South Windsor Teacher

The Internet offers so many meaningful instructional experiences for both teachers and students. I actually feel more like a student than a teacher as I explore these new literacies. The idea of designing experiences for students seems to be a very lengthy process at this time but I am anxious to try so that I can actually see how much is involved. After the scavenger hunts we prepared in class, I have volunteered to work with the Tech Team at my school to share some of the work we all have done. As I have talked with other elementary teachers about child safety issues, as an example, I realize that many of them are unaware of the sites we have explored. The text has provided numerous sites that offer connections to the elementary content curriculum in our school. I am trying to determine how to share some of these with the teachers. Any suggestions?

After reading the online article by Julie Coiro, I have become even more aware of how crucial it is for teachers to develop new literacies in order to support the efforts of their students. The article suggests that teachers should be expertly guiding students in their webquests, as one example, and in assisting students in learning new reading comprehension competencies associated with their Internet experiences. How do we develop these competencies in order to facilitate and guide our students' learning? What role does the school district play in providing the resources, the time and support for teachers to pursue these new learnings before they are mandated by the CMT's? It seems inevitable that we take a more active role for our learning and set goals for making progress with our learning and teaching of the new literacies each year.