I'm "Wild about Books"App

The electronic book Wild about Books was extraordinarliy engaging.  I felt like spending hours looking through the story book and discovering all that the ebook had to offer.  The writing was exceptional and supported vocabulary development. There was a very interesting rhyme scheme throughout the story that made the reading process more interesting. The meaning of many challenging vocabulary words was supported by pictures and other multimodal features.  The artwork was superb and helped entice the reader to continue to discover the story content.  In addition the story was read orally while the specific words were highlighted to help support students to read independently, without the assistance of a teacher.  Using the electronic features was very natural and intuitive. The only negative aspect I could identify was the fact that some autistic students my find the features overstimulating.  Last semester, I had one autistic student who would quickly become alarmed by sudden or unexpected sounds. This is one thing I would need to consider in determining who would be able to use this book.

I evaluated the literary app "Scribble press." I found it to be very fun and I'm sure it helps promote students in advancing in using different electronic components. Students were encouraged to fill in the blanks to write a story. Then, students could create the cover for the book that they "wrote" by choosing very specific markers and artistic tools from the "marker wall." I am sure this app is very beneficial for elementary students; however, it would be a huge waste time for my high school students.  Later, when I went home, I tried to find some literary apps which would appropriately engage high school students. I wasn't able to find any. Do any exist for high school students? If so, where might I be able to find them?

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Drawbacks of Interactive Book

In Teaching with Interactive Picture E-Books in Grades K-6, by Schugar, Smith and Schugar, some of the disadvantages of e-books are considered.

"In the 1980s, Garner, Gillingham, and White (1989) coined the term seductive details to describe aspects of texts that were likely to interfere with students; abilities to attend to the most important parts of the text they read" (Schugar, Smith, Schugar 620).

The reoccurring theme in articles discussing new educational technology is primarily devoted to emphasizing the benefits they offer and generally ignores the hinderances they sometimes present to  the learning process.  Honestly, I often feel frustrated when all I read are the amazing things teachers are able to do when they incorporate a specific type of technology into their class and then when I try the same thing, students are not as motivated as the students in the example read.  For instance, a few years ago, I heard only positive outcomes about classrooms that used "virtual field trips" to foster learning.  But, when I created my own virtual field trip for students to learn about Portuguese history, I constantly had to monitor them to make sure they weren't playing virtual soccer on the internet instead.  

This article is realistic in addressing the concerns of using e-books and warns teachers against using them as a replacement for their instruction.  Teachers must still be involved by educating students about the appropriate way to use e-books in order to enhance comprehension, not diminish it.  The guidelines for using them should be clearly identified prior to handing over the electronic books for independent use.  Perhaps I would have experienced more positive results, if I would have taken time to explicitly discuss my expectations for the virtual field trip activity.  Unfortunately, my students might have needed to experience specific consequences when they strayed from the education web sites.   The mistake I made was to assume that my students would automatically know what the appropriate behavior was for using new technology.  

Supporting Struggling Readers Through Digital Stories

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When I viewed my first digital story, I felt like a child again and felt as if I had a unique opportunity to listen to someone read to me.  In the article Digital Storytelling: A Tool for Teaching and Learning in the YouTube Generation, by Oliver Dreon, Richard Kerper & Jon Landis, the authors state that, “By integrating visual images with written text, digital stories can be used to enhance and accelerate student comprehension.”  Digital stories are an excellent way to help inspire students to engage in the lesson and to listen to information.  The creation of digital stories has been extremely powerful in supporting struggling readers. 

Let me start by stating that I have never created a digital story. However, last semester, I wanted to adapt my class to integrate more technology with the intent to eventually turn it into a “flipped” class.  I decided to start working on this goal because I saw it as a way to differentiate instruction for my diverse classroom of learners.  Some students are in the ESL program, while others are enrolled in AP courses.  It is difficult to differentiate the instruction, as I should for all of my unique learners, in a forty-two minute block of time. I recorded a few demonstrations and posted them on my Wiki page for students to view on their own time to prepare them for upcoming food labs.   

