Wilton: Reading, Research and the New Literacies of the Internet

Information about the Presenters

Julie Coirohas taught in preschool, elementary and middle school classrooms, and hasalso worked as a reading specialist and software consultant. For the pas! ttwelve years, Julie has provided professional development opportunities foreducators in the areas of technology integration, curriculum developmentand literacy skills and strategies. She has a Masters degree in Curriculum and Instruction and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Educational Psychologyat the University of Connecticut. Her areas of interest include reading comprehension,new literacies of the Internet, and effective practices for technology integrationand professional development. Julie has published work in The Reading Teacher, The Handbook of Literacy and Technology, 2ndEdition, and Knowledge Questand also co-authored a book with Don and Debbie Leu titled Teaching with the Internet K-12: New Literaciesfor New Times.

Jill Castek is a third year doctoral student at the University of Connecticut in theCognition and Instruction program. She is a trained reading specialistwith ten years classroom experience in grades K-8. Her work examines students Internet learning strategies and ways teachers can support theseskills through targeted instruction in new literacies. She has been researchingInternet Reciprocal Teaching and analyzing how online communication tools(email, weblogs, instant messaging, and discussion boards) contribute tocontent area learning in seventh grade science. Jill has published work in The Reading Teacher, Journal of Adolescentand Adult Literacy, and KnowledgeQuest.

Big 6 +1 Information Problem-Solving Process See Big 6 homepage and Anne Canning'sSlide Show	New Literacies of the Internet See Theoretical framework and New LiteraciesApplications 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 ImportantProblems 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 disparatesources?
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 generati! on'sdef ining 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 efficiencyare central to the new literacies. Learning often is socially constructed within new literacies. Teachers become more important, though their role changes, withinnew literacy classrooms.
In summary, the Big 6 emphasizes... ACCESS, ETHICS, and EVALUATION	In summary, New Literacies emphasizes... CHANGE, READING COMPREHENSION, and GLOBAL COMMUNICATION