Literacy Now

The October/November/December issue of Literacy Today, ILA’s member magazine, is focused on artificial intelligence (AI) and literacy education.

This edition’s guest editor is Kip Glazer, principal of Mountain View High School in Mountain View, CA, who has worked for nearly a decade with learning science researchers in connecting research to practice in the K–16 education space. She is a 2023 Computer Science Teachers Association Equity Fellow and a member of the Engage AI Practitioner Advisory Board.

“As a school leader and educator, I am passionate about supporting fellow educators and school leaders in making safe and ethical choices when it comes to AI tools,” she wrote in her opening note to readers.

Read on to learn more about the issue, how Glazer approached its curation, and what she hopes readers take away from it.

Tell us how you developed your vision for this issue. What were your goals? How did you choose your authors and topics?

I value learning about different perspectives immensely, so I posted a form on LinkedIn to ask if anyone was interested in submitting an article to the issue. I also reached out to a few colleagues, such as Bill Bass, Stacy Lovdahl, Vera Cubero, and Nneka McGee, who I have worked with in the past. I focused on representing different perspectives, and I believe I succeeded.

You’ve worked with learning science researchers and have a background in connecting research to practice. How does that experience inform your views on integrating AI into literacy education?

I believe in forming my opinions based on rigorous learning science research, and I have been fortunate to have access to the learning science research community since 2012. It is extremely important to me that my fellow educators and school leaders know what I share with them has solid research behind it, and I work hard to be a thoughtful participant in both research and practice fields.

Your opening letter mentions the importance of ethical AI use in education. What do you think are the most pressing ethical considerations for educators adopting AI tools?

Never forgetting that good pedagogy and caring teachers shaping the learning experiences of their students are so much more important than any shiny new tool that is being introduced. Fast and more aren’t always better. Students of today can acquire discrete pieces of knowledge from all sorts of sources with or without AI, and being deliberate to ensure that the students’ (and staff’s) data and privacy are protected is extremely important.

What are some of the biggest misconceptions educators have about AI, and how does this issue of Literacy Today aim to address them?

That AI is so new and so complex that a “typical” educator couldn’t possibly understand, or that it is capable of replacing educators. The fact is that AI has been around for several decades, and no AI will replace teachers. I believe that this issue of Literacy Today has shown the depth of strong pedagogy and collaboration among researchers and practitioners to emphasize that point.

Stacy Lovdahl’s article, “The Urgency of AI,” emphasizes the need for educators to “move fast and innovate responsibly” when it comes to incorporating generative AI into the classroom. Why was this angle important to highlight in this issue?

Stacy has done a lot of work in policy and educator AI literacy development, and she understands the importance of responsible iteration that is required in today’s educational environment. She has been a huge advocate of a balanced approach focused on student examples, and she has done a fantastic job of reminding us why a student-centered approach is important.

Jennifer Elemen’s piece on cultivating critical GenAI literacy explores how critical digital pedagogy can empower students to engage with GenAI in ways that promote social justice and counter harmful narratives. Why did you feel this was a crucial topic to include in the conversation?

Jennifer has been a huge advocate of social justice in ensuring that we don’t introduce or implement yet another tool that can augment previous harm, which is extremely important as we continue to bring in more AI-enabled tools. Just as a doctor takes the Hippocratic oath, I would love to see the tech companies focusing on the idea of “first do no harm” when it comes to developing any classroom-ready tool. I believe that Jennifer’s article highlights the importance of staying vigilant.

Carey Swanson’s article, “Whose Intelligence Is Needed in the Classroom?,” highlights the need for educators to be supported with proper training when incorporating AI into their classrooms. Why was it important to include a focus on professional development in this issue?

We all now live in an information-rich society, and educators and school leaders are bombarded with so much information. With generative AI (GenAI) rapidly advancing, educators and school leaders are asked to be the voice of reason in this new educational environment, and we must support them with time and resources to carry out that important task. I believe that Carey did a great job of highlighting that need.

Bonnie Nieves’s article, “AI and Experiential Learning: A Powerful Combination for Culturally Relevant Teaching,” explores how GenAI can help create personalized, culturally relevant learning experiences. How do you think this topic helps to broaden the discussion of AI in education?

