In case you are an educator who’s wrestling with enhancing preK-Eight scholar literacy, you probably are already very acquainted with Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell.  As their Twitter profile summarizes, they’re “authors of books, movies, & web sites which can be thought-about requirements within the fields of literacy {and professional} growth.”  Apart from a really useful web site filled with assets, they’ve additionally created a preK-Eight Literacy Continuum revealed in a well-liked e book, most lately given an expanded version in 2016.

As a former highschool English trainer with restricted foundational elementary studying and writing educational experience, I’ve to confess that I didn’t have a deep data of Fountas and Pinnell till Jill Brookman, our district Literacy Coach, met with me to debate their Literacy Continuum e book — specifically, an intriguing a part of the e book that particulars their “Technological Communication Continuum.”  (Your entire e book and its intensive Literacy Continuum has confirmed very efficient in serving to Ms. Brookman coach our lecturers in enhancing their educational pedagogy.) Because the authors clarify, the literacy of learners right now is far more expansive than simply participating in printed textual content.  College students should additionally exhibit their laptop literacy (using varied units to “create paperwork, discover data, and talk with others”), on-line studying and data literacy (comprehending, in addition to critically evaluating, such textual content), and composing and publishing digital texts (which in a multimedia world is far more advanced than merely typing a narrative in a phrase processing program!) (pp. 346-347).   With such digital communication in thoughts, Fountas and Pinnell put their preK-Eight Technological Communication in a continuum as a progressive set of requirements, or of their parlance, “objectives” to pick.  These scholar “behaviors and understandings to note, educate and help” are organized into two classes for every grade degree: Digital and Media Literacy (studying, or the consuming of digital textual content) and Communication and Publishing (writing, or the creation of digital textual content) (pp. 348-356).

Ms. Brookman is aware of I’m continually on the lookout for methods to extra authentically join studying aims to know-how integration.  (A latest instance: how I crosswalked edtech with competency-based design ideas, as featured in Eliot Levine‘s July 2021 CompetencyWorks weblog entry.)   So she posed a problem.  Utilizing the Technological Communication Continuum requirements, may I describe how a selected edtech device may exemplify excessive rigor literacy?  Would these requirements assist me articulate how one can combine edtech with better intentionality in a trainer’s classes plans to invoke deeper scholar studying?

Problem accepted!  As a proof of idea, I used Wakelet (a beautiful device I beforehand mentioned right here) as my prototype modules; Wakelet is a pure match for curating assets (studying) in addition to storytelling (writing).  These two modules have been organized round a template I created with a number of sections, equivalent to:

  • Description of Device.  Explaining briefly what the edtech device is, and the way it works.
  • SCPS CBE Core Design Rules.  How does the device align with our district’s competency-based training beliefs what’s greatest for learners, equivalent to supporting scholar “Company” or “Anytime, Anyplace” studying?  (These Rules have been tailored from Aurora Institute’s up to date 2019 definition of CBE, defined right here.)
  • Deciding on TCC [Technological Communication Continuum] Objectives: Digital and Media Literacy.  What studying or media consumption Continuum objectives does the device greatest obtain?  The grade degree the place the objective is first acknowledged within the continuum is highlighted.
  •  Deciding on TCC [Technological Communication Continuum] Objectives: Communication and Publishing.  What writing or media creation Continuum objectives does the device greatest obtain?  Once more, the grade degree the place the objective is first acknowledged within the continuum is highlighted.
  • How may this look in my classroom?  Additional detailed explanations and concrete examples of how the intentional utilization of the edtech device helps additional literacy. 

Each modules for Wakelet are collectively and viewable within the PDF linked right here. You can too see screenshots of the primary three pages of the doc under, with the concentrate on utilizing Wakelet for curation:

Apart from Wakelet, there are actually different worthy edtech instruments that may go hand in hand with exemplifying these Fountas and Pinnell Technological Communication Continuum literacy requirements.  I encourage others to make use of the template above to take action, and articulate their very own deeper, richer synthesis of intentional edtech with simpler literacy instruction.  And I thank Jill Brookman for introducing me to the extremely illuminating Literacy Continuum e book!