Pay attention! This is our endless and proper work. ~Mary Oliver
School is out, and the last thing my brain wants to do right now is think about digital literacy. When I opened the door to let Charlie out this morning, this snail was working its way slowly and deliberately along a leaf. So I took a picture. My one little word for 2014 is Open, but I think I’ll translate that word to mean “Pay Attention” as a summer goal. Be alert. Don’t let your brain fall asleep.
On the web this morning, I paid attention to two articles. The first was posted by Tara Smith at Two Writing Teachers. Tara writes about her students’ confidence in writing workshop and her release of control. They are using technology in ways she would not have predicted. She is able to take a back seat and watch. Sometimes I feel teachers are too focused on themselves and what they will do in front of the students. Tara’s expertise is in knowing that her best teaching comes from the back seat where she can support her student writers and allow them to discover on their own. Read her article here.
The second article that drew my attention was one a friend posted on Facebook about summer reading, Ready, Set, Read! In this article, research is cited that says reading fiction creates better human beings. We learn to be empathetic by reading. I knew that students needed to keep reading over the summer in order to maintain and grow their reading levels, but I never thought about how that reading makes them better people.
What are you paying attention to today? Please add your Digital Literacy link to Mr. Linky.
I love the message to pay attention! 🙂 I will be sure to read those two articles. I do an empathy unit ievery September, and I’ve used research on empathy and fiction to talk about how reading stories makes us better people. It’s one of my favorite units all year!
I’d love to hear more about your empathy unit. A colleague and I were talking about creating our reading program next year around the theme of wonder.
I’ve got a quick reflection on precision of language in Internet searches and in spoken language.
Yay! Thanks for linking up!
[…] to Margaret at Reflections On the Teche for creating space to talk about digital […]
Paying attention. I am glad I found this about digital literacy. Thanks.