As we are collaborating and sharing ideas how about sharing some ideas for a project that I am currently working on.
I worked at a particular primary school during the past two years and made various observations. The school had a room designated to be the library, it had some books many being of dinosaur age. However, the library is used to house meetings for various groups and for remedial sessions. There is no system in place to utilize the library to provide access to books so that their exposure to text and stories would increase. Yet, teachers complain about literacy issues such as comprehension, reading skills, and writing.
From speaking to students, there are some who have never visited any of the public libraries. Therefore, I embarked on a project to revive the library so that it functioned as a library and so that students benefited from its existence. However, I was only able to drum up support in the form of assistance from 4% of the staff other than the principal. I know there must be others that are interested but I really hope that they get more involved as the project progresses.
Do you have any idea about how I can get the teachers more involved? I have been playing with the idea of eBooks in my head but do you have any ideas for my library project? I am really open to suggestions.
Keep reading and sharing.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Research Challenges
Thus far we have discussed two resources that support the integration of new technologies into learning and literacy instruction, namely Blogs and Wiki. Hence, I wanted to mix it up a bit by exploring research that highlighted best practices of the integration of technology with literacy. However, there seems to be a scarcity of such research. This has been voiced by our dear course coordinator.
Holum and Gahala (2001) highlighted two challenges that researchers face when trying to anchor recommendations for using technology in literacy instruction. He spoke of a ‘moving target’ problem and the issue of not having many comprehensive literacy studies. It was really clear to see how these could be challenges to researchers. Technology is always evolving and in some cases it changes so much that it becomes obsolete. Hence, researchers would not want to dispense time and money with such risks to their research.The other issue is the scarcity of comprehensive literacy research into the use of technology for enhancing literacy. Anchoring recommendations suggest that you would want to back up your findings, thus the need for available comprehensive research.
Do you think we can help overcome these challenges? What issues do you think we should investigate?
References used in Blog
Holum, A. & Gahala, J. (2001). Critical issues: Using Technology to enhance literacy instruction. Retrieved on July 1, 2010, from: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/content/cntareas/reading/li300.htm
Keep reading for more, who knows you may get an idea for your research.
Holum and Gahala (2001) highlighted two challenges that researchers face when trying to anchor recommendations for using technology in literacy instruction. He spoke of a ‘moving target’ problem and the issue of not having many comprehensive literacy studies. It was really clear to see how these could be challenges to researchers. Technology is always evolving and in some cases it changes so much that it becomes obsolete. Hence, researchers would not want to dispense time and money with such risks to their research.The other issue is the scarcity of comprehensive literacy research into the use of technology for enhancing literacy. Anchoring recommendations suggest that you would want to back up your findings, thus the need for available comprehensive research.
Do you think we can help overcome these challenges? What issues do you think we should investigate?
References used in Blog
Holum, A. & Gahala, J. (2001). Critical issues: Using Technology to enhance literacy instruction. Retrieved on July 1, 2010, from: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/content/cntareas/reading/li300.htm
Keep reading for more, who knows you may get an idea for your research.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
ARE WE READY FOR IT?
I was prompted to post this blog after reading some of my colleagues posts. Many people are of the opinion that we are not ready for the integration of technology into the classroom and that the classroom prevents the use of Web. 2.0 technology. Although this might be true, there are alternatives.
Over the past year I have been able to experiment with the use of a Wiki in my standard four classroom. Despite having no access to the Internet I created a class website using a free template provided by weebly.com. The video below spoke about using it for the actual teaching of the content as they learnt about poetry within the classroom and this may be possible for some people.
However, our website was used to place extra activities and games related to the topics that I was teaching. It was also an out of school activity as the responsibility was laid on the parents and children to visit the website. This may have contributed to the fact that it took a while to get off of the ground.
It took a lot of effort as you had to constantly point out that they needed to go to the library or to an Internet cafe if they did not have access at home and repeatedly discuss safety considerations. To further motivate the children to visit the website whenever we had an event, a display, a function or a field trip pictures were taken and uploaded to the website as our photo gallery.
The website can also be beneficial to the teacher as it has provided an avenue for me to communicate with the children over this vacation period as they engage in their independent studies.
