Educational Leadership:Literacy 2.0:Orchestrating the Media Collage
Guidelines for teachers for supporting multimedia and digital literacy
KinderKidsDraw! | always learning
Great kindergarten technology project by Kim Cofino. Students use KidPix to draw about what they're learning in class, then upload the images to VoiceThread and explain the image. Over the course of the year, the VoiceThread becomes an online portfolio of their learning. The VoiceThreads are also shared on a wiki so students can connect globally and get to know each other a bit.
The NCTE Definition of 21st-Century Literacies
NCTE's literacies for the 21st century, including technology, problem-solving, information literacy, multimedia, and ethics
High Tech in Hawaii: The Real-World Relevance of Technology | Edutopia
Profile of a Hawaiian school using technology and project-based learning to engage students and give them 21st century skills.
"What the animation does is it assists the children in visualizing the action," explains Mitchell, who teaches <a class="external-link" href="http://www.nuuanu.k12.hi.us/G-1/public_html/index.html" target="_blank">language arts enrichment classes</a>. "The animation is a way of them developing the picture so they relate that to the writing, to what they hear, what they see, what they feel." Technology, she adds, "gives you one more way of teaching something."
"Looking for real-world relevance has to do with students being interested in what they do, knowing that it's useful outside of school," says Kaninau. "The experiences are not contrived or in isolation, but they're a part of a larger learning activity. Without those connections, it won't be meaningful, and it'll be forgotten tomorrow."
"They love it," says sixth-grade teacher Geraldine Kajitani. "If you start with ... hands-on activities and things that are fun, their attention is focused." And once that happens, she says, it's a snap to get them to study some of the drier material because they'll relate to it and remember it.