Reflection: Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom

The most striking revelation I had about teaching the new literacy skills to my students during this course was when I read the article by Will Richardson, Becoming Network-Wise. “The reality is that we shouldn’t be teaching the literacies as a unit tucked somewhere in the curriculum under the guise of “information literacy” at a time that we think students might be “ready” to acquire these skills. Instead, if we sincerely want to prepare students to read, write, and edit their way through complex online networks we need to make these literacies part of the way we do business as educators/learners (Richardson, 2009).” This statement helped me to realize teaching the new literacy skills is much more than teaching individual skills based around technology. It is taking the traditional way of teaching reading and writing and moving forward where students are provided a curriculum that builds on the traditional way of learning.

            This course has provided me with new knowledge and understanding that I was not aware of before this course. For example, one way to help students understand the meaning of visual literacy is with digital storytelling. In digital storytelling, students bring voice, music, images, and script altogether to tell a story (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010a). This type of learning encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning while allowing them to express their learning in their own ways (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010b).

            One professional development goal I am in the process of pursuing is helping write our corporation technology curriculum. This past week I was asked to work with the Executive Director for Educational Services to review our current elementary technology curriculum. After reviewing the curriculum, a decision was made to add several of the new literacies one being the ethical use of information. By accomplishing this goal, I will not only be building my own skills but I will also be providing teachers with valuable information to enhance and maybe even help change the direction of their teaching.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010b). Inquiry-Based Projects. Motion picture].

Supporting information literacy and online learning in the classroom. Baltimore :  Author

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010a). “Visual learning Through Digital Storytelling”. [Motion picture]. Supporting  

information literacy and online learning in the classroom. Baltimore : Author

Richardson, W. (2009, March). Becoming network-wise. Educational Leadership, 66(6), 26–31.