C
& R chapter 11
In this chapter, the authors
highlight some the challenges that teachers might experience when teaching
writing. One of the number one challenges faced by teachers is having students
who refuse to write because it is too hard or boring. In order to help solve this issue, the author
makes the following recommendations. Before students value writing, they have
to see the importance that it plays in their own lives. The teacher can provide
the students with authentic opportunities to write such as writing letters,
opinions on real life issues that are important to them, or completing tasks
through writing. Another way to engage writers is provide them with choices in
what they write about it. For example, instead of providing students with one
prompt from which to write, the teacher can allow the students to choose from
multiple prompts. The authors also suggest providing choices for students when
they can complete spelling or handwriting pages. Teachers can also keep a file
of students writing, so that they can visually see their growth over time as a
writer. A second challenge for teachers has to do with having limited writing
resources. The authors answer to this question is use the resources provided in
this book as well as online. The third
challenge that teachers may experience when it comes to writing is finding time
to teach it. I agree with the authors in that writing instruction is very
important and should not be neglected, because there is a lack of time. One way
teachers can fit writing into their schedules is to integrate writing within
other subjects throughout the school day. Teachers can also incorporate writing
time into literacy center activities. A fourth challenge mentioned is trying to
meet the needs of all the diverse writers in your classroom. The authors
explain how small groups can help to differentiate writing instruction.
However, I do agree with the authors when they explained that even in small
group settings it is still hard to meet every student’s individual needs.
Therefore, sometimes the teacher needs to make time to conference one on one with
students as well. This can be done during literacy centers, or while other students
are writing or illustrating their pieces. While explicit teacher instruction is
needed by all students, the teacher can also teach students to help each other.
Sometimes talking about writing with others can help writers to get new ideas.
Classmates can also help each other with spelling words. The authors suggest
spending an hour a day with writing where part of the time is spent for whole
class instruction and the rest of the time is spent with small groups. However,
some days teachers may want their students to work on a piece for an hour of
uninterrupted time.
In my own classroom, I vary the
lengths of times that students write for. Sometimes we do quick jots, but other
times we sit and write for an extended amount of time. I do think I need to be
more mindful and make sure that my students are writing more everyday though. How closely does your class schedule for
writing each day reflect the schedule on page 189?
In your experiences as teachers,
do you have any other strategies to help with any of the four challenges
mentioned in this chapter?
Prior to reading this book, what
are some ways you have overcome the lack of resources available to you in helping
you effectively teach writing?
How did you think this chapter
was related to the new literacies articles? In my opinion, the first idea that
popped into my head was how these new literacies may help to engage some of our
writers who complain that traditional writing is boring and/or too hard.
Free Play or
Tight Spaces? Mapping Participatory Literacies in Apps Article
This
article forces the reader to take a moment and look at the apps that students
are using and how effective they are at developing literacy practices that
allow children to participate in digital cultures. One phrase mentioned in this article that I
hadn’t heard before was “app gap”. Although there has been a rise in technology
usage and purchases this is not true for all people. Research from a study showed
that only 35% percent of lower income families downloaded apps. On the other
hand, 75% of upper income families reported downloading apps. Those numbers are
strikingly different, and contribute to the app gap. The author stated that
some children may not even know what an app is. As teachers, we will have to
work to close the app gap. I think districts will need to provide teachers with
professional development opportunities to explore these apps and see how they
could be used in the classroom. The author suggests using a rubric that considers six dimensions of participatory literacies
to compare apps in regards to how learners actually use them. The six areas
are: multiplayer, productive, multimodal, open-ended, pleasurable, and
connected. I liked that the author took an ideological approach to designing
the rubric. The researchers saw literacy as taking place beyond the walls of
the school, so that it also factors in their backgrounds and cultures of
learners while also involving communicative systems. When selecting apps for students, the authors
seemed to favor apps that also mimic what teaching looks like in the classroom.
The authors suggests picking apps that allow students much creativity with production
of content, are multimodal and multisensory, have open-ended possibilities, and
allow children to collaborate and share across networks. All of those ideas
seem to go along with current teaching styles. In that we try to provide students
with opportunities to learn that are similar to what they will experience in
the real world work force. It seems as
if the author is trying to say that we need to view literacy learning from apps
in this same way, in that the apps isn’t just scratching the surface that it
really requires the students to delve deep into whatever it is they are
learning about.
After reading this
article, what apps do you feel are most beneficial for your students and which
of the six areas do they meet?
What
apps do you use that allow students to work collaboratively with one another?
