Alicia Eames, Curriculum Connections—School Library Journal
August 3, 2010
Spend an hour at the local mall, in a suburban park, or on a busy city street and it's soon apparent that technology is a can't-do-without feature of our students' lives. From video games to MP3 players to smartphones, kids are connected, while some schools struggle to keep pace with technology. Many teachers (and parents) worry about the negative impact of these electronic marvels, and others long to tap into their educational potential. No matter where you stand in this debate, it's clear that technology is influencing how and what we teach.
In 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times (Jossey-Bass, 2009), Bernie Trilling and Charles Fadel note that the "monumental shift from Industrial Age production to that of the Knowledge Age economy" puts work into the hands of "anyone who has the expertise, a cell phone, a laptop, and an Internet connection...therefore, education becomes the key to economic survival in the 21st century." Both authors are board members on the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and helped write the organization's "Framework for 21st Century Learning," a blueprint for infusing the 3Rs with higher level skills, including critical thinking, collaboration, computing, creativity, cross-cultural understanding, and information and media literacy. Trilling and Fadel discuss what schools need to do to move from a 20th-century model of teacher as expert to one in which students use content knowledge to solve real-world problems. What all this means for the classroom is demonstrated on the accompanying CD. Hear an international team of students who designed an award-winning website about SARS explain their work; watch a New York City biology teacher incorporate project-based learning into her instruction, and listen to a young man from Ghana speak about how access to the Internet opened opportunities he never dreamed possible.
Alan November's updated Empowering Students with Technology (Corwin, 2010) is a must-have guide to information literacy for educators. As November points out, "Anyone can publish any version of the truth. The Internet is the wild, Wild West of information and there is no sheriff in town." He illustrates this with the experience of Zack, a high school student who, while conducting research online, concludes that the Holocaust never happened. Zack's gullibility makes a convincing argument for teaching students to analyze URLs, evaluate webpage content, and compare sources; it's a huge mistake to confuse "technical mastery with critical thinking." Throughout, teachers will find e-ventures (educational adventures), such as a lesson on comparing search engines, that are immediately useful. November also includes chapters on collaboration, primary sources, and online learning, each ending with questions to trigger further discussion-perfect for technology planning committees or personal reflection.
Another recently updated title is Will Richardson's Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (Corwin, 2010). Richardson's focus is the Read/Write Web and how tools, such as RSS feeds, Diigo, Delicious, Flickr, MovieMaker, iMovie, Facebook, Ning, and others, can be used to expand and improve student motivation and learning. The author urges teachers to experiment with these applications before introducing them to students, explaining that it's important to "make these connections in our own practice first so we can thoroughly understand the pedagogical implications for the classroom." Written in a conversational tone with lots of real-world examples to explore online, Richardson's guide offers a basic introduction while encouraging teachers to think about why these tools can make a difference in teaching and learning. Also included is a brief but insightful discussion on internet safety with a sample letter introducing parents to a blogging project for 4th and 5th graders. For additional musings and suggestions check out the author's blog.
Teachers looking to go further afield-or closer to home in terms of students' interests-will want to read Teaching Tech-Savvy Kids: Bringing Digital Media into the Classroom, Grades 5-12 by Jessica K. Parker (Corwin, 2010). The author taps the collective knowledge of more than 20 scholars and researchers from the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Southern California in this example of collaboration in action. Like Richardson, Parker wants teachers "to explore new media in their personal lives and in their classrooms." She explains that the crux of the issue is not just about using the technology; it's "how new media are essentially altering our understanding of learning, literacy, and knowledge." That said, the author provides clear explanations of "networked publics" including Facebook and MySpace, video outlets like YouTube, and virtual settings such as Quest Atlantis, "an international learning and teaching project that uses a 3D multi-user environment to immerse children, ages 9-16, in educational tasks." Wikipedia and video/musical remix are also surveyed. Each chapter includes myth busters, current research, suggested activities for the classroom, questions for reflection, and additional resources. Additionally, Parker created an online community for "discussing issues related to digital media and learning." She hopes that teachers who read her book will jump right in. Whether you need a beginner's guide to Web 2.0 or are in charge of writing or updating your school's technology plan, these titles offer solid foundation. Good luck!
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