Yearly Archives: 2014

“Goodnight Moon” revisited

digital technology, literacy, Teacher education, , ,

Many are familiar with the picture book Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise.

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In case you are not familiar or need a refresher, here is a link to the story:

It is a lovely bedtime story, rhythmical and calming.  Originally published in the late 1940s, and still selling strong today, millions of children have enjoyed the simple tale. It is a classic.

And then came a parody, Goodnight iPad.  Amusingly written by “Ann Droyd” the book is awesome.

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When I (Yiola) first read the book I laughed and laughed and laughed. It is witty and clever while successfully maintaining the rhythm of the original.  It is a powerful message for 21st century learners: know when to unplug!  

Here is a link to the book.

Or for a flashier, more techy version, check out this link:

From the 1940s to today… the images and ideas that need a ‘good night’ have changed  drastically but a child’s wonder and desire to stay up has stayed the same.

I like how the traditional genre of the picture book captures the power of technology in our society so beautifully. A classic communication tool.

I plan to use this text as a closure piece on Technology Day next term.

“Goodnight gadgets everywhere”

Guest Blog: Monica McGlynn Stewart — Tools or Toys?

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I (Monica) and my colleague Tiffany MacKay are just starting a new research project exploring oral and visual literacy learning with iPads for 3-5 year olds. Our research will be situated in both childcare centres and public school kindergartens in Ontario. Here is a bit more about our project:

IPadYoung children, aged 3-5 years, are exposed to many forms of digital technology (DT) both inside and outside of their formal learning settings, yet there is little research to guide pedagogical practices for early years literacy teaching. Many registered early childhood educators (RECEs) working in childcare centres are reluctant to introduce DT into their programs, while many RECEs and teachers in Full-Day Kindergarten are using DT in a variety of ways.

Purpose

This research study will introduce educators and students in childcare centres and public kindergarten classrooms to one of two i-Pad applications, 30 Hands or Explain Everything. Both of these applications allow children to easily photograph their work with an i-Pad (e.g., painting, block structure, sand table creation, etc.) and then record their voice explaining what they have created, how they created it, and what they plan to do next, etc. This digital visual and audio file can then be shared with classmates, teachers, or parents via email. Teachers can archive this documentation for assessment and planning purposes.

Objectives

Our objectives include: a) to understand educators’ comfort level and experience using DT for literacy learning with young children; b) to understand children’s use of DT as a means of communicating their work and ideas; c) to explore the value of DT for supporting young children’s literacy development.

Hypothesis

Our hypothesis is that educators will become more comfortable having their students use DT applications that allow for active, creative, and open-ended literacy learning. Furthermore, children will be more motivated to articulate and share their thinking with the i-Pad applications and will become more competent with both their digital technology and oral language skills.

Methods

We will be interviewing the educators before and after the implementation of the software to determine their comfort level and experience with using DT for literacy learning and teaching, their current practices, and in the post-implementation interview, any changes that they observed in their students’ interest and ability with respect to literacy learning. In addition, we will be observing the students in their classes as they use the applications to record and share their work.

Engaging Students in Math

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The day after Halloween, one of my (Cathy’s) student teachers, Megan, presented a wonderful lesson to a group of grade four students on probability.  She opened the lesson with a picture of herself dressed as an M&M.  (This was not really her of course, but the students didn’t know that).  She told the story of how she disguised herself as an M&M and went out trick or treating.  One nice lady gave her a whole bag of M&Ms because of her great costume.  Megan wondered aloud on the probability of pulling out red M&Ms as opposed to green M&Ms or yellow ones.  This student teacher had these children with the picture, but the M&Ms clenched it.  All of the students wanted to predict.   The students moved from large group work to small groups to independent work with ease.  Interestingly, Megan did not allow the children to eat the M&Ms.  They were data.  The children accepted this fact and made no protest.  The math remained the focus throughout the lesson.  The lesson was an absolute delight to watch.   Trouble is, I may never eat M&Ms the same way again.  I will always be calculating the probabilities of pulling that red one.

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Teachers Matter: The Letter Defending Educators @Time Wouldn’t Print #TIMEapologize #TIMEfail

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Although this article is long I (Clare) found it incredibly interesting yet sad. When is the public going to “wake up” and realize the value teachers?

Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig's avatarCloaking Inequity

To: Nancy Gibbs, Time Editor

From: Thomas L. Good,

Professor Emeritus

College of Education

University of Arizona

1936 E Fifth Street

Tucson, AZ  85719

520-884-4298

TEACHERS MATTER

The November 3 issue of Time magazine includes a sensational cover, an editorial statement and a feature story that systematically question the value of American teachers who often work in less favorable conditions than their international peers. The fifty million readers/viewers of Time will see the cover and millions of others will also view it at various airport newsstands. However, considerably fewer will read the editor’s comments and yet substantially fewer will read the article. So the take- away message for the vast majority of citizens from this issue of Time magazine is that poor teachers are rampant in America and that they are harmful to our children, economy, and future.

Consider the front page cover that brazenly and in bold print decries…

View original post 2,115 more words

Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of True Story of the Three Little Pigs

literacy, Literacy teacher educators, Teacher education, teaching, ,

As the 25th anniversary of the picture book The True Story of the Three Little Pigs approaches author Jon Scieszka and illustrator Lane Smith recount the origins of their collaboration and the challenges of securing a publisher for the sophisticated parody. As Smith recalls, “some editors liked it but were a little confused and not sure if there was a market for it. Back at that time, children’s books were either serious, earnest books, or really funny books. But the sense of parody and irony that is rampant now didn’t really exist then…Viking put the book out very tentatively. They weren’t convinced of anything and did a small run that immediately sold out. It was all word-of-mouth from teachers, librarians and booksellers. They didn’t run ads or do a publicity push. Finally by the fourth or fifth printing the runs were more like 50,000.”