If you
do not provide opportunities for students to use apps, how might you
restructure your current classroom practices to support collaboration, production,
connectivity, and other dimensions of participatory literacies?
Letting
Go of Stand Alone Technology Article
This article started off by
explaining that teachers may feel overwhelmed with the idea of technology
instruction while also having to teach all of the other curriculum, therefore
we need to find ways to integrate technology into the curriculum. One way of
doing this can be during literacy center time. At my school, students have to
use an online differentiated reading program and we do this during our center
time, because we do not have a computer lab. Integrating technology into the
curriculum during this time has been very helpful. However, after reading this
article I realized that I can do so much more than I currently do to
effectively achieve curricular integration.
In order to integrate the two,
one can use the SAMR model which is four levels of technology integration:
substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition. The substitution
level simply means that the task at hand isn’t changed but the tool used to
complete the task is changed. The example given in the article is reading on a
tablet versus print. I also think you could say that writing with pencil/paper
versus typing what you would write would also be an example. Augmentation is
the next level, in which technology is used as a tool, but also changes the
function of the task a bit. The previous two levels are referred to as
enhancements because they enhance the curriculum. Whereas the next two levels
are called “transformations” in the sense that technology is integrated with
the curriculum. The third level is the modification level in which the task is
redesigned and extended to incorporate the student’s use of technology. The
last level is redefinition, in which there is a completely new task all
together using the technology to do so.
In order to reach the fourth level, teachers need to provide young students
with opportunities at the lower enhancement levels to build up to the
transformation levels. When thinking about integrating technology into the
curriculum the author made an important point explaining that teachers need to
be sure and explicitly teach students the content and how to use the
technology. I liked the sequence that
the author suggested of explicitly teaching the literacy content first, and
then using the apps for guided and independent practice.
There are so many great ideas listed this article that I can’t wait to try out in my own class! I especially love the QR idea of letting students type their book reviews and then printing and taping them inside the books using QR Crafter the QR Stuff web-site. The notability app is also interesting, but I have never used it. I will admit that while I love all of the ideas it is a bit overwhelming especially the audio and video components. I definitely will need to familiarize myself with these tools more, because I really do think they will allow for deeper student learning and engagement
I also really liked how the
author mentioned using wiki spaces to have students publish writing, and
explained how students could give tips and comment on peer’s writings. I have
never done this, has anyone allowed their students to use this app?
Has anyone used any of the center
activities mentioned in their own classroom that help students reach the
transformation levels? If not, which activities are you most excited about
trying out in your own classrooms?
E-Books and
E-Book Apps: Considerations for Beginning Readers
This article was very
interesting. I had never thought to consider the features of ebooks and how
they might help or hinder emergent and early readers. I also was unaware that
there were so many apps available from which students can read ebooks. When
using these books in the classroom or for guided reading, it is important for
the teacher to consider the levels at which the student is reading at and
closely match the reader and text. Some E books are leveled, but if you are
using the free app Unite for Literacy, the books are organized by topic versus
level. Understanding the characteristics
of certain levels and of readers in the emergent and early reading phases will
help a teacher to know which books are appropriate. The teacher also needs to
be aware of the features in the book and explain to the students how these
features work and decide whether those features are helpful or not. As I was reading this, I couldn’t help but
think of how these eBooks would help my struggling third grade readers that
read at first grade levels. I especially liked the feature that allows the
students to read with or without narration. This feature would help to
differentiate activities at reading centers. For example, if students were struggling
to reading and asked to complete a book review at a center, being able to hear
the book would enable them to do this more effectively. Another helpful feature
that some of the ebooks offer is a tool that allows the readers to record
themselves and send this to the teacher. The author also suggested peers
listening to each other and providing feedback on fluency and expression. I
also really liked that Unite for Literacy offers the books to be read in
various languages, as this would be very helpful for ELL students. When the students choose this feature, they
have a narration button for their native language as well as English so they
can go back and forth if they’d like. When looking around on this site, I
noticed that the books could be read in many languages, however not all books
are available. The written language will only match the language for Spanish and
English narrations.
Does
your district use any of the following eBook programs mentioned in the article
(Who Can Read? Raz-Kids, (Learning A-Z), PMe Collection, Unite for Literacy)?
What have your experiences with these texts been like?
How do you incorporate eBooks in your own classroom?
