Writer's Notebook Post #6

For this week's class we investigated two articles dealing with literacy and reading comprehension in terms of the internet. Those two articles were "Reading Comprehension on the Internet: Expanding Our Understanding of Reading Comprehension to Encompass New Literacies" by Julie Coiro (2003) and "Internet Project: Preparing Students for New Literacies in a Global Village" by Donald J. Leu, Jr. (2001).

Coiro's article focused primarily on the idea of shaping literacy and achieving reading comprehension through the internet while Leu's article focused more on preparing students for a globalized generation that is driven by technology, communication, and information. What I gleaned from both of these articles is that it's imperative that our students are equipped with 21st century skills when they leave us K-12 teacher and enter the "real world" (whether that be the military, the work force, a vocation, a technical college, or a four-year university).

I agree wholeheartedly with Coiro on the point that our traditional definition of 'literacy' needs to be expanded to incorporate technological literacies. I also agree with her on the point that we need to prepare our students with a new set of instructions, goals, and activities to achieve increased reading comprehension via the internet.

I found it interesting that many competent readers who come from traditional print backgrounds become often overwhelmed by internet projects, texts, and readings. Coiro explained that this is because the internet is loaded with graphics, audio recordings, advertisements, and hyperlinks that can distract learners from the task at hand. Sometimes over-achieving students become frustrated and overwhelmed when they can't derive the answer to a question or problem immediately, and additionally, they are used to having success with print texts (that are virtually devoid of distractions). As a strong reader in grade school, I can imagine that I, too, would have felt overwhelmed (at least, initially) by internet assignments.

I love the format that Leu used in his article of situating the internet projects in the cultural context. He offered up a lot of great projects and assignments that teachers can use in their classrooms today! Many of them incorporated other classrooms all over the globe, and this would help students have a larger global awareness (a huge plus!). I also like that Leu provided several internet projects, the age groups they're appropriate for, and the websites and appropriate links in his article so that teachers could implement these projects for their students.

In the battle for culture vs. comprehension, I will take both (and so will my students)! :) I think that technology is a great means to achieve a specific end result (oftentimes reading comprehension), but I do, like Coiro, think that a different set of rules apply.