Follow the link below to read the full interview with Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/64695-the-true-25th-anniversary-story-of-the-three-little-pigs.html?utm_source=Publishers+Weekly&utm_campaign=94f331fbd0-UA-15906914-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0bb2959cbb-94f331fbd0-305134397

ThreePigs

The Pomodoro Technique

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I have discovered a simple yet effective technique to increase my productivity when writing. I started using the site http://www.mytomatoes.com a few weeks ago, and have been more writing done since. This is how it works:

Each “tomato” is 25 minutes long. When you click on “Start Tomato,” you start working/writing. And that’s all you do for 25 minutes. No washroom breaks. No facebook breaks. No e-mail. When the 25 minutes is up a bell rings, and you earn a 5 minute break. The site prompts you to document what you did for the 25 minutes, so you can track how you are spending your time. When the 5 minute break is up, another bell will ring and you are back to work!

I have found this technique so effective, and fun. I like “collecting tomatoes,” and I find 25 minutes is a good length of time to stay “in the zone.”  I would highly recommend it to any writers out there! Below is a link to a short video explaining the pomodoro technique in more detail.

http://pomodorotechnique.com/

Happy Writing!!!

Literacy development and genres: The graphic novel

classroom teachers, critical literacy, literacy, literacy, Teacher education, ,

When I (yiola) first began teaching  (in 2008) I asked student teachers if they knew about graphic novels.  The response was that few students were familiar with the genre or how and why it may benefit learning in the classroom. With each passing year more and more student teachers indicate they are familiar with graphic novels and more and more student teachers recognize the genre inside classrooms.

Some use the term graphic novels interchangeably with comics with others differentiate the two as distinct styles. In either case there are strong arguments for why the graphic novel is a powerful genre for literacy development.

6 Reasons You Need To Start Reading Comic Books

http://neillcameron.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/comics-and-literacy-part-1-why-reading.html

I introduce student teachers to David Booth’s book “In Graphic Detail” and I share the graphic novel “In a Class of her Own” to demonstrate how critical literacy and language acquisition can be developed in meaningful and interesting ways.

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http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2013/mar/19/review-in-a-class-of-her-own-kathleen-gould-lundy

The sharing of the graphic novel as a useful genre in the classroom is a highlight in my course. Many student teachers become inspired to use graphic novels once they are introduced to why they are effective and how to use them in a classroom setting.

Please share any great graphic novel titles that you know to be outstanding.

 

Reading for Relevance AND Fluency

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In the past, I (Clive) have posted about the need to teach for relevance. When recently re-visiting two of Richard Allington’s wonderful books on reading instruction – What Really Matters for Struggling Readers (2006) and What Really Matters in Fluency (2009) – I was impressed with his discussion of the link between relevance and fluency in reading. In his view, there are at least 4 instructional causes of reading difficulties:

  • Texts are too difficult
  • Texts are not interesting enough
  • Insufficient time is given for actual reading (as distinct from studying reading strategies)
  • Reading is interrupted for instructional reasons

Because of these factors, students don’t do enough reading to become fluent. Teaching reading strategies is important, but a balance is needed. Allington says:

[To increase their] store of at-a-glance words, readers need to consistently and repeatedly read a word correctly. [This requires] a lot of accurate reading…struggling readers [should] read at least as much as the achieving readers at their grade level. (2009, p. 38).

He cites what he sees as “one of the greatest failures of the [U.S.] federally funded Title I remedial reading and special education programs: Neither program reliably increased the volume of reading that children engaged in” (2006, p. 43). In fact, the amount of reading was often reduced.

But struggling students won’t read very much – either at school or at home – if texts are uninteresting to them. This is where relevance comes in. According to Allington, if we want students to read a lot they must see the point of reading. But if we force them to read books they aren’t interested in and bombard them with reading strategies, along with “comprehension” tasks that just require them to recall and retell, they may never realize that reading has a point. He comments:

I fear that we will continue to develop students who don’t even know that thoughtful literacy is the reason for reading. (2006, p. 116)

So relevance is valuable in two ways: it helps students learn about “life” and the real world, and it helps them learn how to read.

 

Responding Critically to Azalea’s ‘Bounce’

critical literacy, education, literacy, Literacy teacher educators, Social Justice, teaching, , , , , , , , , ,

In class this week my (Cathy’s) teacher education students were exploring indirect  instruction through learning centers.  One of the centers featured Iggy Azalea’s music video, Bounce, and the instructions to discuss the work through a critical literacy lens.   (E.g. What message do you think the artist wants us to get from this video? Based on the artist’s thoughts and actions (expressed in the song), how would you say she is portraying herself to the world?)

Most of the students had heard of the video but never actually viewed it until arriving at the literacy center.  (Perhaps you haven’t either).  Without revealing the content, I will reiterate the general tone of the reactions.   Most students were annoyed by the video content.  One student said she was disgusted (and this is not sexual content).  One group, however,  tried to take a broader view.  They said they could not judge the work until they understood Azalea’s intent.  So they took it upon themselves to look up an interview in which Azalea discusses her purpose for portraying her song the way she did.  After viewing the interview, they were angry.  Azalea explained that she portrayed herself thusly so she would be seen as “flashy”.  No message, just glamour.  After this insight, some wonderful discussion ensued about cultural ethics and hegemony.

One student spoke to me at the conclusion of class and confessed that she was surprised by her own reaction.  In her words, “I have changed.    Studying literacy education has given me a different perspective.  I see the world differently, especially things like music videos.”

Below is the link so you can view this content for yourself and decide.  The second link is the video in which Azalea discusses her purpose for making the video.

Happy critical viewing!