Technology in the Classroom

1. Technology in the Classroom Wendy Ortelli

2. BEING PREPARED TO Use Comprehend Manipulate COMPUTER RELATED CONTENT TO MEET Communicative Personal Academic Social Cultural GOALS Digital Literacy

3. Digital applications have become commonplace at home and in the workplace thus making the importance of teaching children how to use technology very clear. Research has shown that when properly structured digital technology has “extraordinary potential to engage and scaffold students.” Why integrate technology into literacy instruction?

4. Natural promotion of technology in the classroom. By using technology daily in our classroom routines, we help create a rich schema for the use of technology. Creating a calendar of events Setting classroom event reminders Composing and printing notes to parents Creating posters for the classroom Making class lists of things to do Writing the morning message It’s important that teachers remember include the students’ input while demonstrating for them computer applications.

5. Collaborative Writing Using Technology • Digital pens for “marking up” the text • Email for communicating world wide • Paired keyboarding for collaborative learning • Instant messaging and blogging

6. Technology for Special Populations Software applications can make age-appropriate content more comprehensible... Listen to the text read aloud Listen to unfamiliar words read aloud Multimedia glossaries Electronic encyclopedias Video clips Graphic organizers Listening to stories in Spanish … by allowing the use of multiple learning modalities.

7. Phonological Awareness • Use well-designed phonological awareness software such as DaisyQuest or Daisy’s Castle by Blue Wave Software (Pressley, 2006) • Students can use talking electronic books for phonological awareness tasks such as identifying rhyming words and checking by clicking the computer pronunciation (Labbo, 2000)

8. Phonics and Spelling • Teachers can type daily Morning Message or student stories using an LCD projector (Labbo, 2005) and smart boards to highlight word features and spelling patterns. • Well-designed decoding software such as Reading Mansion can supplement students developing phonics skills (McKenna, 2002) • Create word banks for beginning readers and store the words electronically using PowerPoint. (Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, & Johnston, 2004) • Students can dictate digital language-experience stories and print them for phonics lessons. (Labbo, Eakle, & Montero, 2002; Turbill, 2003)

9. Vocabulary • Extend themes and concepts with Internet content, electronic encyclopedias, video streaming, and other multipmedia (Labbo, 2005c) • Virtual field trips can build vocabulary (Blachowicz & Obrochta, 2005) related to units of study. Use the Internet, electronic encyclopedias, and other media to build prior knowledge vocabulary that can be saved digitally (Doe, 2003) • Use digital photography conbined with text to document class field trips and buld rich vocabulary in class-authored books (Turnbill & Murry, 2006) • Build a collection of useful and important vocabulary in a class database. This resource can include a reference to the text or place where the vocabulary word was first encountered (Doe, 2003) • Students can build their vocabulary and prior knowledge by going on a virtual scavenger hunt. See Valmont (2003) for step-by-step guide to creating an HTML document to guide your students to specific websites during a virtual scavanger hunt.

10. Fluency • Students can build fluency by using electronic texts with computer pronunciations of speech as a model for fluent reading. Speech recognition software can record and track students’ fluency progress (see Adams, 2006). • Repeat readings and echo readings of electronic texts are beneficial for students who need practice reading aloud in a risk-free environment (Labbo, 2000). • Students can use talking books for Readers Theater practice (Labbo, 2000) and then share their performance with an online webcast or podcast of their dramatic reading. • Students can practice repeated readings of literature, record themselves reading the book on tape, then donate the books and student-authored tapes to kids in hospitals. Using a class webpage to spread the word about this community service brings in an authentic audience (Sanguiliano, 2000)

11. Comprehension • Electronic texts at the computer learning center can include response activities or retellings at the sociodramatic play center to foster comprehension (Labbo, 2000). • Children can benefit from the meaning making that occurs when they respond to read-alouds or literature using desktop publishing software such as KidPix or Inspiration (Labbo, 2000). • Internet links to author websites (Valmont, 2000) can enhance author studies by sharing more information about the author and his or her writing process and by encouraging communication via email with the author. • Students evaluate and take a critical stance toward digital material, including considerations related to the credibility of the source and potential bias (Leu, 2000); Morell, 2002) • Internet, instant messaging, and email provide opportunities for socially constructed leaning (Lewis & Fabos, 2005)

12. Writing • Written responses to stories or process-writing techniques such as Writing Workshop can include computer-based work that constructs knowledge through a variety of symbol systems (Labbo, 1996, 2003) • Student’s poetry creations using the computer can be enriched with sybols, including unique font type, colors, stamps/clip art, layout templates, animated graphics, and embedded music (Carrol, 2004). • A variety of open-ended tools for digital publishing facilitate process writing. See Wood (2004, p.23) for a description of publishing tools, including Power Point (Microsoft), Microsoft Publisher (Microsoft), EasyBook Deluxe (Sunburst Communications), Hyperstudio (Knowledge Adventure), Inspiration (Inspiration, Inc.), Amazing Writing Machine (Broderbund, the Learning Company).

13. Writing (cont’d) • Electronic pen pals, via email or instant messaging, can link students and classrooms around the globe. Topics can include literature discussions or common units of study (see Leu, 2002; Wood, 2004). • Teacher- and student- authored classroom websites or blogs (electronic journals) can display student work and communicate classroom events (see Chamberlain, 2005; Leu, 2002). • Students conduct research projects using the Internet and present their finding in a multimedia PowerPoint presentation (Kinzer, 2005). See Morell (2002) for ideas on critically evaluating pop culture using the Internet and other sources. • Collaborative Internet projects may be based on traveling stuffed animals (Leu, 2002) or the Flat Stanley Project, which generate online reading and writing experiences (see Hubert, 2005).

14. Internet Fun • Wordle http://www.wordle.net/ • StoryLine Online http://www.storylineonline.net/ • Comic Creator http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/ • StoryBird http://storybird.com/

15. Wordle

16. Wordle

17. StoryLine Online

18. Comic Creator

19. StoryBird