Join us this Sunday, September 15, at 8:00 p.m. ET for an #NCTEchat about the 2018 “Beliefs for Integrating Technology into the English Language Arts Classroom” with hosts Troy Hicks (@hickstro), Tom Liam Lynch (@tomliamlynch), Nicole Damico (@nicolerdamico), and Lauren Zucker (@LGZreader). Along with 18 other scholars, these four hosts coauthored this statement, and together we will think about the best ways to use technology in the English language arts (ELA) classroom.
One of the most exciting things about being an ELA teacher today is having a wealth of online resources and technology tools available to our students. Websites, apps, software, and devices can all provide us with new and engaging ways to share content, as well as to have students demonstrate their learning through forms as varied as blog posts, podcasts, and infographics.
However, we also know that access is far from equitable, and, even in our best-equipped classrooms, students experience varied levels of engagement with technology. The appeal of a shiny, new tool may not lead to genuine, innovative, and meaningful ways of learning. How do we, as ELA teachers, make decisions about the best technologies to use, and for which tasks?
This month’s Twitter chat invites educators to examine the four core beliefs presented in this position statement, to share their experiences using technology in the ELA classroom, and to consider new possibilities for inviting students to demonstrate their learning in robust, significant ways—all while meeting the needs of our ever-crowded curriculum. Join us to discover new ways to use technology with your students this year from some of the nation’s leading digital literacy scholars and fellow NCTE members.
The hosts compiled this list of additional resources below, to encourage further engagement during the chat:
- Supporting Literacy Leaders in Sustaining Change in Rural Spaces: Recommendations for Three Shifts
- No Longer a Luxury: Digital Literacy Can’t Wait
- The Next Decade of Digital Writing
- This Is My Story: Preservice English Teachers Create Welcome Videos to Navigate the Places and Spaces of Their Literacy Lives
- Play and Learning with KAHOOT!: Enhancing Collaboration and Engagement in Grades 9-16 through Digital Games
- Doing Digital Advocacy
- Multimedia as Mentor Texts
- CITE Journal: Volume 19, Issue 3
Stay in touch with the chat’s hosts and other members of the ELATE Commission on Digital Literacies and Teacher Education (D-LITE) by following them on Twitter @DigLitEla and signing up for their newsletter.
The following questions will be shared during the Twitter chat, after introductions:
Q1: Which recommendation interests you? How might you address this idea in the classroom? #NCTEChat [8:10 p.m.]
Q2: In what ways do you invite students to enact “literacies” in your classroom? #NCTEChat [8:18 p.m.]
Q3: What’s your favorite tech tool, and which literacies does it help students develop? #NCTEChat [8:26 p.m.]
Q4: What are some of the new kinds of texts that we consume and produce, and how can we invite our students to participate? #NCTEChat [8:34 p.m.]
Q5: What concerns do you have about teaching with technology in an equitable way? #NCTEChat [8:42 p.m.]
Q6: What specific teaching strategies and tech tools might you pair together? Feel free to share a link! #NCTEChat [8:50 p.m.]
We hope to see you there! Be sure to join us by using #NCTEchat.
Never participated in a Twitter chat before? Check out this guide to help you get started.