Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Donald J. Leu
New Literacies Research Lab
University of Connecticut
donald.leu@uconn.edu
The New Literacies Research
Team
(Extended Family Portrait)
Important Funding and Support
From:
• Ray and Carole Neag
• The Carnegie Corporation of New York
• IES, U.S. Department of Education
• The National Science Foundation
• North Central Educational Research Lab
• PBS
• The Annenberg Foundation
• William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Australian Council of Educational Research
• OECD
• Schools and teachers around the world.
The Big Idea :
The Internet Is A Reading
Comprehension and Learning Issue,
Not A Technology Issue
Major Points
1. The Internet is this generation’s defining technology
for reading and learning.
2. The Internet requires new literacies -- additional online
reading comprehension skills. What are these skills?
3. A model for 1:1 laptop classrooms: Internet
Reciprocal Teaching
4. My 15 all-time best ideas about how to teach new
literacies in classrooms.
I.
The Internet Is This Generation’s Defining
Technology For Reading and Learning
A New Literacies Quiz:
With Prizes
1. How many individuals currently have access
to the Internet and regularly read, write, and
communicate online?
A. 511 million
1.5 billion individuals;
B. 253 million
1 out of 5 people in the
C. 754 million world!
D. 1.5 billion
2. How many adolescents in Accra,
Ghana report having gone online?
A. 5%
B. 66% 66% or 2/3 of
C. 37% adolescents!
D. 51% (Borzekowski, Fobil, &
Asante, 2006)
3. In 2005, did adolescents in North America
read more on the Internet or more with
books and other printed material?
A. On the Internet On the Internet!
B. Offline in books, etc. In 2005, students aged 8-18
C. The same for both. spent 48 minutes per day
reading on the Internet and
only 43 minutes per day
reading offline. (Kaiser
Family Foundation, 2005).
4. Which nation manufactures the most
software in the world?
A. The U.S.
B. Indonesia
Ireland!
C. India
(Organization for Economic
D. Ireland Development and Cooperation,
2004)
5. Which nation provides all teachers
with 5 weeks of paid, release-time,
professional development at
integrating the Internet into the K-12
curriculum?
A. The U.S.
B. Indonesia Finland!
C. China
D. Finland
6. Which nation, in North America, is
implementing a plan to ensure Internet
access to every home and every school
to prepare its citizens for the 21st
century?
Mexico!
A. Canada
Mexico is implementing its
B. Mexico eMexico plan right now. See
C. The U.S. http://www.e-mexico.gob.mx/
7. Which nation provides Internet
connections for all households at
speeds 16 times faster than U.S.
broadband for $22 per month?
A. Taiwan
B. Australia Japan!
C. Japan (Bleha, 2005).
D. The Ukraine
8. How many states, in the U.S.,
measure students ability to read
search engine results on state reading
assessments?
A. 10
0!
B. 15 Not a single state.
C. 0
D. 2
9. How many states, in the U.S., permit
the use of word processors on state
writing assessments for any student
who wishes to do so.
A. 1
B. 5 0!
C. 24
D. 0
10. How many states assess online
reading comprehension in their
state reading assessment?
A. 0
B. 2
C. 5 0!
D. 8
How did you do? The rubric
an immediate raise!
What can we
conclude?
The Internet is this generation’s
defining technology for reading.
We place our students at risk by
our continued inaction.
Current Policies Appear To Increase
Online Reading Achievement Gaps
The Hidden Reading
Achievement Gap
Those who require our support the
most with online reading
comprehension, those without
home access, actually receive our
support the least in schools.
Current policies may increase achievement gaps
II. The Internet requires new literacies --
additional online reading comprehension
skills.
Initial Evidence That Online and Offline
Reading May Not Be Isomorphic
Offline Reading =
CT State
Reading Test
Online Reading
Comprehension=
ORCA Blog
Leu, D. Castek, J., Hartman, D., Coiro, J.,
Henry, L., Kulikowich, J., Lyver, S. (2005).
A central question: What skills and
strategies appear to be important for
successful online reading comprehension?
