Describe the most striking revelation you had about the teaching of new literacy skills to your students as a result of this course.
The most striking revelation I have had about the teaching of new literacy skills to my students is that literacy skills involve so much more than being able to read. To prepare students for the 21st Century, we must break from teaching just the traditional literacy skills and move forward by focusing on internet literacy skills. We must teach our students how to ask the right questions and how to locate information. We as educators can do this by providing opportunities for our students to conduct meaningful research on the internet. We must further teach students how to search effectively and how to critically evaluate the information they locate. There is so much information available to students today that they can lose valuable hours just searching if not properly taught the skills necessary. Lastly, we owe it to our students to teach them how to synthesize the information and resources they use, how to search in a safe manner, and how to use the information in a manner that is ethical, avoiding plagiarism, copyright implications, and fair use.
Describe how the knowledge and experience gained in this course will influence your teaching practices going forward.
What I love most about going back to school after 25 years is learning, learning anything and everything. I am a huge believer in ‘you only know what you know.” This course has taught me that my students need more from me as their English teacher than just interpreting Shakespeare or conjugating a verb. I am responsible fro preparing each and every student that passes through class the skills they need to be productive, critically thinking adults. This course will influence every lesson I teach going forward, as I will try to include the 21st Century literacy skills in all of my lessons going forward.
Identify at least one professional development goal you would like to pursue that builds upon your learning in this course and develops your own information literacy or technology skills. Describe the steps you will take to accomplish this goal.
One professional development goal that I would like to pursue to build upon my learning from this course involves becoming proficient in one or more new literacy skills. I would like to be able to teach a workshop at one of our professional learning days this coming year, as I feel all teachers in my school could benefit from understanding the importance technology plays in educating 21st Century students. I will also check for more professional development opportunities that will enhance my knowledge of 21st Century literacy skills. Some of the areas that I would like to become more skilled in are using Wikis, Virtual Field Trips, PowerPoint, and VoiceThread.
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