Final Blog

My final post is in response to Tom Banaszewski's article called Digital Storytelling Finds Its Place in the Classroom. I have already written a blog that discusses my thoughts on using digital storytelling. I really enjoyed this article because it gives an example of one teacher who used digital storytelling to help his students learn to love writing. Banaszewski asked his students to write a story about a place that was special to them. He modeled the project by first showing his students a digital storybook that he had created about his classroom. 

Although it took 6 months for all of the students to complete their story, all of the students enjoyed the experience. Banaszewski is quick to point out that the the focus was not on creating the movie, but actually the writing and emotion that the writing evoked. Students were asked to include effects and music that showed the listener how they felt about their special place. I think that this is a really cool idea to get kids involved on all levels of the authoring process. 

Blog #8

This blog is in response to Phyllis Whitin's article,  "Tech-to-Stretch": Expanding Possibilities for Literature Response, and this article gives the readers several different ways in which students can respond to reading. One of the suggestions given has students create a script in which they may continue a scene from the story or recreate a scene. The students then reenacted the scene for a camera. Whitin found that the students really enjoyed writing the scene and looked very closely at the characters in order to add to the original text. 

I think this type of work really allows all of the students to use their strengths to contribute to the group. Those who are good with technology can work on the filming and editing, while the dramatic students can focus on the writing of the script. All of the students become very important contributors to their group with helps everyone feel like they belong. 

Week 11

How can digital storytelling be utilized to help/facilitate reading teaching and learning?

I think that digital storytelling is a great way to make students apart of the authoring cycle. It gives students the opportunity to tell stories about themselves or things that interest them, in a modern and entertaining media. While working on the stories, teachers could be reviewing the characters, genres, plots, story lines, etc. with the students. I also feel that these stories are easy for teachers to story and share with future classes. By doing this, you are giving students a purpose for creating these stories.

Digital stories do not have to limited to the reading classroom. I think that they are a great way to get students writing about any topic. As a social studies teacher, I could use this activity to get my students thinking about specific time periods. They could write narratives that are set in a historical time period. The students would be using facts to set up thier stories, but could be creative by using fictional characters. I really think that kids would enjoy, and learn a lot, from creating digital stories.

Week 8

This blog is in response to Strassman and O'Connell's article titled, Authoring With Video. The authors define authoring with video (AWV) as an activity in which students are given a topic and short video clips about that topic. The video clips contain no sound. Students are required to create the narrative for the video. Using special software programs, the words spoken by the students are automaticaly turned into print which is found at the bottom of the video clip. The students can then edit this text.

I was unaware that there were programs that allowed students to do this. I think that many students would be very motivated by this activity. I find that when discussing a topic, students have a lot to say, but seem to lose that voice when they are asked to write about that same topic. This is a great way to combine technology and writing!

Week 7

The article that I chose to read this week is called The Trouble With Books, and it was written by Jenny Lee. Lee studies the debate between traditional books and electronic devices in which readers download texts and read from the device itself. One point that Lee makes, that I found to be very interesting, is that books are no longer seen as sentimental pieces that are purchased and kept for lifetimes. They have been marketed as cheep and dispensible. This is just another way of making texts accessible for everyone. I find it hard to believe that the book is going to disappear and devices like the Kindle will completly take it's place, but I feel that we as teachers need to embrace this technology, whether we choose to use it or not, and expose our students to it. Some people prefer to read this way, and it is up to us to put this technology into the hands of students who want it.

Week 5

In response to Grace Rubenstien's article titled Listening to Literacture: Struggling Readers Respond to Recorded Books. I was very shocked to hear how many students in the classroom discussed in the article were able to pull move up to reading at grade level, just from audio books. I guess I am a little suprised that the students did not grow tired of just listening to the stories over and over again. But, on the other hand, this might have encouraged the kids to pick up their own books to read because they were tired of listening to them. Although, this might not be a stratagy that I would have used with such consistency because of the monotony it creates, students may enjoy it more than I thought.

Post for Week 6

Response to Stephen Abram's article Promoting Reading Using This 2.0 Stuff

In this article, Abram's lists suggestions for utilizing technology in your reading classroom. I would like to comment on some of these suggestions. Abram's suggests using e-books in your classroom to help supplement the classroom library when conducting book clubs. Using e-books allows the teacher to easily get multiple copies of a book for students to use. He does not mention that, as far as I know, you can't print e-books so all of the students will need a computer access. If your school provides students with laptops or classrooms are equipped with several computers, this would not be a problem, but we are not all given these luxuries. 

