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For DigiLit Sunday lately I have been Tweeting out a topic. The word treasure came to my mind when I saw Kim Douillard’s photo challenge for this week. She is a photographer (teacher, writer, blogger) who captures beautiful images of the beach. Click here to see her blog, Thinking Through My Lens.
The treasure is in the details of Kim’s photographs, the open wings of a gull, the intricate designs of shells, or the silhouette of the surfer.
I am not usually a detail person. I try to be organized, but it’s an effort. I don’t remember people’s names. I could not tell you what you were wearing yesterday. However, when it comes to teaching digital literacy, the treasure is in the details.
On a field trip on Friday, Madison drew this picture from an art piece she saw in the gallery. Look closely. The details on the tiny girl in the foreground, and notice the motion indication on the cow’s tail. When I saw her drawing, these little details delighted me.
When we teach digital literacies, we need to take time to notice the treasure in the details. Even our youngest students can use these tools to express themselves effectively. Take a look at another of Madison’s recent creations. We were learning about Antarctica and poetry with Irene Latham’s book When the Sun Shines on Antarctica. Madison is in second grade, and this year is her first year in my class. She has jumped right into digital literacies and blogging. I love this poem she wrote about penguins. She used the craft move from Irene’s poetry to show the movement of the penguin diving into the sea. I didn’t watch her do this, but I am sure it took quite a bit of patience tabbing over and placing the words just right. What a treasure in that little detail! (Click on the image to see a larger view.)
Take time to delight in the details this week. Notice when your students make an effort to be precise and intentional in their work.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
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Reflections on the Teche 
I love the way Madison finds her way to show meaning in the details. It is seamless across media. Just the way it should be!
Margaret, I quoted you in my post today because details are the important pieces in digital treasures. Thanks for this wonderful topic and the link to Kim’s site. Can you please ask Madison if she would like to draw a photo of penguins to accompany her poem & I will include it on #WinterWanderings (She will need to fix her typo for publication on the gallery-small detail.) Thanks for the way you always move your students to discover their voice.
That little detail about the tail – such a delightful thing to notice and treasure!
[…] Some interesting things happen when we learn together, and when students have the chance to think for themselves. These moments we all treasure. Take the day we worked in teams to analyze a text. Students were looking for the main ideas and for the transition / connecting words that tie the evidence together. One group worked out a plan to complete the task. One of them found the transition / connecting words, one of the found them main ideas, and one of them checked for accuracy. And one of them said, “I found a new transition word not on our lists. It’s “including.” It’s used to add new information.” That’s the beauty of time to work in teams, analyzing the work, and applying it to discover additional strategies and terms we can use— and sharing those ideas in our learning community. On another time, the fifth grade students were teaming up to search information about presidents. And one of them tried to type in a URL and said, “There should be a .com on the keyboard!” Good idea! Kids learning together, kids self-directing themselves, kids sharing discoveries base on what we’re learning. These are treasures I love. Post for #DigiLit Sunday sponsored by Margaret Simon […]