Bonnie highlights the importance and true potential of GenAI in being able to create personalized learning experiences. Her argument of making sure these experiences are culturally relevant is so important because, as we bring in more tools that are creating refinement based on big data and mass user groups, true personalization can be lost, and I believe educators need to guard against off-loading that critical perspective.

Vera Cubero’s article, “Navigating the Future: North Carolina’s AI Literacy Initiative,” emphasizes the importance of careful and purposeful integration of AI literacy into education. Why was it important to feature this initiative?

Vera has been a leading voice in the educational policy area, and I appreciate her wisdom and perspective in this space so very much. She brings a well-researched perspective of planning forward while keeping the past in sight. Her work of guiding North Carolina’s AI Initiative is a model to follow as other states continue to create and implement their AI policies and frameworks. It was my honor to have her add her thoughts to this edition. 

Khechara Bradford and Nneka McGee’s article, “AI on the Edge: Embracing Tech in Early Literacy Education,” discusses the potential of AI in supporting early literacy development. What made this angle significant in terms of shaping the future of AI in literacy instruction?

Although I don’t know Khechara very well, I have been on the same panel as Nneka multiple times. I really appreciate their perspective of beginning early with literacy development that is tool-agnostic. Nneka has always spoken about how to improve literacy with or without digital tools, and how important it is to develop fundamental skills. I think the article speaks to that well.

What do you hope readers will take away from this issue of Literacy Today, and how do you envision it sparking further conversations about AI in education?

I hope that the readers get a wise insight as to how the research and practice fields are grappling with AI literacy from varying perspectives that are both hopeful and cautionary. I also hope that they were introduced to many wise writers whose work has inspired me! I am proud to have been the guest editor of this issue, and I hope to come back after some time to see how we have changed.

This article is the second in a series that will explore AI, particularly the topics of how it can foster student agency, cultivate a love of reading that celebrates cultural diversity, and support multilingual learners in literacy instruction.

One of the challenges faced in classrooms worldwide is the lack of student engagement and motivation—a disconnect that often stems from a sense of disempowerment and detachment. Many curricula depend on teacher-centered instruction, leaving students to feel stuck in the monotony without the agency to be meaningfully included.

However, when the same students have a sense of agency, they can become active participants in the learning process. Fostering student agency leads to increased motivation, higher academic achievement, and enhanced critical thinking skills. It cultivates a positive classroom culture where students feel valued, respected, and empowered to voice their opinions and ideas.

As we explore ways to empower students and foster engagement in literacy instruction, it is essential to consider how innovative tools, such as artificial intelligence (AI), can play a pivotal role. AI offers educators new opportunities to personalize learning experiences, promote student choice, and streamline the creation of a diverse range of activities.

In part II of our series, we dive into how AI can enhance student agency, making the classroom a more dynamic and inclusive space for all learners.

The empowerment path

To empower students with agency in their literacy development, teachers can provide options for how they can demonstrate their understanding of a text through presentations, analytical essays, or creative projects such as storyboards or visual narratives. All of the choices assess the same skills while also allowing the students to make the choice of what to complete. We know that hands-on learning with authentic practice is important, but how can a teacher do this without spending hours and hours creating these learning experiences?

Eduaide. One way AI can help a teacher create a range of activities in a short amount of time can be found at Eduaide, which offers a tool called Engagement Activities. When a teacher enters the grade level and subject area along with the prompt “enhance student choice and agency,” Eduaide will create a list of activities, “Would You Rather?” questions, applied scenario-based questions, thought experiments, and even riddles.  

MagicSchool AI. Offering choice boards or menus with a variety of learning tasks enables students to select activities that align with their learning goals and preferences, promoting intrinsic motivation and self-directed learning. Teachers can pick and choose to ensure that anything they add to a choice board is acceptable to them and fits their own classroom. You can use MagicSchool AI make a choice board in a few seconds. Just click on the Choice Board (UDL) option and type in your standard, objective, or content.  

ChatGPT. For teachers ready to move to the next level, ChatGPT offers great opportunities for personalized learning paths based on student choice. Many schools offer opportunities for students to explore topics they are interested in, but it is difficult for a teacher to be an expert in all these subjects. AI can support teachers’ creation of paths for students to research and design projects based on their interests. Start by asking ChatGPT to “create a personalized learning path for students in [grade level] to explore [subject], including [key topics or skills].” For the following example about volcanoes, ChatGPT gave seven activities to work on. Two are shown here:

Sometimes, the bot doesn’t get it right from the start. You will still need to wear your teacher hat to decide if the resources given are right for your purposes. From your original prompt and response, you can have a conversation with ChatGPT to guide it to what you want. Maybe you need to specify that it is for the whole group or only two students. Maybe you want more ideas. When asked for specific links to the activities suggested, ChatGPT delivered.