The “flipped classroom” is an excellent option to differentiate instruction because students can go through the content / lecture at their own pace.   If students do not understand something, they can pause the online lecture and look up a concept before moving on to new information.   When students do not understand vocabulary, they can pause and clarify the meaning by looking up a definition.  This cannot be done during an in-class lecture, where the information and speech continues to flow in spite of student misunderstanding.

This self-paced instruction also helps lower the "affective filter" or performance anxiety for ELL students, as they are not judged if they do not understand a section of the lesson and must re-watch the clip.  Without the fear that they may get called on regarding the new topic they do not comprehend, the student can more efficiently focus on the information.   Likewise, offering digital stories for one’s struggling ELLs enables them to experience the same advantage of a lowered anxiety level and increased attention on the story. Also, it provides them with the opportunity to spend more time experiencing a story and the new vocabulary than teachers are able to offer.  If ELL students do not completely comprehend a story the first time, they can view it as many times as they like, until they are comfortable.

I found an excellent web site, which stresses the importance of storytelling in supporting literacy.  It discusses the role of storytelling throughout history.  As I admitted before, I have never created a digital story, so the tutorial on the process of creating digital stories is quite helpful.  Therefore, I am including the link. http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/collection/using-technology-support-literacy Students enjoy hearing stories, but many have been conditioned to desire more sensory stimulation that corresponds with technology.  The authors, Dreon, Kerper and Landis, recognize that, “Growing up with unprecedented access to technology has changed the way young people, ‘digital natives,’ communicate, interact, process information, and learn” (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005; Prensky, 2001a, 2001b).  It is vital for teachers to stay up to date on popular electronic tools, which can help maintain their students’ attention and motivate them in developing their literacy skills.

Preliminary Podcast = More Sophisticated Writing

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Before reading the article, Podcasting and Performativity: Multimodal Invention in an Advanced Writing Class, I had almost no knowledge about what podcasts were or how they were produced.  I’d heard people talking about these things, but I really did not comprehend them. Therefore, I had no idea about the ways in which they could be used in a composition classroom to support the writers.  The author, Leigh Jones, supports her claim with evidence that her students constructed more sophisticated research papers after developing podcasts.  Creating the podcast necessitated that students concisely organize the discourse in a way that flows naturally to the audience and write with authority on the topic.

Becoming an eloquent speaker / writer takes a significant amount of skill in organizing one’s thoughts in an orderly way which can easily be followed by the listener / reader.  Last year, I required all of my Pastry Arts students to write a research paper on the history of specific international breads, and subsequently create a script for a presentation.   After reading the final papers, I felt as if the majority of the students struggled to piece their information together in a smooth manner.  Many of the papers were difficult to understand, as they jumped from one idea to the next.   I thought that the presentation scripts would resemble the papers in their incoherent nature.  However, I was pleasantly surprised when the students got up in front of the class to do the presentations and the information was clearly communicated.  I think the students found it to be an easier, more natural task to communicate orally, as opposed to written communication.  If I had followed something similar to Jones’ approach, I might have received more organized papers.

As students researched their topics, they became the experts on the subjects. This approach made the process of writing a research paper more manageable and cut back on student insecurities, which can easily obstruct the writing process.  From my own experience writing papers, I find that it is extremely challenging to write with authority when I feel as if others know the topic better than I do or when I am not enthusiastic about my topic.  Only after I do extensive research and know that I have read much more than the average person and find it to be an interesting topic, do I feel confident enough to write the paper and write it as an expert. 

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I found Jones' observation about the traditional classroom dynamic very interesting and accurate. She feels that the traditional dynamic is counterproductive for encouraging students to take on an authoritative voice in their writing.  To remedy this imbalanced sense of authority, the she encourages composition teachers to require students to envision themselves in a position of authority as they create podcasts on the specific topics.  Students were able to re-record the podcasts as many times as necessary to create the desired product.  This practice of articulating the information fostered a sense of authority in the student, as they gained confidence in their information. 

