Methods 2: Kajder Reflection

Sara Kajder’s Adolescents and Digital Literacies: Learning Alongside Our Students examines methods of introducing technology into the classroom as well as the benefits of having a digital presence in student's learning environments. What really interested me in her writings was Chapter Three, “The Twenty-First Century English Teacher.” Here, Kajder addresses the elements needed in a teacher that is educating in this Digital Age. She further examines how technology in the classroom is an essential tool for any 21st century educator as students are more comfortable in expressing themselves with devices they commonly use. As the environment slowly changes to embrace this element in a classroom, many teachers are creatively adding technology to their everyday teaching styles. Technology changes by the minute, and as educators, we need to keep up with the times in order to best prepare our students for this ever-changing world that we live in. While we just saw how integrating technology into the classroom has its benefits, it’s important to note that traditional learning processes are just as essential. Kajder points this out when discussing Liz, Brice, and Ed’s stories. They are all educators that are trying to integrate technology into their classroom setup. They all have different backgrounds with technology, so each incorporates it in their own fashion. Kajder addresses that she would like to have them as “colleagues” as they are all “learning from one another” and “challenges [her] to think in new ways about [her] pedagogy” and her relationships with her students (47). She points out that adaptation and evolution are a part of their job, and as educators they need to embrace forms that are best equipped to educate students in their own form of communication. Despite the changes that new media and technologies have opened, when it comes to thinking about what it means to be literate, these are changes that we can best navigate together because “literacy is social” and “caring, responsive environments enable learners to take ownership of literacy activities” (47). Her inclusion of stories about teachers embracing technology in all different forms shows her enthusiasm over how this new form of teaching can create a dialogue between teachers and students. These teachers also celebrate and create spaces for students’ expertise in negotiating social networks, locating and using media files, and publishing in different media. While students learn these skills, teachers learn together with them.

Each chapter gives a real image of the classrooms that all of us have been in. I was especially interested by some of the student interviews. They were quite telling about how students view school. One student, Molly, interviewed by Dr. Kajder spoke of “playing school” (25) because she found the lessons and assignments artificial. Molly felt that school was not relatable to her real life, so she just performed at being a student to achieve a good grade. Dr. Kajder interviewed another student who spoke of her writing outside of school as real and her writing in school as not meaningful (28). These accounts by students lend power to the argument Dr. Kajder makes for refashioning and reimagining curriculum.

Throughout the journey of reading this book, I continually challenged my own ideas relating to adolescent literacy in the classroom. I think the thought process it encouraged is probably the most valuable part of reading this book. Sara Kajder made me think about the future of education and truly shows the drastic changes it has made in the classroom as it should be a tool used to positively impact students’ learning experiences. Her idea of collaboration with other teachers as well as embracing technology in lessons is a tool I would bring into my classroom teaching style as collaboration is key for the sake of other educators as well as students.