Digital Literacy in Today's ELA Classroom

 I recently attended the Teacher's College Reading and Writing Digital Literacy Academy at Columbia University to learn about helping students critique all forms of text (novels, articles, websites, digital content, ect...) and find meaning in it. This was an important training for me because this is the work that we do in my school.  We are in our 4th year of Implementation of Lucy Calkin's Units of Study. It is a curriculum based around inquiry and individualized growth of each reader.This training extended on the units by bringing in digital options and exploration. I work among some amazing educators with a craft for creating experiences with books and other forms of texts that help students to find their own passion for reading and writing. It is important to me that I learn as much as I can about our curriculum to do a better job of supporting our teachers as they prepare our students for their future. 

In the Academy we were immersed in best teaching practices and had teachers that were modeling for us with the expectation we would do the same. We spent part of the day in lecture and the other half in a collaborative workshop. We sat on the carpet for our Mini-Lessons, explored a variety of texts, emphasized the importance of digital literacy/social media in the classroom and discussed in detail the importance of great questioning strategies. I learned a lot about the importance of students learning to analyze all forms of writing and information, including: Online articles, websites, videos, music, non-fiction, and fiction. We also discussed the importance of guiding your readers and writers through content rich text so they do not miss the big details. As educators it is important that we are pushing our students towards digital creation. We can encourage higher order thinking, engagement, and authentic connections to the content through thoughtful questioning strategies, sharing work with others and allowing students to take more ownership of their learning.  I could go on and on but thought it would make more of an impact to just share my biggest aha's!  

• When using media (video) to teach a lesson, make sure you are stopping regularly to let students digest, reflect , and ask questions. We do this with print text but forget to stop with video/ digital resources. 
• One of the first things that goes when a reader is fatigued is deep comprehension. 
•  We need to look at digital literacy as mainstream, not an after thought.
• We need to teach our students better ways to search and how to analyze the credibility of the source they are looking at. 
• Lessons should ALWAYS be focused on the learning objective; the technology is a vehicle to extend, connect, and share student work. Content first! 
• We need to push our students beyond internet consumption and guide them to creation. Publish their writing, create websites, make content rich videos, start blogging! 
• We are preparing our students for their future, not ours. 
• We need to teach students to use the skills they use in a book or passage to analyze all forms of texts. 

It has been a year of growth and learning for me to build a better understanding of  the art of teaching a child to read and find their niche with every kind of text.This training was very powerful for me in that I was able to be a student in a classroom where best practices in today's ELA classroom were modeled. We must look at every day as an opportunity to reach a child, give them an experience that will lead them to their passion. As educators, it is our duty to continuously grow and seek out experiences that will make us better for our kids.  Reading a book is an experience. Every book tells a story that has the potential to turn a reader on to something new. We must help our students make these same connections with digital content as it increasingly becomes the mode in which they receive information.Teaching our students to navigate and critique digital resources and text is not an option but an essential. I look forward to the opportunity to join my teachers and students as we work together to give our students the digital literacy skills to go forward and be successful in the world that awaits them!  

The Day the Principal Turned 9 Years Old!

It was a dark and stormy Tuesday Morning... No, seriously, it was. The morning I planned to become a 4th grader for the day, the wild Texas weather decided to rear its ugly head. Around 7:45 AM, as we were welcoming students into the school, the entire campus had to take shelter for bad weather.  Luckily the severe weather passed quickly and my plan to become a student for the day was set into motion. I imagined it would be like the plot line for 17 Again, only I would be nine again! I planned to spend the day as a 4^th grade student on our campus. I would go to lunch, rotation, PE, walk in line and do all the work the students did. I felt like I should know what it is like to be a student on my campus and I couldn't think of a better professional development than putting myself in their shoes. So, for the day I was nine. I hoped I could handle the new math!  

When I walked into Mrs.LeJeune's fourth grade classroom, I was immediately welcomed with excitement and slight confusion as to what I was doing there. The students were in the middle of a mini-lesson over revising and writing "Ba-Da-Bing" complex sentences. Mrs. Lejeune introduced me as a new student to the class and established that my name for the day was going to be Missy Griffith ( I had to have a new name, no respectable nine year old goes by Mrs.Griffith.) After the lesson, we quickly transitioned into a writing activity to revise a paper that the class had previously written. And what do you know, I didn't fully listen to the directions and I did the assignment wrong. I realized this as students started sharing their work and it wasn't what I had completed! I quickly tried to correct my work before I was found out. Next, we moved to our reading lesson. I made my way to a comfy spot on the carpet and listened intently as the teacher read Liar and Spy to the class. The students were hanging on her every word. I remembered how much teachers reading aloud to me inspired my love for books. After a few more activities, one creating videos and Google Slide presentations over the Alamo, it was time to get ready to head to the next classroom for Math. 
During the transition between classes I knew I was fitting in to my role because I had several students asking me to sit with them at lunch and inviting me to play knock-out at recess. It seemed as though they forgot that I was really thirty-four disguised as a nine year-old. 
In math, while working on our warm up, I missed the first problem right off the bat. Lucky for me another student asked for clarification which got me back on track. After a short lesson on perimeter (where I learned that perimeter has the word rim in it) it was 11:30, which meant it was time for lunch. I won't lie, I was starving! We quickly lined up and headed to the cafeteria.
I found a spot at our assigned table and broke out my sandwich. I was excited to visit with my new friends and find out about the things they were into. The students were  intrigued by my journal that I was keeping to keep a reflection of my day. We quickly found ourselves coming up with funny lines that I should add to it (hence the first line in this blog.) We laughed and enjoyed our time time to relax and cut up. When it was time to pack up, I reached under the table to pick up some trash off the floor, only to find myself with the slimiest piece of unidentified food in my hand. I quickly took it to the trash can and found something to wipe my hands off with. As any nine year old would do, I laughed about it.  

After lunch, we headed back to Mrs. McClintock's to finish our math lesson and then moved on to the computer lab for IStation and another class project. Mrs. Jerrett in the lab created me an account so I  could participate with the class. Before I knew it, it was 1:45 and time to head to PE. 

When we walked into the doors of the gym, I felt my pulse race with excitement and a little bit of fear that I may not hold up like the nine year old I was trying to be. I sat down in the bleachers with the rest of the girls in fourth grade and waited for Coach Guyon to tell us what we were doing for the day. Yoshi Ball was the game and I quickly realized I was going to be the target! We played five intense rounds, where I must say, I had some pretty sweet moves (read that with a sarcastic tone.) Before I knew it, PE was over... Just kidding, I was about to pass out from all the running.

We lined up and headed to Music. There we learned about the Classical Period and the patterns in the music. I enjoyed it and learned a lot. After that, it was time to pack up to go home and get ready for recess. Due to the crazy weather we had recess in the gym. I never got a chance to play knock-out but I did shoot around with the kids and felt like part of the group. 

Looking back on the day, I am so happy I made it a priority to be nine for a day. I really feel like I have a better understanding of several things I wouldn't have before. Including, how much our teachers love and inspire our kids to love learning, how ready for lunch and conversation I was by 11:30, how Ms.Luann (our lunch lady) cares if the kids enjoy what her team has prepared for them, or the simplest of things, like what it is like to be nine again. I hope that in the near future I can find the time to do it again and put myself back in the shoes of those that I am here to serve, our kids.  

What am I Doing?

This year I began my journey as Principal at Brock Elementary. I quickly realized, there are not enough hours in the day to do everything I need to do, let alone dream about. Balancing my time between managing the day to day, developing meaningful relationships, taking an active role in instruction, while continuing to raise expectations for student success, can be overwhelming. I never imagined that this job would be easy. I expected bumps and set backs. This year like any other, there have been several.  As we take on change we must face every issue with the question, "What is best for our kids?" Recently I started to ask myself,  how do I know what my students and teachers need? What am I doing to make sure that I truly understand where they are coming from? These questions have kept me up at night and somewhere in my thoughts I came up with a simple solution. What if I made time to put myself in the shoes of the very people that I am serving. What is it like to be a student in my school? How much planning and thought go into teaching a child the joy of reading or how to do the new math? What goes into feeding our students each day or keeping our campus clean? I have many other questions like these and I have decided to find out for myself. For the rest of the year, I am going to schedule time to find the answers to these questions. I will go to class as a student, work with teachers to teach lessons and take time to work in the cafeteria and with the custodial staff. One might question this decision as I am already stretched for time. I would defend it and say that there is nothing more important than relationships, without them we have nothing. This adventure will help me to lead from within and solidify my commitment to our school and community. I plan to reflect on my experiences and share them with anyone that is interested. I am writing this down so that others can hold me accountable. My hope is that in the whirlwind that I am constantly caught up in, I will live up to the high expectations of those that I serve. Together, we will continue to build a school that is centered in what is best for kids.