Reading to Define a Problem
Reading to Locate Information
Reading to Evaluate Information
Reading to Synthesize Information
Reading and Writing to Communicate
Information
The new literacies of online reading comprehension
A Preliminary Model
An Example of Online Reading
Comprehension
Reading About Martin Luther
King
The new literacies of online reading comprehension
A student informant,
think aloud strategy
Online Survey (1,025 7th graders)
Top 50 online readers
What We Learned About Reading to
Locate Online Information:
“the .com strategy”
[13:38 … highlights address bar, types in
www.savethepacificnorthwesttreeoctopus.com …, presses
enter and waits]…
[15:22 …types in www.savethenorthwesttreeoctopus.com
(deletes pacific), presses enter and waits]
[16:01 … http://www.savethenorthwestoctopus.com
(deletes tree) and waits]
S: I wonder why it’s not coming up. [long pause]
[indecipherable] [long pause]
[17:10 … types in savethepacificnorthwestoctopus (adds
pacific) … The new literacies of online reading comprehension
What We Learned About Reading to
Locate Online Information:
the “click and look” strategy
In our entire population, of those who
obtained a page of search engine results,
approximately 50% did not read them.
“Click and Look” strategies used
The new literacies of online reading comprehension
What We Learned
About Reading To
Critically Evaluate
100% percent thought the site. Save the Pacific
Northwest Tree Octopus, was reliable;
More than 50% reported it to be “very reliable.”
The Failure to Think Critically
About Information on the Internet
R: You, um, what if I told you that this site was
not at all reliable and that the information was
not true.
S: I would say that you were wrong and that
maybe you used a different a website and it’s
just called the same thing because the stuff I
found out was everything I needed to find out
and some other stuff that I didn’t need to know
so I think it’s very reliable and I disagree with
you.
III. A New Model for Teaching Online
Reading Comprehension: Internet
Reciprocal Teaching
IRT: Phase I
Teacher-led Basic Skills
Teacher-led demonstrations of basic
Internet use skills and cooperative
learning strategies
Explicit modeling by teacher
Largely whole class instruction
Mini-lessons as transition to Phase II
IRT: Phase II
Collaborative modeling
of online reading strategies
Students presented with information
problems to solve.
Work in small groups to solve those
problems.
Exchange strategies as they do so.
Debrief at the end of the lesson.
Initially: locating and critically evaluating
Later: Synthesis and communicating.
A Phase II Task
IRT: Phase III
Inquiry
Initially, within the class.
Then, with others around the world.
Using ePals For Message of the
Day Projects
Classrooms from around the world
are looking to partner with you
Classroom Match
Other locations to connect with
classrooms
Oz Projects Global School Net
http://www.ozprojects.edu.au/ http://www.globalschoolnet.org/GSH/pr/
Lessons we Have Learned:
Keep in mind this will be new and will take
time to learn. Patience. Go slow. KISS.
Be VERY clear about dates, times,
obligations.
Plan far ahead.
Be flexible.
Keep good partners. Drop bad partners.
The Maine Professional
Development Collaborative
IV. My 15 Best Ideas About How To Teach
New Literacies In Classrooms
1. “Borrow” good ideas
Google:
4th grade classroom home page
1st grade classroom home page
Get connected to online resources.
2. View Online Videos of New
Literacies in the Classroom
3. Use Starfall.com for early
reading development
4. Use Read Write Think at All
Levels
5. Use Internet Workshop as An
Instructional Model
Videos
6. Use ePals (free, student safe
email)
7. Include the reading comprehension
skills of locating information
8. Teach critical evaluation
9. Help the last become first
10. Explore the potential of
Wikipedia
11. Explore the use of a Ning
(ning.com)
12. Try Out Ideas from Internet
Reciprocal Teaching
Phase I: Teacher-led Instruction in
Basic Online Skills
Phase II: Problem-based Learning of
New Literacies Skills
Phase III: Internet Inquiry
13. Use Internet Project
Internet Morning Message of the Day
Project
14. Use Blogs
Mary Castle’s first grade blog
http://michellesmelser.blogspot.com/
Mr. Thompson’s second grade classroom blog
http://gcs.infostreamblogs.org/tthompson
Mary Kreul’s 4th grade class
http://mskreul.edublogs.org/
Mr. Monson’s Grade 5 Blog
http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=59644
TAS Grade 3 ESL
http://grade3esl.blogspot.com/2008/08/welcome-to-20082009-school-year.html
15. Keep a patient heart and
help others on their journeys.
The Big Idea :
The Internet Is A Reading Comprehension
and Learning Issue, Not A Technology
Issue
Major Points
1. The Internet is this generation’s defining technology
for reading and learning.
2. The Internet requires new literacies -- additional online
reading comprehension skills. What are these skills?
3. A model for 1:1 laptop classrooms: Internet
Reciprocal Teaching
4. My 15 all-time best ideas about how to teach new
literacies in classrooms with more limited access.
The Challenges Of Change
Yes, this is not easy stuff!
As Challenging As Change
Appears, We Know This…
The Leadership That You
Provide…
Determines The Future Our
Students Achieve!
Thank you for
everything that
you do!!!