Are you a literate educator?

I have always thought a literate educator was one that knew the language and could draw metaphors with it, as well as write and read.  What do you consider the qualities of a literate educator?

What peaked my interest was learning how to make a podcast the other night after arriving home from school.  Creating one is something I’ve been meaning to do, so I sat down at the trusty laptop and got a Googling. Within 20 minutes I had found the article that worked for me to explain the procedures and the parts I needed, which weren’t much.  With a microphone hooked to my PC and free software I’m able to get started in the world of podcasting.

As an educator, I think I can turn my podcasts into a handy education tool for students.  But why make the effort?  They will listen.  How many students have MP3 players in your classes?  About 50% or more in mine have ‘em.  Students obtain more knowledge from watching a 15 minute clip that they do listening to my 15 minute lecture, even when I’m using a PowerPoint presentation. I’m thinking the time has arrived to redefine a literate teacher for my view.

There is so more media available to teach with nowadays besides books, paper, and a pencil/pen that the students will use.  We as teachers have to take the leading edge in integrating technology into our lessons and classes. Here are my skill requirements for a literate educator in the not too distant future  ….

Blogs:  can produce a blog at regular intervals for lesson use or to communicate with other educators

Email: must be fluent in sending, receiving, and managing email

File Management:  manipulate files, upload or download, and is well organized in maintaining and storage of files, including bookmarks of favorite web sites

LCD projectors: with this linked to the teacher computer the entire world, via the internet, can be used in a classroom lesson.

Podcast:  develop, produce and share content relevant podcasts

Peer Collaboration: skillful at using online resources in lessons where students and teacher can have dynamic discussions, including being able to navigate social networking sites

Texting: understands how to receive and send text messages

Web page building: demonstrated success in constructing an informative and interesting web page

Wiki:  makes use of this tool in publishing lesson content or to manage student discussions

What are the requirements you see as necessary?

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