Digital Literacy in the Library

Cheryl Lederle writes: "If a picture is worth a thousand words, the title is worth… well, you get it. The simple, yet deliberate, task of learning from the title of a primary source can provide ongoing practice of literary skills. Students learning new material may require support, including guiding questions, to help with vocabulary or syntax to gain information from captions within and across disciplines." 

Jen Carey writes: "The problem students face in the new world is no longer access to information, but rather how to deal with the glut of content that confronts them when they google a research topic. If we want them to effectively navigate online material (as 21st century learners), then research now needs to include not only “traditional” methods and materials, but digital ones as well. We need to ensure that they know how to evaluate a website, a blog post, a tweet, a Facebook entry."

danah boyd writes: "If you're like most middle-class parents, you've probably gotten annoyed with your daughter for constantly checking her Instagram feed or with your son for his two-thumbed texting at the dinner table. But before you rage against technology and start unfavorably comparing your children's lives to your less-wired childhood, ask yourself this: Do you let your 10-year-old roam the neighborhood on her bicycle as long as she's back by dinner? Are you comfortable, for hours at a time, not knowing your teenager's exact whereabouts?"

Teachers know that video making is a tried and true way to get kids engaged in building, demonstrating, and sharing knowledge. These apps and sites feature user friendly tools and features that make it more fun than ever before to get kids’ productions edited and polished.

This collection of blogs, articles, and videos from Edutopia aims to help teachers deploy social media tools in the classroom to engage students in 21st-century learning.

A true digital citizen understands how to ethically use the works of others to build his or her own creative products—music, art, video,...

"If students can engage more in inquiry of their own making: questioning, curating, designing, and real-world problem solving, then students will own the learning.  This, to me, is what personalized learning should look like."

Angry Kid-Lit Readers Demonstrate Why Hashtag Activism Isn't Always Useless. Here's What You Can Learn About Sharing Your Message.

Steven W. Anderson writes: "Many districts are realizing the potential that YouTube learning can have in the classroom. There are lots of great videos and channels out there on 1000's of topics. I have put together a list of some of my favorite tools to use with YouTube. Some are for the creation end, while some are for the consumption end. Overall they hopefully will give you a good start on getting more out of your favorite video service."

Alice writes: "I love using Google Forms in my classroom to collect student work, and I know many others do as well. However, did you know that you could validate the data that you collect?"

"Media Literacy Project is a nationally recognized leader in media literacy resources and education. Since our inception, Media Literacy Project has delivered dynamic multimedia presentations at conferences, workshops, and classrooms across the country. Our media literacy curricula and action guides are used in countless schools and communities and our training programs have inspired thousands of people to think critically and take action."

For generations, students have created note cards to document and organize these resources and/or submitted a bibliography page with their finished work.