Preparing for the 21st Century

After reading the assigned article, I was excited to try some of the new literacies.  I am inspired by the Internet workshops and Internet projects.  I think both of those literacies can connect easily with my first grade curriculum.  Currently, our writing unit is called “Authors as Mentors.”  During this unit, we study a book and find a craft that makes that book so appealing and entertaining to read.  We look deeply at the authors and encourage students to try some of these crafts.  My plan is to let students visit an author’s home page and learn about the author.  Through this workshop students can write down one fact they learned about the author such as how the author comes up with ideas for books.   Students can then share their facts.  I think this would be very motivating for students because several of my first graders struggle to come up with ideas to write a small moment story about.  They can connect to the author and feel successful through this project.  I would create a jumpcode to the link or links they should study.  I also could add it to our class symbaloo website so students can easily access the sites at home or at school.  I can also share this activity with my team members, so all of first grade can experience a Internet workshop.

Another idea I have in my mind, is to somehow Skype or send emails to other classrooms.  My mother, brother-in-law, and several friends are teachers at other schools.  It would be fun to provide students with insight to other classrooms through the Internet.  Perhaps later, I could expand to another state or country!