One great suggestion that Abram's gives is to designate a reading guru in your building or district. This could be someone who works in the district or is from the community. This person gives and writes book recommendations and reviews that the students can access online either through a school website or networking site like facebook. The students can visit the site and read reviews and even post their own. The guru can even do guest reads in classrooms to help get the students excited in new books. I think that this is a really great idea for middle and high school students. I think that a lot of students would be motivated to read if they new that their favorite coach or local celebrity is reading these same books. I think it is a really great way to make reading a community in your school. 

Post for Week 4

In response to Grace Oakley and Jenny Jay's article, "Making Time" for Reading: Factors that Influence the Success of Mulitmedia Reading in the Home. 

Wow! I found this article to be very interesting and enlightening. Oakley and Jay provided a group of students (8-11 years old) and their parents with Electronic Talking Books (ETB) and asked them to use the books at home on their computers for a period of time. After using the books at home, the students and parents were both asked to give their comments on the books.  

I was really surprised to hear some of the parents comments. Some of the parents thought that their children were wasting their time by listening to someone else read the story to them. Studies show that by listening to a fluent reader can improve a student's fluency. These children are only 8 to 11 years old. Have their parents already given up on reading to their children? One parent even commented that the books were to easy and that reading at home should be done with higher level books so that their students are improving their reading skills. How is this going to improve their reading? The parents' perception and knowledge of h ow reading skills are obtained seems to play a large role in shaping their opinions about using ETBs at home.

Not surprisingly, many of the students really enjoyed the electronic books. A couple of the students did comment that they preferred regular books because of their portability, a comment that I keep running across as I read research about electronic books. I still feel that these books can be a very engaging and motivating reading practice for these children and that providing our students, and their parents, with electronic books that can be accessed at home is a really great way of promoting reading. 

Post for February 5,2009

In response to Len Unsworth's article, Multiliteracies, E-literature and English Teaching

I found Unsworth's article to be interesting as it described all of the ways that books are published on the Internet. I was completely unaware of  all of the websites that allow viewers to read books directly from their sites. I also didn't know that so many classic novels are being revamped and put on the Internet with graphics and sound recordings. What an interesting way to get kids reading great books that they might never have found! 

Unsworth states that, "video games are not threatening the continued existence of books," and I would agree that video games will not take the place of books for adults, but I am concerned that video games will replace books for children, especially those in the middle grades. In the classroom it is very easy to overhear children, especially boys, discussing the latest video game, but seldom do you hear them discussing the book that they cracked the night before. I think that this is unfortunate. I feel that a lot of pressure needs to put on parents to monitor how much time their children spend in front of a television playing video games. I look forward to a day when books and video games will actually compliment each other and both will provide children with the benefits of reading a good book!

Post for January 29, 2009

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation has highlighted the need for educators to be accountable for the achievement of all students and English language learners. Do you think this is a realistic goal? What changes would you suggest to NCLB that might increase its effectiveness in meeting its goals?

I feel that every teacher should be held accountable for the students in his/her classroom to an extent. I don't feel that every teacher's worth should be measured by how well her students do on standardized testing. It is the job of teacher to help her students grow mentally and socially while they are in her classroom. I don't think that anyone can create standards or bars that each student must measured against in order to determine if the teacher is competent. Not all of our students learn the same way and at the same pace. This must be taken into account when evaluating the performance of any teacher. If the students are progressing at a pace that is suitable for that student, then we really can't ask any more from that teacher. I don't think that the goals set up by NCLB are realistic and should be changed.

One simple change that could be made to NCLB that might make it more effective is to create a team of professionals that rates or assess each school or district. This team would be responsible for studying the economic status of the school and its students. The community that the school is located in should also be a factor. Based on the ratings determined by this team, a goal should be created that the school would work to achieve each year. As schools or districts reach this goal, the school can be reevaluated and a new goal can be set. By giving all schools and teachers an impossible goal is setting them all up for disappointment and failure.  But breaking the large goal down into smaller, attainable goals, the everyone feels more confident in their work.