What do you think are you willing to set up a Wiki for your class?
So far I have given some insight into my experiences next time we will look at what the research has to say in terms of best practices. Keep reading!
Over the past year I have been able to experiment with the use of a Wiki in my standard four classroom. Despite having no access to the Internet I created a class website using a free template provided by weebly.com. The video below spoke about using it for the actual teaching of the content as they learnt about poetry within the classroom and this may be possible for some people.
However, our website was used to place extra activities and games related to the topics that I was teaching. It was also an out of school activity as the responsibility was laid on the parents and children to visit the website. This may have contributed to the fact that it took a while to get off of the ground.
It took a lot of effort as you had to constantly point out that they needed to go to the library or to an Internet cafe if they did not have access at home and repeatedly discuss safety considerations. To further motivate the children to visit the website whenever we had an event, a display, a function or a field trip pictures were taken and uploaded to the website as our photo gallery.
The website can also be beneficial to the teacher as it has provided an avenue for me to communicate with the children over this vacation period as they engage in their independent studies.
What do you think are you willing to set up a Wiki for your class?
So far I have given some insight into my experiences next time we will look at what the research has to say in terms of best practices. Keep reading!
Monday, July 12, 2010
TO Blog or NOT to Blog
While you ponder on “The Boys Crisis” , we will get back to the first issue at hand, technology to enhance learning.
There is nothing like a first hand experience to make a judgment. In education most times we weigh the pros and cons to decide whether or not to use a particular strategy or new approach.
Based on my experience, bogging can be such an inconvenience as it takes away from your time, worse yet if you are working with a schedule it makes it difficult to write quality blogs. It is often difficult to even think about a topic and then there is the hassle of finding a blog to respond to.
However, let’s consider the benefits of blogging to both the teacher and the students. Blogs are motivating to students, especially those who otherwise might not become participants in the classroom. It provides an opportunity for students to discuss topics outside of the classroom. With a blog, every person has an equal opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions. Blogs provide excellent opportunities for students to read and write with an instant audience and get quick feedback. Thus, creating effective forums for collaboration and discussion, it creates a community of learners, where it can provide a forum to revise topics and to study as a group. If structured properly it can be a powerful tool to scaffold learning or for mentoring to occur.
Of course the fact that it is being graded has forced me to take them seriously and helped to consider how best I can support my position in each blog making me more critical in my writing. In my final decision I believe that I will incorporate it into my classroom as the pros seem to outweigh the cons.
What might be your position or experience with blogging?
Keep reading to learn more about technology that can enhance teaching and learning.
There is nothing like a first hand experience to make a judgment. In education most times we weigh the pros and cons to decide whether or not to use a particular strategy or new approach.
Based on my experience, bogging can be such an inconvenience as it takes away from your time, worse yet if you are working with a schedule it makes it difficult to write quality blogs. It is often difficult to even think about a topic and then there is the hassle of finding a blog to respond to.
However, let’s consider the benefits of blogging to both the teacher and the students. Blogs are motivating to students, especially those who otherwise might not become participants in the classroom. It provides an opportunity for students to discuss topics outside of the classroom. With a blog, every person has an equal opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions. Blogs provide excellent opportunities for students to read and write with an instant audience and get quick feedback. Thus, creating effective forums for collaboration and discussion, it creates a community of learners, where it can provide a forum to revise topics and to study as a group. If structured properly it can be a powerful tool to scaffold learning or for mentoring to occur.
Of course the fact that it is being graded has forced me to take them seriously and helped to consider how best I can support my position in each blog making me more critical in my writing. In my final decision I believe that I will incorporate it into my classroom as the pros seem to outweigh the cons.
What might be your position or experience with blogging?
Keep reading to learn more about technology that can enhance teaching and learning.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
THE BOY CRISIS
I know that this might be straying from my last post but I just had to ask your opinion on this issue.
Have you considered or wondered about the pilot project to promote single sex schools in Trinidad and Tobago? Someone shared an article 'Putting the "Boys Crisis" in Context' from the Harvard Education Letter that has caused me to ponder a bit on the issue.
