Literacies Before Technologies: Making Digital Tools Matter for Middle Grades Learners

This practical book brings together coauthors Troy Hicks and Jill Runstrom with the voices of ten additional middle level educators (Grades 4-9) to explore applications of NCTE's Beliefs for Integrating Technology into the English Language Arts Classroom position statement in middle grades classrooms. Including chapters and vignettes that explore lessons and technologies for close and critical reading for literary analysis, writing to argue and inform, and considerations for remote and hybrid learning, the book follows a year in the life of Runstrom's ninth-grade English classroom. With specific lesson ideas and examples of student work, the book brings the entire Beliefs statement to life while also foregrounding the primary goal that we should consider "literacies before technologies," creating rich opportunities for reading and writing, enhanced with digital tools. An annotated bibliography is also included.