Literacy in the 21st Century

For the most part, I felt like I already knew the information we studied in class this week. As a college senior, I have learned what sites to avoid (like wikipedia--I actually had a professor TEACH straight off of wikipedia. Needless to say, I didn't trust anything we "learned" in that class). I might not have been able to put all of the "how-to-properly-evaluate a website" information into specific terms, but I already knew how to evaluate most websites to make sure they were legit and relevant to my research. I think that this information would be extremely helpful to incoming freshmen, especially the "Internet Detective." I'm actually going to send that link to my brother--he is a high school senior and I feel like that is a great resource for him.

There are a few things I did find really helpful though. "How to Choose a Search Tool" and the "Search Engines" link are great resources! I usually use Google Scholar or the library search engines. The list of different search sites will remain in my database long after this class is over. I also really like the snopes website the "Internet Detective" site gave. You can check the websites legitimacy by putting the URL into the site at http://www.snopes.com/.

Here are my thoughts on my own Information Literacy Competency Standards: I am much more literate than I thought myself to be! This makes me quite excited, because I have always assumed I am hopeless at most technology.

Thoughts on the generation below us: Grace, one of my classmates, wrote in her blog, "When we are looking for something, we want it now." (read it here: http://graceedi399-glarosa.blogspot.com/2010/09/literacy-today.html) I completely agree! This is such a problem with our generation, and it is only becoming more of a problem for the generations below us. Children today are used to having things instantly. Have you ever sat down and watched a kid's show and thought, "No wonder kids' attention spans are so short!" Everything is fast and furious, changing topics and packed with action. Maybe it is a sign I am getting old, but I just can't believe the shows we watched as children were like the shows children watch today. I watched Winnie the Pooh and Reading Rainbow.

As future teachers, we will have to plan our lessons accordingly. When the attention spans of your students are much shorter than your own, and increasingly so each year, what can we as teachers do to capture students' minds? It is something that worries me, especially if I am to teach in low-income schools with limited technology.