Chapter 10: What It All Means

So, where do we go from here?

I agree that the definition of literacy is changing with the massive amount of information that students have at their fingertips.  I still remember traveling up to an hour away to amass resources for a research paper in college; today that is unheard of.  My students snicker when I tell them that story.  I have them constantly researching the latest news on topics we discuss in class.  The goal is to get them actively learning, isn’t it?  Plus the way things are advancing in science, I can’t keep up myself.

I have not kept the way I teach my curriculum the same for more than one year.  This is due to all of the free resources available on the web.  I incorporate technology into my classroom more and more each year whether it is through animations, simulations, Prezi, web quests, concept map makers, etc.  Now I will add blogs, wikis and photopeach.  I feel as though the possibilities are endless!    I understand that most districts, like mine have to share computers, but frankly I think that prolonging the inevitable in your classroom will only hurt the students. They need to be geared up to function in the “real” world, so bring the “real” world to your classroom as often as possible.