What does awesome look like?

After reading Megan's article on Leading the New Literacies, I started to think about awesome in LG.  Awesome is when students start to take the strategies you teach and use them in some other area or activity. So much of my focus is on strategies for good communication.

 At this time of year , I try to move from teaching just specific communication "skills " to have my Elementary students use their skills in a project or activity.  The article you shared had so much great insight into how you start.  I liked the idea of teaching parts of the technology along with skill development and then to have students choose what they will use to show learning or take skills a step further.  I am trying to incorporate the step by step building of technology skills into my lessons with the goal in mind that the students will choose from a menu to show and expand their own learning and carryover skills.  All year I have used fiction and non- fiction  literature to teach specific speaking, language and listening skills.  Using literature increases vocabulary knowledge, use of different kinds of language and the amount of language exposure for my classes.  This process of hearing stories is very interactive.  The students are listening and talking throughout the entire class.  They are practicing how to say things, talking about meaning and sharing their ideas in each class.

This article is just what I needed to expand and focus my teaching. I teach mostly our youngest students.  They need so many things to be successful learners.  They are asked to use the information that they have gained to work on good communication with their peers.  I have tried to incorporate use of technology to help them show learning, practice language, work on skill development and to be able to hear themselves when they speak and to share with others what they are working on.  

In looking at something else this week I found this graphic that I will put up in my class to show how we can use different tools to show our learning.

As we move forward I hope to have students showcase their learning to other audiences.  I have sent things home to parents but they should be doing that themselves more often.  One -to- one computing helps with this, as they each have their own email address to send things home with.  Of course some of my students do not have email or computers at home. They can also do this in other forms, maybe a class blog or webpage. Many things to think about!