New+Literacy

New Literacy for Today's Student

Before I start discussing any uses of specific Internet resources in the classroom, I would like to take a minute to discuss the notion of “new literacy.”

The [|International Reading Association] stated that “traditional definitions of reading, writing and viewing, and traditional definitions of best practice instruction – derived from a long tradition of book and other print media – will be insufficient” for students in today’s classrooms. This point clearly illustrates a need for new teaching strategies. Students have to become literate in order to use new technologies successfully. If today’s students do not become comfortable and fluent with this new type of literacy, most likely, they will not succeed academically or professionally.

Consider some of today’s issues are students are facing;
 * 1) Reading is changing; reading on the internet has created new advantages and challenges. Students have to learn how to read electronic text, find new purposes for reading and new ways to interact and react to information that is presented to them.
 * 2) Students read electronic text differently; how students get frustrated if they do not find answers to their searches instantly, frustration is the result of a lack of instant gratification. They have become used to going online and their searches resulting in hundreds of thousands of results.
 * 3) This leads to their inability to question their sources and identifying the possible agenda these may have for posting and presenting the information.
 * 4) There is also this idea of “snatch and grab”, students copy and paste from one source and then move onto another. This has become the quickest way to complete homework assignment which requires online research.

Of course this does not include all students.

Students need to gain new skills to understand the new ways in which information is presented and illustrated. They also need to understand and become comfortable with the new types of media used to present and interact with this content – consider blogs, pod casts, live streaming, etc.

The traditional ways of teaching are being altered and some even replaced to prepare this Net generation for the digital age they will face as they leave our schools, if this is not already present there too. Students need to become literate with new hardware, software, and concepts in order to become more adapt in this digital reality that our world has and continues to become. (Julie)

The [|LEO: Literacy Education Online] provides many useful answers to the many questions students have about writing, particularly research papers. It provides step by step suggestions for things like citing sources and getting started with papers. This site is intended for college students but most of the information is pertinent to 7-12 graders. (Jamahl Black)