New Literacy:

Throughout my masters program there has been a lot of talk about "New Literacy".  I find myself wondering if I am doing everything I can to ensure my students are prepared for the future.  In my opinion the term "New Literacy" means adapting and changing to provide your students with the latest strategies and programs, showing them the importance of literacy in their everyday life.  We have many forms of technology at my school, the important piece is integrating it to make it meaningful for my students.  Technology should not replace content areas it should enhance them.  Using project based learning is a great way to include technology into your lessons  (Brooks-Young, 2010).  My personal goal for this year to to include technology in a meaningful way.  This is allowing me to learn just as much as my students! 

 One of my attempts to include technology is to include a new website into reading groups.  http://www.edmodo.com/  This is a free communication site for teachers and students to use with one another.  I looks very similar to Facebook page.  I am planning on using it to hold literature discussions with my reading groups.  The students will use the classroom laptops to submit their posts.  I am excited to see the students responses and think they will enjoy this form of communication.  I look forward to sharing my findings on the online literature discussions!

Hello and welcome to my blog.  This is a new experience for me, I have never created a blog before!  I look forward to learning as I go and sharing my thinking as the year goes on!