There has never been a generation of young people more immersed in digital media than this one, many of whom learned to use a mobile device before they even started school. This special report examines how literacy instruction is changing in the digital age, from learning to sound out words in elementary school to grappling with “Macbeth” in high school.
It finds that, while experts quibble over what it means to be digitally literate, they agree on one thing: even the youngest children should be learning literacy with a mix of print and digital texts.
A 3rd grade student reads online at Indian Run Elementary School in Dublin, Ohio. The school integrates tablets, laptops, and print books into reading time.
"I don't know if the way I teach reading has changed, but the possibilities are bigger for kids, so just embedding all that into the classroom has changed," says Franki Sibberson, a 3rd grade teacher at Indian Run Elementary School in Dublin, Ohio.
The Common Core State Standards allow for technology use in the classroom, but they don't make a big push for teaching digital literacy, some literacy experts say.
School librarian Michelle Luhtala co-teaches a lesson on news analysis to 11th and 12th grade students at New Canaan High School in Connecticut. She and fellow librarian Jacqueline Whiting frequently partner with classroom teachers at the school to teach media-literacy skills.
School librarians increasingly find themselves teaching students how to navigate and consume information online—and helping teachers embed those skills into the curriculum.
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