Teaching New Literacy

eBooks are awesome. I should preface this by saying I was an early adopter of e-Readers. I went through several generations of Barnes & Noble's Nook, later switching to a Kindle HD Fire, and, ultimately, using the Kindle and Nook apps to access all my titles via other devices that do more; namely my iPhone and iPad. My love of eBooks was extended to my children as well as the classrooms I volunteered in. My children had e-readers, even though the majority of the titles (and all previous to owning an e-Reader) were physical paper books. I was not as fond of them for my children until they reached chapter-book above stages, however - primarily due to the distracting bells and whistles embedded in the eBooks. However, this is a subjective stance, since my children were all high-level readers and devoured traditional books since a young age. In the classroom, the screen size of my Nook and Kindle tablets was not as large as my current iPad, which was limiting - but I would...

Collaborative classroom technology. New literacies: teaching using new methods, technology, and innovative activities is an exciting and promising adventure for today’s students. Teaching new literacies in the 21 st century is not merely a good suggestion - but imperative for future generations. Students in K-12 classrooms are growing up and evolving into a technology-infused culture, including not only instant communication - but social media, state-mandated or school-mandated computer testing (like the M-Step, and MAP testing), as well being imbued among a society permeated by technology-related (and often required) paths. Having said this, technology should never replace important traditional teaching methods. Particularly regarding young children, eye contact, touch, group interaction and traditional aloud (by humans, not devices – natural fluency is key) storytelling should never be eliminated. These, as well as many other necessary experiences, must be practiced and devel...