CEMA 2005: New Literacies and Reading Comprehension

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The Internet is really a READING issue:
New Literacies for New Times

Workshop for Connecticut Educational Media Association (CEMA)
Facilitators: Julie Coiro and Jill Castek, University of Connecticut
May 7, 2005

This all day workshop invites you to explore the new literacies of the Internet while connecting the ideas to your school’s library media and content area curriculum. In the morning, we’ll explore how the Internet poses new challenges for students and demands new processes that extend beyond traditional reading comprehension skills to encompass new Internet literacies.

Time will be provided to practice and reflect on new instructional strategies for weaving elements of Internet navigation, searching, critical evaluation, and communication into classroom instruction. We’ll also discuss how new online texts and higher level inquiry tasks, when used appropriately, provide an optimal environment for enhancing reading comprehension for all students.

In the afternoon, we’ll have conversations about how we might begin to measure new literacies and work towards extending elements of the current library media curriculum to incorporate the challenges posed by reading, writing, and communicating within complex and unbound Internet networks.

Anticipation Guide for Today's Discussion

Directions: Show that you agree or disagree with each statement by marking an X in the correct column. Justify your position by writing a comment or response to the statement in the blank space. You'll then have time to discuss your opinions with others in your group. You may add questions and statements as the lesson progresses.

Agree	Disagree	Anticipatory Statement
		Our current assessment practices adequately measure and diagnose the skills and strategies required to locate, comprehend, evaluate, and respond to information on the Internet. Supporting Statement:
		Classroom webpages can serve as important teaching tools for literacy and content area learning. Supporting Statement:
		Students who prefer to work alone will be disadvantaged as literacy learning with technology becomes increasingly dependant on social strategies. Supporting Statement:
		Our district Internet filter ensures that students and teachers do not access inappropriate sites while ensuring that they have access to all of the useful information resources that they require. Supporting Statement:
		Our curriculum, and in particular, my classroom environment, provides opportunities for students to develop their own questions as part of the learning process. Supporting Statement:
		The new skills of “visual literacy”, “media literacy”, “critical literacy” and “informational literacy” should be incorporated into everyday classroom literacy instruction at all grade levels. Supporting Statement:
		Connecticut is doing an exceptional job, preparing students for the reading, writing, and learning demands they will experience in both their personal and professional lives. Supporting Statement:

What are some similarities and differences between "information literacy" from a
library media perspective and "new literacies" from a literacy perspective?

Big 6 +1 Information Problem-Solving Process See Big 6 homepage and Anne Canning's Slide Show	New Literacies of the Internet See Theoretical framework and New Literacies Applications to K-12 Classrooms
1. Task Definition What's the task and final product? What type of information do I need?	Asking Important Questions or Identifying Important Problems to be Solved What would I like to know more about? What interests me about my world?
2. Information Seeking Strategies What are possible sources? Which are the best?	Locating Relevant Information How do I search for relevant information? Where do I read first?
3. Location and Access Where is each source? Where is the relevant information within each source?	Evaluating Information within Online Contexts Which link is most useful? How do I know it's true? Which contexts are familiar and which are new?
4. Use of Information How can I best use each source? What information in each source is useful?	Synthesizing Information How do I come up with an original synthesis? How do I incorporate information from multiple and disparate sources?
5. Synthesis How can I organize all this information? How can I present the results?	Communicating Possible Solutions Which technology is most effective? How do I communicate within these rapidly changing contexts?
6. Evaluation Is the task complete? Does my solution answer the original question? Did I find authoritative sources? How can I do better? +1: Social Responsibility Did I seek information from diverse sources? Did I respect intellectual property rights? Did I collaborate effectively with others?	Some Underlying Principles: A new literacies perspective considers the Internet as this generation's defining technology for information, communication, and especially for learning. The relationship between literacy and technology is transactional. New literacies are multiple in nature and change rapidly. Critical literacies, new forms of strategic knowledge, and efficiency are central to the new literacies. Learning often is socially constructed within new literacies. Teachers become more important, though their role changes, within new literacy classrooms.
In summary, the Big 6 emphasizes... ACCESS, ETHICS, and EVALUATION	In summary, New Literacies emphasizes... CHANGE, READING COMPREHENSION, and GLOBAL COMMUNICATION

Small Group Activities

Challenge:
GENERATING QUESTIONS -
What would I like to know more about?

