Some Reflecting...
It has been five weeks since I asked the question: How will reading intervention change with 21st century learning? How will technology (ie: eBooks, podcasts, computers) affect reading strategies in students? After researching online, reading different articles, and reflecting on my own practice I am still not sure that I have a solid answer. It is nearly impossible to predict how technology will continue to advance and influence educational practices in the future. While the benefits of technology in the classroom are plentiful, I am still skeptical of our reliance on technology. I am not convinced that should forgo memorizing phone numbers, dates, or proper spelling because technology remembers it for us. However, in terms of reading intervention, I am optimistic that technology can help improve students’ reading levels and teachers’ effectiveness if it is used correctly. Technology can not take the place of an educated teacher or an involved parent but it can be used to reinforce and support student learning. With the use of technology, students can listen to audiobooks, practice phonics skills, and improve reading comprehension. Teachers can also improve their lesson planning, instruction, and assessment by incorporating technology. Technology in the classroom requires a management system whereby students understand and view computers, iPads, and tablets as learning tools instead of toys. I believe limiting or avoiding technology in the classroom is a disservice to our students. It is necessary to incorporate the use of technology in schools in todays society. Students must be prepared to work and live in a digitized world. Students are also often motivated by and engaged in the use of technology. Teachers should do their best to incorporate this technology in their classrooms to connect with student interest. For student learning to be most successful, a balance is still needed between computer use and social skills. Physical activity, parent involvement, communication, and empathy among peers are just some examples of student needs that cannot be met with the use of technology. Teachers should take time to learn about all of learning tools that support literacy strategies in the form of technology. If these tools are used along with effective teaching strategies, technology can help improve students’ reading development.
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Technology & Aboriginal Content For another PME class, I have been focusing on increasing Aboriginal content in our guided reading program. My classroom currently uses books from the Circle of Life literacy program. These paper books had me wondering if there are any apps or technology tools that can incorporate Aboriginal reading content in my classroom. Through my research I found four picture books funded by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education. I found these to be the most intriguing as Saskatchewan is the province I teach in. All of the books are free and available for download on iTunes and IOS. 1. Askî and Turtle Island 2. Nipi and Mother Earth 3. Kon and the Circle of Life 4. Tate and the Flyers Students listen to and interact with the stories through the tablet or computer screen. The tradition of oral storytelling is very important in First Nations and Métis culture. This is how language and traditions have been passed on for many years. These stories and the knowledge they hold are now preserved using technology. The books audio recordings were done by community educators and Elders, which preserves the oral history for future generations. All of the books are available in five different languages: English, French, Cree, Dene, and Michif. The stories are grounded in First Nations and Métis holistic perspectives on learning. All of the stories incorporate traditional beliefs and perspectives. Through the stories students learn about the many beings that live together on Earth, how all beings are interconnected, the Circle of Life, and the Medicine Wheel. These stories are a quick and easy (and free) way to combine Aboriginal content and technology in the classroom. I plan to download them now and use them during a listen to reading or technology station during literacy centers. What's Going On In Your Child's Brain When You Read Them A Story? Article by Anya Kamenetz https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/05/24/611609366/whats-going-on-in-your-childs-brain-when-you-read-them-a-story I was scrolling through a Facebook teachers page when an article caught my eye. What’s Going On In Your Child’s Brain When You Read Them A Story? is an online article that compares a child’s brain activity when they listen to a picture book, a cartoon, and an audiobook. 