English Teaching: Practice and Critique

Embracing emergent technologies and envisioning new ways of using them for literacy learning in the primary classroom

Volume 6 Number 2 September 2007

Sue Halsey (Selwyn Ridge School)

In this narrative, Sue Halsey, a New Zealand primary school teacher, taking her cue from Leu and Kinzer (2000), describes her own “envisionment” as she realizes a number of new possibilities for literacy and learning in her classroom utilizing a range of new (including Web2) technologies. In doing so, she mediates between her two “Jiminys”, one of whom is a lover of books and literature, and the other who recognizes a need to take a broader view of literacy. Based in the development of a class website, she describes the use of podcasts, online publishing and blogs as new ways of bring the world into her classroom, and taking her classes learning out into the world.

PDF pdf