Unleashed potential

The results of fostering student agency in the classroom are profound. Students who are empowered with agency exhibit increased motivation, engagement, and academic achievement. They develop essential skills such as problem-solving, decision-making, and self-regulation, which are vital for success in both academic and real-world contexts.

Fostering student agency through acceptable choices is essential for creating inclusive, engaging, and empowering learning environments. By embracing strategies that prioritize student voice, choice, and autonomy, teachers can foster a culture of agency that unleashes the full potential of every learner.  

Natalie Beach, lecturer of special education, Lindsey Braisted, instructor of ESL and literacy, Cassie Brown, PhD graduate assistant, and Amber Spears, associate professor of literacy methods, are all affiliated with Tennessee Tech University. 

Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed in blog posts on this website are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of ILA. We have taken reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in blog posts but do not warrant the accuracy or completeness of such information.

This article is the first in a series that will explore AI, particularly the topics of how it can foster student agency, cultivate a love of reading that celebrates cultural diversity, and support multilingual learners in literacy instruction.

I vividly recall the first time I encountered artificial intelligence (AI). I was teaching a class called “The Literacy Professional” when one of my students, a high school English language arts teacher at the time, expressed deep concerns about the potential impact of AI on student integrity. There was widespread fear that AI would lead to rampant plagiarism and cheating, making it impossible to detect academic dishonesty. The stigma surrounding AI was intense, with many educators alarmed at the prospect of students no longer doing their own work.

Intrigued, I decided to explore how AI could be used and quickly realized its potential to enhance my life by increasing work productivity. Despite some initial trepidation, I decided to test AI at home. I provided ChatGPT—a chatbot that users can interact with as if they’re communicating with a human—with a list of the main ingredients in my pantry and refrigerator, my dietary preferences, and my family size, and asked it to create a week’s worth of nutrient-dense meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that all take under 30 minutes to prepare. I was astonished at how quickly the tool generated meal plans that we enjoyed, catered to our preferences, and efficiently used up the groceries I had on hand. It saved both time and money, and from that moment, I was hooked.

Addressing educator concerns

Many teachers are reluctant to use AI as a generative tool for work, often due to ethical concerns. How much can you rely on AI and still consider the work your own? There's also the worry about unanticipated/unintended consequences, such as the potential for AI to undermine job security—all valid concerns indicative of the uncertainty many educators feel about the role AI will play in their profession.

I want to share something my boss said during a recent faculty meeting that has really resonated with me: “You shouldn’t worry about AI taking your job, but you should worry about the person who is actively integrating and using AI. They are the ones that will take your job!”

So, my argument becomes this: Let's learn to use AI in ways that support our personal and professional lives while maintaining ethical standards.

Discovering AI’s potential

Reflecting on my time as a master’s student, I remember conducting research by going to the library, handwriting lists of topics, using card catalogs to locate physical copies of papers, and spending hours reading to find the necessary literature. I’m grateful that those days are behind us, as computers can now perform those searches for us.

Just as technology has transformed the way we conduct research, it has also opened new possibilities for enhancing our educational practices. Similarly, the rise of generative AI presents countless opportunities for innovation in education. To illustrate, I share a few practical applications of AI across different educational settings.

Higher education:

• Standard-aligned rubrics: Create rubrics tailored to specific learning objectives and standards.
• Case study generation: Develop case studies to help preservice teachers learn to apply literacy topics in real-life scenarios.
• Quiz/test question creation: Generate diverse and challenging questions for assessments.
• Content summaries: Provide simplified explanations of complex topics.
  Example: “Explain the science of reading as if I’m a sixth grader, highlighting the most critical components and why they are important. Provide examples of what it is and isn’t, and how teachers can apply it in a second-grade classroom.”
• Decodable text lists: Generate lists of decodable texts that support specific phonics skills.

