On Wednesday, I had the chance to present a report I helped write to MN Governor Mark Dayton. The report outlined 10 recommendations from teachers regarding Minnesota’s new principal evaluation system. If you ever have a chance to work with VIVA, do it. The process was well-facilitated and a great learning opportunity. This particular project was a joint venture of the MN Department of Education and Education MN, the state teachers’ union. I met colleagues from across the state, and I learned a thing or two about Google Docs. Mostly, I’m very proud of the report we put together. It’s a distillation of the ideas of around 600 educators, and I believe it will help mold actual policy implementation.

Now, back to my homework.

We’ve all heard that the kids in our classes are digital natives. My question to you is: So what?

We have kids who are thinking in fundamentally different ways. My son (who has limited screen time) was recently asked what the word instantaneous means. His response? “It means right away; you don’t have to download it first.” My thoughts when I heard that? Digital native.

Technology has so inundated our world that even its vocabulary has become linked to our thoughts. So what does this mean for classroom practice? We owe it to kids to not only have technology in the classroom, but to teach them how to use it critically. I’ve seen too many kids who know how to type something into a Google search box, but cannot determine whether or not a source is reliable. They can copy and paste, but cannot paraphrase or synthesize. They can read what shows up on a page, but cannot search effectively within a site using menus and hyperlinks. Or they follow every hyperlink or add and cannot maintain the attention necessary to do deep thinking.

So if you’re first introducing your students to (a new – for you or them or both) technology, treat the thinking processes behind their work as deserving explicit instruction, not just instructing a set of procedures. Because chances are whatever procedures you teach will be different by the time they are in the workforce. (They may be different next year!) But treating technology as a new literacy in which students need instruction in strategic thinking and comprehension, will give students the foundations they need – no matter what unimagined technology they confront in the future.

What do you do to help students with new technologies? What technology tips or ideas do you have for the classroom?

Life since my last post has been:

• motherboard fried — waiting for a new laptop.
• moving
• attempting to keep cool in the midst of a mini-heatwave with NO air conditioning

But I’m back. Well, still hot, but at least I’m online. More soon.

So, Franki Sibberson challenged us to write down 100 things about ourselves as readers. We can share this list with students (parts of it) and challenge them to come up with their own list. It might take them all year to get 100, but it will help them think about their reading lives – in and out of school.

So I’ve been working on this. I’m not done yet, but I want to share my first 10. I’ll be sharing more over the next few weeks. I challenge you to start your own list; leave me a comment with a link to it.

1. I enjoy science fiction, historical fiction, and realistic fiction.
2. I often read myself to sleep (which drives my husband crazy, because I often fall asleep with the light on).
3. I discovered writing in the margins in college and LOVED it.
4. I can’t remember not knowing how to read.
5. While I’m eating breakfast, I usually read magazine articles.
6. I read Jane Eyre in ninth grade, but I only understood the basic plot – none of the symbolism or deeper meaning.
7. Since I learned to read in Georgia, I read aloud with a southern accent for years – even after moving back to Minnesota.
8. I hated Crime and Punishment. It’s the only time I’ve ever used Cliff Notes; I just couldn’t get through the book.
9. I secretly admire authors who’ve had their books challenged or censored.
10. I used to race with my brothers, reading Bears in the Night or The Little Bug That Went Ka-choo! as fast as we could.

Here I am at the Hamline Summer Literacy Institute – the first day of my professional vacation.

I’ll be updating you on what I’m learning as it’s happening. So far, lots to think about regarding mini-lesson planning for the reader’s workshop. Breaks over …. more later.

While I normally set high expectations for myself, I think that I have been too limited in this blog. And the last place I should be limited is on the world wide web. So today I am breaking free!

This blog began as a place to highlight children’s books and points for discussion, but it needs to expand. From now on I’ll blog about all things teaching. And there may be guest bloggers. So here’s to bigger and better things in the name of life-long learning.