You have questions about teaching with technology? We have answers.
This site provides answers to some of your most pressing questions about how to incorporate technology into your literacy teaching.
“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” --Ludwig Wittgenstein
New technology is requiring educators to rethink the meaning of education, in particular, to rethink what it means to read and what it means to be a literate citizen in the 21st century. In this space, we have created a resource and lesson plans for teachers, librarians, and other educational professionals with the goal of using new technologies for the purpose of teaching reading and literacy. The four areas that we address are teaching multiple literacies, using the Internet, using technological devices in an educational setting, and using technology to motivate students in reading and writing.
One of the purposes of the lesson plans assembled here is to challenge these traditional ways of thinking and of teaching by using technology in the teaching of reading. In the section on technological devices, we quote: “Living in a digitalized world calls for educators to reconsider nontraditional means of teaching reading” (Thoermer & Williams, 2012). As new technologies become implemented in public education in the United States, we as educators are challenged to change what teaching and learning means. This includes rethinking the classroom, as the spaces and times where and when learning takes place become ubiquitous. Change comes slowly, and even today, the traditional ways of teaching reading and literacy persist in most classrooms. Another challenge is equipping today’s students with the tools they need to be successful citizens, literate in technology, in a globalized 21st century. This includes making sure that students are “Internet savvy,” that they can be informed users of information in a variety of contexts, and that they are critical readers of texts, whether those are print, digital, audio, video, or multimedia.
One consequence of this rethinking of teaching is that it will also change how teaching and learning takes place across different areas of life. Reading does not just take place in the classroom, and so the teaching of reading cannot do so, either. In our section on teaching multiple literacies, we discuss how teaching needs to take into account all different kinds of reading: not just novels and magazines, but also bus schedules, plays, food labels, street signs. Technology itself is changing what we mean by multiple literacies. “Multiple literacies also include digital literacies which can include emailing, instant messaging, blogging, tweeting, video gaming, etc” (Sheridan-Thomas, 2007).
The prevalence of technology in the lives of students today is changing how these students think about and interact with their worlds. In our resource, we discuss just a handful of these examples, from iPads to Wikispaces, from PowerPoint presentations to blogs. These are technologies that are changing the behavior and the social activities of our students, which include how they approach reading and writing. If it is true that the limits of our language are the limits of our world, then the inverse of this is also true: The wider our world, the wider must be our language. The world of students today is growing and changing at a rapid rate. It is the duty of their teachers to make sure their language keeps pace.
Each section of this website addresses a different aspect of technology and literacy.
In the Multiple Literacies section, we discuss how a multiple literacy curriculum can be implemented in schools—and why this is a vital part to the teaching of literacy today. The lesson plans emphasizing have students build their competencies with multiple literacies by using those skills to expand upon what they would read in a “traditional literacy” setting.
In the Internet section, we discuss how teachers and librarians can educate students on how to effectively use the Internet as a research tool—and how to be able discern reliable sources from unreliable ones. The lesson plans encourage students to critically read and analyze information they find online and to decide whether sources that they find are reliable.
In the Devices section, we discuss how they effective use of technological devices can increase meaningful learning for students. We focus on how to use iPads at a variety of grade levels, and the lesson plans illustrate how iPads can facilitate reading and literacy in a variety of contexts.
In the Motivation section, we discuss how technology can be used to encourage students to want to read and to read independently. The lesson plans stress the ways in which technologies can facilitate the process of having students appropriate and adapt texts that they read in order to increase meaningful learning.
Click on a question below to get started:
How can teachers use technology to reach students with multiple literacies?
How can teachers help students learn to select and use websites for research purposes?
How can devices like iPads be used to help facilitate reading improvement for students?
How can teachers use technology to motivate students in the areas of reading and literacy?
To access the lesson plans by grade level, please click here.
This web resource was created by Mindy Dyson, Karin Kipp, Sandra Perez, and Joel Wright for EPS 415, Technology and Educational Reform, Summer 2012 (Professor Nick Burbules and Co-Instructor Adam Rusch).