27 children, around the age of four, went into an FMRI machine and were presented with stories in three conditions: the audio only (audiobook), the illustrated pages of a storybook with an audio voiceover (listen to a picture book), and an animated cartoon. “The Goldilocks effect” explains that some kinds of storytelling may be "too cold" for children, while others are "too hot." And, of course, some are "just right.” Too Cold: While listening to the audiobook, language networks in the children’s brain were activated but there was less connectivity overall. Too Hot: When exposed to the cartoon, children’s brains were very active but there wasn’t a lot of overall connectivity either. Children did not comprehend the story as their brain was most focused on just following the cartoon. Just Right: The illustrated pages of a storybook with an audio voiceover provided the best environment for brain activity in this study. Children focused both on the language and on the picture to expand their understanding. Researchers saw increased connectivity among all networks studied in the children’s brains. 21st Century Learning: A concern for the researchers of this study is “"kids who are exposed to too much animation are going to be at risk for developing not enough integration.” When focusing on my overall blog question: how will technology affect reading strategies in students? this makes me slightly worried. We are seeing huge advances in online reading programs. If parents begin to chose audiobooks or a cartoon story over a traditional picture book, we will see an increase in reluctant readers whose brains struggle to get the most out of a book. For a listen to reading station in the classroom, teachers should attempt to use more “book on CD” style where the child listens to the words while holding the book in their lap. The CD will make a musical noise when it is time to turn the page. The Raz-Kids program will also suffice as the student can both see the picture and hear the words. Suggestion for Parents: “In an ideal world, you would always be there to read to your child. The results of this small, preliminary study also suggest that, when parents do turn to electronic devices for young children, they should gravitate toward the most stripped-down version of a narrated, illustrated ebook, as opposed to either audio-only or animation.” There is no better place than your lap to grow a reader. TedTalks: How to Inspire Every Child to be a Lifelong Reader Alvin Irby https://www.ted.com/talks/alvin_irby_how_to_inspire_every_child_to_be_a_lifelong_reader#t-26692 On this rainy Wednesday morning, I found myself scrolling through TedTalks looking for something inspirational. I came across Alvin Irby’s video titled “How to Inspire Every Child to be a Lifelong Reader”. While this video does not address technology and 21st century learning, it does focus on inspiring a love of reading in our millennial children. Irby is an African American teacher in the United States on a mission to “help young black boys identify as readers”. Irby has created a non-profit reading program called Barbershop books where he has created a child-friendly reading space in a variety of barber shops throughout the USA. Having books available in barber shops provides students with access to books and relevant reading models. If we are to help inspire children to identify as readers we need to forget about focusing on skills and moving from one reading level to another. Forcing reading lessons and memorizing a list of unfamiliar words will not inspire a love of reading in students. Irby calls for a need to exchange books from ones adults like for ones that kids want, ones that will make them laugh. Laughter from a book is a positive reaction to reading. According to Irby, laughter is “the number one thing children look for when choosing a book”. This makes me think of BJ Novak’s story, “The Book With No Pictures”. I can’t begin to count the number of times I have read this book to my Grade One students. This book contains no pictures but forces the reader to say ridiculous things such as, “My head is made of blueberry pizza!”. If their laughter is not enough of an indication of their love for this book, their repeated requests for me to read it confirms it. So to answer Alvin Irby’s question, “How can we inspire children to identify as readers?” we begin by giving them access to books that make them happy. We also have a duty to provide culturally competent books, ones that students can connect to on a real-life basis. One quote that stood out to me through this video was “Students shouldn't be viewed as empty buckets to be filled with facts but as co-creators of knowledge.” Irby believes teaching and learning should be two way, students can be both the learner and the teacher. This connected with the definitions we created in Module 2. Teaching is best received when the instructor understands the needs of the learner and why the information should be taught or shared. Learning is connected to teaching and is considered the absorption of knowledge, skills, understanding, and information. Teaching and learning are both met when students are active and engaged participants. What Innovation Looks Like in an Elementary School Article by: AJ Juliani http://ajjuliani.com/innovation-in-elementary-school/ AJ Juliani writes his article from the perspective of a K-12 Technology Staff Developer. His expertise lies in the middle and high school years but, through collaboration, he has found a way to make his work in the elementary area a success too. Elementary teachers are using innovative strategies around the same concepts and topics as high school teachers. The biggest difference in innovation lies around their use of technology. A big misconception we have about innovation is that it is always directly related to technology. Juliani provides readers with a list of his favourite ways educators are innovating at the elementary level, with or without technology. 