Learning Objective:
Exploring the power of the Internet

See page 8 of handouts for activity template

I wonder...
Let's explore a few places to learn more...
Model search engines use and citing sources
Model summarizing, synthesizing, and evaluating
Generate a new source of information to share with others

Challenge:
LOCATING INFORMATION -
Where do I read first?

Learning Objective:
Previewing websites

See page 9 of handouts for activity template

STOP AND THINK
Preview left menu and top menu bar
Anticipate where each link will lead
Anticipate multiple levels (closer or further)
Explore interactive mouseover functions
Note the author/webmaster/sponsor
Understand unique website search features

Challenge:
EVALUATING INFORMATION -
Which link is most useful?

Learning Objective:
Evaluating search results

See page 10 of handouts for activity template

What clues to the words after the link give me?
Are the results in any special order?
Who sponsors the site?
What's missing from this list?
How do you know? and Why does it matter?

Challenge:
EVALUATING INFORMATION -
How do I know it's true?

Learning Objective:
Evaluating the validity of information

See page 11 of handouts for activity template

Does this sound like it makes sense?
Where else can I look?
Who created the website and for what purpose?
Who IS the author?
Who is linking to this site? (LINK:URL)

Challenge:
SYNTHESIZING & COMMUNICATING INFORMATION -
How do I come up with an original synthesis?

Learning Objective:
Sorting, organizing, and synthesizing

See page 11 of handouts for activity template

Expect to search in more than one place for different pieces of the information
Generate synonyms to locate related information
Expect to read on more than one website
Develop an electronic system for sorting and organizing information and sources
Expect to construct an original response

Challenge:
COMMUNICATING INFORMATION With Weblogs and Wikis

Learning Objective:
Tools for Online Collaboration

See page 12 of handouts for activity template

Simple to create, revise, and redesign
Flexible formatting & attractive templates
Instant uploads
No programming knowledge required
Announce upcoming events
Share annotated resources
Post book reviews

Challenge:
COMMUNICATING INFORMATION -
With Weblogs

Learning Objective:
Interactive Dialogue and Idea Exchange

See page 12 of handouts for activity template

Answer inquiries
Extend instructional tips
Exchange resources
Create interactive journals

Challenge:
COMMUNICATING INFORMATION -
With Weblogs

Learning Objective:
Web Publishing and Idea Exchange

See page 13 of handouts for activity template

Promote collaborative composition
Coordinate efforts toward a common goal
Promote reading and writing connections

Related Resources

New Communication Tools: Wikis

Wikipedia - Umlaut: An interactive look at collaborative writing on Wikipedia.
Wikipedia, The Interactive Online Encyclopedia: We'll add a new entry and edit an existing page within this free-content encyclopedia that anyone can contribute to.
Internet Reciprocal Teaching: Students work in small groups to post information about famous respiratory scientistists on Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an interactive online encyclopedia edited by users around the world.
Starting Your Own Wiki: SeedWiki: An education friendly site for starting new Wikis for free. Educator friendly and easy to use.
Wikis in Education: An overview of how Wiki are being used as collaborative writing and resource sharing tools across educational settings.

New Communication Tools: Blogs

Weblogg-ed The Read/Write Web in the Classroom: Will Richardson's implemention literature focused blogs involved students in higher level thinking that extended beyond the classroom.
Exploring Links between New Literacies, Reading Comprehension, and The Library Media Curriculum: Design and publish your own blog in minutes. We'll learn to post, comment, publish and archive.
Human Body Project: Student Free Space: Free space for students to share interesting discoveries, post questions about our studies on the human body systems and share ideas related to our work.
Starting Your Own Blog: TypePad Blog Sevice Typepad offers easy to use blog publishing tools that are safe and spam-free.
Educational Blogging: Learn ways that weblogs can support collaboration, spark interest in writing, and extend collaborative learning.

