LIBE 477: Reading Review Assignment - Part A

LIBE 477
Meena Rakhra                               Reading Review Assignment - Part A

What issues, interests, or opportunities do you anticipate arising in your teaching in the near future?

As I enter into the teacher librarian role in the fall, one aspect of the job which I do not feel confident with is teaching and supporting teachers with digital and media literacy.  I think this is in part to being a primary teacher and using limited media or only sticking to what I know. One of the roles of the TL is to provide staff and students relevant information and resources on how to effectively learn how to use digital tools and to think critically about media. This can be achieved by obtaining and sharing information from the BC Ministry of Education website as well as the Media Smarts, Common Sense Media,  BC Digital Literacy Framework sites.  

Source: Digital Literacy for Kindergarten

As students have access to cell phones and tablets at very young ages from year to year, it is important to educate and teach them how to effectively examine what they are engaging with. On the Media Smarts website, it outlines the parameters of digital citizenship as traditionally being ‘focused primarily on teaching youth to protect themselves online’.  There is now a need to teach how to critically respond to media; ‘critically evaluate digital media so that we can make informed decisions about what we do and encounter online’ (MediaSmarts).  Digital and media literacy is important as students are growing up in an ever-changing world of technology.   When navigating current events, students can be inundated with inaccuracies, conspiracy theories, biased information and it is the role of educators to provide truths and teach critical thinking. ‘It is this foundation for critical thinking that will keep students from falling for misinformation and disinformation in the future’ (Yorio, 2021).  There is no way to avoid the advent of digital and media consumption, but we as educators can teach students to discriminate, question and challenge what they see and hear.  

What curriculum is related to this issue, interest or opportunity? 

The BC curriculum has three core competencies, one of which is ‘Thinking’.  Within the ‘Thinking’ category there are several aspects which can be explored including ‘analyzing and critiquing’, ‘questioning and investigating’.  Using these curriculum goals students can be given the opportunity to engage in critical thinking, inquiry, gathering of evidence, performing research and finding answers. 

Source: Core Competency Triangle Google Images 

What pedagogy might be useful for fostering learners' engagement and excitement?

What digital technologies can you imagine contributing to enrich, enable, or enhance learning? 

I think the MediaSmarts and Common Sense Education website provides a wealth of resources which teachers can use to engage students.  Students are always keen on using laptops and Ipads.  With these tech tools, students can play games that can introduce them to digital and media concepts.  There are examples of digital issues which can be discussed as a group.  The more students engage and work together to evaluate digital media the better they will become at navigating it.  

TLs can also provide students and teachers with infographic information for daily reminders of how to evaluate websites:

Source: Kathleen Morris

   

What are the keywords that you would use to identify elements of this issue, interest, or opportunity?

• Digital literacy

• Media literacy

• Critical literacy

• Bloom’s Taxonomy

• SAMR 

• Pedagogy Wheel

• Online Ethics

• Research Process

• Wikipedia/Google searches for research

• Vetted digital resources

• Information Literacy
  

References

MediaSmarts. (n.d.). Digital & media literacy. Retrieved from http://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy

Morris, K. (2018). How to Evaluate Websites. Retrieved on May 18, 2023 from

https://www.kathleenamorris.com/2018/11/20/evaluate-websites/

Thinking. Building Student Success - B.C. Curriculum. (n.d.). https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/competencies/thinking 

Westwood, T. (n.d.). Digital Literacy for Kindergarten. What the Tech. https://twestwood-med.opened.ca/digital-literacy-for-kindergarten/ 

Yorio, Kara. Answering the call: school librarians are uniquely equipped to address the tenor of the times. School Library Journal (New York, N.Y.), vol. 67, no. 2, 2021, p. 8. (American references).