Adolescents and Digital Literacies Chapter 1

Sara Kajder says in the first chapter of her new book that she counts it a privilege to help kids work as "intentional, self-directed, reflective learners who are able to make meaning from a range of texts and share their knowledge and understanding in smart and useful ways." Wow! That would be wonderful if I had a handful of those kinds of students. I feel that all my sixth graders want to do right now is chase each other with magic markers playing "tag." However, there was a text message going around yesterday afternoon warning certain students that they were going to be the primary targets today, so maybe my students are using technology in useful ways. If it sounds like I'm a bit discouraged, I am. If I didn't have to make sure all my standards were covered and all my students' MAP scores and PASS scores are going to go up from last time, I would feel like I could spend time teaching my kids some of this new technology. I am going to have them do a digital story before the end of the year, though. I have already worked with a little 6th grader who is in our book club and showed an interest in digital story telling. He is so excited and so am I.