by Janine Schall, University of Texas-Pan American, Edinburg, TX

The world has changed. What it means to be literate has changed.

Ok, so that’s a little portentous and possibly even cliché. It’s still true. Yet, if you look into many of today’s K-12 literacy classrooms you will see lessons, engagements and room arrangements that look almost identical to what you would have seen 50 and even 100 years ago. This is a problem.

In a world of instant communication and increasing ways to create and disseminate information, schools need to take a critical look at their practices. Are we preparing children for today’s reality? What about the reality of the future? New technologies aren’t eliminating the basic literacy that we’ve taught for generations, but adding to it. “Basic” literacy is now greatly expanded from what it was 100 years ago.

You may have already seen this video, which has been shared across Youtube and the blogosphere for several years, but it’s worth another look (check out http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/ and for information on the history and creators of this video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8

And then there’s this interview, posted on cnn.com on October 18, 2010, where Nicolas Negroponte argues that physical books are going to disappear much more quickly than anticipated.

Both videos are worthy of debate, but both also illustrate how technology is influencing the world, education, and literacy.

In WOW Currents we are interested in how children can make connections to international and multicultural literature. I’m going to focus this month of posts on technological resources that can be used in literacy classrooms to support and share thinking about books. Let me be clear, familiar response techniques remain valuable: I will never give up my graffiti boards, post-it notes, and index cards. However, we have to reach our students in their context, not ours, and as more resources become available I am adding new technologies, software, and websites to my repertoire. I am not interested in using technology just for the sake of using technology, but in order to support thinking about literature.

It’s already happening in some schools and some classrooms. See Judi Moreillon’s article in Volume 3, Issue 1 of WOW Stories: Connections from the Classroom for an example. But too many teachers are unfamiliar with and possibly intimidated by new technologies and too many schools are reacting to privacy and content concerns by banning access to these technologies across the board.

Each Monday in November I will share technological resources and websites that can be used to support children’s response to literature. Next week I will focus on tools for thinking. The following week I will share tools for collaboration. Next, will be tools for sharing current understandings. Finally, I will conclude with a discussion of resources for teachers along with issues of concern.

I encourage readers to use the comments section to add their own ideas. I know there are teachers using these resources in incredible ways!

Journey through Worlds of Words during our open reading hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. To view our complete offerings of WOW Currents, please visit archival stream.

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• Themes: Janine Schall
• Descriptors: Books & Resources, Debates & Trends, Student Connections, WOW Currents