My 3rd Reaction: The New Literacy 11/17/10

Summary

In The New Literacy, Sara Armstrong and David Warlick discuss what is considered required learning in today’s classrooms versus what will be necessary knowledge in the future.  The example given is that we gain an education for our first job, but all future work opportunities are gained through education in the field due to continued changes in our society (Armstrong & Warlick ¶2). 

Armstrong and Warlick presented the four basic skills for information acquisition:  finding information, decoding information, evaluating information, and organizing information (Armstrong & Warlick ¶7).  They then developed a set of adaptive requirements through the use of the 4 E’s.  These four E’s include:  exposing knowledge, expressing ideas compellingly, ethics and evaluating information (Armstrong & Warlick ¶5).  While these concepts would normally be in the back of one’s mind, having them listed and stated in a clear manner brought their importance back to my attention.  The article ended with various lists of what school administrators and teachers could do to increase awareness of technology and information services within their districts.  Some of the ideas suggested included holding an annual technology fair, after-hours access to computers for students, using teacher websites, and having technology present and accessible (Armstrong & Warlick ¶28).

Reaction

This article provided many great links and suggestions concerning keeping technology current. I felt that the 4 E’s was a great restatement of the importance of future digital information retrieval.  The statement “the best thing we can teach them is how to teach themselves” (Armstrong & Warlick ¶3) also really struck a chord for me as a parent.  I have already noticed that I need to teach my children how to be critical thinkers, therefore ensuring not only their safety but also their ability to adapt to future changes. I felt that this article’s importance related to me as a teacher in that I was reminded to be literate in technology as a way to assist in facilitating my student’s continued capabilities, understand what is available as a resource, and to continue my personal growth regarding information and technology.  I also enjoyed learning about www.groxis.com for information retrieval.

Source

Armstrong, S. and Warlick, D. (2004, September 15) The New Literacy

                Retrieved from http://www.teachlearning.com/article/2806

Labels:  Literacy