C & R Ch 11
ReplyDeleteFor my group, writing is hard. The actual physical process of writing, not just creating ideas. I also believe that due to language delays--this impacts their ability to express ideas and thoughts. For my younger group, I do have centers that focus on writing tasks ,the authors also mentioned the Florida Center for Reading Research on page 187--I also highly recommend this website--the resources are wonderful. I also try to incorporate writing into other areas due to time constraints, for example-my older group is writing a "postcard" about Devils Tower in Science class--since we are working on understanding the three different types of rocks.
Karen,
DeleteI've always hear how great the FCRR activities are. I've looked around their site before but I just seem to forget to use it sometimes. What resources are your favorite to use?
I also use activities provided by the Florida Center for Reading Research. There are great lesson ideas and materials to produce that centralized on a specific literacy skill. My students had difficulties understanding syllables and the site has various activities that are reproducible for teacher-use.
DeleteI try to incorporate writing into the classroom as much as possible as well. My literacy centers are filled with writing opportunities, like paragraph writing, sticker/squiggle story, story writing, etc. Like the chapter mentioned, I include many choices for my students to engage in writing, whether it be writing prompts or writing activities. Whatever they are interested in, they can work on the writing activity during their independent writing time.
In a perfect world, providing one-on-one instruction for each student in writing and other academic aspects would be best practice. But considering classroom conditions and limited instruction time, small group instruction is so beneficial compared to whole group writing instruction. In small groups, you can really focus on content of composition, structure, and even handwriting. I like to mix my groups up every once in awhile so when I have my advanced students in a group, they can assist me with the other students that need assistance and guidance.
Jamie,
DeleteI have focused mostly on the phonological awareness ones--there are quite a few! I have printed some of them and store them in sturdy plastic zipper bag labeled. This way I can easily pull when I need to supplement a lesson.
E-books article
ReplyDeleteI have used Raz-Kids and Learning A-Z in the past but not this year. Most of my students have enjoyed using the Raz-Kids, but after a while their interest seems to wane. I also use an app called EPIC (I think it's free)--it has a bunch of books at different levels, some read aloud and others don't. The app my students have enjoyed the most was STORIA from scholastic. With certain books there are activities to complete on some of the pages. However, Scholastic reorganized it and the books are not cheap. I also only have one iPad available for my group.
I also use EPIC with my students Karen, I really like this app and I especially like that some of them are read-aloud (although I wish there was an option for read aloud for all their books). I only have one iPad as well (which I had to purchase myself), so I am not able to utilize apps with whole groups with the exception of an articulation app I have that you can pass around. I do think the reading specialist at my school has access to iPads and technology such as smart boards, etc.- however, she does not use any of it, preferring to stick with traditional methods. I might pass along some of these articles to her just to see what she thinks.
DeleteThank you for the suggestions! I'll have to try those out.
DeleteMelinda, I can't believe you only have one ipad. Do you have laptops. Ihave worked at two schools in Norman, and both were just about a mile or two apart, and the amount of technology greatly varies. At my current school, we have about 8 classroom computers. However, at my last school we only had two. I think in order to help with the app gap, teachers need to be able to have more access to computers, so we can put those tools into our student's hands more often. Our school also doesn't have a computer lab, because we had so many transfer students, that we had to turn it into a classroom. I realize that the technology is expensive. However, I think that it is neccessary to purchase these devices for our studnets. Especially the students who come from families who don't have access to technology at home. The percentages from the article were eye opening. The study had shown that only 35% percent of lower income families downloaded apps, but that 75% of upper income families downloaded the apps. I feel as if that is a huge difference, and if we don't allow these students to use the technology at school, we truly are widening that gap even more.
I have limited access to electronic use in my classroom, as we only have 2 classroom computers. I try to incorporate as much new literacies opportunities as I can, through rotation of students using the computer or signing up for a computer lab time during the week.
DeleteSmartyAnts is a new software that was purchased by the district for our grade level and it is wonderful! There's even an app version for the students to play at home or in the classroom. At the beginning of the game, the students are assessed and go through various games to find their reading level. Depending on their responses, the answers gear to their abilities. The more questions that are answered correctly, the harder the questions become. The more the students answer incorrectly, the questions either get easier or stay at the same level of difficulty until the assessment is over. Then the game takes the students through developmentally appropriate games and provides practice for their reading focuses. It's a great software and I highly recommend it if your school gives out grants!
Concerning the app gap of only 35% of lower income families that have apps and 75% of the upper income families, as the role of the teacher, we need to educate the students in this gap and support the ones that understand the skill, so they can stay up to date with the new literacies and how to operate technology. I have a student in my class that does not own a computer and had no idea how to use a key board or mouse. She now knows how to use a computer and locate information correctly after frequent practice during the school day.