“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” --Ludwig Wittgenstein
New technology is requiring educators to rethink the meaning of education, in particular, to rethink what it means to read and what it means to be a literate citizen in the 21st century. In this space, we have created a resource and lesson plans for teachers, librarians, and other educational professionals with the goal of using new technologies for the purpose of teaching reading and literacy. The four areas that we address are teaching multiple literacies, using the Internet, using technological devices in an educational setting, and using technology to motivate students in reading and writing.
One of the purposes of the lesson plans assembled here is to challenge these traditional ways of thinking and of teaching by using technology in the teaching of reading. In the section on technological devices, we quote: “Living in a digitalized world calls for educators to reconsider nontraditional means of teaching reading” (Thoermer & Williams, 2012). As new technologies become implemented in public education in the United States, we as educators are challenged to change what teaching and learning means. This includes rethinking the classroom, as the spaces and times where and when learning takes place become ubiquitous. Change comes slowly, and even today, the traditional ways of teaching reading and literacy persist in most classrooms. Another challenge is equipping today’s students with the tools they need to be successful citizens, literate in technology, in a globalized 21st century. This includes making sure that students are “Internet savvy,” that they can be informed users of information in a variety of contexts, and that they are critical readers of texts, whether those are print, digital, audio, video, or multimedia.
One consequence of this rethinking of teaching is that it will also change how teaching and learning takes place across different areas of life. Reading does not just take place in the classroom, and so the teaching of reading cannot do so, either. In our section on teaching multiple literacies, we discuss how teaching needs to take into account all different kinds of reading: not just novels and magazines, but also bus schedules, plays, food labels, street signs. Technology itself is changing what we mean by multiple literacies. “Multiple literacies also include digital literacies which can include emailing, instant messaging, blogging, tweeting, video gaming, etc” (Sheridan-Thomas, 2007).
The prevalence of technology in the lives of students today is changing how these students think about and interact with their worlds. In our resource, we discuss just a handful of these examples, from iPads to Wikispaces, from PowerPoint presentations to blogs. These are technologies that are changing the behavior and the social activities of our students, which include how they approach reading and writing. If it is true that the limits of our language are the limits of our world, then the inverse of this is also true: The wider our world, the wider must be our language. The world of students today is growing and changing at a rapid rate. It is the duty of their teachers to make sure their language keeps pace.
Each section of this website addresses a different aspect of technology and literacy.
In the Multiple Literacies section, we discuss how a multiple literacy curriculum can be implemented in schools—and why this is a vital part to the teaching of literacy today. The lesson plans emphasizing have students build their competencies with multiple literacies by using those skills to expand upon what they would read in a “traditional literacy” setting.
In the Internet section, we discuss how teachers and librarians can educate students on how to effectively use the Internet as a research tool—and how to be able discern reliable sources from unreliable ones. The lesson plans encourage students to critically read and analyze information they find online and to decide whether sources that they find are reliable.
In the Devices section, we discuss how they effective use of technological devices can increase meaningful learning for students. We focus on how to use iPads at a variety of grade levels, and the lesson plans illustrate how iPads can facilitate reading and literacy in a variety of contexts.
In the Motivation section, we discuss how technology can be used to encourage students to want to read and to read independently. The lesson plans stress the ways in which technologies can facilitate the process of having students appropriate and adapt texts that they read in order to increase meaningful learning.
Click on a question below to get started:
How can teachers use technology to reach students with multiple literacies?
How can teachers help students learn to select and use websites for research purposes?
How can devices like iPads be used to help facilitate reading improvement for students?
How can teachers use technology to motivate students in the areas of reading and literacy?
To access the lesson plans by grade level, please click here.
This web resource was created by Mindy Dyson, Karin Kipp, Sandra Perez, and Joel Wright for EPS 415, Technology and Educational Reform, Summer 2012 (Professor Nick Burbules and Co-Instructor Adam Rusch).