Catching Up to Literacy in the 21st Century!

Well, it is no longer enough just to be able to read the printed word, we now need to be able to interpret the images of a multimedia culture and express ourselves in many different media forms. So it is up to us to prepare our young students for this new century. The problem is that our young students are more tech savvy than us old teachers are! We have to arm ourselves with the proper knowledge to teach this new form of "literacy." It used to be the teachers job to teach students facts but now anyone can find any information needed with the click of a button. What students need today is to learn how to find what they need to know when they need to know it-- and to have the higher order thinking skills to analyze and evaluate whether the information they find is useful for what they want to know. After viewing the many videos posted by Dr. Smirnova, I really see the importance of engaging our students in technology. How can I do that when I am scared to turn on my computer?? It is up to us as educators to educate ourselves on a daily basis and to keep up if not ahead of the students that we want to teach. It is sad to think that America is falling behind in so many things but especially in technology and in education.