K–12 education:

• Standard-aligned rubrics: Customize rubrics to meet the standards of your classroom.
• Critical thinking questions: Develop higher-order thinking questions for advanced readers.
• Scaffolds and supports: Create tailored supports for developing readers.
• Family communication: Draft email responses and newsletters for families.

These AI tools are designed to enhance the teaching process, saving valuable time while ensuring that tasks such as creating rubrics, developing questions, and communicating with families are handled efficiently. When used thoughtfully and ethically, they help educators streamline their work and maximize their impact in the classroom and allow teachers to focus more on what truly matters: engaging with students and fostering their growth.

Final considerations

As I have introduced, AI offers a range of tools that can greatly enhance teaching, from streamlining routine tasks to generating new instructional materials. However, as with any powerful tool, it's crucial to approach AI thoughtfully and ethically. The following are a few points of consideration: 

• AI thrives in conversation: AI is most effective when used interactively, allowing for dynamic exchanges that can enrich our work.
• AI isn’t perfect: Although AI can save time and enhance productivity, it’s not infallible. Users will need to cross-check AI-generated content with reliable sources to ensure accuracy and integrity.
• Give credit where it’s due: Just as we teach our students the importance of academic honesty, we too must acknowledge the role AI plays in our work by citing it appropriately. To learn more about correct citations, visit resources such as the APA manual or Grammarly.
• Explore tools that enhance your teaching: There are many tools out there, including Khanmigo, Quizlet, Canva, or MagicSchool AI, which can support various aspects of teaching while allowing educators to focus on the human elements that technology can’t replace.

These considerations remind us that the ethical implications of AI use are just as significant as the practical benefits. Just as we've integrated spell checkers and search engines such as Google into our daily lives—both of which are forms of AI—the key lies in how we use these tools.

Whether your goal is to communicate more effectively, create with greater efficiency, or save time, we must always ask ourselves: Are we taking rightful credit for what we produce, or are we acknowledging the tools that helped us get there?

By keeping these questions in mind, and embracing AI as a supportive tool, we can optimize our efforts, save time and, ultimately, provide our students with the best possible learning experience.

Amber Spears is an associate professor of literacy methods at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville, TN. She is the executive director of the Elinor Ross CDF Freedom School and the immediate past chair of the Literacy Association of Tennessee. An ILA member since 2015, she has had a nearly two-decade career dedicated to advancing literacy education in her community.

Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed in blog posts on this website are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of ILA. We have taken reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in blog posts but do not warrant the accuracy or completeness of such information.

Looking for a way to turn the winter blahs into a vibrant celebration of every child’s creativity? Crayola Creativity Week 2023, which starts on January 23, is exactly what you are looking for! But you don’t need to wait until the 23rd to get started. Visit the Crayola Creativity Week website for resources, activities, and giveaways­­––all available with a free registration­­––as well as to see the calendar of events and list of celebrity creators who are part of the 2023 Crayola Creativity Week lineup.

Crayola Creativity Week is about more than just free stuff to use in your classroom. It’s a seven-day celebration of children’s innate creative mind-sets. With activities and events geared toward a specific daily theme and a livestreamed special assembly on Friday, January 27, Crayola Creativity Week provides everything both educators and children’s families and caregivers need to keep students engaged and innovating all week long! Each day focuses on a creative theme and a special children’s book, and includes unique celebrity-led video activities, curriculum-connected resources, and all kinds of activities to unleash every child’s original ideas.

Let’s take a look at what’s in store for your students.

Here’s the lineup!

