Meet Me at the Library

 ClearTouch: An Interactive Whiteboard The ClearTouch is a type of interactive whiteboard. This type of interactive whiteboard has an interactive panel on the screen for the user to write on it. Some of the features include annotation capability, timer, stopwatch, spotlight, screenshot, and screen mirroring or casting. This interactive whiteboard looks like a television when it is off but operates like a large touch screen computer when it is on. Up to four users can write on the board at one time. Also, the board features a system called Snowflake, which allows for a certain number of students to connect to the board and share their screens at the same time. Also, this device does not require a projector since it is essentially a large touch screen computer.  A classroom with students sitting at desks. The male teacher is standing in front of a digital ClearTouch display teaching about magma. Analyzing the ClearTouch through the RAT Method When adopting new technology, it i...

Three books in between over the ears headphones.  Information Literacy, Technology, and Digital/Media     In today’s age, we are constantly being inundated with information. Everywhere we look, no matter if it is in the real world or digital world, there is information that we must decode and analyze. The concepts of information literacy, technology, and digital/media intersect in various ways. In a way these concepts depend on and impact each other. Information literacy, or lack thereof it, impacts the usage of technology and the interactions on the digital and media realms. Another impact of these interactions is the types of media consumed. The types of media consumed could be impacted by the level of information literacy of a person or student. P21 uses four key words to aid in their definition of information literacy. These words are access, evaluate, use, and manage ( The Partnership for 21st Century Learning, 2015 ). Each of these words require action and care...

Partnering AASL, ISTE, and ELA Standards to Support Literacy Education Adolescents in the middle school setting are constantly changing and growing as they are maturing from children into their teenage years. As a middle school teacher, I see firsthand how literacy, and its different types, impacts them as learners. Students bring with them various types of literacies on top of the general literacy related to reading and writing. Surprisingly, Spiering (2019) notes that “adolescent literacy research as a field operates largely apart from the research about school libraries and vice versa” (p. 46). Considering that English Language Arts depends on similar standards and ideals as the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) standards, one would think that these two fields would work together in some capacity.  Four middle school aged students (2 boys and 2 girls) each reading a book while standing beside each other.  Image by <a href="https://www.freepik.com/free-ph...