TPACK (K-6 Literacy Edcuation)

In this chapter, the authors examine the relationship between traditional elementary literacy instruction and the necessity of incorporating technological literacy into today's literacy instruction. This chapter, appropriately subtitled "It's not that elementary!" acknowledges that there is no one solution or program that will work for all teachers, no matter the grade level they teach. I think that the authors of this chapter are extremely accurate in their observation that all it takes for a teacher feel efficacious in their attempts to integrate technological literacy into their repertoire is ONE successful technology-based activity that connects to their own philosophy and their knowledge of literacy. This type of success may lead the teacher to explore how other aspects of technology can be used in their classrooms.

In my own classroom, I tend to use technologies in my teaching that I actually use in my real life. Therefore, word processing, emailing, internet searching, podcasts, reading from online periodicals and newspapers, and blogging are everyday technologies I employ in my planning. I think that when we think about literacy instruction, it is important to realistically self-assess our own literacy and comfort with strategies before we attempt to use them with our students. If we can try to incorporate those skills, programs, and processes we already use in our daily lives into our classrooms, I think that the potential for real learning is possible. If we are forced to integrate programs that do not reflect the way we as adults use technology in the real world, then I think that we are setting ourselves and our students up for failure.

I do not think, though, that we should only integrate what we use and then stop there. We need to challenge ourselves to incorporate more technology into our daily lives and then reflect about the reasons why we use it and how it can best be shared with students. If our goal is to create more literate and functional students, shouldn't we walk them through the literacies we use as functionally literate adults? Also, some of our students (even the littlest ones) may be able to share their own use of technology in the classroom. I spend a lot of time with my friend's four year-old. This young guy is into computers and technology (and Dora the Explorer) in ways that seem obsessive at times, but whenever I think about the skills he's developing at such a young age I know that he's using technology in a way that is building skills that will open doors for him as a student in the future. He will go to kindergarten knowing how to operate a computer. He knows how to use a mouse and a keyboard. He knows how to navigate online games. He's used both a Mac and a PC. He interacts with characters and answers their questions verbally and with a mouse. It's amazing when you think about the advantages this little guy will have compared to those in his future kindergarten classes who have never used a computer. Imagine what a resource he will be to his peers (and his busy teacher!) when it's time to turn on the computers and load a program for an afternoon game online. In this way, technological literacies, as the authors of this chapter point out, have a great potential to be reciprocal and student-centered than do more traditional methods of teaching.

The chapter also gave some recommendations for programs and applications that can be used in elementary classrooms. They all seem viable resources in that they enhance the skill sets and literacy processes that students will need in later grades and as adults. Word processing, story mapping, and brainstorming activities are skills that I need my freshmen to be ready to use in the first week of high school. Like the computer-loving four year-old I spoke of earlier, I always hope that my students come to me with (at least) a basic knowledge of how to operate computers so that I don't need to start at square one with all fifteen of my freshmen.

What I saw most clearly when reading this chapter is that when we talk about literacy, we're really always talking about literacy K-12. Though this chapter addresses the needs of K-6teachers and students, the skills, habits, understandings, and the expectations don't really shift when these students enter middle and high school. After reading this chapter, I definitely see a need to continue learning about what the lower grades are using with students so that I can support their prior knowledge with like programs and processes when they comes to me as freshmen in high school.