Week 6: J (4, 5, 6), Javorsky, Wolsey

Javorsky discusses the wide variety of features and formatting that appear in digital stories. I have noticed that high quality e-books can be difficult to find when putting together my listening center. Does anyone have a good resource for digital stories (especially ebooks or ebook apps)? Right now I use Apps Gone Free.

Johnson’s table 5.4 shows a list of criteria when choosing digital texts. What criteria do you/would you/could you use to pick what digital stories your kids read? Some criteria that I have for ebook apps are: 1. Does it read the words to the kids? 2. Does it highlight the words for the kids? 3. Is this a book that I would read aloud to my class? 4. Are there features that may be too distracting for my kids (noises, effects, embedded games)?

I thought chapter 6 of Johnson was very interesting because I had not considered how important it is to directly teach children to comprehend the digital texts they are reading. One resource that I use whole group, small group, and individually with students is PebbleGo. It is an online encyclopedia for early childhood that reads to children and has multimedia includes videos, pictures, and other graphics. When I read an article whole group, I model and practice how to use the headings and pictures to preview the text, how to use context clues before checking the glossary for a term, etc. I sometimes have students draw a picture or write about a piece of new information or a interesting/favorite/confusing part to monitor comprehension and to help students practice communicating their comprehension. How do you/would you/could you model, practice, and assess children’s comprehension of digital texts?

Wolsey and Johnson both talk about the idea of using technology to build students’ vocabularies. This is an idea that I am struggling to figure how to fit into my own practice in kindergarten. How do you/would you/could you use new literacies to build support your child’s vocabulary?

The Three C's: Collaboration and Communication for Comprehension

I really liked the character journal activity using social networking. Related to this week's topic, it can foster both collaboration and communication, and like the article said, it connected to several learning standards. I think that it would be really interesting to combine this activity with blogging. Students can use blogs to reflect on their learning experiences with the social media project, and they can discuss connections between the text they are reading and their lives. Like the chapter in Reading, Writing, and Literacy mentioned, blogging can help foster a classroom community, and the collaborative and reflective aspects of it could support their learning with the inferential aspects of social media project. They could also provide research sources and give each other feedback in the form of a discussion that does not intrude on the social media page itself.

I love the King/Queen of the Day idea discussed in chapter 3. Obviously in my setting as a high school teacher, it would have to be tweaked. I think it could be a great way to build the classroom community, and it would be an awesome opportunity to spotlight students who have shown exemplary skill at a particular activity or who have something unique to contribute to their peers' classroom experiences.

To answer my question below about the IRA Digital Discussions article, I would love to go into my English classes tomorrow and have them collaborate to create a 3-minute podcast. We are reading House on Mango Street, which has very short, poetic chapters that are best read aloud. I plan to have my students write their own "chapter" based on their experiences in a week or two, and I would love to have them experiment with punctuation and flow while they read their work aloud. 

Some things to think about (you don't have to answer all of these):
- How do you think digital storytelling supports students' literacy learning?
- In what ways can online communication support students' ability to make inferences in ways that traditional activities do not necessarily support?
- What potential is there for using social media in your teaching situation?
- On page 31 of Reading, Writing, and Literacy, there is a great list of phrases that help build the classroom community. What language resembles the kind that you do/would use in your classroom? What language do you not use that you could implement to foster a better classroom community?
- The IRA Digital Discussions article lists several platforms that can be used for educational purposes. Based on your current teaching unit (or one you've taught in the past, if you are not currently teaching), which one would you pick if you were to use one of them in your classroom tomorrow? How would you use it?
- In your current/past teaching situation, would you find it more beneficial for students to have synchronous discussions or to have asynchronous discussions online? For what purpose would you use them?
- Are there any questions you'd like to address face-to-face Saturday?

WEEK 4 - digital texts and new literacies

The readings for this week all asked the same question - how do we plan to integrate technology into our lessons while at the same time remaining true to the state standards?

