Blog post for December 11th

Digital portfolios.
A brilliant idea. What better way to track student progress than by using these innovative and engaging tools to understand student thinking and development. When we first began this class I had a very limited understanding of what "digital literacy" meant. Each week we learned a new brilliant tool that directly addressed some of the questions I had in relation to guaging student progress and development. Many times it is hard to track to minor development from assignment to assignment with any level of writer. These tools challenged me to have to think, write, and read in ways that were often new and at times uncomfortable. And all I found myself getting increasingly excited about using these tools with LearningWorks students, providing them with these new ways to read and write and making literacy accessible in ways they are familiar with and find engaging.
After a semester of school, the term "digital literacy" has become a common theme coming out of my mouth. Incoporating digital tools in the classroom will be a requirement for all 22 of my teachers as they plan their courses for this summer's program. This does not just mean projecting the teacher-made PowerPoint for lecture each day. Students will be required to do hands-on digital work in each of their classes, really opening up the possibilities of what can happen at LearningWorks over the summer. As I wrap up the interview season for this summer, one of my favorite questions to ask teachers is about their awareness of digital literacy tools. Most commonly the answer is "no" followed by a blank pause. Once informed of what it means and what the expectations of our teachers will be, all of the teacher-candidates have gotten excited about the myriad of tools available for them to use.
As for myself, I have already begun incorporating some of these tools in my work and personal life. My final project was creating the LearningWorks wiki, on which my teachers communicate, plan, and can tally attendance. Without this tool I am sure our Project Based Learning initiative for the School Year Program would have been far from successful. Outside of my position at LearningWorks, I give fastpitch pitching lessons for high school girls. Developing a blog with pictures, lessons, and themes for my pitchers has been very helpful in their training and development. Beyond the couple of hours of coaching each girl receives weekly, I am able to assign them "thinking" assignments in which they go out onto the web to find images, articles, and video to help them understand the different concepts we are working on.
Part of my LearningWorks job is to revamp the curriculum for the program. A large part of this change will include students maintaining digital portfolios of the work they do as students during their two years at LearningWorks. This will be a tangible portfolio of evidence they can take with them as they enter high school and challenge themselves to be in rigorous programs and classes. I am still working on the details as what digital form these portfolios will take, but blogs and wikis are both possibilities. I look forward to planning the details of what digital tools will be expected to have been used over the course of two years in our program.
I have truly enjoyed and learned a significant amount in this course. Using these new tools with students is something I am excited and driven to do in striving to expand and increase student engagement and literacy.