by Denise H. Stuart

Teachers today are revisiting instructional approaches and materials as they map and plan curriculum in response to the Common Core State Standards (2012) sweeping districts. Among areas of increased emphasis with these new standards are a focus on non-fiction text, higher level comprehension, and writing development (Calkins, Ehrenworth & Lehman, 2012). Blogs and resources are abundant online, and it is useful to have a guide to engage us in finding our way. Such is Tricia Stohr-Hunt, a blogger since 2006, inspired by young Alice in Barbara Cooney’s (1985) Miss Rumphius who travels the world and wants to make the world a more beautiful place. Stohr-Hunt offers background to this advertising-free blog and information about her own diverse life experiences from being a boat hand to middle school teacher. At her accessible, attractive, and well organized blog site, The Miss Rumphius Effect, this teacher educator discusses issues and ideas for teaching poetry, non-fiction and other literature for early to middle readers (Stohr-Hunt, 2013). She blogs on the value of writing to learn and offers engaging prompts to integrate writing throughout the curriculum. Engaging Educators, a professional development site that emphasizes “21st century students need 21st century teaching” notes The Miss Rumphius Effect as one of the “great literacy blogs to follow.”

This blog is easy to navigate and focused in content and discussion. The home page features timely issues and ideas. For example, as the school year ends and Dr. Stohr-Hunt reflects on its wind down with grading and tests, she shares poems that recall the year’s schooling experiences—humorous, serious, and divers—in review of collections of poetry and in excerpts of individual poems. As part of her “Poetry A:Z” section she blogs about baseball and poetry, and before that birds and biography. She includes links to downloadable writing activities and audio files of authors reading poems. From her home page one can “Browse by Content” using popular tags related to teaching content areas, books and reviews, poetry and a trip she took to China with an extensive photo gallery to give a feel of time, place and culture. Featured in this list are “Non-fiction Monday” with topics like the science of snow and bugs by the numbers and “Poetry Friday” that links poems to teaching ideas, reviews, and more. She offers an extensive set of interviews with children’s poets in “Poetry Makers” giving background information and insight into their poetry process and product. Another major heading, “Thematic Book List,” offers a variety of topics in Math, Science and Social Studies. A section in “Teaching” features ways to encourage reluctant mathematicians at home and one on thinking about graphic novels, among others. The topics are endless and thoughtfully developed. Stohr-Hunt annotates and commentates on individual and collections of thematic texts as she takes us along on her adventure, for example, finding herself on the floor of her office pulling books she is “CRAZY” about related to measurement. 

Not only does the visitor to her blog get an opportunity to read and discuss ideas presented but can travel with Stohr-Hunt as she purposefully links to other current sources of information. She shares “Blogs I Read” organized to focus on non-fiction, poetry, reading inclusively, on writing and publishing, “for and from the classroom” and more and she includes most recent posts. I.N.K. is one such link to a blog of “Interesting Non-fiction for Kids” and leads with a feature article on how to empower girls “with non-fiction, not t-shirts” (Salzman, 2013). The Non-Fiction Detectives is written by “two intrepid librarians [who] review the best nonfiction for children” (Potter & Capizzo, 2013). A list of popular labels helps to find relevant topics among the extensive reviews. The Miss Rumphius Effect blog proves to be a great place to start thinking and exploring to find additional ideas and materials as we continue to develop curriculum and bring high quality children’s literature into the lives of learners.

References:

Calkins, L, Ehrenworth, M, & Lehman, C. (2012). Pathways to the Common Core: Accelerating Achievement. Heinemann.

National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards. Washington D.C.: National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/

Potter, C. & Capizzo, L. (2013). The Nonfiction Detectives. Retrieved from http://www.nonfictiondetectives.com/

Stohr-Hunt, P. (2013). The Miss Rumphius Effect. Retrieved from http://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.com

Salzman, L. (2013). I.N.K. Interesting Non-fiction for Kids. Retrieved from http://inkrethink.blogspot.com/

Denise Stuart is from The University of Akron, Ohio. 

This article is part of a series from the Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG)

by Marilyn Moore

Technology has created valuable tools for the reading and writing classroom teacher. This article will focus on four types of teacher technology tools.

Sites for Teachers

Hundreds of sites exist that present teachers with resources. One of the sites most often used by my college students is the ReadWriteThink site. This site offers lesson plans, games, graphic organizers, and activities. (The International Reading Association partners with the National Council of Teachers of English and Verizon Thinkfinity to produce ReadWriteThink.org.)

Software for Teachers

Word-processing software is probably the most used software by teachers. Other software includes Inspiration which can be used by both teachers and students. It allows teachers to make their own graphic organizers. Software such as RubiStar allows teachers to create rubrics.

Online Communities for Teachers

Teacher Tube is an educator site for sharing content including educational videos, docs, audios, and photos for the classroom. The videos are organized into school subjects and different school levels – college, high school, middle school, and elementary. In a recent article, Kist (2013) points out that the Common Core Standard 6, Grade 8, states that in order to give students practice in collaborative writing, teachers need to use technology including the internet, blogs, or wikis to enable teachers to create lessons where students collaborate on projects such as persuasive writing tasks.

