New Literacies

 Can you believe that summer is almost over and it's back to school. No doubt the students will return to school all brain dead and laid back. As teachers, parents, and school administration what will done differently this school year,and what were the lessons learnt? It is quite obvious that there are many literacies socially out there that has entered the learning process. How will educators use the wealth of social information that students bring into the classroom? Whether we want to accept it or not schools will have to adopt new learning  strategies  to  keep students engaged in class activities.

  The average student from the Elementary level up is quite advanced when it comes to technology, yet quite brain dead when it comes to  writing a simple story.Therefore the time has come for teachers to become creative and find ways to incorporate social literacies as part of their lessons if they do not want to lose the students's attention.

 The question is how much of social media to use and how to use it. Extensive research and planning will need to be done in executing lessons. It is all very easy to get carried away with the amount of technology available to us, but it's very important  not to get carried away with the technology but rather to keep the focus on the content of the lesson.

Educators let's clean the slate and start the new school year fresh, yet prepared. Do your homework,listen carefully to your students, and utilize the information you glean from them. Find out what's happening out there in the world of technology and create discussions and your classes around  it. Believe me you will grab your student's attention and hopefully they will want to participate more. I think it's worth a try. This generation learns in a whole different way and we must find what makes them tick.


Have a productive year.