Teaching can be described as a constantly fluid career, especially in today's society with all of the recent and ongoing advancements in technology. These continuous advancements are also changing the way information is shared and utilized in the sense that we are evolving from a society that was once dependent upon the slow and methodical sharing of information through paper to one that demands instant access to information through the digital world that technology has created. As teachers, it is up to us to adapt our methods of teaching in such a way that reflects the ever changing world around us. One such adaptation is to instruct our students in what is being described the new literacy skills which include questioning, searching, evaluating, synthesizing, and communicating (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010a). The most striking revelation in regards to teaching these skills is the new reliance that our students will be required to possess when it comes to evaluating information. With the ever increasing influx of digital media, the number of 'publishers' is also increasing as well. This means that anyone who has access to the Internet has the capabilities of becoming a 'publisher' of information. The impact of this on the quality of our information is astounding. When evaluating the information that they are reading online, our students must be able to evaluate the content they are viewing in order to determine the validity of it. Not being able to evaluate information could end up handicapping our students if they do not possess the necessary skills to determine which information can be trusted as valid and which cannot.
As I progress forward, the knowledge and experience gained from this class have created an understanding within me for the need to incorporate self-direction and a need for my students to become active participants within their own education. Currently, at my school, the emphasis is on testing which means that, essentially, our fundamental concern is how our students perform on the state's tests in the spring. As a result of this focus, our primary concern is for our students to memorize the needed information and to be able to apply, or 'regurgitate' it on these tests. So, the vast majority of our teaching time is spent on 'feeding' the needed information to our students in such a way that will ensure they will remember it. At this time, no emphasis is being placed on the new literacy skills or for the need for our students to become self-sufficient in regards to teaching themselves in their pursuit to become life-long learners. Due to the fact that our current approach of 'spoon-feeding' our students information is doing nothing to prepare our students for the future that awaits them, my style of teaching will be undergoing a constant change in order to ensure that my students are fluent with the world of technology and the new literacies that have been created.
The primary professional development goal that I now have for my classroom is for my students to take responsibility for their own learning. However, in order to accomplish this goal, several changes will have to occur within my classroom. One such change will have to be the incorporation of more technology within my lessons in such a manner that will allow for my students to be performing their own research into the content areas we are covering instead of me simply providing them with the required information. In order for my students to become responsible learners, they will also have to be taught to think critically in regards to websites. It will be imperative for them to be able to examine issues from multiple perspectives in order to be able to think critically about it to determine whether or not the information is believable and ultimately, its validity (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010b). Realizing that this goal is not something that I will instantly be able to include in each of my lessons, my goal will be to include one lesson per unit that will allow my students to perform their own research online, followed by their own evaluation of that information for its validity. By incorporating lessons such as this, my students will begin to develop their new literacy skills along with a sense of responsibility for their own education.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010a) Program Number 2: New literacies. (DVD). Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010b) Program Number 7: Critical Evaluation. (DVD). Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom. Baltimore, MD: Author.