Technology Resources for Teachers

To design effective lessons and to meet literacy lesson objectives with deeper understanding, teachers are using iPads, websites, and SmartBoards. Moore (2012) reported that iPad activities that focus on reading and writing include discussion boards, research on websites, dictionary apps, note taking apps, peer editing, and group essays. We learn from Coiro and Fogleman (2011) that there are three types of websites: informational, interactive, and instructional. They contend that teachers need to use websites to design tasks that make learning meaningful and worthwhile.

SmartBoard use is a very popular technology tool. SmartBoards consist of a touch screen connected to a computer or projector. Software from SmartBoard allows students and teachers to use their hands and fingers to manipulate the screen. While technology tools for teachers are very motivating, it doesn’t necessarily help teachers know how to use them or what these new forms of teaching literacy entail. To keep up with the latest technology tools for teachers, it is important to attend professional development seminars and join professional organizations such as the International Reading Association.

References

Coiro, J., & Fogleman, J. (2011).  Using websites wisely.  Educational Leadership, 68(5), 34-38.

Kist, W. (2013).  New literacies and the Common Core.  Educational Leadership, 70(6), 38-43.

Moore, M. (October, 2012). Integrating iPads into the high-school curriculum. Reading Today Online, 1-2.  Retrieved from http://www.reading.org/readingtodayPublications.

Dr. Marilyn Moore (mmoore@nu.edu) is a Professor at National University in California and serves as the Faculty Reading Program Lead.

This article is part of a series from the International Reading Association Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).

by Jill Castek

Tablet devices such as the iPad promote anytime, anywhere learning and provide educators dynamic opportunities to connect school and home learning activities. Apps have unique affordances that promote maximum levels of interactivity. Coupled with tablets’ multi-touch screens, drawing capabilities, and the integration of audio across a seemingly endless variety of applications, the learning possibilities are endless.

This article showcases apps, specialized programs for tablets and other mobile devices, that help students access information, interpret and share information, and create their own multimedia products. The apps featured actively involve students in reading, writing, listening/speaking, illustrating and creating to support synthesis of ideas, and meaning making. For classroom examples illustrating how to use these tools strategically to enhance literacy and content learning, see Castek & Beach, 2013.

Concept Mapping with Popplet

Concept-mapping apps help students visually represent logical or causal relationships between ideas. Using concept-mapping apps, students identify a variety of keywords associated with an experience, topic, or issue and visually organize the logical relationships between these words. Students may insert the words into circles or boxes, drawing lines between ideas with spokes to which they insert subtopics. These connecting lines serve to define the logical relationships between ideas, for example, whether a subtopic serves as an illustrative example of a major topic.

In content area classrooms, concept mapping offers an important means of tracking concept development and supporting reflection. Popplet offers students a blank canvas on which to create connected nodes within a concept map and an interface that makes the revision process simple. The connected boxes can include images as well as words and can be easily moved around, connected/reconnected, and color-coded to show relationships. Popplet Lite is free at the iTunes store; the full version is $4.99.

Evidence Sorting with iCard Sort

In science and social studies, students are often asked to think in terms of a claim-evidence framework to frame an argument or express understanding. By providing opportunities for students to sort pieces of evidence to determine which pieces of evidence might be organized together to support the claim supports students emerging understanding of content. iCardSort allows students to sort, group, and order, ideas in preparation for writing or discourse activities. This app is offered for $5.99 at the iTunes store.

Annotating an Article with DocAS to Promote Active Reading

Reading actively promotes greater reading comprehension. DocAS is a tool that supports students in marking up reading material to show their emerging ideas. In this process, students are exposed to questions and connections that differed from their own, resulting in their acquisition of new ways of interpreting texts. The result of students’ active reading is a personalized archive that shows their thinking. DocAS can also be used as a personalized notebook for drawing, writing, and making connections. DocAS Lite is free at the iTunes store; the full version is $4.99.

Supporting Implementation

While apps can enhance curricular goals and support students learning in new and transformative ways, we need to be mindful about how to use these tools strategically in ways that best enhance our students’ learning.  It is important to recognize that the learning potential of these apps does not lie within the apps themselves, but rather is fostered by how teachers exploit them to achieve particular learning objectives such as collaboration, multimodal creation, and shared productivity.  Keeping in mind best teaching practices will help facilitate acquisition of content while also supporting the use of 21st century technologies that are essential to our students futures.

References

Castek, J. & Beach, R. (2013). Using apps to support disciplinary literacy and science learning.  Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 56 (7), 554 – 564.  Article podcast.

Jill Castek is a Research Assistant Professor at Portland State University with the Literacy, Language, and Technology Research Group. She can be reached at jill.castek@gmail.com.

by Monee Perkins and Peggy Coyne

In the September issue of the Reading Today Online TILE-SIG Feature, Monee Perkins and Peggy Coyne shared their thinking about Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and literacy in a New York City classroom. At that point Monee had just learned about the UDL Guidelines, and she was anticipating applying the principles of UDL to her instructional practices. Here are her reflections on UDL in her classroom.

