Setting up the NetSavvy Classroom

A NetSavvy classroom allows students to "learn information-processing skills while completing relevant student projects in almost any subject area...and at any grade level" (Jukes, Dosaj, Macdonald, 2000, p. 17). The idea is to incorporate NetSavvy skills into the current curriculum to widen students' opportunities for research and presentation, rather than approaching information literacy as a separate subject. The key to the success of this approach is to have a curriculum in place that emphasizes problem-based learning. The Internet is a valuable tool in this kind of learning, and the NetSavvy framework "provides a comprehensive organized list of information literacy skills as they pertain to the Internet" (Jukes, Dosaj, Macdonald, 2000, p. 19). Students will learn the critical skills of asking, accessing, analyzing, applying, and assessing.

I feel that as a first year teacher, in theory it should be relatively easy for me to set up a NetSavvy classroom. I am just becoming familiar with the third grade curriculum. I do not have a file cabinet of lesson plans that I have taught the same way year after year. I have not had time to become "set in my ways" or resistant to change in my classroom. As I progress through the year, I have a better feel for what has to be taught, so I can now look for creative ways to use problem-based learning to cover the same material. Through those projects, I can familiarize my students with the five As, and equip them with the tools needed to master each skill, therefore better preparing them for the technology-laden world that awaits.

Jukes, I., Dosaj, A., Macdonald, B. (2000). net.savvy: Building information literacy in the classroom (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc.