Course Reflection: Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom

Reflection on Teaching New Literacies Skills

I would consider learning how to teach students how to conduct inquires as being just one of the most striking things learned in this course. I thought I was fairly competent in researching and analyzing websites and material, however, as I waded through it became evident there were relevant steps in the process of inquiry that I was overlooking. One item was just in phrasing of the search itself. Another was actually teaching students what search engines exist and how to use them properly. I also found learning about literacy skills and the use of the fictitious websites extremely effective.

Because of the process of building the unit plan, it has changed my teaching project based units tremendously. With the advent of the strategies learned, my plan is much more organized, effective, and more student centered. The students have reaped the benefit of self-guided research, daily assessments, and a more manageable evaluation to wrap up their projects.

In the area of further defining assessments and evaluations, I plan to continue to implement projects that the step by step process is determined by the students. In order to provide streamlined projects, the daily checklists as assessment really are the key. The students know exactly what they have to do, what they are responsible for, and have to check with me to wrap the day’s activities. It creates the one to one time that is often lost in collaborative efforts. This unit plan provided the guidelines that really convey that concept. I hope to take what I have learned in this course in another direction as well.

I have contacted the coordinating instructor for social studies education at a local university and we are planning a second meeting to integrate the methodology students into project based, social learning network, so they can brainstorm and gain some insight before they head out to student teach. The professor was very excited about the idea as it provides an opportunity to really work on individual elements of a lesson, like anticipatory sets and assessments on a weekly basis. There is a significant amount of work ahead for a project like that, but to link high school students to college students on a teaching track would provide a wealth of knowledge for all involved. This course and its individual applications led me in that direction.