1. Innovative classroom rules and behaviour management techniques - A Kindergarten teacher who does not use any rewards or a behaviour management system. Find a system that allows students to be in control of their behaviour and their consequences. 2. Redesign your classroom for a new and improved learning environment - Create a “brain-friendly” environment with calming colours. By creating a comfortable environment, students are more likely to feel relaxed and at home. Some teachers also ask for help from their students when setting up a classroom, where would they like to see things go? 3. Create unique lessons that bring the community together - Juliani mentions a 5th grade teacher who hosted a Math Fair after school. The expectations were clear and participation was mandatory. He challenges us to find ways to bring our community into the learning process on a regular basis. 4. Give and receive feedback to students in an innovative way - Self-reflection and peer feedback are important areas in the elementary classroom that are often missing. Find innovative ways to bring these concepts back into your classroom to build a positive learning environment, improve learning, and provide critical feedback. A few ways that are outlined in the article are called Passion Time, Genius Hour, and Quality Boosters. 5. Hold an innovative class meeting - Most elementary classrooms start their day with a class meeting or morning message. This simple concept can become more innovative by giving students more ownership over the meeting. Students can run the meeting or take part in the rule making. Putting a unique spin on an everyday task can make a huge difference to the learning environment. AJ Juliani shares a few more ideas throughout his article. However, what struck me as the most interesting was how he doesn’t mention any technology through the first five examples. I don’t know why I was associating innovation with technology. My personal definition of innovation was: Innovation is a vital process in today’s society. Innovation is the process of adding to, altering, or modifying an existing idea, product, or concept in order to improve it’s current use. Innovation takes the existing idea and makes changes to make it more effective, useful, and relevant. No where in the definition does it mention technology. It is simply taking ideas from the classroom and changing it slightly to make it more meaningful and interesting to our students. Sometimes innovation seems like a more daunting task than it really is. More Than 12 Ways to Inspire Reading https://home.edweb.net/webinar/12-innovative-reading-ideas-new-ways-to-inspire-you-your-students/ Curriculum Consultant, Paige Jaeger provides viewers with an hour long webinar focusing on ways to inspire reading in students. The goal of her webinar is to provide teachers with ways to get students excited for reading. “Because it is an assignment” is not a good enough reason for students to want to read. Jaeger’s webinar focuses on (more than) 12 ways to inspire “millennial” students. 1. Give them a reason to read - Tying back to her introduction, “Because it is an assignment” is not a motivating statement for reluctant readers. Jaeger encourages teachers to hide the standard in a fun task. 2. Pretend Preface - Teachers can provide or have students create an introduction to a book they have read. Through this preface, students attempt to convince their peers to read the same book. 3. Virtual Book Discussions - Jaeger mentions the website, Trello, to engage in a virtual book discussion. The use of technology engages millennial students. 4. Humans of [My Book] - This is a take on Humans of New York where people are photographed with a brief description or story of their life. Students can write about characters in a book they are reading or create a Humans of (a time in history or city being studied). 5. Create book bubbles - This activity requires students to create a picture of a character with a speech bubble. The speech bubble may be used to describe the book, explain the main characters problem, or even give the antagonist the final word. Jaeger mentions Crazytalk Software or Blabberize as two online systems where students can add voiceover to their characters. 6. Author on Trial - This activity has students “ask” the author questions about setting, characters, problem, etc. They can determine if the author has provided sufficient answers or if they should be “condemned” to writer’s jail. 7. Diary of a Fly - This popular children’s series can move from a read aloud to research. Students can create a “voice” of something else, such as Diary of an Ant. Students are required to do some research to ensure their diary is fact-based. 