Leveraging tools, texts, and talk in my teaching context
Perhaps our students know how to close a tab on a web browser or maybe they can conduct a cursory Google search to help them discover answers to burning questions like whether Frida Kahlo is still alive (a real and recent question from my second-grade class during our Hispanic Heritage Month celebration), but as Jacobson (2017) explains, our students’ digital literacy aren’t necessarily transferrable skills, namely when they are asked to look “beyond the screen.”
Citing research out of Stanford, Jacobson (2017) shares about students: “…when it comes to evaluating information that flows through social media channels, they are easily duped.” This means that for our precious “digital natives” (Philip & Garcia, 2013), their ability to gauge that someone’s Instagram profile only shows the world a glamorized “highlights reel” version of their life or that the “breaking news” they just read on some blogger’s X account is actually “fake news” isn’t something that comes natural to them.
As educators, we must step in to help cultivate their “Spidey-sense” for detecting what’s trustworthy in the Digital Age. Aguilera (2017) asserts that educators engaging students in new literacies practices must also ensure that their students are able to look past the fluff to determine what’s real and what’s not, and if it’s coming from a reputable source. In this instance, digital literacy intersects with critical literacy. Aguilera harkens educator Paulo Freire’s idea that we must teach students to “read the world.”
So, how can we do this? How can we teach our students to be discerning or, as Jacobson (2017) says, cultivate their “ability to recognize quality”? Jacobson tells us about Checkology, an online news literacy e-learning source. Similarly, Aguilera (2017) offers up Fake It to Make It, an online game that challenges students to try to spread fake news to make a profit, dually giving students a “beyond the screen” understanding of both how fake news proliferates and how they can filter through it.
When I think about my second graders, I think a developmentally appropriate way we could build this aptitude is when we search for YouTube videos. My class recently read a non-fiction text about a deaf polar bear at a zoo in Maryland, and a caption helped us learn that a polar bear’s fur isn’t white. Together we could search for YouTube videos to get a closer look of its skin and fur, and I could have students help me decide which video returned in my search results is most likely to provide the best information. I think this is a practical, relevant means of starting the discourse in the early childhood education setting.
Another opportunity to adapt this discourse for the elementary school setting could come when discussing non-fiction texts. When studying texts within this genre, we often consider the author’s point-of-view and why we thought he wrote the piece. That conversation could extend into questions over whether the author had an agenda. A teacher could “think out loud” and “notice” that the person that wrote the let’s-ban-meat-in-all-school-cafeteria-lunches article is a member of a prominent animal rights organization and offer students an opportunity to wonder about the implications... What do you think? How do you think we can get elementary school students to build their “beyond the screen” discernment?
Philip and Garcia (2013) highlight equity and engagement concerns that educators must keep in mind when designing curricula and instruction that aims to integrate new literacies. The researchers warn us that many times, we make the mistake of believing that fancy, shiny new devices like iPads are the “quick fix” that will bring our curricula into the Digital Age or that are the great “equalizer” that will “erase the ‘learning advantages’ between ‘the poorest and most affluent’ schools” (Cuban, 2012, as cited in Philip & Garcia, 2013).
As educators, we can’t be lazy and rely on devices and apps to do all the work for us and make the student interested. The device is a tool that an “effective teacher” can utilize to “consistently [invoke] situational interest, with or without technology” (Wade, 2001, as cited in Philip & Garcia, 2013).
Garcia (2017) tells us that “as much as we are immersed in digital spaces, we live in an analog world” and that ultimately, digital spaces aim to replicate the ethos of the analogy experience or as Garcia says, the analog “phenomena,” concluding that educators must remember to purposefully infuse the human connection of the analog world into use of digital tools if we truly hope to “facilitate authentic learning.”
