Digital Text In and Out of School

Introduction

"It is time our classrooms became places where digital and print literacies come together to allow children opportunities to develop the skills and attributes they will need to navigate complex urban sites and social forms."

- Carrington & Robinson, 2009, p. 3

I totally agree with this quote, it is time that classrooms become places where digital and print literacies merge together, allowing children to develop the skills for their future.  The only problem I see with this wonderful idea is funding.  Until every child in school can have access to a computer (with no time or day restraints), this is going to be a hard task to accomplish.  

Chapter 1

"One of the significant changes in relation to learning with digital technologies is the scaffolding that current technology provides for learners.."

-Rebekah Willett

As cited in Carrington & Robinson, 2009, p. 18

Children seem to "catch on" to new technologies faster than adults; I think, in part, because of their video/computer game use.  Many new technologies are set up with the same functions and menus as those of a digital game.  Children are more likely to play video/computer games and therefore are able to navigate their way through functions and menus of new technologies. 

Chapter 2 

"This is where schools can intervene, providing new challenges and direction, making learning less random, helping everyone to access digital texts, and to become self-aware, critical readers and producers of new literacies."

-Julia Davies

As cited in Carrington & Robinson, 2009, p. 33

The school where I teach has two computer labs, allowing classes 40 minutes a week to use the computers; this is not a lot of time. If a child was absent on computer lab day, they were two weeks behind the rest of the class; if there was a snow day or assembly on your scheduled day, another week went by with no computer lab.  With testing this past year, those two labs were occupied form April to the end of school.  When my class was able to go to the lab, we were required to do typing activities or practice tests to prepare for the upcoming real tests. School is the only place a lot of children have access to a computer, and it's hard to teach new technology to students when there isn't enough time or access to technology.

Chapter 3

"The notion that it is increasingly hard, yet necessary, to safeguard children in online contexts is occurring at a time in England when high-stakes testing in schools, and the enhancement of parental accountability, remain high-profile political issues."

-Clare Dowdall

 As cited in Carrington & Robinson, 2009, p. 46

This quote caught my attention because of the words "parental accountability," I thought it was interesting that parental accountability is considered a political issue.  If you have a child, you should be accountable for aspects of that child's life, especially when safety issues are involved.  When it comes to safeguarding children in online context, parents need to make sure they are doing everything possible to keep their child safe online.  

Technology In The Classroom

The readings are definitely changing the way I think about technology in the classroom.  I used technology with my students last year, but not as much as I would've liked.  As stated before, the school where I teach only has two computer labs and classes are scheduled a certain day and time to use those labs (about 40 minutes a week).  Each classroom has 4 computers, but most of those computers are outdated or do not work at all.  It is difficult to get 20-25 students rotated through computer time.  The kinds of academic literacy practices we want young people to develop through schooling are those discussed in the readings. We want young people to create individual works and profiles in school, the safe way, instead of unsupervised.  We want young people to be interested and excited about using technology in the school and have it carry over in real life, instead of "power down" when walking into the school. 

Illuminated Text
For this illuminated text, I chose the quote from chapter 2.

"This is where schools can intervene, providing new challenges and direction, making learning less random, helping everyone to access digital texts, and to become self-aware, critical readers and producers of new literacies."

Reference

Carrington, V., & Robinson, M. (2009). Digital Literacies Social Learning and Classroom Practices. London: SAGE Publications.