Reading Today

Education is changing through the use of technology, but it does not mean that our students are. This article had some very interesting points about different assumptions that some teachers make about the use of technology in the classroom. Contrary to popular belief, many students do not know how to use technology tools (even if they have access to them) and incorporating technology does not automatically make for a great lesson. I had a professor tell our class once that technology can make a good teacher great... but that is only if the teacher is good to begin with. The teacher must have the knowledge to implement the technology and the teaching knowledge to be able to attend to her students and meet their needs. We also need to spend time to make sure students know how to use the technology tools before they use them. Using a new literacy tool is different from using an older literacy tool, and even advanced students may struggle. We need to know that and be attentive to the issue.

We also need to make sure we know WHY we are using the technology and not just using it because it looks good. We need to work with other teachers and get their ideas on integrating tech in the classroom and be informed together.

Hutchinson

One interesting part of this article spoke of the frustrations teachers sometimes have with technology. Sometimes, it seems easier to not use technology because it you don't use it, it can't break! There are times that troubles with technology, or our confusion or the confusion of our students can get in the way of the lesson. I know that I have experienced those moments when technology stops working and I had to make adjustments. I have also experiences moments when explaining how to use a piece of technology or program got in the way of the real teaching.

Although digital tools can frustrate teachers, I think we need to think of ourselves as constant learners and adapters to technology. From the article, the authors say that "digital tools and environments alter what it means to be literate". This is absolutely the case. And, like it or not, the digital age is not going anywhere. This is why the integration of digital tools and new types of literacies in our classroom is so important.

The planning framework TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) is a way for teachers to plan a meaningful and complete lesson that includes elements of technology, pedagogy, and content. Until this class, I had not heard of this framework for teaching, but it absolutely makes sense and is similar to other frameworks I have used. As with all lessons, we need an instructional goal to know what the students need to learn, we need to know how we are going to teach the students to reach our goals, we need to figure out our tools we need for the lesson and how these tools will aid instruction, we need to know potential issues with the tools we are using, and we need to know how instruction will change if there are any issues with the tools used. I also like the idea of writing a reflection on the lesson after the fact to note how it went and if I would do anything differently.

BABR (chapter 2)

The chapter mentions another planning framework - substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition model. This model makes it easy for a teacher to substitute a digital tool for a non-digital one. Augmentation allows students to demonstrate their learning in some way. Recording students in some way can allow for students to become teachers themselves and share their learning with their peers or even the internet! Technology is changing the way learning is taking place and knowledge is shared.

We need to teach students to use digital texts and tools the same way we teach them how to use and comprehend books. We need to teach students to use the same skills and strategies that they use for physical books for digital texts as well. Such as making connections between texts and their own life, looking at the text from different perspectives, and learning how to select appropriate texts.

Digital tools can be so helpful to assist with instruction inside the classroom, but also can assist with communication outside the classroom. A classroom blog, website, or blog can be helpful to provide students and parents with useful information that they can access at home.

We know that choice can be a huge motivator! I love the idea of letting student choose which technology tool they will use for their learning. How fun! We can also let students choose how they will show what they learned.

The part I really loved is the section on helping students who are struggling or have disabilities with technology in the classroom. How powerful is it to be able to use a digital tool to show students something that they cannot experience in person! There are some kiddos who simply do not have the background knowledge to comprehend certain texts. It can be made more difficult if that student is an English Language Learner or from a different country. Providing the students with texts that include images, video, and audio can bring the text to life. There are so so many ways to differentiate using technology!!!

Questions open for discussion!!
1.  Do any of you keep a teacher reflection journal? I love this idea!

2.  Have you or anyone you know had success with a flipped classroom format? How does this work for students who may not have much or any access to a computer outside the classroom?

3.  Do you spend as much time teaching students how to read digital texts as you do teaching them to read printed texts?

4.  I love technology as a tool for differentiation, but one worry I do have is other kids seeing a student use technology and think it is a privilege and he/she is getting special treatment. How can I prevent this?

