I woke up this morning to find the following Tweet from Jeremy Brueck:This line between digital literacy and networked literacy is a fine one... Interesting read worth perusing.
Only 76% of my current students have internet access at home via laptop or PC
U.S. students may learn something about evaluating sources in research paper assignments and learn to recognize propaganda in social studies, but that's often the extent of their media literacy instruction.
We have more than 1400 students at my middle school; we share two carts of laptops with 30 laptops each among more than 400 sixth graders--very limited amount of access time.
spurred by students' access to unlimited information on the Internet.
Can students learn to recognize bias, track down sources, and cross-check information?
One of the most basic strands of media literacy emphasizes the skills and knowledge students need to locate and critically assess online content.
digital media literacy skills are vastly underrepresented in the curriculum for all but the most advanced students (as, indeed, are offline critical-thinking and reading-comprehension skills).
Choosing appropriate search engines, following relevant links, and judging the validity of information are difficult challenges, not only for students of all ages, but also for most adults, including many teachers.
Although based on offline rather than online media literacy, the study found that explicit media literacy instruction increased both traditional literacy skills, such as reading comprehension and writing, and more specific media-related skills, including identification of techniques various media use to influence audiences.
From video games to social networks, incorporating what students are doing online into the school curriculum holds great, and perhaps the only, promise for keeping students engaged in learning
Terrific article about what literacy really means - books and periodicals, online reading, etc.
"Some Web evangelists say children should be evaluated for their proficiency on the Internet just as they are tested on their print reading comprehension. Starting next year, some countries will participate in new international assessments of digital literacy, but the United States, for now, will not."
An increasingly significant aspect of literacy is an awareness of the visual elements that fall beyond the traditional components of written text. Termed 'Visual Literacy' this is the ability to read and create communications that use visual elements. It combines the skills of traditional literacy with knowledge of design, art, graphic arts, media and human perception. It takes literacy further beyond a decoding of text to a decoding of the complete package around the communication.
From Edutopia, The role of visual literacy in education. ...from the article: "When people talk to me about the digital divide, I think of it not being so much about who has access to what technology as who knows how to create and express themselves in this new language of the screen. If students aren't taught the language of sound and images, shouldn't they be considered as illiterate as if they left college without being able to read or write?"
Just One More Book is a thrice-weekly podcast which promotes and celebrates literacy and great children's books.
Each weekday morning, we take a few minutes out of our morning coffee ritual to discuss one of our many favourite children's books. We also feature weekly interviews with authors, illustrators and experts and enthusiasts in the areas of children's literature and literacy as well as listener-submitted audio reviews.
Interactive website where every correct answer helps someone learn to read. Correct answers will have money donated towards literacy materials for a person in need.
"Zoom In is a free web-based platform that helps students build literacy and historical thinking skills through "deep dives" into primary and secondary sources.
Choose from 18 content-rich US history units designed to supplement your regular instruction and help students practice skills required by the new, higher standards: reading documents closely and critically, identifying point of view and purpose, engaging in text-based discussions, and writing explanatory and argumentative essays grounded in evidence."
Explore classic stories "The Wizard of Oz," "The Mermaid," and "Aladdin" and collect treasure. Great activity for using context clues. As the questions pop up, students who don't know the story can click on the link "Read the book to discover the answer" and be taken to the page in the book that contains the information they need to answer. Great for teaching students to go back to the text to find information and use context clues.
Into the Book is a reading comprehension resource for
K-4 students and teachers. We focus on eight research-based strategies: Using Prior Knowledge, Making Connections, Questioning, Visualizing, Inferring, Summarizing, Evaluating and Synthesizing. Your class can watch our engaging 15-minute videos,
and try the online interactive activities.
"LoudLit.org is committed to delivering public domain literature paired with high quality audio performances...Putting the text and audio together, readers can learn spelling, punctuation and paragraph structure by listening and reading masterpieces of the written word. Read and listen via your web browser or on your mp3 player. Regardless of how you enjoy the audiobooks (audio books), they are free."
The bomb-diggity learning resource for teachers and students! KlabLab feature songs and music videos about all sorts of topics. Very good stuff, definitely worth exploring.