Learning moment

I know that this idea is perfectly obvious, but it is obvious in a way that means many people miss it. I am completing my readings for topic two of ETL523 and came across this paragraph:

We are well aware, of course, of the many challenges that
teachers currently face: increased high-stakes testing; a bewildering
array of national, state, and local standards; new
demands for higher qualifications and recertification. Given
these challenges, it is difficult to find time to teach even core
subjects, much less anything new. This is why we believe that a
detailed understanding of the nine elements of digital citizenship
(and the issues that accompany them) will help teachers
recognize the “teachable moments” that may occur as they are
teaching other content, and use those moments to reinforce
digital citizenship principles. When discussions about technology
use arise, digital citizenship can act as a cornerstone
of that discussion.
(p73)

Sometimes the myriad of things that need to be covered in the classroom can become overwhelming - I know this, and I have not even done any full time teaching yet! What we need to remember is that a lot of the 'new' things are about learning itself - whether it be the learning process, or learning for life, or life-long learning - and as such, they can often be incorporated into other learning that happens in the classroom. If you are pausing the class for a tiny amount of time for a teachable moment regarding technology, or being a digital citizen, then it does not necessarily need to be planned (though it may happen to be), and it is likely to help students rather than hold them back.

Ultimately, we need to remember the absolute importance of preparing our students for the future, ensuring that they are going to be good digital citizens.

Reference:
CHAPTER 5: Teaching Digital Citizenship to Students. (2007). Digital Citizenship in Schools (pp. 73-79). International Society for Technology in Education.

Facing the challenges

It has been a slow week. Finding it hard to keep the motivation levels up at this stage, especially with weekends filled with travelling and weddings at the moment. Falling back into my old habits, spending too long doing things that I don't need to be doing, and finding any kind of distraction from what I should be doing. Hoping to get my brain back on topic by focusing it in this blog post.

I finally finished the readings for topic 1. At this stage I am not going to search for other relevant readings, and I feel that I have some catching up to do, and I need to make sure I am organised for my assignments as next week is going to be very challening, trying to study away from home (well, my current home, and I'll have my family around to distract me, and no James to keep me on task).

I am finding it a little difficult at this stage to directly apply what I am learning, to make comparisons and see what impact what I am learning will have. This is because I am not working in a library, and have not found the time this year to really get involved with one. I will now try to specifically apply what I have learned about digital citizenship so far to what I will do as a teacher librarian.

There are some particular things that I have learned about that I will cover here:

- Transliteracy: I will need to support students in applying literacy skills and learning to different kinds of texts and technologies. I expect to do this by:
+ Encouraging both students and teachers to try, and apply, new technologies/programs/Web tools.
+ Ensuring I have an up to date knowledge of these technologies.
+ Set a good example by showing my own transliteracy skills.

- Digital Citizenship: This is more than just participating in the digital world, it is participating responsibly. I expect to be a good digital citizen, and to encourage my students to be the same, by:
+ Adhering to, and advocating, the 9 Elements of Digital Citizenship as outlined in Digital Citizenship in Schools. These could be advocated with posters, within lessons/units of work, and in discussions with students in groups or individually as issues arise.
+ Always showing my respect for others when online - thinking about how what I write/do may affect others, and making this thought process clear to students.

Forseeable challenges in the role as promoter of these things:
- Amount of time spent with each student - Would I have classes of students at specific times? What would be the focus in these lessons? How would digital citizenship skills and understandings be portrayed to those students who do not get regular library time?
- Teacher attitudes - Will the other staff in the school in which I work understand the importance of digital citizenship and transliteracy? Would they see it as something for the TL to deal with on her own, or would it be a whole school issue with the TL the leader to turn to for support and ideas? Ultimately I would aim for this, and would work towards it by educating staff over time if necessary.
- Facilities - What technologies will be available to students, and where? Will they have computer access in the classroom as well as the library? What will the student:computer ratio be? Laptops are a great way to combat this, especially as the become more affordable, and I would encourage this as an option, but obviously would have to find ways to work around this challenge depending on the situation.

This has been helpful - starting to apply what I am learning to what I may encounter in the future. I shall try to do this more in my blogs. Application helps the learning process.

Now, to move on to the next step and get some more reading under control.

References:

The Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship. (2007). Digital Citizenship in Schools (pp. 13-37). International Society for Technology in Education.

Digital Citizenship

Slowly I am getting through the readings. Today I started on the last page of Topic 1 - Digital Citizenship. Some of the the things that struck me as interesting, useful or new to me are discussed below.

The article by Stripling appears to be a very useful one for Teacher Librarians, looking at digital literacy and inquiry skills in the context of the 'inquiry/learning process'. With a focus on the things teacher librarians can do to support their students, it would make a good resource to refer to to ensure that students are supported in their learning appropriately at every stage of the learning process.

Stripling, B. (2010). Teaching Students to Think in the Digital Environment: Digital Literacy and Digital Inquiry. School Library Monthly, 26(8), 16-19.

(Note, the link to the Stripling article will only work for those who have access to the CSU Library database, or the EBSCOhost database.)