I experience a lot of anxiety getting in front of my peers and presenting a topic.  Whenever I have been given the option to record the presentation before the class, I have noticed that I am much more confident as an expert.  I am reassured by the thought that I can redo the demonstration / presentation many times, until it has reached my approval.  I think that allowing students to video tape or create podcasts as an alternative to a live presentation is an excellent option for anxious students. And honestly, it is much more pleasant for the audience to observe a confident, flawless performance than a presentation in which the presenter is struggling through his anxiety to share the information (which he may know very well but lacks the confidence to take on the role of the expert).  

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I love YouTube tutorials. They have saved me many times and are very clear in demonstrating different skills.   Since I am not proficient in making podcasts, I will need to view this one many times as I struggle to get comfortable with the steps.

Blogging to Promote Better Writing

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After reading the article The Influence of Classroom Blogging on Elementary Student Writing, by Ewa McGrail and Anne Davis, I became inspired to incorporate a blogging component to the class participation grade on my syllabus, next year.  The results of this study helped me arrive at the conclusion that requiring students to actively blog is a practical way to support them in becoming more proficient writers.  Encouraging students to write extensively in this authentic manner provides numerous advantages.  One important benefit being that students are much more willing and motivated to write when they deem that they are writing for real-life purposes.  

I have always found it to be a serious challenge motivating my students to write.  In previous years, I have developed numerous activities and projects to help support students in reinforcing their writing skills.  Projects ranged from daily journals to writing restaurant critiques.  Sadly, in spite of the time I devoted to create something new and (what I judged to be) exciting, students always completed the assignment with an apathetic attitude.  They did the absolute minimal amount of work to earn the grade that they desired, but they lacked enthusiasm for the assignment.  Perhaps this lack of investment was linked to the students’ belief that the activity was tedious or not relevant to their future lives. 

I remember when I was a teenager I was extremely motivated by social situations.  Conversely, I was not always inspired to work as diligently on academic assignments for the reward of gaining knowledge alone.  Therefore, I am not discouraged when I recognize the same behavior amongst my students, but I see it as a characteristic of that developmental stage.  However, this being said, students still need to be provided with the incentive to work on improving their writing skills.  Related to this concern, I have had a few questions running through my mind the past couple years.  How can we provide students with the necessary encouragement to write frequently?  How can we demand that they use standard writing and not abbreviated communication as they might use in a text message?  After reading this article, I feel that one excellent option is to provide them with a community with whom they can interact, while writing information and sharing knowledge…a blog.  Blogging is quite popular in today’s culture.  There is little argument that blogging is not applicable to students‘ social lives.  Most high school students are familiar with blogging as readers or bloggers. 

Blogs make available a larger audience for the writer to direct his message.  This can help inspire students to work more diligently to construct insightful posts / responses and hold them accountable to create better quality writing.  In an online article focussing on the ways in which blogging improves writing, author Ali Hale agrees that blogging motivates individuals to write because of the large audience.  Ali claims,  "Sometimes you just aren’t “in the mood” to write. When you’re feeling motivated, though, the words come easily. Knowing that real people are reading what you write is a huge boost – something you can only appreciate once you’ve experienced it. Even on days when you’re feeling less than inspired, the thought of your readers can be enough to get you writing."  To read about the four other ways that blogging improves an individual's ability to write, I'm including the cite http://www.dailywritingtips.com/five-reasons-why-blogging-improves-your-writing/. 

The authors, McGrail and Davis, evaluated the outcomes and claimed, “As student bloggers came to know their audience better, a sense of community and belonging emerged.  The back-and-forth comments stimulated the conversations and nourished active participation within this community” (426).  There were numerous examples provided of student bloggers who felt empowered and motivated as a result of feeling like an accepted member of the “blogging world.”  When the students wrote about their interests, they felt like experts on the topics, which encouraged them to be more open about sharing their opinions.  

New Technology, New Literacies and New Challenges

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I am often confused by the conflicting perspectives voiced by my fellow teachers about the advantages and disadvantages of incorporating new educational technology into instruction time.  I wonder if the negative feedback stems from the insecurity of using these tools and the fear of the unknown.  Whenever anything is unfamiliar, it is natural to experience a sense of apprehension related to it.  Now, it would be a truly archaic thought to consider implementing a composition class without using basic programs like word processing.  Initially, when this technology was innovative, some people failed to see the benefits of using it, which are unanimously accepted today.  Below I have listed a few of the main advantages, which stand out, in my mind.     

1. The physical act of typing is much less arduous and quicker than handwriting an essay or message. 

2. It is much simpler to make changes and fix structural problems by cutting and pasting sections of the writing to make the piece flow better.   (Whenever I am required to write something by hand, I consistently forget to mention something important.  I either have to rewrite the whole message or draw arrows to the added information.  Either way, it is inconvenient and creates a messy message.)

3. Programs like word processing help make students aware of mechanical writing errors in their paper so that they can make corrections easily.

4. Typing everything on the computer makes it much easier for peer and teacher evaluations of students’ work.  (In my opening journals assignment, I am often confused by students’ handwriting.  Some students consistently produce completely unintelligible responses.  When I confront them about my inability to read their handwriting, they claim that they can’t write neater.  Sometimes I dream about having a row of computers in the back of my class to require students to do research or work on writing activities, so that I will be able to read their work without a struggle.  Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be realistic in a kitchen classroom. They could easily be damaged.)

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The article Guiding Principles for Supporting New Literacies in Your Classroom, by Karchmer-Klein and Shinas, discuss the way in which literacy instruction must be approached with the reality of constantly evolving technology.  We, teachers, must put our fear aside and learn how to support our students in developing the specific cognitive processes that are necessary to effectively use information communication technology (ICT).  On page 289, Karchmer-Klein and Shinas cite Bezemer & Kress (2008) and Coiro & Dobler (2007) when they recognize that in order for individuals to use ICT, “One must know how to navigate nonlinear text, repeatedly evaluate resources, sift through extraneous materials, infer meaning, and use a range of features to compose unified messages.” 

In this article, four guidelines are stressed to help teachers employ technology to support literacy development.  First, the authors remind us to be mindful of the constantly evolving technology and what is available.  Second, we must acknowledge the challenges of the new technological literacies and identify appropriate instructional goals.  Also, we must be careful not to take for granted that our tech-savvy students know everything they need in regards to educational technology.  And finally, we need to adapt assessment methods according to the technology expectations of the class.  I would like to further discuss the importance of acknowledging the challenges and the goals of using new technology in instruction. 

This article stresses the fact that new educational technology adds various challenges for the students utilizing it compared to using traditional books.  In addition to the text, students are expected to construct a unified meaning from the visuals and audio sometimes included.  On page 290, Karchmer-Klein and Shinas cite that, “Research tells us that this model (inquiry-based model) demands a set of skills different from those needed for traditional reading comprehension activities” (Leu et al., 2009).  Thus, it is vital for us to identify the appropriate skills that we must teach students in order for them to gain meaning from electronic texts and learn how to proficiently use them.  We must model our expectations for students and demonstrate exactly what we desire them to produce or attain from an electronic resource.  I remember a class during my undergraduate degree when my teacher explained an assignment in which the class was expected to create an online tutorial to present to the class.  She did not demonstrate the process or provide an example of her expectations. This produced a significant amount of unnecessary stress for all of the students.  This type of confusion is something I try to avoid in my own classroom by providing rubrics, modeling the skill and providing examples of the final goal. 

In spite of the numerous challenges of teaching literacy through technology, it would be counterproductive to rely solely on traditionally bound printed texts.  The more ways we are able to expose our students to literacy the better chance we have to motivate them to read.  By equipping students with the skills they need to utilize academic technology and allowing them to have a choice about what tools they will use to create final project or search for information provides students with a sense of ownership over the task and freedom that is not possible when completely avoiding technology.  It is also encouraging to remember that most high school students come to the class with a basic mastery of technology and do not need to start from ground zero.  In conclusion, I found a helpful online article, similar to that of Karchmer-Klein and Shinas', titled The Ten Skills Modern Teachers Must Have on the cite http://www.edudemic.com/2013/03/the-10-skills-modern-teachers-must-have/.  My favorite is number nine, which encourages teachers to try new technology programs and not to be afraid of failure.  Without taking risks to learn new skills, one will never master anything new.