Beth's Story

My entry into the world of personal digital inquiry began when my son, Eric, then four years old, explored a website for the first time. I was cleaning the house and desperate for something to keep him busy, so I pulled the Lego website for him. As he explored, I stopped my cleaning and watched with fascination at just how easily he could move around the website. At that point in my career, I had been an elementary school teacher for 13 years and was two years into my role as a literacy professor and researcher at the university. I found myself wondering “What are the reading skills he will need to be successful, whether he is reading a book or a website?” This question embarked me on a career-long personal digital inquiry project and sparked my dissertation work of exploring the comprehension strategies used by skilled readers when reading a website. The element of collaboration was added to my inquiry process when I met Julie, and later Karen, and discovered that we share a curiosity about the inquiry process that drives each of us to continue to explore and learn.

Eric is now young man in his 20’s and is studying for a career in the field of cybersecurity. And for many years now, I have continued to wonder about the skills and strategies needed to support learners as they seek answers their own questions. This curiosity has caused me to conduct research studies exploring children’s online reading comprehension, the comprehension strategies teachers use themselves when reading, and the e-textbook preferences of college students. As I have unearthed information, I have continued to form new questions, which is common with the inquiry process. In a nutshell, I have discovered whether we are reading a paper copy of Charlotte’s Web, an e-book graphic novel on a tablet, an e-textbook with embedded podcasts, a search engine for locating information, or a website, the skills and strategies needed for understanding are similar, and yet different (Coiro & Dobler, 2007).

What it takes to be literate today is continually changing because of technology. While this constant state of change can be scary and frustrating to some, I find it to be energizing. I continue to be curious about exploring the ways educators can support learners as they navigate both the print and digital worlds. This curiosity begins with myself. I try to notice my own strategies as I read print and digital texts. Yes, I do still read the print copy of the newspaper every day, but I am the co-author of a digital textbook, and I listen to the audiobook version of 4-5 children’s or young adult novels a month. I believe teachers must be reading both print and digital texts regularly and be aware of their own comprehension strategies while reading in order to effectively teach their students.

As a society, we are in a transition. Being a literate person means being able to adeptly move between print and digital. It’s not about choosing one or the other, but about knowing when to choose print or digital, depending on your purpose. If I am going on a trip, I read on my iPad, but if it’s the beach, I read print. Learners of all ages need opportunities to build the important literacy skills needed to read, view, and listen to texts in various formats.

More recently, my inquiry journey has led me down a slightly different path – the field of librarianship. At the university, I teach courses in Children’s Literature, Information Literacy, and reading methods. I began taking courses in the school media specialist program as a way to enhance my teaching and earn my library media specialist license. Through this process, I discovered a keen interest in libraries and the ways they can support literacy. During the 2016-2017 school year, I took a leave of absence from the university to spend a year as an elementary school media specialist. After 18 years away from the elementary classroom, I wanted to get back in touch with teachers and children. I discovered that I greatly enjoy working in the media center.

As a teacher-librarian, I created a motto to guide my work and to tell students my reason for being there: My purpose is to help you find the information and books that are important to YOU! Throughout the school year, I taught many lessons on accessing information in both print and digital materials and had the opportunity to see the magic spark when students find books and information that match their interests. I also had challenging experiences, as the school is a high poverty/low performing school in an large urban district, where many students face issues of homelessness, poverty, mental illness, abuse, and low expectations for their future.

What I observed is that the students checked out lots of library books, but did not finish reading many. They liked to go to Google and find a quick answer to an easy question, but struggled with the stamina needed to persevere through the inquiry process for a more in-depth question or topic. These struggles just meant I had lots of opportunities to support readers as they were seeking answers to their questions. The experience served as a good reminder of the powerful impact a teacher can have on a child’s learning and experiences. I was also reminded of just how challenging it is to be a teacher today. As Julie, Karen, and I write this book. I try to keep in mind the feelings I had when I was inundated with curriculum, assessment data, administrative expectations, and continually changing technology. It’s a lot! But I also remember the day I taught a 4^th grade class how to use the school library database to search for information. Right after the lesson, one girl came up to me and asked if she could give me a hug. She then said, “Thank you for teaching us this!”.