20 Educational Games Perfect For Young Students
Here are some great suggestions. I'll be trying out the handwriting, phonics, grammar, and vocabulary ones and I'll let you know how they are!
Friday, February 1, 2013
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Working Across Multiple Literacies
As a digital immigrant, multiliteracies are definitely a challenge, but it keeps my brain active trying to figure out how to use these technologies and best put them to use with students. It's good for me, I tell myself. Actually, as I use many new applications and interfaces, I see how engaging they are for students. I also watch students of all ages and abilities use them freely, as digital natives. I realize they may be advanced far beyond my ability in the use of many digital resources. What can I do about this? Well, I can keep learning. But I can also recognize their expertise and let them show me and others. I can change my attitude about students who may struggle in other areas and see them as experts in these literacies. All of these changes are positive for myself, other students, and other teachers. These talents can be used to help students move forward in other areas. So these new literacies help us view students differently, give us additional tools for teaching, and give students additional means with which to express themselves. They also open up a new area of literacy, complete with texts, graphics, resources, and etc., which students must know how to navigate and analyze.
These possibilities excite me. That's why one of the articles discussed last week was so helpful to read. "Envisioning New Literacies Through a Lens of Teaching and Learning" provided a list of roles for the New Literacies Teacher. I thought they clearly spelled out how we should be working with technologies in our schools. The roles show a clear shift in how a new literacies teacher will interact with students. The classroom example given illustrates how traditional literacy instruction is enhanced by new literacies. Now there's the hard part. Synthesizing our current instruction to use new literacies is a great challenge. I think that's where many teachers are stuck. Fortunately, some school technology specialists are helping to bridge the gap. Where there are not specialists to help, individual teachers and teams will have to help adapt our traditional curricula. Just as we study a topic of study in order to teach it, we need to study and practice using new literacies. Not an easy task, but a necessary one.
One thing that concerns me in the migration to new literacies is movement away from some of the hands-on learning that has been so beneficial to education. While it's convenient to do frog dissection on the computer, it doesn't replace the experience. And that's at levels where students have a good grasp of the physical world. We have to be extra-careful with children's use of technology when they are younger, more impressionable, and may even alter their neurological and physical development by overusing technology. I was reading a report called Facing the Screen Dilemma, about young children and the use of technology. It's good to keep in mind.
My last point is that our students still need traditional literacy skills to be strong in order to process information through the multiple literacies they use. We have to keep all of our literacy instruction strong. I'm all for the benefits of new literacies, but I do want to safeguard children's development and the "old" literacies.
These possibilities excite me. That's why one of the articles discussed last week was so helpful to read. "Envisioning New Literacies Through a Lens of Teaching and Learning" provided a list of roles for the New Literacies Teacher. I thought they clearly spelled out how we should be working with technologies in our schools. The roles show a clear shift in how a new literacies teacher will interact with students. The classroom example given illustrates how traditional literacy instruction is enhanced by new literacies. Now there's the hard part. Synthesizing our current instruction to use new literacies is a great challenge. I think that's where many teachers are stuck. Fortunately, some school technology specialists are helping to bridge the gap. Where there are not specialists to help, individual teachers and teams will have to help adapt our traditional curricula. Just as we study a topic of study in order to teach it, we need to study and practice using new literacies. Not an easy task, but a necessary one.
One thing that concerns me in the migration to new literacies is movement away from some of the hands-on learning that has been so beneficial to education. While it's convenient to do frog dissection on the computer, it doesn't replace the experience. And that's at levels where students have a good grasp of the physical world. We have to be extra-careful with children's use of technology when they are younger, more impressionable, and may even alter their neurological and physical development by overusing technology. I was reading a report called Facing the Screen Dilemma, about young children and the use of technology. It's good to keep in mind.
My last point is that our students still need traditional literacy skills to be strong in order to process information through the multiple literacies they use. We have to keep all of our literacy instruction strong. I'm all for the benefits of new literacies, but I do want to safeguard children's development and the "old" literacies.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Putting the Literacy Puzzle Together
Even if we conscientiously teach the critical areas of early literacy skills—phonological awareness, print awareness, comprehension, vocabulary, oral language—some children will struggle putting all the pieces together. Just because we teach what A looks like and even how to write it, does not mean that they will know that that its short sound is /a/ and that it is the letter and sound in the middle of vat. Furthermore, children may have no idea what a vat is or what how it is used. We often check off the individual skill areas that we are teaching without helping children put them together, making connections from sounds to letters, letter-sounds to segmenting and blending words, words to meanings, definitions of words to comprehension of sentences, paragraphs, and entire texts. Many children will be able to link the areas together to synthesize and accomplish the reading process, however, some may be stuck with a handful of pieces.
