654
My current thinking about teaching the "new literacies" as part of my ELA instruction is that they are absolutely essential. That being said, it also makes me anxious as I am definitely a digital immigrant. As I teach digital natives, I must make a shift in my own mind set and embrace the changes and obstacles I will be faced with while I learn to navigate through this digital shift in my own teaching.
The obstacles I see for myself is that this is a very different style of teaching than what I am used to. For example, in a college class I once took, I was taught there was no such thing as multi-tasking so to see it as a new literacy skill is contradicting for me. Another example would be judgment; I myself did not have the ability to evaluate the reliability and credibility of an information source until I did the assignment for this class. Honestly, almost all of the new literacy skills are new to me so teaching them will be a challenge. I find myself questioning how to fit this into my already pressed for time daily intervention schedule as well as what literacy skills to start with and how to implement them. I have an intervention curriculum to follow and I have a hard time fitting in the required elements of my program in my allotted intervention time slot.
The obstacles I see for my students would be that other than my teacher computer, I do not have any technology in my intervention classroom. I do not have any computers for student use nor do I have a SmartBoard where I can do interactive activities. I look forward to discovering more ways to incorporate technology and the new literacies with my struggling readers.
I agree that it is a mindset shift for many teachers. When I think of ELA, I think of using tools like paper, pencil, books and magnetic letters. Also, I worry about kids spending even more time in front of a screen during the school day. Technology has so many benefits but it scares this old teacher!
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