Thinking About Learning

Last night was PTO Literacy night. Teachers from each grade were conducting sessions on different aspects of balanced literacy. I had been asked to share some online literacy activities that parents could access at home. After a little thought, I decided to take the opportunity to do a little educating about the changing definition of literacy. I went back and revisited David Warlick’s awesome Redefining Literacy presentation and also read “The New Literacies” from District Administration. I also found some great TeacherTube videos on Internet safety from Mike King. Ultimately I ended up doing a brief overview of digital literacy, cyber safety, the value of blogging and social bookmarking. We had a small parent turnout, but my sessions went well…20 minutes of exposure to digital literacy and 20 minutes to explore the literacy games bookmarked on our school Diigo page. Very basic stuff, but I think it was just what my audience needed.

In the midst of my personal PD in preparing for Literacy Night, I came across a really cool global writing project. I first heard it mentioned on twitter!

Curriculum Connections:
Literacy: 1001 Tales is a global writing project. Students work online together to tell stories, edit, and improve their writing skills. I would love to get a class involved with this!