RM Winter 2017

Adjust instruction to focus upon development of digital literacy practices. Requisite literacy skills within the 21st century go well beyond reading and writing. In order to participate in a digital society, individuals must be able to:

movie trailers that inspired their interest. Students then become the director of their own digital book talk, which should:

• be approximately two-minutes in length,

• focus on the main points of the book,

• Develop proficiency and fluency with the tools of technology;

• address the main characters, setting, and context, and

• Build intentional cross-cultural connections and relationships with others so to pose and solve problems collaboratively and strengthen independent thought;

• communicate a purpose for others to read the book.

Reading Matters Technology Matters

Once students’ digital book talks are completed, they can be peer-reviewed and uploaded to a class or school website.

• Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes;

Digital conversations. Literacy teachers have utilized reader response learning experiences, such as written responses and literature circles, to deepen students’ comprehension as they make meaning and connect with readings. With written responses, learning was limited to teacher-student interactions. On the other hand, literature circles expanded interactions into a small group format and included dialogue, collaboration, and cooperation as vital parts of the learning process. However, technology tools now enable small group conversations once held inside the classroom to broaden into digital conversations that extend beyond the classroom’s walls (Myers, 2014). Digital conversations take place on websites that host blogs (Myers, 2014), and literacy teachers have access to many free website providers that offer blogging features (Author, 2014). Digital conversations may stem from a teacher-posed: (a) question before reading, (b) self-reflective question, or (c) questions aimed to tap into students’ higher order thinking during and after reading (Myers, 2014). Students may create original posts and reply to the postings of their peers. Digital conversations have been shown to increase students’ confidence, expose students to multiple text interpretations, and provide students with the space to take a critical stance and assume ownership with their own learning. Conclusion Literature has suggested a correlation between adolescent development and social media use (e.g., Cingel & Krcmar, 2014), and some studies have articulated drawbacks associated with adolescents’ personal technology use (e.g., Cyr, Berman, & Smith, 2014; Klorer, 2009). Through multitasking and social media, adolescent learners have the capability to stay aware of what others are thinking and doing at any given point in time, which contributes to their state of “continuous partial attention” (Stone, n.d., para. 1). According to Stone: We pay continuous partial attention in an effort NOT TO MISS ANYTHING. It is an always-on, anywhere, anytime, any place behavior that involves an artificial sense of constant crisis. We are always in high alert when we pay continuous partial attention. (para. 3)

• Manage, analyze, and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information;

• Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multimedia texts;

• Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments. (NCTE, 2013)

Proficiency with these 21st century literacy skills necessitates adjustments with traditional approaches to literacy instruction. The following instructional approaches delineate several ways in which literacy teachers develop multiple skills through digital literacy practices that are authentic and relevant to adolescent learners. Construct media texts. An excellent way to scaffold students’ success with creating media texts is to explore existing forms of media related to a topic under study (Bruce, 2015). Literacy teachers may task students with locating various forms of media related to this topic, such as video clips, scenes from movies or television shows, audio clips, and/or printed text and visuals. As students view and analyze these artifacts during class, the literacy teacher facilitates a class discussion that explores how these forms of media relate to the topic. Then, students brainstorm ways to combine and categorize information generated from the discussion. After this interactive class activity, students work individually or in small groups to produce a reconstructed media text related to the topic under study. Digital book talks. Book talks are a popular strategy used within classrooms so students may share the context of books that they have read (Gunter & Kenny, 2008). Similar to the traditional written book report, books talks are excellent ways to inspire reluctant readers to hear overviews of books that were read and enjoyed by others. Literacy teachers are now able to digitize book talks and engage students in the creation of book trailers using technology tools. In order to create an exemplary book trailer, students require a strong degree of familiarity with the book they read. Students must also negotiate how to reveal enough information from the book in a way that creates interest for a prospective reader without giving away too much information. To prepare for creating digital book talks, students must first view and analyze several movie trailers. Through teacher-facilitated class discussions, students identify characteristics and elements of

Although the effects of multitasking and social media on adolescents are not yet definitive, it is likely that this type of

Reading Matters | Volume 16 • Winter 2016 | scira.org | 57 |

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