Gone are the days when computers were viewed as an extension of the typewriter and computer education was restricted to the development of keyboarding and word processing skills.
"We are now seeing the booming potential of internet-connected computers in classrooms," said Laura Bradley, Eighth Grade English Language Arts teacher at Kenilworth Junior High. Bradley and her department colleagues were the recipients of a substantial $15,000 Petaluma Educational Foundation 2011 Major Impact Grant award.
In fact, the award granted for technology and literacy in the provision of 16 laptops and a portable laptop cart was the maximum amount granted in non-profit PEF's annual Major Impact Awards.
Introducing laptops into the English curriculum at the East Petaluma junior high school campus will increase media and technology literacy skills (along with reading and writing) in internet-available English Language Arts classrooms. Teachers are set to incorporate and integrate new technologies.
"Literacy is perhaps the most vital skill for our students," said Bradley, "but in addition to print literacy, today's students must also be literate in media and technology."
Bradley and her colleages believe that today's high-tech world demands a more complex kind of literacy, in which media literacy is a logical extension of traditional literacy. Students today are learning to read visual and audiovisual messages as well as text-based ones, recognizing the more basic language adopted by each media form and in turn, evaluating messages for author's intent and meaning, credibility and accuracy.
While it is widely considered that media literacy builds critical thinking, technical and communication skills, it also is respected for addressing different learning styles and perspectives.
The 16 laptops will be wheeled into a wing of classrooms in rotation at Kenilworth Junior High School, enabling teachers to integrate media instruction to small groups of their classes working on media literacy assignments for a portion of each class.
"Media and technology literacy is absolutely essential in middle school instruction," said Bradley. "Not only are our classrooms looking less and less like our students' home lives, but we are doing our students a grave disservice by not teaching them how to be informed, critical users of the media that surrounds them every day."
Petaluma Educational Foundation administers the PEF Grant Program to enable teachers and school communities to bring innovative ideas to fruition.Since its inception, PEF has awarded 1514 grants totaling $1,844,770.The PEF Grant Program rewards innovation and is supportive of the school’s or District’s overall goals, while being in the best interests of all students affected. The PEF Grant Program is entirely funded by individual donations to its annual “Fund the Future“ campaign.
Major Impact grants are awarded up to $15,000 with significant emphasis on innovative programs of extraordinary scope, reach or longevity.
(quotes sourced from Grant applications)
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