Digital Reading: What's Essential in Grades3-8, Chapter 3

Chapter 3 in Digital Reading:  What’s Essential in Grades 3-8, dealt with the issue of how to make digital learning authentic for students.  Workshop should not be designed around the technology; instead the technology should fit the need of that day.  There were so many great ideas in this chapter that helped me to reflect on the technology I’m currently using with my students, why I’m using it (does it fit the purpose), and what else we could include.  Some take-aways from the chapter for me were:

·      *      The students need to feel comfortable using the technology. One of our goals should be to expose the students to several different kinds of technology and then let the students chose the technology that best fits their needs.  This could include the type of text they choose to read, the type of response, etc.  For teachers this means that we need to feel comfortable giving up some control.  The easy way to teach is to assign the text and then assign the type of response we want the student to do.  Unfortunately by not allowing student choice we too often receive mediocre responses. Students don’t buy into the text or the response.  The key is choice for the text, the response, and the technology!

·     *      “Being readers ourselves is the best tool we have to keep our classroom workshops authentic.” p.30   Teachers need to do what they ask their students to do.  For the past few years I have regularly read books and kept a reader’s notebook along with my students.  At first I felt very self-conscious sharing my journal entries out loud with my classes.  But the students listened and asked questions!  And after a little while I began to notice something, students were writing more and the quality of the entries began to improve.  This was just the encouragement I needed to continue writing and sharing.

·      *     “…she didn’t have to teach every single skill for every tool; what she did have to do was explain herself as she was teaching so that students could not only see what she was doing with a specific tool but also know why she was doing it.” p.31 This is something that was always a roadblock for me when it came to adding new technology.  I felt as if I needed to become an expert first, before I introduced the tool to my students, otherwise I wouldn’t want to try it.  This too is a control issue.  I need to feel comfortable introducing students to the tools, sharing with them how I use it, and talking through the choices I make while I demonstrate using it. Then I need to let the students try it out for themselves and make their own decisions.  This will increase their ownership of the tool. And in fact I can learn from them!

·      *     There are so many online tools that can enhance the reading workshop.  Many of them we’ve already been using:  KIdBlog, Twitter, Skype, Edmodo.  One goal I have for this year is to make read-aloud more interactive for the students.  Tools such as Padlet and Corkulous are definitely something I want to try for student responses and formative assessments.  Both of these tools are also great for allowing students to see what their classmates think of the text, which helps to further build our reading community.

Now on to chapter 4!

Digital Reading: What Essential in Grades 3-8, Chapters 1 & 2

This summer I was excited to learn about the cyberPD group on Twitter that was going to be reading the book, Digital Reading:  What’s Essential in Grades 3-8 during July. As both a sixth grade literacy teacher and someone that enjoys using technology, I was excited to read this book and challenged myself to write about my reflections as I read.   This has proved more difficult than I originally thought as the book is filled with both great ideas and questions to ponder.  Thankfully I have my own copy of the book so I can freely mark the text as I read, then go back and reread, and then finally get my thoughts down on paper (digital paper in this case).  One important take-away that I’ve discovered so far is that I’m terrible with deadlines during the summer, so while the #cyberPD group will be buzzing through this book in one month’s time, it may take me a week or so longer. This is just my reading/reflecting style (an important idea I need to remember when working with students). Following is my post for chapters 1 and 2.

As I began reading, Digital Reading:  What’s Essential in Grades 3-8 by Franki Sibberson and William Bass, I felt fairly confident that I was already doing an adequate job of integrating digital reading into our daily reading workshop.  I allowed to students to read novels on devices that they brought from home, students weekly read nonfiction articles on both Wonderopolis and Newsela. We even had online book discussion groups on Edmodo.  However the issue of access, brought up in chapter one, had been a concern.  What to about the students that did not have online access at home?  How could I best help them feel connected? Then I realized that I needed to become more intentional about how I integrate technology use in our literacy classroom.  There is more to helping students become literate in this digital age than just having them read texts online.  I need to reflect on how we are using technology.  Are students able to use digital tools in meaningful ways that help them feel more connected and improve their understanding of complex text?  Are we using technology in an authentic manner? 

