As I reflect on Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry 6712, the most striking revelation I had about teaching new literacy skill to my students was the importance of teaching my students how to effectively search for and gather information using the internet. I didn’t realize how many students go to Google and choose the first link available and think that it’s an accurate site and they don’t need to look any further. Up until now I have always just given my students the site I wanted them to get information from so that time would not be wasted during class time. Now I am able to teach them how to find reliable sources the correct way and teach them what the information in the URL’s mean (November, 2008). Not only do students need to know which search engines to use for certain types of searches, but they need to be able to interpret the results of the search (Eagleton & Dobler, 2007). That’s why it is important to teach our student’s 21st century literacy skills so they will be successful throughout their learning.
The knowledge and experience that I gained in this course will help me in my teaching practices because it has given me a stronger base in 21 century skills that will allow me to integrate those skills into projects that I assign my students. Using the QUEST model (Eagleton & Dobler, 2007) will engage my students and support them as they tackle the complexities of reading on the Web. With the internet being one of the most popular and easiest ways to research information it is highly important for them to know how to use it properly so that time is not wasted searching through millions of different sites.
One professional development goal that I would like to pursue that would build upon my learning from this course to develop my information literacy skill is collaborate with my colleagues to help them integrate technology into their lessons. My school district is actively involved in getting teachers highly qualified in technology so that all teachers will know how to integrate technology across the content. I want to be in on the ground floor of this by teaching others how to teach their students the correct way to conduct research using the QUEST model and incorporating technology into classroom projects. In order to do this I will need to work with our technology department and others who have already been implementing technology. I will also need to continue to improve my technology skills. In addition, I will present my colleagues with information that I have learned throughout this course and about literacy skills. I have already been sharing different ideas with my colleagues as this course has progressed, but now that it has come to a close I am excited to show them what I have learned. I am hopeful that they will be as excited about learning new literacy skills and understand the importance of them.
Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the Web: Strategies for Internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.
November, A. (2008). Web literacy for educators. Thousands Oaks: Corwin Press.
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