Monee Perkins


Peggy Coyne

Using the UDL Guidelines as a framework for my instructional practices, I introduced two new tools and one instructional method, which I know have made a difference in my students’ performance. The 88 seventh grade students I teach range from below average to above average, but like many inner city students, they are not engaged with school. My greatest challenge for these students is engagement.

In the first segment of this article, I mentioned how excited I was to introduce Adobe Reader. I have not been disappointed. Students have used the annotation features to address complex text. For example, I introduced close reading of text with "Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin. I first had the students skim the article for unfamiliar words and using context clues define those words. The students were able to use a synonym for those complex words and include it in the article when they read. In addition, the annotation tool provided students with another representation for text commenting, they found it to be very efficient because they were able to use another way listen to the story.

Another tool I have successfully introduced is Wall Wisher (which is now called Padlet). My students use this tool when I introduce a theme or writing prompt. Like Achieve 3000, I have encouraged writing with a poll and have allowed students to gather literary and informational resources to further their understanding of a topic. Wall Wisher allows my students an opportunity to practice responding to a prompt and to the opinions of others in a respectable manner.

Finally, I began using Socratic Seminars as a means to help students interact and engage with the text through questioning. You can read more about these text-based discussions from ReadWriteThink. My students read Chopin’s "The Story of an Hour" twice, once to get the gist and then a second time to develop their own questions. At this point, they have eliminated Level 1 and Level 2 questions and have moved right to developing Level 3 questions.

My colleagues have also noticed my students’ increased engagement. Recently, I invited the principal and social studies teachers to observe one of the Socratic Circles. I love my principal, but she usually points out how we can improve. The day she observed our seminar she stated, "This is what school is about and should look like!"  She observed students who were 95% engaged in the text and thoughtful discussion. She watched students who were challenged taking charge of their discussion. Needless to say she was pleased.

When I think about my lessons, I always think about the UDL Guidelines: multiple means of representation, which ensure my students have many ways to access the text; multiple means of action and expression, which allow me to provide students with appropriate levels of challenge to sustain their motivation; and multiple means of engagement, which prompt me to consider how will I make their learning experiences authentic and meaningful. I am just at the beginning of my UDL journey with respect to changing my teaching practices. I look forward to moving ahead and adding new techniques through my newfound knowledge.

Monee Perkins is a 7th grade ELA teacher in the Bronx, NY.

Peggy Coyne is a Research Scientist at CAST, Inc.

This article is part of a series from the International Reading Association Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).

by William Yang

Want to engage your students with literacy and content in a unique way? Conduct an interactive e-book study to support literacy and learning in your classroom!   

Interactive e-books are a popular medium for reading and learning on mobile devices. Unlike a traditional book that contains only text and pictures, an interactive e-book can display multiple media such as video, 3-D objects, and animations that transform the experience of reading. Students interact with the text or media and often that interaction further informs the reader or is fundamental to the telling of the story.   

Through this unique format, interactive e-books can be a wonderful learning tool. 3-D artifacts or interactive science models embedded within the page bring abstract concepts in social studies and science to life. Modifying content and text within e-book authoring programs can attend to diverse learning styles and help students with reading difficulties. E-books also provide students with the opportunity to learn some of the new skills and strategies with eReading as they access a variety of tools such as an online dictionary, social highlighting, and text-to-speech features to aid comprehension. Most e-books allow the reader to take notes or create their own study aids that make learning personalized.

There are many fiction and non-fiction e-books students can examine as they study this format. For young students, the Reading A-Z web site provides leveled e-books to show how media can simply be used to enhance the story. Others, such as “The Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” app by William Joyce, model how reader interaction is integral to the story. There are also many nonfiction apps to examine through online encyclopedias or magazines on mobile devices. One great example for secondary students is “Snow Fall: The Avalanche on Tunnel Creek” by John Branch in the New York Times app. Examining the features of an interactive e-book and learning how different e-book authors use media to tell a story can guide students as they construct their own e-books.

There are several authoring programs available for students and teachers. One of the most accessible programs is iBooks Author, a free download for the MacOS platform. You can embed videos, 3-D objects, and slideshows within the e-book. Another free program available for all platforms is Moglue, which allows you to program objects and pictures to create interactive animations within the e-book. E-book authoring programs allow you to send e-books to an online location where your students can download on to their mobile device.

As they create e-books, it’s easy for students to get carried away with the novelty of embedding media in text. Students need reminding that the telling of a good story or the presentation of a compelling argument is ultimately what grabs the attention of an audience—not the “glitz” of an interactive e-book. By engaging students in researching the features of a great interactive e-book and authoring their own, they may craft new ways to tell a good story or inform an audience while learning along the way.

William Yang is an educational technology facilitator for the Scarsdale Public Schools in Scarsdale, New York.

This article is part of a series from the International Reading Association Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).