cyber PD Reflection Week 1

Because I love to teach, I love to learn.  This summer, I am participating in a cyperPD opportunity.  I was invited by my brilliant friend Cathy Mere from Reflect and Refine.  At first I felt a little intimidated.  The people she knows are REALLY smart!  Then I thought about conversations that I have had with Cathy and decided to jump in!  :)  I always learn something new whenever I work with her.  

We are reading and discussing the book Digital Reading: What's Essential in Grades 3-8 by William L Bass II and Franki Sibberson.  I have been a fan of Franki Sibberson for a LOOOOONG time, so I will read anything with her name on it.  I have also been thinking a lot about digital reading and writing for awhile and would love to focus on the reading aspect.  Writing is almost always my go to when I want to read about something new so reading about digital reading will stretch my thinking which I happen to love to do.  

The book begins with "Reading Instruction for all Students:  An NCTE Policy Research Brief".  I felt a sense of comfort since I new that the book I was about to read was based on research and many, many years of good teaching.  Chapter 1 is entitled, "Defining Digital Reading".  Thank goodness!  I love it when authors get all of their readers on the same page from the get go.  I was grateful for the sentence which read, "...merely reading on a computer does not make a digital reader."  I think that all too often, the focus is on the tools and not what is happening on the tools.  This is something that needs to change.  I need to continue to refine my own thinking about this.  

Franki goes on to describe two students and the reading behaviors that they are exhibiting in the classroom.  At first glance, they look very similar, but as Franki goes in to more detail, I am able to notice that they are actually quite different.  I love that she put this section in the book as it illustrates to me the way that I need to look, really look at the reading behaviors of my students.  I am excited to begin to think about what my students are doing as readers, not only in books, but digitally as well.  

I know that I have  a lot of growing to do as a digital reader myself.  I have to admit that I initially thought that I just read using a different genre, but after reading about the four types of digital texts, according to Dalton and Proctor, I know that I need to spend some time thinking about what I really do as I read digitally.  

Franki talks about how we need to have an understanding of digital literacy, but that we also need to remember that this definition will evolve as things change so quickly in the digital world.  I remember, during my Literacy Collaborative training, that I learned that children need to be flexible with their reading.  We can't just teach them how to read Rigby books really well.  We need to teach them how to access meaning from anything that they are reading.  I believe that this is the same for digital literacy.  We need to teach them the basics and then scaffold their thinking about how to approach a new way of reading or a new format so that they can access meaning no matter what.  They need to be intentional about their digital reading.  I know that I need to work on that as well as I tend to be more topic driven than anything right now.  I love how Franki and Bill are making me more aware of myself and the things that I do as a digital reader!  

One challenge that I will face as a teacher is to make sure that I am helping my students to use digital tools with intention for learning and to make them a part of our daily practice.  I was talking to a friend Mandy Robek from Enjoy and Embrace Learning and she shared with me that she would change her daily routine to make sure that they were doing writing workshop or reading workshop when the digital tools were available.  That is so simple yet so brilliant!  I think I get so caught up in my routine that changing my routine didn't really occur to me.  I would fall into the "technology is never available" trap.  Now I am free to work around it so that the technology is available so that we can use it in our daily practice.  Yeah!  

At the end of chapter one, Franki and Bill present a challenge.  They state, " As with any text-based media, our worry remains the same for these transitional readers:   if they continue to read, view, and listen without true understanding, their expectations for meaning are diminished, and they begin to expect that these texts will not always make sense or have meaning.  They become passive consumers who read and view in a very simple way."  THIS.  TERRIFIES.  ME.  I am going to work very hard so that my students do NOT accept surface level reading.  Fortunately, I will teach 2nd grade and will have students who very much still listen to their teacher.  This is no easy task, however, but with the help of Franki and Bill, and many other great teachers and friends, I will continue to grow as a teacher so that I can continue to help my students grow!  

One final, fabulous thought from Chapter 1, "If we are intentional about the connections that we help provide and foster for students, there is a far greater chance that students' experiences will be authentic, meaningful, and influential on their reading lives."  

Chapter 2 talks about the transition from reading workshop to digital reading workshop.  One really good thing that I have going for me is that I have been using a workshop model for teaching for a very long time.  I feel good about it and have internalized a lot of the moves I had to think about early on.  So now I will be able to focus on the transition into the digital piece.  As with the regular reading workshop, I will need to use the digital tools that I want them to be using during my teaching, conferencing and guided practice.  This is going to be a challenge for me as I don't know what is available to me yet.  I have found a few resources online, including Wonderopolis, National Geographic for kids and a few other news sources, but I know that I have barely scratched the surface.  So I will need to spend some time exploring what is out there and determining what I would like to use with my students.  Franki talks about how using the digital tools with her students and how that makes them authentic tools and that her students begin to use them on their own.  This is what I want for my students!!!  

Another thing that stood out to me was how Franki mentioned jotting questions in her plan book to contemplate later.  I LOVE her constant sense of inquiry AND that she writes her thinking down.  I am always thinking of things while working with the children and I record some of my thinking, but I don't write my questions down.  I am going to start doing this.  I love how it sparks the thinking as planning happens!  

One quote that stood out for me was, ""Because the digital tools of the 21st century have expanded what we mean by literacy, workshop must change to remain authentic for our students."  BAM!  There it is... There is no choice.  This needs to happen people.  I don't want to be that teacher that the parents say is the more traditional teacher and that their children will miss out on GREAT opportunities if they are in my room!  I want my students to have EVERY opportunity!  

So now I have that feeling like so many ideas are pushing around in my brain and I'm not certain about any of it.  Well, luckily I have been here before and it all worked out.  I am going to embrace the uncertainty of the unknown and can't wait to continue reading this thought provoking book!