8. Hold a Mock Newbery - Students can get “starred” books out from the library and create a battle of the books. Students can vote on their favourite and have an award for the winning book. 9. ELL Tools - As English Language Learner or English as a Second Language becomes more common in our classrooms, bilingual books can be used to inspire reading. Many of the old reading programs use books that are not culturally diverse. Schools should invest in bilingual or culturally appropriate books to engage the wide variety of learners in a classroom. 10. Book Tasting - By hosting a book tasting, students are introduced to a variety of different genres. Students can “taste” a bit of science fiction, mystery, action, or romance (depending on grade level of course). 11. Award Winning/Famous First Lines - Students can make a list of quotes from books they have read to get another reader hooked. 12. Inside vs Outside the Text - This piece connects to reading comprehension. Teachers need to ask fewer “based on evidence from the text” questions and more “wondering” questions. This allows students to think a little deeper or gives them a chance to research for a different answer. 13. Book Commercials - Again, Jaeger provides viewers with a website: tellagami.com to use with students. Students can create a commercial to advertise a book of their choice. 14. Incentives for Reading Challenges - Students and teachers can agree upon a reading challenge such as to read 25 books in a year. If students complete the challenge they are awarded with a prize that is of interest and value to that particular student. Some ideas Jaeger offers are “Limo Lunches” or Dance Passes. While Jaeger’s webinar was focused on higher level students, I still found her discussion interesting and valuable. Her big focus is getting students interested. While it sounds so simple, teachers know how difficult that small task truly is. By detailing “more than 12” ideas, Jaeger is equipping teachers with the tools to inspire reading in their classrooms. Innovations in Guided Reading After reviewing the article “Looking Back to Move Forward With Guided Reading” (Ford and Opitz, 2011) I did some reflecting on Guided Reading in the 21st Century classroom. Guided reading is defined as “reading instruction in which the teacher provides the structure and purpose for reading and for responding to the material read” (Harris and Hodges, 1995). A small group of students meet with the teacher and focus in on a reading lesson. Groups are designed more by student need or lesson focus as opposed to student ability. The reading lessons may focus on comprehension, vocabulary, letter sounds/word families, or perhaps improving fluency. Ford and Opitz (2011) summarize Guided Reading into 11 common understandings:
2 - For Guided Reading to be most efficient it should be administered by a skilled teacher. While technology in the classroom is used more and more, it cannot take the place of the classroom teacher during Guided Reading. Instead, technology can be used to better inform and equip the already “skilled teacher” - perhaps through online PD or availability to resources. 4 - Guided Reading does not make up the entire reading program, it is only one piece. A teacher’s reading program may still include aspects such as morning messages, word of the day, silent reading, Buddy Readers, whole group interactive practice on the Smart Board, and access to eBooks. 6 - Read, read, read! The best thing we can do for our students is give them opportunity to read and practice the skills they have been introduced to. Programs such as Raz-Kids, Epic Books, or even listening to books read by authors on Youtube all give students access to books in a 21st century way. While there have been many small changes to Guided Reading over the last 50 years, (Ford and Opitz, 2011), I do not see it changing drastically in the 21st Century. I believe innovations to teaching and technology will bring improved strategies and resources for teachers without changing the foundations of Guided Reading itself. Sources: Ford, M. P., & Opitz, M. F. (2011). Looking Back to Move Forward with Guided Reading. Reading Horizons, 50(4). Retrieved from https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1027&context=reading_horizons. Harris, T. L., & Hodges, R. E. (1995). The Literacy Dictionary. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Reflection 2: The Bias Against Creativity: Why People Desire but Reject Creative Ideas As innovation in teaching becomes more common, I was surprised by this article's findings. Creativity is usually seen as a positive trait in people yet Mueller et. al (2012) found that this "positive trait" is often unapproved by many people. I would consider myself a creative person, open to new and interesting ideas. However, I did experience resistance against a new idea just this past school year. The idea itself, in my opinion, wasn't overly creative but just something a bit different than what we had been doing in the past. Our elementary team focused in on our Guided Reading lessons and time slots last fall. We have an Education Assistant whose job is to work with students who struggle with reading. Her schedule is created by classroom teachers and individual students or small groups leave the classroom for a 15 minute block. We suggested having the EA come up to the classroom for a longer period of time and work in the classroom