Where do social action, art, music, technology, media, pop culture, and most importantly, student needs intersect?
Happy Digital Learning Day Eve! I hope you enjoy some reflections from my students on: Digital Learning Is....
Sitting at a district meeting yesterday, I heard more of an all too widespread and alarming discussion. “Our students aren’t interested in learning like we were.” “The kids today are distracted by gadgets...
For many students, school is the only place where they can be on even ground with the rest of their peers. When implementing digital tools to learn, it becomes more than just a question of engagement and participation. How is digital learning an equity issue?
It's common sense. We have to meet our students where they are. We have to know our students and the cultural wealth they bring to our schools. Using what they already know as a method of mediating new learning is just good teaching. So why not meet our students in a mileu that they already know? Using digital tools, thus, capitalizing upon a student's digital literacy, will facilitate literacy instruction. How do we do this? How can we make this a campus-wide practice? How do we sustain it?
"That's how I was taught, and I turned out okay." Who hasn't heard that before in schools across the country? Well, that's not going to work. Or more truthfully, it might work for some, but teachers will lose multitudes of teachable moments with that type of mantra. Instead, we would better serve today's students by really considering their cultural wealth. What differences and simiarities do they bring with them to the classroom that can be supported by learning? What types of practices do they have in other...
Digital Learning Day is February 1, 2012. Although I will also be exploring the best way to get my students to write/read digitally for that day, it dawned on me that we, as educators, need to continue...