Thanks ladies!!

Week 3 (J2, Bruek, O'Byrne)

This week's readings have me thinking about literacy tools in new ways. Both the TPACK and the IRT models of incorporating technology into everyday instruction show us that the purpose of using new literacies is to deepen student knowledge of content. The seamless merging of content, technology, and pedagogy seem like common sense as I think about use of new literacies in my classroom (they are meant to deepen content knowledge - duh!). But when I began thinking about the reality of how we use technology in my school building, I realized that what seems to be so simple and straightforward is not happening in classrooms at all. Instead, teachers are using laptop carts and iPads to almost just "entertain" students because they are simply playing games and using interactive gaming websites to practice skills. Content is not being thought of as a guiding force for using the technology in the first place. It's almost as if students are just getting play time, so that the teacher can work with small groups or assess a group of students, which I understand the need for, but then the technology is not being used to deepen any content knowledge at all. Do you guys see this in your buildings as well? Or are teachers using technology in ways that either assess, or build upon content knowledge? Does it look different at the secondary level, Angela?

One program my school used to utilize, and that almost served as a middle ground between what I see teachers doing in my building and the IRT model, was tickettoread.com. One this website, students were reading stories and assessed on comprehension strategies to build their 'club house'. The students loved how interactive it was, and teachers loved that students were deepening their comprehension through practicing on digital devices. We were able to teach them to highlight text and search new vocabulary words, also. It wasn't the perfect program, but it served a great purpose if used in the right way. We were so sad when our administration decided not to buy licenses for our building again! Something else that I have downloaded onto my phone that can be used to practice comprehension skills is the app called Epic! On this app on my iPhone, I can download books from the Epic! library for students to read on my device. Each book has a GE reading level, lexile level, and most of them even have AR quizzes for them (another program my school utilizes). I allow certain students to use my phone to read in the hallways during bathroom breaks, etc. and they absolutely love it! This isn't following a TPACK or IRT model of integration, but it does provide good practice for my kiddos. Has anyone taught or used the TPACK model to integrate technology into their classrooms, for the purposes of deepening student knowledge? How so?

In the Bruek and O'Byrne articles, I found the idea of the open learning network very interesting, too! It seems to get pretty tricky when thinking through sharing licenses and things, but it made me think of the way so many teachers use teacherspayteachers.com to reuse and reinvent things for their classrooms. I know this isn't a way to share strategies and experiences with other educators, but this is the closest thing I know that related to what the articles were saying. Has anyone had experience with Open Education Resources that support access to knowledge for teachers and students?

Week 2 (Knobel, J1, BABR 1, Reading Today Mandarin Art)

While reading, I had a realization about how critical it is to expose students to and empower them with digital tools early and often. Some students come into the classroom with a great deal of experience in using digital tools, while others have had very limited experiences/access outside of school. The sooner we close the gap in basic background knowledge/experience, the more powerfully technology can be used to foster new literacies in all students.

Even though Writer's Workshop and Author's chair usually involve more traditional methods of writing, I noticed that these routines could be a great way to model and practice skills needed for new literacies. For example, as children write for and interact with their peers as an audience, they are generating creative ideas, communicating their ideas through written words, oral expression, and drawings, and and reflecting upon their writing after receiving feedback. These are all important skills that teachers must help students develop so that they can use the same skills with digital technologies both inside and outside the classroom.

Below are some questions I had while reading:

1. What skills, knowledge, processes do you think are most important to equip students with in order for them to develop new literacies? How can we help students develop these abilities through traditional and digital means?

2. How do we encourage students to use digital tools as resources in the classroom in addition to traditional resources (word wall, classroom library, reference books)?

3. How do we help students view digital resources as tools for information, communication, reading, and writing as opposed to for entertainment such as games, videos, etc.?