with different groups of students. The EA’s duties would not change and the teacher would be in charge of planning the literacy activities. The main difference would be the EA being transient instead of the students. I am not naive enough to believe that when I send my students down for "Reading Club" they go quickly and don't stop for a water break or to chit chat with a peer they meet along the way. Having the EA in the classroom would allow for her short time to be used in a more valuable way. The idea was met with great resistance, by both the EA and the administration. They believed “if it’s not broke don’t fix it”. As teachers I believe we make decisions based on what is best for our students. When new ideas are turned away so quickly, I feel as though the reason for the idea has not been fully understood. We were not unhappy with what the EA was doing but thought we could improve it with a very small change. Unfortunately, we have not yet had the opportunity to try our new method. Perhaps as we move through this course I will find a way to make our “creative” idea more appealing to others. A Deeper Look at the Raz-Kids Program As the school I work at supports the Raz-Kids online program (https://www.raz-kids.com/) I wanted to take this opportunity to further explore this computer program and how it relates to reading in the 21st century. The Raz-Kids website states that the program is a “teaching product that provides comprehensive levelled reading resources for students”. The teacher is able to set the level for each individual student so that they are reading books at their appropriate level. Each level is made up of ten or more eBooks. When the student has completed each of the eBooks and answered the comprehension questions they are moved onto the next level. If the teacher feels they are not ready, he or she may move the student back to repeat a level. As students read or listen to the online books and answer comprehension questions they earn points towards building a robot. This motivational aspect keeps students engaged and wanting to read through as many books as they can. Raz-Kids is a great resource to get students excited about reading. The question I am left with is how does the program act as a “teaching product”? I understand that this program provides students with the opportunity to practice their reading skills and the eBooks can be printed off and used in a Guided Reading group but does this program actual “teach” reading? I don’t believe that it does. Raz-Kids should be used to supplement and reinforces strategies that were introduced during teacher-instructed Guided Reading lessons, it cannot take the place of teacher instruction. While I do not feel Raz-Kids is a “teaching product” as the website indicates, it is a great tool to support reading used by teachers around the world. As technology becomes more popular in the classroom, teachers should embrace these online tools and use them to enhance student learning. Reflection 1: There’s Too Much to Teach: Cultural Wealth in an Age of Scarcity By Jane Roland Martin Despite being written in 1996, the worry Martin address is still very relevant today. A (likely exhausted) teacher was heard at a conference saying “We can’t do everything we’re supposed to, and you’re telling us to do more,” (Pg 4). I believe I’ve said those exact words myself just this year when talking about curriculum. The education system is faced with the issue of abundance, too much to teach and not enough time. Even on Facebook, parents can be seen posting about why teachers no longer teach kids to tie their shoes, to write in cursive, or to type on a keyboard. They do not understand the curricular time restraint and the wealth of knowledge it faces. Martin outlines the difficult tasks of determining what is relevant to teach in today’s society. While we may never agree completely, there is one subject I fear losing as we move through the 21st century. In Grade One students are beginning to use reading strategies, learn letter sounds, and develop phonemic awareness. Spelling is one subject that is intertwined throughout the reading process. Students use inventive or phonetic spelling to help sound out words and build their writing skills. It is believed that this phonetic spelling at an early age should not be corrected for dictionary spelling (Shubitz, 2017). While I believe strongly with this idea of building confidence through writing, it does make me wonder how important proper spelling will actually be in the future. With spell check and autocorrect being so common and popular today, will there come a point when proper spelling is no longer taught, expected, or required? If curriculum creators believe that spelling is no longer valuable when compared to the many other topics available could it be removed from the education system all together? If it is how will that impact the success of our future readers? Martin, J.R. (1996). There’s too much to teach: Cultural wealth in an age of scarcity. Educational Researcher, 25(2), 4–16. doi: 10.3102/0013189X025002004 Why Invented Spelling Matters Stacey Shubitz - https://www.weareteachers.com/invented-spelling/ |
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