Information Trumps Technology in the Common Core

While educators all over America are trying to wrap their heads around the Common Core, there is one word that may come as a surprise: INFORMATION.   We've heard all about writing, text-based answers, text complexity, evidence from the text and more.  The one word I haven't heard touted much (outside the library world) is INFORMATION.  

If you search the ELA standards, you will find that the word information appears 243 times.  That can be discovered through a simple PDF binocular search on Internet Explorer. 





[Tagxedo created with the ELA CCSS Standards}

I hear some colleagues trying desperately trying to embed technology into their lessons as they believe that is the magic formula for fostering 21st Century Students. -- But, technology alone will lead them no where.   Technology without information is a bit useless.  We use technology to: find information, communicate information, evaluate information and amass information.  Likewise, information without technology is dull, archaic (dare I say), and difficult.  My question is, why are we not hearing teachers and educators stress the word information?  We see districts with a 5 year technology plan, they post bonds to upgrade technology across the district, but where is the 5 year information plan?   

Technology in the CCSS is only mentioned 24 times in the ELA CC Standards. Information is mentioned 243 times.  That's a ratio of 10:1.  Following that formula, we should hear people talk about information ten times more than they focus on technology?  Technology alone wont build College and Career Ready students.  Information and technology work together to prepare students for the future.    

So next time you ponder what to do with technology, consider the following essential questions:

• What information can my students communicate with technology? 
• What information can I embed into this project?  
• Can my students access information to synthesize, critically? 
• Are my students information literate as well as tech-savvy? 
• Am I asking my students to JUST find information? Or, have I asked them to do anything with that information?  Synthesize?  Create? Debate? Transform that information into a position, problem solve,  etc,?  

Please see my article in this month's School Library Journal for additional insight into this discovery.  
(If you liked this post, you may also like this previous post: click here)