• Monday, January 23: Endless Possibilities
  Crayola Creativity Week launches with guest appearances from NASA space explorers, who are part of the team making the Artemis mission possible, and illustrator, Shane Tolentino. NASA astronauts will read the book You Are Going, and Tolentino will lead an art activity. Students will be captivated by the awesome possibilities of a STEAM career at NASA.
• Tuesday, January 24: Building Dreams and Community
  Actress and singer Ali Stroker––who was the first wheelchair-using actor to appear on Broadway and win a Tony––and illustrator Gillian Reid share they spotlight on Tuesday as the share their  book Ali and the Sea Stars and inspire students to put on a play, illustrate dramatic facial expressions, and reach for stars. Their special message? Go after your dreams with the help of a supportive community.
• Wednesday, January 25: Dancing with Traditions
  Author Ria Thundercloud and illustrator Kalila Fuller get the day moving with their book Finding My Dance. Thundercloud's story will inspire young creatives to connect culture, identity, and self-expression. Fuller will show learners how to draw and illustrate nature-inspired patterns and dance poses. It’s art. It’s music and dance. It’s creativity in motion.
• Thursday, January 26: Language and Laughter
  Giggles and guffaws are center stage with comedian and Impractical Jokers star James “Murr” Murray and comedy writer Carsen Smith. Laughter is the main course of the day as these two celebrity creators share their book Area 51 Interns: Alien Summer. Students will get the inside story on creating illustrated idioms and collaborating to create improv art.
• Friday, January 27: Keys to Kindness
  Cast members from the new movie musical Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile will read the book that inspired the film: The House on East 88th Street by Bernard Waber. Winslow Fegley, the 13-year-old actor and artist who stars as Josh Primm in the film, will make a special appearance to encourage children to embrace change by cooking up creative solutions and illustrating the keys to kindness that can lead us to unexpected and wondrous friendships.
• Friday, January 27: Crayola Creativity Week Livestreamed Assembly Event
  For kids, teachers, families, and everyone around the world who loves to create, this livestreamed event is headlined by special messages from Olympic Champion and three-time World Champion figure skater Nathan Chen and 13-year-old actress Lyric Hurd who plays Trudy in Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile. And to keep the creative momentum moving, this event includes the premiere of the new dance along from KIDZ BOP.
• Saturday, January 28: Self-Confidence and Student Voice
  Have fun with the whole family as Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, cofounder of the legendary hip-hop group Run DMC, will inspire kids to use their voices to build confidence and express themselves. Illustrator Tristan Tait will lead a draw-along for kids of all ages, creating doodles to help us learn to express our best selves.
• Sunday, January 29: Weathering Emotions
  TODAY Show cohost and meteorologist Dylan Dreyer and illustrator Rosie Butcher share their book Misty the Cloud. Kids will learn about words that can describe both the weather and human emotions such as sunny, stormy, turbulent, and calm. Art activities are part of the day’s forecast as the whole family creates cloud characters based on science and use layered art materials to create a weather scene.

Participation is free, flexible, and filled with fun!

Teachers, librarians, and families can access complete details and register online at www.crayola.com/creativityweek. Last year, for the inaugural Creativity Week celebration, more than 12,500 schools, classrooms, libraries, and homes participated in the inaugural 2022 Crayola Creativity Week , reaching more than 2 million students and 115,000 educators in all 50 U.S. states and 26 countries around the world. Educators’ experiences are exemplified by these quotes: “Students enjoyed expressing their ideas through illustration! The power of the imagination is priceless!” and “Wow! My students really understood yesterday’s challenge. It seems we may have some future authors and illustrators in our class!” We hope you will join and enjoy the festive fun in 2023 and make this year even better!

To help educators plan their own Creativity Week celebration and activities, Crayola has made curriculum-aligned activities, video resources, and standards alignments available on the Creativity Week website. Detailed FAQs can help answer any questions participating educators may have and help secure buy-in from administrators and school or district leaders. Participate every day or just tune in on select days for specific themes––whatever works best for your students and schedules.

Share your own and your students’ experiences and activities­­––and follow along to see what other classes are doing––by using the hashtag #crayolacreativityweek on social media.  Artwork and projects created by students in grades pre-K–12 and shared along with the #crayolacreativityweek tag might end up on Crayola’s Student Gallery!

Use Creativity Week to turn the last week of January into a celebration of reading, writing, drawing, dancing, dreaming, singing, and acting. Let students explore new career connections, new ways to innovate, and new ways to express and receive real kindness. It’s a colorful way to encourage every child’s aspirations, curiosity, and ability to solve problems. And that’s how beautiful possibilities begin.

Let’s get creative!

Nyla, a seventh-grade student, chooses e-books during class to hide from peers her favorite series, The Notebook of Doom, which is well below her current grade level. Lincoln, a high school junior grappling with his sexual identity, bypasses the school library reference desk to search the online catalog for e-books with gay protagonists. Mr. Dicken, a first-year elementary teacher, hesitates when prompted to provide family email addresses to a digital reading platform promising free access to popular picture books.

Nyla, Lincoln, and Mr. Dicken illustrate that digital materials can provide desired privacy in some scenarios while creating problems in others. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, English language arts (ELA) teachers have increasingly relied on digital materials and online tools to expand student access to books and content, facilitate online collaboration, and deliver learning experiences. Here we provide five recommendations for teachers committed to protecting student and family privacy.

Honor e-books in addition to print materials

E-books became a solution for getting books in the hands of readers who faced pandemic restrictions. Scholastic shared in their 2020 Teacher & Principal School Report that the shift to distance and hybrid learning doubled teachers’ desire for e-books from 15% to 31%. E-books, in addition to providing instant access, often have accessibility features that support emerging and striving readers. For example, students can enlarge and mark up text, enable text-to-speech, and modify the display contrast. 

A frequently overlooked advantage of e-books is that readers can download and enjoy titles without judgment from peers. Consider students like Nyla wanting to conceal their reading level. The placement of reading levels on book spines, a debatable practice, is nonexistent with e-books. The American Association of School Librarians cites the protection of student privacy in their position statement against the labeling of print materials with reading levels. For students like Lincoln, curious about sensitive topics such as gender identity, e-books afford the luxury of reading without peers viewing book covers or making assumptions about the reader. Teaching how to locate and access e-book options can help match students with books that meet their instructional needs and personal interests.

Avoid providing family email addresses to third-party apps

ELA teachers in school districts without a managed e-book collection may lean heavily on what are marketed as free digital libraries. Libraries, such as Epic and Vooks, provide free accounts for teachers and student access to popular e-books during school hours; however, the tradeoff is the reliance on paid home subscriptions to sustain their business model. Equity-minded teachers can establish transparency by explaining how these digital platforms operate and assuring families they will not supply home email addresses to third-party apps or services. These companies may advertise to families who then may feel pressure to sign up through email solicitation. While some free digital libraries will remain classroom favorites, we recommend inquiring with your school and public library to seek additional options for digital reading platforms.

Slow down on the social media celebrations

Social media can be a powerful vehicle for teachers looking to grow their personal and professional learning networks. Protocols become ambiguous, however, when teachers leverage social media to connect with families and share classroom celebrations. For example, it was common for teachers to enthusiastically post screenshots of virtual meetings throughout the pandemic. These online images often included boxes of student faces labeled with first and last names, a violation of student privacy under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Common Sense Education reminds teachers to be mindful of how social media posts can commercialize a classroom. They explain that while social media can be a great way to offer feedback to developers of educational products, teachers may want to think twice about featuring students in posts that promote specific products or services. We recommend that teachers continue to celebrate learning via social media but pause before posting photos that match student names with faces.

Teach students healthy online habits

Students, too, can take steps toward protecting their privacy in the ELA classroom. Teachers may consider modeling for students how to wipe the browser history on a shared device, how to privately search the internet through an incognito window, or how to install browser extensions that block online activity trackers. These small habits don’t take long to demonstrate and have the potential to stick with learners long after they leave the classroom. Teachers looking for expanded lesson plans on maintaining privacy online can search Common Sense Education, Learning for Justice, and code.org.

Consult district curriculum leaders when trying new tools

Edtech industry efforts to provide free trials of digital tools throughout the pandemic have left many wondering what schools, teachers, and families gave in exchange. The answer may be data. Free digital libraries mentioned above should not be singled out for their targeted marketing. Common Sense Education found inconsistent privacy practices across the industry as part of their 2019 State of Edtech Privacy Report. Some district curriculum leaders are now examining privacy policies when evaluating whether educational apps and resources are useful for meeting instructional goals. Checking for certifications such as the Student Privacy Pledge and iKeepSafe can be one strategy for verifying a company’s commitment to protecting student privacy.

As pandemic restrictions ease in the classroom, we hope teachers will continue to incorporate their favorite digital tools for collaboration and instruction. Teachers and librarians shouldn’t abandon technology to avoid student privacy issues. Future-focused ELA teachers will recognize there are two sides to the privacy coin. Some of these tools will provide new opportunities for protecting student privacy while others will create new vulnerabilities. It is a shared responsibility to implement safeguards to keep student data private.

Kristin M. Patrick is a past president of the Indiana State Literacy Association and a technology integration coach with Noblesville Schools.

Tara L. Kingsley is an associate professor of education at Indiana University Kokomo.