STINov19

Welcome to the 2nd Session of your STI course about new literacies!
After emailing with William, it sounds like you've got lots planned for today. I've provided a few links here to facilitate your exploration.

Just Exploring...
First, if you're still in the mood to just "explore", you may enjoy either of these two wikispaces I recently created:

1. You can visit the links under the heading **"Exploring the Possibilities of Learning with the Internet"** I created for Fox Meadow Elementary School. There are other resources on this page that pertain to each aspect of new literacies (e.g., asking questions, locating, critically evaluating, synthesizing, and communicating). Most of these resources are geared toward elementary students.

2. If you work at the **secondary level and/or you are wondering about the potentials for classroom homepages, blogs, podcasts, and webquests,** you may enjoy completing some of the activities I created for a recent "ICT Fair" we held in my Reading in the Content Area Course for Secondary School Teachers that I teach at the University of Rhode Island. These activities are intended to prompt exploration, discussion, and critique, so put on your thinking hats and enjoy!

Critical Evaluation...
Second, if you decide to work through some of the **critical evaluation activities** I shared with William and Sue, you can visit the [|online companion] to the handouts for easy access to the links. By the way, the very last link on the page (Athletes.com) is wrong - I spelled it wrong! It should link you to the following website: [|http://www.athletes.com]

STI Blog Postings...
Third, I would encourage you to visit our [|STI blog site] to view some recent postings about a book that discusses the changing responsibilities of classroom teachers and teacher-librarians in helping students become better readers, writers, and researchers in a world of digital resources and online environments. I thought it may provide some “food for thought” for those of you pondering new ideas for your action research project. To post your own response, just click on the tiny words beneath the heading "Literacy, Libraries and Learning" labeled "2 comments" (meaning there are currently two comments) and then scroll to the bottom box to type your own comments. Then click "Submit Comment" to publish it. For now, the posts are screened and I need to approve them (I need your email addresses to invite you to become a contributor without approval) but when you post a message, I get an email and I can approve it (when I read my email that is!)

Fourth, you may notice I replied to a few of your postings from the October 22 session with some ideas for further thinking and links to explore.

Space for Nov. 19 Reflections...
And last, I've created a few headings below to provide space for you to post any thoughts and ideas you have from today's session. To post your ideas, simply click on the "Edit page" tab towards the center top of this page, put your cursor where you'd like to add your comment, and start typing! Don't forget to click save when you finish. Of course, you can add, change, delete, revise any of these questions - you can add a horizontal bar to separate the topics (if you wish) by clicking on the 8th icon from the left on the toolbar (it's the one with the A-- text divided by a bold horizontal line).

If you had time to observe your students engaged in using online technologies, are there 1-2 observations you'd like to share with the group?
 * I NOTICED, I WONDERED, I THOUGHT...**

Anyone brave enough to venture into developing a list of questions to focus your explorations? If you share a few, we may be able to help you focus even further...
 * BRAINSTORMED LIST OF QUESTIONS...**

At what age do we begin to discuss issues of bias?

If you were one of the groups that explored the critical evaluation activities from the handouts, any thoughts/reflections/concerns/questions..
 * REFLECTING ON CRITICAL EVALUATION ACTIVITIES..**

Enjoy your day and I look forward to hearing about your questions and ideas! :-) Julie

[|Part One], [|Part Two] You can read the text of the report, but I think listening is more fun. (What can I say? I'm a hopeless auditory learner!) Mary Ann Kingston
 * FYI** I heard a very interesting educational report on Morning Edition on NPR. Part One was //Online Courses Catch on in US Colleges// and Part Two was //Illinois School Looks to Tech Tools to Teach//. I found it fascinating and perhaps you will too. Here are the links: