Module 4-2 Digital Literacy

     After reading a post from the Big List Blog titled, "Paper and Pencil Curriculum: How much do you really rely on it?",  I began thinking about my own lesson plans.  Paper has alway been part of my day in some shape or form.  It was astounding to see the large numbers that the average teacher uses each year.  The post stated that if the average school of 100 teachers gets a 50-ream allotment and each ream holds 500 sheets, then each teacher would use about 25,000 sheets of paper per year.  These statistics didn't even include what a school spends for copying worksheets, etc.  I realize that the sheets of paper don't engage the students either.  The author, Ben Johnson, used his son as an example.  When his son went on a field trip to an engineering firm and learned first hand about the different areas which included a lot of math, science, and language arts, his son was excited to talk about it.  Mr. Johnson said this was about the first time since he was six years old that he was enthusiastic about his day at school.  Students want to see light at the end of the tunnel.  They need answers to their questions as to why they have to know something.  When they will need to use it (Johnson, 2011).
     We do need to look at the culture of our students today.  Although our school system does not require the teachers to model and apply the National Educational Technology Standards for Students, we need to incorporate these into our daily lessons.  The post referred to Abe Lincoln getting his education using the tools of a shovel and a piece of coal.  This reminded me of our Ancient Greeks and Romans that created many of the tools we use today.  They didn't have all of this paper, but what they did have was someone to facilitate and inspire students with their learning and creativity.  I believe they were some of the first teachers called Socrates, Aristotle and Plato.
     As today's teachers we need to engage students in real- world
issues so they can solve authentic problems.  These have to be constructed personally for each and every child.  Assessments must be given that allow each and every child to demonstrate what he/she has learned.  We need to be versed on using different forms of technology so that we can model digital-age work and learning.  Another reason we need to be informed so that we can address the standard of promoting Digital Citizenship and Responsibility.  If our students are spending that much time "social networking" and "surfing the web" we need to work with their parents so that our children know what to  do with all of this valuable information.
     This semester I have probably used technology more than I have in previous years.  Presently, my students are doing blogs for their book reports.  It was difficult to find websites for children under thirteen.  I still see that I need to teach about digital citizenship and responsibility.  I have had several students doing things that was not appropriate in school.  They do seem more engaged and have stated that, "Wow, this day flew by!".  One goal that I would like to incorporate is to have the staff meetings focus more on the use of technology.  This could be one area that some of the more technological  teachers could collaborate with the others whom are less savvy to develop and implement a paperless classroom.  A goal would be to have one week without using any paper.  I might save a tree!

(Johnson, B. (2011 February 23).  Paper and pencil curriculum: how much do you rely on it [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/spiral-notebook-ben-johnson.