Always keeping my second graders in mind, I love Hsu and Wang’s (2017) suggestion of the use of an audioblog. I think they represent the possibilities when analog and digital learning experiences collide. Students could begin writing offline with a prompt to craft a short response sharing their opinion about something in the news. Later, they can type their text and even record themselves reading to share their ideas with their classmates, teachers, and families. Classmates and teachers can comment on their blogs, and I think the best part of having their blogs available through audio means that readers of all levels can access these texts and English Language Learners (ELLs) will gain access as well. Hsu and Wang also highlight that audioblogs will foster oral language development, a crucial skill for all emergent readers. If we think about a key “tension” (Magnifico et al., 2018) that emanates out of blended analogy/online learning spaces, audioblogs offer more students an opportunity to participate.
References
Aguilera, E. (2017). MORE THAN BITS AND BYTES. Literacy Today, 35(3), 12-13. https://sunyempire.idm.oclc.org/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Ftrade-journals%2Fmore-than-bits-bytes%2Fdocview%2F1966006470%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D8067
Garcia, A. (2017). NONDIGITAL SKILLS. Literacy Today, 35(3), 24-25. https://sunyempire.idm.oclc.org/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Ftrade-journals%2Fnondigital-skills%2Fdocview%2F1966005428%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D8067
Hsu, H., & Wang, S. (2017). RETHINKING LANGUAGE LEARNING. Literacy Today, 35(3), 28-29. https://sunyempire.idm.oclc.org/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Ftrade-journals%2Frethinking-language-learning%2Fdocview%2F1966005990%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D8067
Jacobson, L. (2017). ASSESSING NEWS LITERACY IN THE 21ST CENTURY. Literacy Today, 35(3), 18-22. https://sunyempire.idm.oclc.org/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Ftrade-journals%2Fassessing-news-literacy-21st-century%2Fdocview%2F1966007432%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D8067
Magnifico, et al. (2018). Affinity spaces, literacies and classrooms: Tensions and opportunities.
Philip, T. M., & Garcia, A. D. (2013). The Importance of Still Teaching the iGeneration: New Technologies and the Centrality of Pedagogy. Harvard Educational Review, 83(2), 300-319,400-401. https://sunyempire.idm.oclc.org/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fscholarly-journals%2Fimportance-still-teaching-igeneration-new%2Fdocview%2F1399327199%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D8067
Last year I also taught second grade and I was regularly surprised by which digital skills came intuitively and not as intuitively to my students. For instance, they could toggle between tasks and explore new apps and websites with ease, but it was often difficult for them to problem solve, find novel solutions, and extrapolate information. Jacobson’s article reiterated the importance of criticality and that analytic skills need to be developed. I’m not teaching this year, but if I could go back in time to our opinion writing unit I would incorporate more digital literacy. Perhaps because I’ve always taught younger students that don't engage on as much social media and also because I curated most of the nonfiction texts they needed to complete research projects, I had overlooked teaching the very important skill of discerning fact from deceptive information.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading my post, Lindsay! Interesting, often when I think about how to apply new media literacies practices in my current setting (second grade!), opinion writing is what comes to mind for me as well. We also had a tough time writing biographies--students' research were limited to books curated based on their reading level on apps like Epic.
DeleteThinking about how to integrate digital literacies doesn't come quite as naturally when considering early childhood education, but still, I think there are things we can do to lay the groundwork for hopefully what the work our students will continue in the upper elementary grades and beyond.
As someone who works with students of all ages at the elementary level I commend your ideas and work towards educating them about digital responsibility and understanding the value of quality sources. One of my biggest concerns when allowing my students to use digital resources and technology is that even though they may be able to operate and smoothly transition from reading a book to working with text on a computer there are still MANY skills and a lot of foundational knowledge surrounding appropriate use to discuss with students.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, I am glad that you mentioned effective incorporation of technology as educators because we as the educators are the first role model of effective use, quality assurance and learning that occurs with our students. Including digital literacy as well as analog is essential, however it needs to be done with purpose otherwise it's just throwing a device at the student and expecting them to develop knowledge. Technology should enhance learning not be a supplement for it.
Lastly but possibly most importantly, I loved that you mentioned developmentally appropriate learning and activities to reach an advanced learning goal. Teaching young students about reliable information and establishing a strong foundation for literacy and technological skills is vital for success, but the lessons are no good if they are not created for and tailored to their audience.