Taking Time for Tech Tools

One of my favorite things to do is to have the chance to get to “play” around with new technology tools that I can start using in my classroom right away.  The only problem is that I feel like I never have the time to get to explore these new tech tools. It always seems like we get introduced to a brand new gadget in a professional development session and get zero time to see how it actually works and how I can incorporate into my class. That is one of the reasons that I like these courses because it forces me to carve out some time to see what is out there.  After looking through the various tools in the reading and the lecture, I see some familiar friends and some fresh new faces. A couple of the tools that I am familiar with and use personally and/or in my classroom are Newsela, Diigo, Google(Classroom, Docs, Slides), and Dropbox(which I don’t use as much thanks to Google Suite). There were a few tools like Glogster and Tween Tribune that I have used in the past as well.

The two new tools that I took some time to get to know are Actively Learn and Epic.  I have a colleague, who has also been my classmate during the MET program, that has talked about using Actively Learn .  I still have so much to learn about this tool, but right now I am super excited! There are a variety of articles, videos and short stories that are aligned to a variety of standards and are of varying DOK levels.  Questions are embedded throughout the article, story or video requiring the students to be active in the reading process. I teach 7th grade ELA, so I typed in one of the novels we will read this year (The Outsiders...my favorite!) Unfortunately, the story is not on actively learn, but it pulled articles, books, dramas, short stories and videos that are related to the Outsiders because they are from the same genre or share a similar theme. How cool! I plan on spending a little more time researching and watching videos to see all of the cool things we can do.

The second tool I chose to spend more time with is Epic. Last week during our video introductions someone (I think it was Krista) mentioned using Epic with her students.  I wanted to take a look, and it appears that it is designed for kids 12 and under. My students are at the ceiling age wise, however I have quite a few students who are significantly below grade level in reading.  This would be a great way to give them access to books on their level considering our middle school library doesn’t have a lot of 3rd and 4th grade level books to put in their hands. I like the idea that I can assign reading and even create quizzes for them.  

I’m excited to give these new tools a try in my classroom!

Literacy in the 21st-Century Classroom

The concept of literacy has changed tremendously when you think about the 21st-century classroom.  In “Technology to Teach Literacy: A Resource for K-8 teachers” the authors discuss how there has been a major shift in paradigms.  They go into detail about the behavioral paradigm where students have a list of language arts skills to achieve and they do so by sitting in their desks, which are placed into neat little rows, while they listen to the sage on the stage give the information to his or her classroom full of sponges, just hoping they soak it all up. Although there are still classrooms that operate in this fashion, I feel like a great majority of teachers have made an attempt to move to the social constructivist paradigm which promotes, “Collaboration, listening, viewing and sharing, locating and storing information.”(pg. 8) 

I see these shifts both as a teacher and as a parent.  When I reflect on my own classroom, I think about how my students are no longer in rows or sections, but sit in pods or tables to elicit collaboration and discussion. They create presentations, submit assignments through Google Classroom, conduct research and give feedback to each other. I see these changes with my own boys as well.  My youngest son is in 2nd grade and inside his folder I found a series of login information for Clever, Prodigy, SeeSaw, and Freckle. As a proud Momma and a teacher, I think it’s pretty cool to login to SeeSaw and hear my 7 year old talk about a book he just read. When I was in second grade, I would have ultimately achieved the same goal by producing a written book report.  However, my son gets to use various Apps on an I-pad to practice those necessary skills that our students need today. The authors of “Literacy 2.0: Reading and Writing in 21st Century Classrooms” remind us that, “Literacy functions remain the same while the tools have changed.”(pg. 6)

References

Anderson, R. S., Grant, M. M., & Speck, B. W. (2008). Technology to teach literacy: A resource for K-8 teachers. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall.

Frey, N., Fisher, D., & Gonzalez, A. (2010). Literacy 2.0: Reading and writing in 21st century classrooms. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.