Theresa,
DeleteI completely agree that teachers need to support students in order to help close the gap as much as possible. In 2017 its hard for some people to imagine anyone not knowing how to use a computer (especially a young person), but if you don't have one at home how are you going to be able to learn to use it except at school?
Jamie,
DeleteI do not have a laptop either. Classroom teachers do have access to an iPad cart that they can check out and use at specific times but as you can imagine the list fills up quickly. The library also has a set of iPads. None of the classroom teachers have laptops to my knowledge either. Being a Title I school, many of our students do not have these types of technology at home so I worry about the gap for these students.
Looking forward to the rest of the discussion.
ReplyDeleteI can definitely see the connection from CR Chp 11 to the New Literacies article. After reading your comment about using technology to help engage students who find writing boring or hard, I thought of a research article I used for my exploration project. They completed a study and compared how using an iPad affected motivation for reading. For the majority of the students, it did increase motivation. However, of the students who were not more motivated by using an iPad, it actually decreased their motivation in some cases. I found that interesting but not surprising. It seems like some proponents of using technology like iPads in their classroom will just absolutely love it. However, there are some who simply don’t prefer it, don’t understand it, etc. I found the article on the “app gap” very interesting. I had not heard of this term before.
ReplyDeleteEven as someone who likes and is familiar with technology, the thought of incorporating it into a classroom-especially since I’m not a classroom teacher, is a little daunting. This is why I really enjoyed reading the Letting Go of Stand Alone Technology article. I had never heard of the SAMR model before and makes complete sense. After reading this I realize I have mostly been on the substitution and augmentation levels when using technology in instruction/therapy. I really liked the QR idea with book reviews as well. I think that’s a great example of how to incorporate technology into your lesson plans without having to drastically change your lesson plans. I have incorporated this into my therapy sessions and the students always respond well to them.
I agree it is a bit overwhelming. I definitely am thankful for the knowledge I gained from these articles, but still feel that I need more time with actually using the technology myself before I can know exactly how to implement and integrate into the curriculum. It’s so weird. Just last week our district had required that principals start doing trainings on the SAMR model. I honestly was very confused in the meeting about what it even was. The article helped me to better understand exactly what it is and what each level looks like. While reading about the transformation levels, especially the redefinition level, it made me think of those levels tend to lead themselves to guided inquiry type of units. It seems to me that the two go hand in hand. I also really liked the rubric in this article that was provided. I think that I will use it this next year with my kids. Another thought popped into my mind while reading this article, and I feel that I always struggle with having my kids spend time doing big projects online because they take so long to type! With all of these new literacies I wonder if typing classes will start to be taught in elementary grades. In our district, typing is not offered until middle school. I’m not sure if that is the norm. It just seems like having a little bit of knowledge about typing would help them to be able to be a little bit quicker with typing up their information.
DeleteIn regards to the technology either increasing or decreasing motivation, I’d have to agree with you. In Norman, we use an online differentiated reading program. The students take a level set test, and then have articles and questions to read and answer at their levels. This site also has various games for the kids to play, but they are instructed not to play the games during this time, so that they can spend more time reading. At that point, besides having to answer the questions and get automatic feedback, the students are literally at the substitution level because they are reading a printed page of a book on a screen. Some of my students frown when they have to use this site, and I’d definitely say it decreases their motivation to want to read. One of my little girls in particular, loves to read her books anytime she finishes early, but really dislikes having to do the online articles. I also think the article about the apps made a good point in pointing out that although the app may look great and have lots of bells and whistles (like the online reading program our district purchased), as teachers we really do need to look at these apps with a critical eye and make sure that they truly are helping our kids to go deep with the content and not just used solely for substitution purposes all the time.
DeleteEbooks and Ebook Apps can be every beneficial for beginning readers. Like the article stated, many ebooks provide a feature for students to listen to what is written in the text. As a beginning reader, there can be words that students may come across and put too much attention in decoding that they lose comprehension. However when the app allows students to touch the word and read it to them, they get to hear the sound of the word and read it. I can see how this can also hinder student development, if they were to touch every word and lose the practice of reading by letting the app read it for them. With this being the issue, I would find a balance for new literacy opportunities with traditional text.
ReplyDeleteThe app feature of listening to a self-recording can also be motivating for students. This feature reminds me of our use of fluency phones, except this can be played back. By listening to a self-recording, students can evaluate their reading fluency and improve and practice if they would like to improve.