David Warlick Rocks, Second Life and the Changing Face of Literacy

So, today I attended Orange County's inservice conference at the convention center. I must say that David Warlick's presentation, inspired awe. Redefine literacy. Literally. We have to. As Warlick says, it's not about integrating more technology, the pencil & paper of our time--it's about integrating literacy. I would add, "critical" as a descriptor there. Digital dectives are critically literate. Digital detectives who can, as a matter of course, or with some level of automaticity "track back a URL" to dig deeper as they read, operate at Bloom's highest levels. I used to do this with students using a five-finger rule--actually it grew to seven fingers, (ie: 7 Questions for Highly Effective Web Surfers). It's an activity that I adapted I think from Kathy Shrock's web evaluation materials. I realized as Warlick was talking about digital detectives today, that I need to revist that lesson and revise it. Model simple strategies such as "URL track back" that students can practice immediately on classroom computers. Then, I need to figure out a way to build in enough practice, enough varied and engaging activities that this kind of critical thinking/critical reading becomes spontaneous for students. Because I can tell you, it's not spontaneous for most of the seniors I teach. How spontaneous is it even for most adults? most teachers? There is no question in my mind, nor has there ever been that we need to teach students (and remind ourselves) to thinking independently and critically. I need to do a better of job of it.

So, I've been exploring and thinking and researching topics Warlick brought to my mind today. One of them is Second Life. My mother, a retired dental hygienist, of all people introduced me to Second Life (SL) about six months ago by telling me a salacious story about a mutual friend (also retired) and her SL Avatar. Apparently, "Suzy" met someone and in-World experienced a little paradise by the dashboard lights if you know what I'm saying. Hmm... I wondered what else people did in Second Life, so I went online.

I found all kinds of information about Second Life in postings here, from news articles, to conferences about SL to this great parody page, but I've yet to really wrap my mind around it. I mean how would I ever create an Avatar? What would she look like? How would she move? I enjoyed Warlick's comments about his older-than-himself Avatar-- I wonder what kind of Avatar I could/would create. Could I be part animal? Could I have wings? What kinds of Avatars would my students create? What kinds do they already have? Hmm... surely I can learn something here. There's a community building activity in here somewhere--I just need to tease it out.

Reconnecting to literacy, I was browsing around the Global Kids Media Initiative when I stumbled upon an anticipation guide... well, an anticipation guide reincarnated, I suppose. Anticipation guides (Readance, Bean & Baldwin) anticipate reading or content. They help us form opinions and change those opinions as we learn more information. Done before reading (or learning), anticipation guides activate students' background knowledge about a topic. Such tools help teachers connect the new to the known by connecting the material students currently know or have opinions about to material they will learn. Anticipation guides build bridges between information. In this SL version, called the Human Barometer, students actually move their avatars to express their opinions.

This is when the Campers played human barometer in Teen Second Life! They seemed to be very split when they were asked if they agreed, disagreed, or were unsure about the statement, "Online relationships are not as important as real life ones".

How cool is that? So, do you agree or disagree: "Second life educational applications are just as engaging as real life ones." Seeing as I've just spent an entire evening engaged in Second Life exploration, I know which I'd choose.

Readence, J. E., Bean, T. W., & Baldwin, R. S. (1995). Content area reading: An integrated approach (5th ed). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/ Hunt.