Digital Literacy or Electronic Babysitter?

 

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We live the Digital Age, where people are expected to demonstrate, at the very least, basic digital literacy skills. Despite the fact that technology in schools often lags behind technology at home, academic environments are doing all they can to build their students' digital knowledge. (Be sure to check out these previous posts: Flipping Out in the Elementary Classroom and Teens Aren't as Digitally Literate As We Thought.)

In her article, What Do Good Readers Do  - On the Computer? (The Reading Teacher, April 2013), Lindsay Buck Saldana's does an excellent job explaining why "interactive" computer games are merely electronic babysitters unless the classroom teacher actively participates with his/her students while they play these games.

She conducted a mini-action research study of sorts after watching her students mindlessly click through activities on a well-known reading web site. Were they engaged? Sure! But were they thinking? Not so much. She worked toward solving the problem by showing students how to apply the traditional reading strategies we all know and love to their online reading games. Through modeling, read alouds and explicit instruction of strategies, she demonstrated that while the text format may be different, the concept is the same. Using one of their web-based programs, Saldana walked her students through the steps of how a good reader interacts with a website, which include taking advantage of all the resources available such as clickable images and words.

It's all about getting students to transfer their knowledge from one content area to another. And sometimes the best way to bridge the gap between traditional and cutting edge is to realize there is room for both. 

What are some ways you boost your students' digital literacy skills?

Travels With Myself & Two Others: Taking Literacy Learning on the Road

Photo credit: nosha via photopin cc

(First, a quick shout out to Martha Gellhorn, whose memoir Travels With Myself and Another ranks as one of my all-time favorite reads. Obviously, my blog post title is a play on Martha's book title.)

In a few weeks, I will travel with my twin daughters to Florida for vacation. It will be a learning experience for all three of us. For me, I will learn whether I have the patience and courage to travel with two six-year-olds without losing either my mind or one (or both) of them. I will also discover just how strong my map-reading skills are as I navigate a rental car around central Florida. Time to beef up my document literacy skills ... or just use GPS. The girls will expand their boundaries significantly. Our trip involves new forms of transportation (airplane, monster-truck eco bus), new sights, new sounds, new tastes, and new people. Authentic learning at its finest. Travel and reading. Two of the best forms of education.

In a fun coincidence, the February 2013 issue of The Reading Teacher (International Reading Association) includes the article, Literacy on the Move: A Journal for the Journey by Dr. Laurie Curtis, an assistant professor at Kansas State University. In the article, Ms. Curtis lays the groundwork for an interesting project that involves incorporating literacy learning with travel. Designed for students who must miss school because of family travel plans, the project provides a way for students to connect their school studies with the real-life experiences they will have while on their journey. Essentially, instead of assigning "make up" work, the teachers involved in this project created a traveling journal assignment of sorts. Before they leave, a student (and possibly her parents) conference with the teacher about the assignment. The student receives a folder that contains a U.S. or world map, colored pencils and paper. As they travel, the student colors in the areas of the map that pertain to the journey. Along the way, she collects print resources and journals each day about her experiences. The type of journaling completed depends on the student's age and level of literacy skills.When the student arrives back in class, she conferences again with the teacher and then creates a presentation to share with her classmates.  The activity supports both the Common Core State Standards and the four literacy strands. 

Although my daughters and I will travel during a scheduled school break, I am thinking about putting a journaling packet together for each girl. Not only could it help them make stronger connections with their experiences, I think they would find it fun with the end result being a unique souvenir of their first big traveling adventure.

I'd love to hear what ideas you have to help students  - or children in general - connect literacy and learning while traveling.

Thanks for reading! It keeps your .. Mind Full of Literacy!

Can Being Mindful of Emotions During Reading Improve Comprehension?

Photo Credit: Dyslexia Assessments

 How mindful are you of your emotions when you read? According to new research, tracking and analyzing Moment-To-Moment (M2M) emotions could give insight into when reading comprehension breaks down, resumes, or flows continuously. The research, conducted by Arthur C. Graesser and Sidney D'Mello, was published in the November 2012 issue of The Reading Teacher, a publication of the International Reading Association. The name of the article is Moment-To-Moment Emotions During Reading.

According to the research, M2M emotions focus on either the "persistence or changes in emotions every few seconds" versus the long-term status of everyday emotions. M2M emotions are not static, rather they are extremely dynamic as a reader interacts with a reading task or text. In fact, for their studies, Graesser and D'Mello poll emotions every 20 seconds using a variety of people and tools to classify the emotions. Think about that. They track every 20 seconds. Incredible!

The study highlights four emotions: boredom, frustration, confusion and flow (engagement). In tracking these fluctuating emotions, the researchers attempt to pinpoint the exact moment when each one kicks in. They also track how a reader transitions from one emotion to emotion. Apparently, there are two transition cycles: Beneficial (flow > confusion > delight in having cleared the confusion) and Harmful (boredom > frustration > disengagement). The article offers well-known interventions to help readers who consistently remain in the Harmful cycle.

The ultimate goal with reading and reading instruction is to develop readers who read metacognitively and who become mindful of their changing emotions while they read. I found this article so interesting because it looks at common problem through a new lens: Why do some readers struggle while others don't? While the emotions Graesser and D'Mello set forth aren't new - teachers know that boredom, frustration, and confusion during reading are common, interconnected feelings for struggling readers - the pinpoint approach is refreshing. I can't wait to see more research from this area of study. And I imagine now that this topic is "top of mind" that I'll be more mindful of what I'm feeling as I read.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for reading ... it keeps your Mind Full of Literacy!