I agree with the authors that as teachers we are preparing our students to live and work in a digital world, therefore we need to encourage them to view technology as a tool that increases and improves their literacy skills.  I am concerned that many of the students I teach, while they have been exposed to technology all their lives, and most use it on a daily basis, are still at what the author refers to as the “superficial level.”  They know how to text, play games, post pictures and videos, but they are not truly digitally literate.  This is a golden opportunity for teachers to, “support our students’ literacy by helping them intentionally use digital tools for learning and make these tools part of their daily lives.”  This of course means that as the teacher, I need to be more intentional in how I integrate technology into workshop.  It cannot simply be an add-on.  Technology must be integrated in such a way that students view it as a necessary part or of their day-to-day work activities, a tool that will help them to understand increasingly complex text.

The three anchors of workshop, of authenticity, intentionality, and connectedness help to provide a basis or framework for how we organize reading workshop and make meaningful choices to include technology.  When planning lessons, our priority needs to be engagement.  If students aren’t engaged, they won’t learn.  We need to be intentional in our choices for both reading and technology.  Keeping lessons authentic will help students see the meaning in the lessons and transfer skills they’ve learned, hopefully helping them to form connections, to see the relevance, and gain new understandings.

Using a workshop format to teach reading allows many avenues to include technology while still staying true to the basic tenets or workshop:  time, choice and response.   While I felt I already was doing a good job of integrating technology, the author’s list, “What Role Do Digital Texts Play in My Literacy Workshop?” gave me so many more questions to consider as I plan.  For example, I had used nonfiction digital texts for mini-lessons, but why not blogs as well?  This would be a great tie-in with writing workshop. 

As a teacher today, I need to remember I’m teaching students that have always lived in the digital age.  In order for them to grow as readers and become truly literate, they need to be comfortable using different types of technology as tools to help them make sense and interact with the texts they read.  Digital tools need to be included in all facets of the workshop format, in both intentional and meaningful ways.  This will challenge me to think in new ways, to look at my practices, to adjust my teaching, and to grow and learn alongside my students in this ever-evolving era of technology.

Who does that?

“Who does that?”

Someone asked me that question today and it stopped me cold.  I honestly did not have an answer.  I didn’t know how to respond.

I had been out running errands and decided to treat myself and stop at the bookstore. I hadn’t really planned on purchasing anything (I’m making a conscious effort to utilize the library more).  Once at the store however I was so excited to discover The Lost Track of Time by Paige Britt, that I just couldn’t resist it!  First of all, the book is sized slightly larger than other books.  Whoever thought this up is a genius!  My eye was drawn to the book first because of its size.  Then I noticed the cover, beautiful!  The colors and illustrations work together to grab attention immediately.  So of course, I had to pick up the book and start paging through.  Then I noticed the pages! (This book hits it from all angles)  The pages are shiny and smooth (love the feel). And there are these incredible sketch-like purple illustrations sprinkled throughout the book, just enough to pique the imagination.  Finally I turned to the inside front cover to find out more about the story.  Unbelievable!  The story is about a young girl, Penelope, whose passion is to become a writer. Unfortunately, her mother does not share her passion and instead believes the key to success is to be busy and productive every minute of every day.  Then one day the unthinkable happens, Penelope finds herself with a completely free, unscheduled day!  How could this happen?!  She doesn’t have time to ponder the question because before she knows it, she has fallen through the "hole” in her schedule and landed in the “Realm of Possibility”! I didn’t have to read anymore, I was sold.  I needed this book!

As I was paying for the book, I shared with the store clerk how excited I was to have discovered this new book.  I noticed her quizzical expression;  So I explained to her how I am a teacher and every year I have a Mock Newbery Cub for my students.  We spend September through January reading and reviewing new middle grade novels, trying to determine the next winner of the John Newbery Award.  I went on to explain that while I do purchase several books for the students to read, I also check out 50 to 60 books from the public library so there are enough copies for all the students to share. In preparation for the launch of the club in September, I spend my summer “discovering” and reading new 2015 middle grade novels to include in the club. Now I truly enjoy discussing our Mock Newbery Club, and I know I tend to get a little excited and talk fast, so I slowed down and took a breath when I noticed the clerk’s expression.  The next thing she said was,

I could see she didn’t understand my excitement.

“Who does that?”

I was struck speechless.  That question had never occurred to me. I love what I do.  Teaching, reading, and sharing books are my passion.  I just stared at the clerk.  And then I answered,

“I do.”