Related Online Resources you may be interested in exploring

Reading the Internet: Challenges and Possibilities for All Readers (Theory into Practice)
Teaching Children's Literature and the New Literacies of the Internet (Avon Public Schools, Elementary school)
Extending the Literature Curriculum K-12 (Harwington, Region 10 with related readings for further study)
Enhancing and Extending Texts in the Elementary Literacy Curriculum with the Internet
Internet Instructional Models in Middle School (Windsor Public Schools)
Problem Based Learning and Reading Comprehension in the Content Area, Grades 4-8 (East Lyme)
Internet Instructional Models in High School (New London Public Schools)
Conversations about New Literacies in the K-12 Classroom
Technology for Leadership and Learning in Connecticut (GATES Program for Administrators)
Teaching with the Internet K-12: New Literacies for New Times (book by Don and Debbie Leu & Julie Coiro)

Questions that came up during the day:

What is Internet Reciprocal Teaching? Access Jill's conference presentation from International Reading Association for an explanation and video examples.
How does research on learning and the brain impact reading and the Internet? Visit CAST's website to read especially Chapter 2 of Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age to learn more about what brain research tells us about learner differences.
Is there any easy, quick and reliable way to assess the readability of a website? You can read more about assistive technology tools and readability measures from Chapter 11 of our book New Literacies for New Times. Skim to the heading titled Assistive Technology Tools for All Students and the Internet FAQ that follows that heading.
How do we find the time to embed new literacies and allocate time to content area teaching as well? You can explore examples of four Internet instructional models that we shared with middle and high school teachers in New London and Windsor for many content area ideas.
What about instructional models for K-2 students? You can explore how these models are used with younger students to study children's literature, children's authors, progressive stories, or how the Internet can be used to enhance components of your balanced literacy classroom.

Afternoon Reflections and Discussion

Making Connections: How might these lessons link Connecticut's Information and Technology Literacy Standards with classroom literacy instruction and content area learning?
Making Adaptations: How might these lessons be adapted to match different age and development levels across the K-12 curriculum?
Measuring Progress: How might we track growth and measure learning?
Planning for Change: What planning model might help to keep up with the rapid changes in ICT?
Taking Small, but Smart Collaborative Steps: Where is a reasonable place to start?
Countdown for taking next steps:

3...After listening, thinking, and reflecting with colleagues, what three new questions or concerns do you now have about how to begin preparing students for the new literacies of the Internet?
2...Identify two initial steps in a realistic action plan for moving forward with ideas gleaned from today's session (e.g., Ask..., Try out..., Find..., Use...)
1...Identify at least one colleague with whom you will collaborate as you work toward completing this action plan (e.g., a teacher back in your district, another library media specialist, etc).

Information about the Presenters

Julie Coiro has taught in preschool, elementary and middle school classrooms, and has also worked as a reading specialist and software consultant. For the past twelve years, Julie has provided professional development opportunities for educators in the areas of technology integration, curriculum development and literacy skills and strategies. She has a Masters degree in Curriculum and Instruction and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut. Her areas of interest include reading comprehension, new literacies of the Internet, and effective practices for technology integration and professional development. Julie has published work in The Reading Teacher, The Handbook of Literacy and Technology, 2nd Edition, and Knowledge Quest and also co-authored a book with Don and Debbie Leu titled Teaching with the Internet K-12: New Literacies for New Times.

Jill Castek is a second year doctoral student at the University of Connecticut in the Cognition and Instruction program. She is a trained reading specialist with ten years classroom experience in grades K-8. Her work examines students’ Internet learning strategies and the ways teachers can support these skills through targeted instruction in new literacies. She has been researching Internet Reciprocal Teaching and analyzing how online communication tools (email, weblogs, instant messaging, and discussion boards) contribute to content area learning in seventh grade science. Jill has published work in The Reading Teacher, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, and Knowledge Quest.