Week 8

Technology and the Gifted Adolescent: Higher Order Thinking, 21^st Century Literacy, and the Digital Native by Caroline C. Sheffield

“Technology and the Gifted Adolescent: Higher Order Thinking, 21^st Century Literacy, and the Digital Native” written by Caroline C. Sheffield discusses the world our students are living in. Our students are living in an environment that is constantly changing and creating new technologies. As educators it is up to us to prepare our students for these new technologies. It is our responsibility to have our student “college ready” and “career ready”. However, it is often found that teens can be more technologically incline than their instructors. Once educators learn the latest technology there is some new making it out dated. Educators are struggling to keep up with this “digital world”. Although, if educators try their best to learn these new technologies and incorporate them in their curriculum it can only benefits our students in so many ways. This technology allows our students to continue to develop their critical learning skills and prepares them for the future.

Adolescent Literacy: What’s Technology Got to Do With It?

By National Center of Technology Innovation and Center for Implementing Technology in Education

The article “Adolescent Literacy: What’s Technology Got to Do With It?” discusses the struggles students have with their literacy skills. However, with the help of technology it allows for differentiated instruction and reaches our to diverse learners. Not all students learn the same way, students can be: visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learners. With the use of technology, it provides many different paths for learning and developing students’ literacy skills. When educators are focusing on different aspects of literacy such as: background knowledge and vocabulary, comprehension strategies, synergy of reading and writing, interest and motivation, and resources and technical assistance centers; there are an array of different technological tools that facilitate these skills. Electronic dictionaries or thesaurus can help students with their vocabulary. This is just one example of a technology tool that can help assist in literary for students. There is so many different tools and approaches that technology can bring to the classroom to help student improve their literary skills.

Does Collaboration Occur When Children Are Learning With The Support Of A Wiki?

By Yasemin Allsop

The article “Does Collaboration Occur When Children Are Learning With The Support Of A Wiki?” discusses the benefits a Wiki can have on students and their classrooms. It is a great online based website that can allow students to collaborate with one another. The article discusses the benefits of collaboration through technology. Wikis are effective tools that can be used in the ELA classroom to help student build on their critical thinking skills as well as group learning. This article made me think of Wikis in a different way. I think that Wikis are a great way for students to work together and teach one another; it is a great tool to use for collaborative assignments.