When I was told we were to read this book I
thought to myself, “Great another how to book of stuff we already know
everything about”. Instead, I am slapped in the face with what Kylene Beers
opens The Socially Networked Classroom with which is a forward in which she
describes asking a principal “What type of student will not do well in
this school?” This of course caught my attention because this insightful
and unusual question leads to the principal admitting that the students who
will struggle most in his school are those preparing for a 21st century career.
This text grabbed me right away, and I started flagging all sorts of ideas even
in the earliest chapters. We as educators see this all the time, with some high
risk students we work with, who don’t have the everyday access to technology.
In his book he states the quote of “We’re creating another generation of
students who know how to consume information, when what we need to be nurturing
is a generation that knows how produce new ideas.” Kist’s background as a teacher
enables him to interact with educators on their level and provide realistic
examples and resources. (Kist, 2010)
Kist begins
by explaining new media and social stereotypes then introduces the reader to
the new literacies of social media. Depending on the individual access of the
reader to technology, Kist then provides ideas, guidelines, and strategies to
implement in the classroom. Every chapter provides real-world examples
and resources, classroom questions, and samples of rubrics and worksheets. Kist
describes how we can prepare students for the 21st century by linking together
literacy, technology, and social media. I try to do this all the time in
my classroom with literacy programs such as Start to Finish, Star fall and IXL.
Through this process we will create a generation of students who can not only
produce new ideas, but also effectively consume information as well on
paper.
In the second chapter Kist writes,
“Now we face an age in which we are shifting to a screen-based society in which
much of our reading will be from a screen, and therefore reading will not only
encompass print but also images, sound, and motion as well. Visual
literacy skills should be included if we truly want to prepare students for
this new kind of reading.” (pg. 25) I find this so exciting because I
work with students who love to listen to stories and want to read like the
others but have a problem with print. I know with some of the visual literacy
skills I have taught my students have helped in their reading capability and
comprehension. (Kist, 2010)
The book is
loaded with multiple ideas of classroom activities and provocative questions
and the book is highly practical. However towards the middle of the first
chapter Kist asks three main questions he seems to cycle back to throughout the
portion of the text I’ve read so far:
- How do new forms (of text) transform writing?
- Who is the audience for our writing in the new media age?
- How do we form communities?
All three questions are very
interesting to me, however the third one really has me pondering because I’m
starting to see that Kist is really asking – How do we form communities both
face-to-face and online?
What does
it mean to “write” in each of these communities? For example, if you have
a Facebook page just take a moment to look at what you have posted. Would
you have said or shared the same things in real life? No I would absolutely not
nor would I normally share pictures of functions with other people who are
friends with your other friends. In the context of posting things online via
blogs, social networks, wikis, or collaborative word processors like Google
Docs Kist asks, “What does literacy mean when it’s increasingly public and
collaborative?” To me any approach that encourages participation, in society
and communication between its members, helps to build literacies. Literacies
begin with and are enhanced by social engagement and, therefore, go beyond the
individual. For individuals, literacies provide the means of participating
fully in society. Current society often refers to the importance of “building a
learning culture.” It is well understood that lifelong learning increases
literacy skills in the individual and, as such, begins to build the foundation
of a true learning culture. Imagine the learning culture that will be created
through giving more attention to the foundational skills of literacy.
Kist, W. (2010) the
Socially Networked Classroom: Teaching in the New Media Age. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE
Publications Ltd.
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