Charting the journey ahead

As I close in on the end of my culminating experience in the Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) program at Michigan State University (MSU), I have the opportunity to reflect on which trajectory I wish to pursue in my professional practice as an educator. Throughout my journey in the MAET program I have looked for opportunities to explore how technology can enhance my instruction and empower my students and school community. Specifically, I wish to continue exploring and refining how I use technology to teach students close and critical reading skills, historical inquiry skills, and historical thinking skills. Teaching these three intellectual skills have been the pillars of my teaching philosophy and continue to be so. The MAET program has only strengthened my dedication to teaching these skills. Still, I feel it is incumbent on me to provide a rationale for maintaining these three skills areas as the focus of my future work.

One of the epiphanies I experienced in the MAET program is the reality that literacy has changed dramatically over the last several decades. The cultural values and tools that comprise the world my students occupy is dramatically different than my experience during the 1980’s where a computer lab was a very novel addition to a school— the computer lab in my high school featured Commodore 64 computers. The advent of the internet, smart phones, and social media have fractured the literacy landscape. Helping my students learn the intellectual skills necessary to navigate an intellectually hazardous terrain requires me to teach such skills in their cultural context. The ability to skeptically test the credibility of claims lies at the heart of close and critical reading, historical inquiry, and historical thinking. These must be taught in the context of the information environment that students face every day.

USING TECH TO TO PROMOTE CLOSE & CRITICAL READING

Nancy Boyles of Southern Connecticut State University defines close and critical reading as “reading to uncover layers of meaning that lead to deep comprehension.” To one extent or another, most, if not all, educators teach their students close and critical reading skills. I firmly believe that when a person possesses the ability to engage in close and critical reading, they become an asset to society because they are equipped to comprehend complex ideas and concepts or untangle claims and arguments that lack intellectual honesty.

USING TECH TO LEVERAGE NEW FORMS OF NEW LITERACIES

When I think of close and critical reading as an educator, I think of the type of literacy my students already engage in and how the technology they use has transformed traditional ideas about what it means to be literate.

My goal then is to explore how the tech-driven literacies (eg. texting, social media, and video games) can be a gateway for students to extend the boundaries of their self-concept as a reader beyond the fractured literacies that dominate their world. One source I have begun to consult is Michael Larkinin of the Berkeley Center for Teaching & Learning. Larkin’s focus is exploring how to teach students critical reading in a digital context

USING TECH TO TEACH & PROMOTE HISTORICAL INQUIRY

Closely related to the above goal, I will continue to pursue my growth and exploration into strategies that will leverage technology as a means for students to engage in historical inquiry. The advent of the new Social Studies Standards for the State of Michigan has ushered social studies teachers into the realm of inquiry. Based on the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework, the new state standards places the arc of inquiry at the heart of the skills students are expected to master. I have already consulted the Organization of American Historians online journal: The American Historian. An example of the articles that are offered related to promoting historical inquiry with tech is Marjorie Hunter’s article, Using Technology to Encourage Students’ Engagement with History.

USING TECH IN TEACHING HISTORICAL THINKING

Examining the frame of reference and perspectives of the people of the past as well as their motivations and their historical context is at the core of historical thinking. Technology opens the door to a vast amount of resources for teaching students how to engage with and how to make sense of primary sources. How to actually integrate these sources and tools in such an abstract enterprise as teaching historical thinking skills is another area I wish to explore and grow as an educator. TeachingHistory.org is an excellent resource for content and instructional strategies in teaching history. TeachingHistory.org also has a web page, The Digital Classroom, dedicated to providing teachers resources and strategies specific to using technology to teach history and historical thinking skills.