That's why two of the articles discussed last week made such an impression on me. Any reasonable attempt we can make to help children connect their literacy knowledge seems to be a valuable thing. "Teaching Sound-Letter Connections With Picture Mnemonics: Itchy's Alphabet and Early Decoding" told about one method of helping young children put together their literacy skills. The Itchy's Alphabet curriculum uses manipulatives and kinesthetic methods to help children acquire and master the alphabetic principle, learning letter-sound correspondence with picture cues. It seemed that this method, used in initial alphabet instruction, could provide students with valuable connections. There are other kinesthetic methods used successfully in remediating reading difficulties, such as the Orton-Gillingham and Wilson methods. Itchy's Alphabet offers its picture mnemonics and kinesthetics up front as the letters are first introduced to children.
The other article was "Print Referencing: An Emergent Literacy Enhancement Strategy and Its Clinical Implications." Print Referencing is another strategy that can be used to help children put their literacy knowledge together. It is easily incorporated into read-alouds by highlighting various print features during the reading, such as the title, the beginning letter of a character's name, directionality, a punctuation mark, etc. It should, however, never take precedence over the meaning of the text. It is crucial that children always understand the meaning and enjoy the reading.
Another strategy I thought of during our discussion was dialogic reading. This includes prompting the child to comment about something in the reading, expand on the comment (as in a dialogue), and repeating the expansion to make sure the child understands. This is an effective way of introducing vocabulary in an incidental way. It can also be used to aid comprehension, oral language development, and making connections.
One of the exciting things about both print referencing and dialogic reading is that they are easily done in a one-to-one situation between a parent or caregiver and child. It was great to hear a couple examples of how some schools have sponsored read-aloud nights and helped parents learn about these simple, yet beneficial strategies. I was able to participate in one such event sponsored by Jumpstart at a HeadStart school in Chicago. These outreach events give parents opportunities to learn how to boost their children's understanding in an enjoyable, non-stressful way.
I wanted to check out what brain research had to say about these types of strategies. The article I read definitely supports using multiple approaches that require children to repeatedly process information in different ways. The researcher recommends "offering multisensory, engaging, and thought-provoking lessons followed by opportunities to practice and process sensory information with conscious thinking, verbalizing, writing, or creating something that uses the reading skill." (Willis, 2009) The article also suggests that connections should be built between new information and prior knowledge to efficiently link the information together in the brain. As we use strategies that help children connect these pieces of learning together, we can help them successfully put the puzzle of literacy together.
Willis, J. (2009). What brain research suggests for teaching reading strategies. The Educational Forum, 73(4), 333–346.
That's why two of the articles discussed last week made such an impression on me. Any reasonable attempt we can make to help children connect their literacy knowledge seems to be a valuable thing. "Teaching Sound-Letter Connections With Picture Mnemonics: Itchy's Alphabet and Early Decoding" told about one method of helping young children put together their literacy skills. The Itchy's Alphabet curriculum uses manipulatives and kinesthetic methods to help children acquire and master the alphabetic principle, learning letter-sound correspondence with picture cues. It seemed that this method, used in initial alphabet instruction, could provide students with valuable connections. There are other kinesthetic methods used successfully in remediating reading difficulties, such as the Orton-Gillingham and Wilson methods. Itchy's Alphabet offers its picture mnemonics and kinesthetics up front as the letters are first introduced to children.
The other article was "Print Referencing: An Emergent Literacy Enhancement Strategy and Its Clinical Implications." Print Referencing is another strategy that can be used to help children put their literacy knowledge together. It is easily incorporated into read-alouds by highlighting various print features during the reading, such as the title, the beginning letter of a character's name, directionality, a punctuation mark, etc. It should, however, never take precedence over the meaning of the text. It is crucial that children always understand the meaning and enjoy the reading.
Another strategy I thought of during our discussion was dialogic reading. This includes prompting the child to comment about something in the reading, expand on the comment (as in a dialogue), and repeating the expansion to make sure the child understands. This is an effective way of introducing vocabulary in an incidental way. It can also be used to aid comprehension, oral language development, and making connections.
One of the exciting things about both print referencing and dialogic reading is that they are easily done in a one-to-one situation between a parent or caregiver and child. It was great to hear a couple examples of how some schools have sponsored read-aloud nights and helped parents learn about these simple, yet beneficial strategies. I was able to participate in one such event sponsored by Jumpstart at a HeadStart school in Chicago. These outreach events give parents opportunities to learn how to boost their children's understanding in an enjoyable, non-stressful way.
