Theory in Practice

New literacies are emerging rapidly as the world of technology advances constantly.  New literacies allow students to explore reading, writing and communicating through digital and media technologies.  These technologies support innovative formats, new reader expectations and new activities that teachers can bring into any subject area classroom to engage students in effective learning.  New literacics combine put a twist on traditional literacy by including comprehension of information on the internet.  Students will develop skills that will be valuable in their future such as discovering the effective use of search engines to locate information, evaluation of internet sources and communication using e-mail, text and chats.  Student will also become familiar with word processing programs.  In Todd's classroom, each student received a personal laptop and the class was centered around communicating through a class web page.  I think that this is an amazing way to bring students together but it most districts it is unrealistic.  One huge plus to this teaching program is that the differentiated instruction.  The fact that each student is able to read material that it is their current reading level is such an advantage to each individual student.  New literacies and other ICT's require new social practices, skills, and strategies to be effective used.  Teachers will need to be trained in order to insure students are gaining as much as they possibly can.  New literacies is a step in the right direction in the new education system.