Reader's Workshop & Technology Integration ... Yes It is Possible

You don't need me to point out that literacy is changing. Don't get me wrong, this digital girl still prefers to read books....that are, well, ... actual books. And my idea of reading is not to read to take a test. (Can I get an amen?) To quote The Book Whisperer (Donalyn Miller), "The only thing kids need to be doing during reading workshop is reading books, talking about books, and writing about books." And, oh, the ways technology can help kids do all three.

Reading Books:

First, let's have a balance of reading printed text and digital text. And let's examine the need to always have students read digital text just for research purposes. A terrific digital resource for elementary students is Epic Books. Did I mention it is free for elementary teachers and media specialists? Epic

offers thousands of high-quality children's books and even allows teachers to create a collection for students to read (think digital book box).

So by balance, I'm not just talking about reading printed and digital text, but let them respond to the text both digitally and with print. If they are reading a digital text, let them respond by writing their thinking, their stop and jots. If they are reading a printed text, let them respond digitally, perhaps a #booksnap. And yes, elementary students can do this, we just wouldn't use Snapchat.

Since digital reading requires a different set of skills than reading print, (clarity of words on a screen, hyperlinks, extraneous material on screen, etc) teachers have to model and teach students during mini-lessons how to successfully read digital text.

Talking About Books:

Turn and talk is prevalent in reader's workshop, we ask students to share their thinking about their reading, the action of the story, information about characters, and more. As a teacher, it is impossible to hear each child every single day. Let's harness the power of technology to get students talking about books. Have you tried Flipgrid yet? It's a digital discussion platform easy enough for Pre-K students, but also robust enough for adults. Give it a try with book talks and see what happens.  Build a community that talks about books, recommends books, and gives students an audience for their work. You will be amazed and surprised at the possibilities. Plus it gives you a chance to hear from your students more and adjust instruction to meet their needs.

Writing About Books:

Ever notice how popular Goodreads is? Ever notice how unpopular the reading log is? I have an idea...Let's use a digital tool such as Seesaw to transform the reading log. Students can use Seesaw to take a photo of their book cover, annotate on it, add an audio recording of their personal response, and even upload book trailers from other apps into a "Goodreads" folder. Students can comment and have conversations as they write and talk about the books within Seesaw.

Every tool I mentioned will work on iPads and Chromebooks. Every tool I mentioned is free. If you want help implementing any of these ideas or want to talk about ideas that have sparked in your head, please contact your ITF. We will be happy to help!

Nearpod - Making the Front of the Room Obsolete

I have written before about my classroom wishlist. In thinking along those lines, what do you do about the perceived "front of the room" where all students have to be able to see pertinent information, after all that is where my projector and SMARTBoard are located....

Who says that students have to look up at the screen to receive information or lesson activities? With today's initiatives for 1:1 and BYOD, shouldn't there be a better solution than desks in rows or even in stationary pods?

There are several options, and one is an app called Nearpod (also available on the web). Nearpod allows you to share your presentations to the students' devices and include interactive, engaging activities throughout. I have put together a presentation to help my teachers get started with the awesome tool. I hope it will help you explore the option as well.

Live Life Like a Turtle?

I read a blog post recently on creativity by Trisha Riche and she mention a quote by Ruth Peale. "Live life every day like a turtle. To get anywhere, a turtle has to stick its neck and take a risk. So take risks every day. It's the only way to truly live and make a difference in the world."


So I thought what a perfect quote to reflect as 2011 fades into history and 2012 brings new possibilities to stick out our necks. As I reflect over the past year, I think about when I took risks. I think as educators we take risks each and every day as we strive to find ways to engage our students in our content. As an Instructional Technology Facilitator, we take risks as we try to provide examples and feedback to teachers integrating technology into the classroom. 


As 2012 dawns, some risks that I will be endeavoring in will be revamping TRICKS to meet Common Core Standards and Balanced Literacy, helping with a repository for our district SMART Lessons, and working on Pinnacle Staff Development for the summer. 


Changes are afoot. But sometimes, change is the way to make a difference in the world...

Live life every day like a turtle." To get anywhere, a turtle has to stick its neck out and take a risk. So take risks every day. It's the only way to truly live and make a difference in the world.

New Year's Resolutions

I have never been one to make resolutions when one year fades away and a new year begins. I have, however, always been one to reflect so I can make changes and to improve. A new school year always provided that opportunity for me. I would always think about the previous school year and decide new things I wanted to try and clear out things that didn't work so well. Then I would make a list and get started.

As an Instructional Technology Facilitator, I work the same way. I think about various lessons that I have co-taught or modeled as well as professional development that was delivered the previous year. I then make a list of things I need to do to make the lessons and PD better. My main reflection for this year is how to make the follow-up activities teacher friendly. Our county is moving toward using Google Apps and my "resolution" will be to incorporate Google Docs into the follow-up. Hopefully, I will be able to hit two targets: getting teachers comfortable with and using Google Docs and making it easier for me to check on the follow-up activities. I am excitied to see how it goes!

Changes

Someone once said, "If nothing ever changed, then there would be no butterflies."

Although changes are a natural part of life, change is hard causing us to want to stay in the safe and known. However, once we venture out, we experience new and wonderful things and we grow just like the butterfly.

Why the talk about change? It is appropriate at this time of the year for many reasons. Students are getting ready to change grade levels, growing another year older and wiser. Teachers are getting ready to change their classrooms from the quiet slumber of summer into a dynamic culture of learning for their new class of students.

GCS Instructional Technology Facilitators are changing as well. It is now official that we will be divided into Elementary ITFs and Secondary ITFs. The reasons for the change are many having to do with things like Revised Blooms Taxonomy, STEM, and Common Core. But one very important reason is to allow us to use our educational backgrounds to change the educational experience of our students as we help to prepare them for uncharted waters.

Change isn't easy. I will be leaving behind my two secondary schools in which I have invested five years and have formed some valuable friendships. It has been weird knowing that I will not be planning for middle school and high school and a little sad as I know I will miss being in those schools. I trust they will continue to move forward in the great strides we have made.

Change is a little scary. I have balanced my schedule with six schools before and now I will serving eight. Being the perfectionist that I am, I am already putting scenarios on paper on how I can cover those eight so at the end of the day I will look back and know I did my best.

Change is also exciting. I will be diving in deeply into elementary curriculum integration and truly use my skill set where I am best trained to make a difference in education.

I am taking my cue from the butterfly, how about you?