I wanted to check out what brain research had to say about these types of strategies. The article I read definitely supports using multiple approaches that require children to repeatedly process information in different ways. The researcher recommends "offering multisensory, engaging, and thought-provoking lessons followed by opportunities to practice and process sensory information with conscious thinking, verbalizing, writing, or creating something that uses the reading skill." (Willis, 2009) The article also suggests that connections should be built between new information and prior knowledge to efficiently link the information together in the brain. As we use strategies that help children connect these pieces of learning together, we can help them successfully put the puzzle of literacy together.
Willis, J. (2009). What brain research suggests for teaching reading strategies. The Educational Forum, 73(4), 333–346.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Writing Affecting Reading
In the flurry to develop research-based teaching methods, educators have succeeded in breaking literacy tasks into its component parts. It's pretty much understood that phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, concepts about print, comprehension, oral language, and writing will be a part of all reading instruction. This is great, because teachers are strengthening their instruction in each of these areas, and they are similarly monitoring their students' progress. Unfortunately, a side effect of dissecting processes is making them isolated tasks. That's why it was refreshing to read a couple of recent articles about bringing writing back into reading instruction in a contextualized way, rather than leaving writing instruction as a separate entity.
The move took a step back before moving forward, as researchers identified the need for more intensive writing instruction. Students' low test scores in writing gave rise to curriculums that focused exclusively on the writing process. While I am not against writing process instruction, I am much more excited about contextualized writing and students strengthening their reading comprehension by processing their thoughts into writing. Jamie shared one of the articles in class, "The Effect of an Adapted Interactive Writing Intervention on Kindergarten Children's Phonological Awareness, Spelling, and Early Reading Development: A Contextualized Approach to Instruction." In this study, kindergarteners showed greater improvement on word identification, passage comprehension, and word reading development when they practiced writing about the texts they read (or had read to them). The other kindergarteners in the study used a reading skills games practice method, which focused on skills in isolation.
The other article was more recent, "Writing Undergoes Renaissance in Curricula,"published earlier this month in Education Week. Thanks in part to the Common Core State Standards, which require written responses to texts, writing about reading is being implemented with increasing frequency. They are finding that the practice increases writing ability as well as comprehension. Surprisingly, the International Reading Association still holds the position of separated reading and writing instruction, saying that the benefits of the reading/writing connection requires more research. The article cites a 2010 meta-analysis of writing interventions, so maybe that will help. However, critics have said that the minimal amount of writing done even in so-called extensive writing curricula is leaving our students with a lack of preparation for higher education and the workforce. Furthermore, it was mentioned that the AP exams will be increasing the requirement of written responses. So perhaps this will continue to change our practices.
I'm all for writer's workshop or other designated writing instruction, but when I see that a contextualized writing approach benefits both writing and reading comprehension, I think we should take advantage. Don't you?
The move took a step back before moving forward, as researchers identified the need for more intensive writing instruction. Students' low test scores in writing gave rise to curriculums that focused exclusively on the writing process. While I am not against writing process instruction, I am much more excited about contextualized writing and students strengthening their reading comprehension by processing their thoughts into writing. Jamie shared one of the articles in class, "The Effect of an Adapted Interactive Writing Intervention on Kindergarten Children's Phonological Awareness, Spelling, and Early Reading Development: A Contextualized Approach to Instruction." In this study, kindergarteners showed greater improvement on word identification, passage comprehension, and word reading development when they practiced writing about the texts they read (or had read to them). The other kindergarteners in the study used a reading skills games practice method, which focused on skills in isolation.
The other article was more recent, "Writing Undergoes Renaissance in Curricula,"published earlier this month in Education Week. Thanks in part to the Common Core State Standards, which require written responses to texts, writing about reading is being implemented with increasing frequency. They are finding that the practice increases writing ability as well as comprehension. Surprisingly, the International Reading Association still holds the position of separated reading and writing instruction, saying that the benefits of the reading/writing connection requires more research. The article cites a 2010 meta-analysis of writing interventions, so maybe that will help. However, critics have said that the minimal amount of writing done even in so-called extensive writing curricula is leaving our students with a lack of preparation for higher education and the workforce. Furthermore, it was mentioned that the AP exams will be increasing the requirement of written responses. So perhaps this will continue to change our practices.
I'm all for writer's workshop or other designated writing instruction, but when I see that a contextualized writing approach benefits both writing and reading comprehension, I think we should take advantage. Don't you?
Sunday, November 18, 2012
What? No quality children's literature in reading instruction?
I found the article by Patricia Cooper, "Children's Literature for Reading Strategy Instruction: Innovation or Interference?" a little bit extreme. I tend to be a proponent of literature-based reading instruction. However, I do understand Cooper's concern of killing children's aesthetic connection with stories through over-instruction. I appreciated my classmate's disagreement with Cooper and the solutions suggested.
Literature should always be read at least once for enjoyment before the instruction of any skills with it. The exception to this would be prediction, which I see more as a motivation for children to read a story than an opportunity for them to be turned off by worrying about getting their prediction right. I prefer to do prediction with a preview of the book, looking at more than the cover, so unusual titles or covers don't confuse kids. Then the first read of a story with all the expression possibly mustered provides a wonderful foundation for children to discuss different parts of the story on a second pass. Dr. Cooper did assent to some post-reading discussion and activities, and that's when the instruction should come in. In that way, she goes against her premise, weakening her original argument.
Yes, literature for enjoyment only is an extreme as is literature for instruction only. The key is balance between the two. Enjoyment first, instruction afterward. Kids have to see that people read for pleasure. That's motivating. Once they're hooked, bring on some skills instruction. One reading curriculum with which I am familiar uses this sequence. As a former editor of this curriculum, I can say that literature searches were my favorite part of the job. Poring through stacks of great children's literature was more fun than work! The selections are meant to entice young readers, as well as to be good examples to use for skills instruction.
The other point made in class was that reading instruction should not be the only time for read-alouds. Kids of all ages love to have stories read to them. Reading is a powerful way to connect with students. We can feel sadness, worry, or happiness, together, along with the characters in a story. As children build a love of reading, their skills will improve as well. So, if this was the author's point, then I'm in agreement. I think I'd just clarify a few things before bashing a perfectly good practice.
Thanks, Cassie, for sharing the article and starting this great discussion!
Literature should always be read at least once for enjoyment before the instruction of any skills with it. The exception to this would be prediction, which I see more as a motivation for children to read a story than an opportunity for them to be turned off by worrying about getting their prediction right. I prefer to do prediction with a preview of the book, looking at more than the cover, so unusual titles or covers don't confuse kids. Then the first read of a story with all the expression possibly mustered provides a wonderful foundation for children to discuss different parts of the story on a second pass. Dr. Cooper did assent to some post-reading discussion and activities, and that's when the instruction should come in. In that way, she goes against her premise, weakening her original argument.
Yes, literature for enjoyment only is an extreme as is literature for instruction only. The key is balance between the two. Enjoyment first, instruction afterward. Kids have to see that people read for pleasure. That's motivating. Once they're hooked, bring on some skills instruction. One reading curriculum with which I am familiar uses this sequence. As a former editor of this curriculum, I can say that literature searches were my favorite part of the job. Poring through stacks of great children's literature was more fun than work! The selections are meant to entice young readers, as well as to be good examples to use for skills instruction.
The other point made in class was that reading instruction should not be the only time for read-alouds. Kids of all ages love to have stories read to them. Reading is a powerful way to connect with students. We can feel sadness, worry, or happiness, together, along with the characters in a story. As children build a love of reading, their skills will improve as well. So, if this was the author's point, then I'm in agreement. I think I'd just clarify a few things before bashing a perfectly good practice.
Thanks, Cassie, for sharing the article and starting this great discussion!
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Remembering What's Important
I recently read a great article (you'll love the title), "I Know There Ain't No Pigs with Wigs: Challenges of Tier 2 Intervention." I began reading thinking that it would be about word study or comprehension strategies and how to teach them to our struggling readers. What I read was such a refreshing surprise that I was in tears by the end of it. (I do break into tears easily, but this is a pretty wonderful article.)
The article is about reading intervention model, but unlike ones I'd heard of before. This team of authors (1 university professor, 1 district administrator, and 10 teachers) began by naming their beliefs about reading. This turned into the "What Matters for Readers" list below.
The article is about reading intervention model, but unlike ones I'd heard of before. This team of authors (1 university professor, 1 district administrator, and 10 teachers) began by naming their beliefs about reading. This turned into the "What Matters for Readers" list below.
- Understand that reading is meaningful.
- Believe in their ability to make sense of texts.
- Consider reading a pleasurable event.
- Self-monitor spontaneously and consistently.
- Have the knowledge, skills, and strategies to problem-solve to ensure meaning.
- Use this information flexibly.
- Use this information independently.
- Use this information with increasingly sophisticated texts.
They used this list to develop their study and to find ways to make these things happen for kids. They knew that most interventions begin with their #5, the skills and strategies. But they made a conscious decision to go through the list in order.
As we know, and as they studied quantitatively, was that the majority of their struggling readers did not have #1, 2, and/or 3 as part of the way they viewed themselves as readers. They came up with ways to help students to see that reading was meaningful, help students believe in their abilities, and make reading pleasurable. In most cases, some skills and strategies were also involved, but the concentration was on the first three points. Mostly, they concentrated on ways to build the student's confidence and love of reading. In the end, they found that the students made approximately two months of growth for every 1 month of service.
Here are a couple quotes from students who participated.
"I am a stra-te-gic read-er now. I used to not be. But now I know it has to make sense. I used to read books that rhymed, but they didn't make no sense. I know there ain't no 'pigs with wigs.' That's what I used to read. I used to not like to read. Now I do because I am stra-te-gic."
When asked about how he felt about reading, another student said, "Different. . . . In a good way. . . . Like a family way. A really happy way. I like reading a lot! I like to read anything!
So next time you're looking for intervention strategies, think of the "What Matters" list. It helped me remember what really matters.
Monday, October 29, 2012
It's who you know (or Who's your MKO? continued)
I got carried away in my last post thinking about how important it is to know our students and to let them lead at times. We definitely can gain so much by understanding their interests. When we follow their interests, they are more motivated and will do some of their best work, perhaps work that we never thought they could accomplish. I had to research a strategy called I-Search papers for another class. Instead of traditional research papers, they allow students to seek answers to questions that are important to them, mostly by working with primary sources, personal interviews and site visits. Then they write narratives of the whole search experience. They are such great ways to get kids motivated about research and learning in general.
However, in addition to knowing our students, I thought about other great sources of information for us as teachers. Our great class discussions brought me back to the thought of coaching, peer coaching in particular. I wish every teacher could be in a group of teacher-learners. Whether it be a grad class or a discussion group at school, these interactions are invaluable. I listen to teachers sharing ideas for teaching various strategies or skills and also bringing up bigger philosophical or systemic questions, from universal pre-k to the importance phonological awareness for the hearing impaired. This is incredible stuff that keeps us thinking and working to deliver instruction in ever-better ways.
I don't want to forget the parents either. I've been in both situations where parents hover continually and where I've struggled to make contact with parents, but either way, they know their children best and can give us insights that we may never see in school. Likewise, we may see things in their children that they don't experience at home. If we keep the lines of communication open and make an effort to continually share information, the children benefit. http://www.edutopia.org/blog/listening-to-students-elena-aguilar
Then, I was reading a article about getting to know ourselves as teachers, our strengths and weaknesses, and how to work with those. It was good to reflect on that, too, rather than just hurrying from one task to another. Reflection time is so valuable. http://smartblogs.com/education/2012/10/05/knowing-ourselves-enables-us-help-others/
I'm definitely an idealist when I think through all these situations, but if we can at least aim for the ideal, I'm sure we can improve instruction, even in a small way, for our students.
However, in addition to knowing our students, I thought about other great sources of information for us as teachers. Our great class discussions brought me back to the thought of coaching, peer coaching in particular. I wish every teacher could be in a group of teacher-learners. Whether it be a grad class or a discussion group at school, these interactions are invaluable. I listen to teachers sharing ideas for teaching various strategies or skills and also bringing up bigger philosophical or systemic questions, from universal pre-k to the importance phonological awareness for the hearing impaired. This is incredible stuff that keeps us thinking and working to deliver instruction in ever-better ways.
I don't want to forget the parents either. I've been in both situations where parents hover continually and where I've struggled to make contact with parents, but either way, they know their children best and can give us insights that we may never see in school. Likewise, we may see things in their children that they don't experience at home. If we keep the lines of communication open and make an effort to continually share information, the children benefit. http://www.edutopia.org/blog/listening-to-students-elena-aguilar
Then, I was reading a article about getting to know ourselves as teachers, our strengths and weaknesses, and how to work with those. It was good to reflect on that, too, rather than just hurrying from one task to another. Reflection time is so valuable. http://smartblogs.com/education/2012/10/05/knowing-ourselves-enables-us-help-others/
I'm definitely an idealist when I think through all these situations, but if we can at least aim for the ideal, I'm sure we can improve instruction, even in a small way, for our students.
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