Technology Tools

The first tool that I looked at that is new to me is http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/.  I think students will really enjoy making their own comics.  One way that I could use this is to help students summarize a story, paragraph or chapter of something we read by having their characters talk about it.  They could use their comic to compare and contrast books that we’ve read.  This would also get them writing as they would have to type speech bubbles for their characters.  I think students would find this activity very fun and might not even realize that it’s work and also assessment to see what they retained from the story.  This goes along with what Anderson, Grant, Speck (2008), say in that students didn’t mind correcting their mistakes on their emails because they wanted their e-pals to understand what they are writing (p. 29).  This shows that when students are doing something they enjoy they will work harder to make it the best it can be.

The second tool that I looked at was https://www.slickwrite.com/#!home. The reason why I chose this is because I work with elementary students and they think that spellcheck is the catch all and will make their paper perfect after clicking on it.  By using this I can show them that spell check misses out on quite a bit of things and it never hurts to get another set of eyes or in this case program to check for mistakes.  I think it will really surprise them how many errors they will miss when editing someone else’s work or their own.  This can easily be used before, during and after the editing stages of writing.

  Anderson, R. S., Grant, M. M., & Speck, B. W. (2008). Technology to teach literacy: a resource for K-8 teachers. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall.

Literacy and the 21st Century Classroom

     I think literacy has changed a great deal for the 21^st century classroom.  Students are now able to carry literally millions of books in their hands just by having a tablet.  Whereas previously they would be using print media and would not have the ability to easily carry that amount of books.  When given the option most students even prefer to read on a tablet or electronic device over print media.  Because of this technology in my opinion has made it more accessible and easier for students to not only find stories that they enjoy but also tools that can aid in improving their reading skills.  They can do this through various apps or even have the ability to have the story read to them through their tablet or electronic device.  Because of the growth of technology teachers now have a variety of ways to track student literacy and use the data to help the students with problematic areas.  When using these types of literacy programs it will often tailor the lessons or activities to help boost the students’ problematic areas.  This is amazing because we all know how children learn differently and this helps individualize their learning. This is so important because like Anderson, Grant and Speck (2008) say, “Computers are common in the workplace and in homes, and increasing technology in schools is essential for preparing students for the digital future” (p. 6).  Since these are all common place and technology is constantly changing and evolving it is important to us as teachers that we continue to change and evolve our classrooms to meet the needs of our students.

 Anderson, R. S., Grant, M. M., & Speck, B. W. (2008). Technology to teach literacy: a resource for K-8 teachers. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall.