Blog #2 Reflection on Virtual Ed. Dives into Common Core

I believe virtual education is an important tool that we need to learn. Students as well as teachers need to touch base on how this would affect them and the learner as well as the teacher. With the trend of internet use and online communication exponentially escalating, virtual education needs to be realized.

1)      In what ways have you incorporated information and media literacy into your classroom?

As a special educator, I must find all avenues to reach my students with special needs. A good handful of them are visual learners. Most are non-verbal and use pictures, not only to communicate but pick up information. I’ve used videos, gone online and found sites that are helpful, etc.

2)       Do you think there are needs to have explicit instruction on information and media literacy or is it accomplished within a more holistic teaching style sufficiently?

I believe there are benefits to teaching to the specific and teaching holistically. Again, with my students with special needs one teaching method would work  for them as oppose to the other. Some students with Specific Learning Disability (SLD) for example, their learning disability maybe be given difficulties learning specifics to holistic. These students you teach them the “bigger picture” first in order to understand the specifics. Other students with SLD learn better when you give them the specifics in order for them to understand the “big picture”.

3)       What limits are there to following national or even state standards of literacy in all schools?

Naturally, when using virtual education, you are given in depth learning opportunities in some areas but are limited in other areas. Contact time between teachers and students may be spent in a number of ways: clarifying misunderstandings, providing alternative explanations, correcting incorrect assumptions, etc. Where lectures are given in a way that does not allow clarification when puzzlement appears on the faces of students, this gains extra importance.

4)      Have you ever been mandated to incorporate information and media literacy into your lessons? In what ways?

When given a list of what administrators will be looking for, incorporating technology in the classroom was one of the major things they were looking for. As a school (my previous school, SVES), all teachers scored the lowest in “incorporates technology in lesson”. To support our teachers, the admin brought people in the give Professional Development Seminars and would continue to do so until all teachers scored higher in that area. Needless to say, much improvement was made very quickly by the teachers.