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Wait. Will we be happier? Who loves zooming? Is it trueeee? I do, I do, I do, I do, ooooo in the reminiscent Kenan and Kel series when asked if he loves orange soda. Is zooming good for us? While yes, it keeps us connected does it aid in burnout and result in frustration? Is in-person real life interaction(ing) better than zooming?

Yes and no. Yes, as teachers, we see real life home environments and children in their first and most important learning environment. Then no, as we know children’s learning is play and hands on learning in the real natural world. However, technology is a part of our real natural world now isn’t it?

As an advocate for literacy, I must admit and say that I am now an advocate of digital literacy for children especially as they are growing and will turn into grown ups who need to be prepared for professions not even created yet and jobs that they indeed will make up themselves. Our future coders and developers must have the capacity of critical and creative thinking which is opened up through natural world and online digital learning.

Being able to see digital literacy and book literacy is incredible. Some students are using the chat feature to type and sound out words. Some are hacking banking systems. Seeing the stages of emergent reading and writing online is incredible aka as drawing.

Learning to Write and Draw happens in stages and now think of the following stages digitally accompanied by text and emojis.

• Stage 1: Random Scribbling (15 months to 2½ years)
• Stage 2: Controlled Scribbling (2 years to 3 years)
• Stage 3: Lines and Patterns (2½ years to 3½ years)
• Stage 4: Pictures of Objects or People (3 years to 5 years)
• Stage 5: Letter and Word Practice (3 to 5 years)

Thank you to Zero to 3 for the above stages! For more go to:

https://www.zerotothree.org/resources/305-learning-to-write-and-draw

*Please also click on, see and take a closer look at the images above. My student sounded out Charlotte from Charlotte’s web as “sleet” and used emojis as symbols from the story. My student also did so much more up there. Coding. Lot’s and lot’s of coding.

If we use technology in meaningful ways our students will grow in book literacy and digital literacy simultaneously. Using technology in meaningful ways is necessary for children’s growth and development as they grow through the stages of life. They can use it to tell their stories and that is powerful in itself.

So, what else can you do to encourage children’s literacy aka the process of art and writing skills *creative and critical thinking*? Let’s add to the list: emails, messaging, creating videos, drawing digitally, podcasts, chatting, zooming and coding as these are all a part of our real lives. If we know children imitate us and watch as we do not as we say then let’s embrace it in meaningful and appropriate ways.