This article highlights the literacy crisis of boys, as girls are constantly surpassing them with their literacy scores in various reading proficiency tests. Do you think anyone has considered how the promotion of literacy should be changed at these schools to cater for the boys? Do you think any special program has been developed?
The article also spoke of these gaps being due to various factors and that a lot of boys are actually better readers than girls. This I do agree with as there are many factors that would affect these statistics and things like socio-economic factors, demographic factors and we can speculate and investigate other factors.
However, despite these factors I still believe that the literacy approaches for various genders should be considered. Sadowski (2010) suggested that increasing students’ access to reading support at all levels of schooling can prevent reading challenges and that rather than make decisions on national or even district-level data, district officials may wish to investigate possible reading gaps in their own schools first, suggesting some action research.
What are your views? Should literacy be something we should consider deeply as we venture into the idea of same sex schools? Should the approach to teaching literacy be re-considered with respect to boys?
References used within post:
Sadowski, M. (2010). Putting the “Boy Crisis” in context. Harvard education letter, 26 (4). Retrieved from: http://www.hepg.org/hel/article/473
P.S.
We will get back on track with our last post but I will definitely be coming back to this topic so give me some food for thought in the mean time.
Have you considered or wondered about the pilot project to promote single sex schools in Trinidad and Tobago? Someone shared an article 'Putting the "Boys Crisis" in Context' from the Harvard Education Letter that has caused me to ponder a bit on the issue.
This article highlights the literacy crisis of boys, as girls are constantly surpassing them with their literacy scores in various reading proficiency tests. Do you think anyone has considered how the promotion of literacy should be changed at these schools to cater for the boys? Do you think any special program has been developed?
The article also spoke of these gaps being due to various factors and that a lot of boys are actually better readers than girls. This I do agree with as there are many factors that would affect these statistics and things like socio-economic factors, demographic factors and we can speculate and investigate other factors.
However, despite these factors I still believe that the literacy approaches for various genders should be considered. Sadowski (2010) suggested that increasing students’ access to reading support at all levels of schooling can prevent reading challenges and that rather than make decisions on national or even district-level data, district officials may wish to investigate possible reading gaps in their own schools first, suggesting some action research.
What are your views? Should literacy be something we should consider deeply as we venture into the idea of same sex schools? Should the approach to teaching literacy be re-considered with respect to boys?
References used within post:
Sadowski, M. (2010). Putting the “Boy Crisis” in context. Harvard education letter, 26 (4). Retrieved from: http://www.hepg.org/hel/article/473
P.S.
We will get back on track with our last post but I will definitely be coming back to this topic so give me some food for thought in the mean time.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
CRITICAL ISSUES WITH LITERACY AND INFOMATION TECHNOLOGY
Traditionally literacy instruction referred to the teaching of basic literacy skills-reading, writing, listening and speaking. However, in the 21st century it has become a digital world. Thus, students also need technology skills for communicating, investigating, accessing and using information as well as being able to think critically about messages inherent in new media.
As an educator in this digital world one has to consider what it means to be literate in a digital society. Does this mean teaching the children how to use word processors and spreadsheets and the sort, as we would have done to become computer literate and ready for the digital world? In my research and readings I have found such a broader view as technology can influence how people read, write and communicate.
Although technology promises new ways to promote literacy, educators have mixed reactions as some holds it at arms length and some embraces it and some in their enthusiasm have a some what wrong interpretation of how it should be used.
What side do you think you would support and how do you think we can encourage our colleagues to embrace the use of technology to promote literacy?
In the future posts, I would like to explore what research has to offer, best practices and resources that support integration of new technologies into literacy instruction.
As an educator in this digital world one has to consider what it means to be literate in a digital society. Does this mean teaching the children how to use word processors and spreadsheets and the sort, as we would have done to become computer literate and ready for the digital world? In my research and readings I have found such a broader view as technology can influence how people read, write and communicate.
Although technology promises new ways to promote literacy, educators have mixed reactions as some holds it at arms length and some embraces it and some in their enthusiasm have a some what wrong interpretation of how it should be used.
What side do you think you would support and how do you think we can encourage our colleagues to embrace the use of technology to promote literacy?
In the future posts, I would like to explore what research has to offer, best practices and resources that support integration of new technologies into literacy instruction.
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