5C Demonstrate the role of digital media literacy’s to best equip young people to succeed in a globally interconnected, multicultural world;

 5C Demonstrate the role of digital media literacy’s to best equip young people to succeed in a globally interconnected, multicultural world;

I have been teaching my students using two different Learning Management  Systems adopted by my district. I began with Saikai, setting up my class and developing instruction and  assignments using this learning management system. After one year,  my district let Sakai go and moved on to Haiku, a more user friendly LMS.  

 I designed my Karabaic  21st Century Reading and Literacy program using these LMS sites, to include-novel questions, discussion boards, test taking practice skills-Newa/Necap Karabaic Practice tests designed from News and stories in the news from around the world. 

I wrote a New Hampshire State Struggling Readers' grant and was awarded 4 ipads and money for downloads of digital books and apps. This was a huge jump in technology use and application and my students and  I embraced  the  ipads as the blessing that  they were. We have  been  using them for  reading our novels with  kindle downloads as well as  using mind mapping apps to track their reading.

Additionally,  students read informational articles relating to the world using news apps of: Pulse, Flipboard, USA Today, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Geographic-all on our ipads.  Students must have a  knowledge of the world around them as well as the digital tools and the understanding of how to use them. In my 21st Century Reading and Literacy class, my goal is to teach students about the world as they improve their reading, writing, and technology skills-all integrated into my Haiku site and accessible when  using ipads for instruction.

I also have embraced  using QR codes as a way to complete quick pre/post tests, and even  to connect assignments to the novels students  are reading. Since I have larger groups of learning and behavior challenged students this year, technology has been a great asset and bridge, but  for some it's been a learning curve. By having 2-3 reading groups who had to work independently, I had to build  in QR coded scan activities to have students accountable for the reading they were completing  when I wasn't able to be sitting with each group for the entire period. Here is an example of how a QR code can connect to a site. Here is  my classroom blog QR code!

By gaining access to through my grant writing the best digital learning tools available, and  using  them on a daily basis  with my  students, they  are learning important digital skills that they are not even aware they are learning. My students are gaining a digital fluency with Google, Google Search, ipads, mind mapping tools, reading digital content, creating and  maintaining literary and personal blogs, setting privacy settings to insure their blogs are not public, writing blog  posts on an  ipad, practicing their spelling and thinking skills using  apps  designed to develop their thinking skills, rate of performance and keyboarding skills. Introduction to using QR codes linked  to  quizzes, tests and assignments also have allowed students  to notice the QR scan codes in stores and on products. Students are becoming digitally astute even though they are not really aware of that  as they develop their overall knowledge  of  the world around them and their place in this ever changing  digital space.

I maintain my own digital newspaper: Karabaic Digital Newspaper Feed