Seeing the Forest, Not the Trees: Essential Technologies for Literacy in the Primary-Grade and Upper Elementary-Grade Classroom

While countless new technologies are appearing in our lives and in school classrooms, we argue that we need to keep in mind our goals in reading before we use any of them. We suggest that a primary goal is to develop the ability to read in order to learn with online information. Technologies that support this goal, especially the Internet, and instructional practices that support the development of online reading should be our primary consideration for reading and literacy education, beginning in the primary grades.