Literacy Now

As literacy educators return to their classrooms, some may look to online spaces for fresh ideas. Recent posts on this blog have suggested following Twitter hashtags or provided numerous sites for online professional development. Similarly recognizing that social networking tools can be a great source of learning for teachers, we offer this review of the English Companion Ning (ECN), an online community “where English teachers go to help each other.” ECN, first mentioned on this TILE-SIG blog post by William Yang, has become a valuable resource in our own work with university English language instructors in Pakistan (for Khan) and pre-service secondary English teachers in the U.S. (for Lammers).

With more than 42,000 members discussing all aspects of the English curriculum and contributing to numerous forums that offer collegial support, ECN is “a community dedicated to helping you enjoy your work.” Jim Burke, a high school English teacher in California, speaker and author of more than 20 books, created ECN in December 2008 to support novice and experienced teachers in developing their professional skills. In 2009, ECN won the Edublog award for “Best Educational Use of a Social Networking Service.”

ECN encourages English teachers to seek help from members in a friendly and informal way. Described as “a cafe without walls or coffee: just friends” (see the ECN homepage image), ECN is a free resource for connecting and sharing. After creating an account on ECN, teachers can chat, blog, upload images and videos, participate in existing forums, create their own discussion groups, join the ECN book club, and share lesson plans, activities, links, and other teaching-related resources. ECN offers online professional development from anywhere, anytime.

Being a new teacher can be overwhelming for even the best prepared in our profession. While beginning teachers may be hesitant to ask questions or request feedback from within their school building, ECN can help novices specifically due to the supportive nature of interactions between experienced and new teachers. For instance, one ECN member, a new teacher, posted that she needed help teaching Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Her question yielded a variety of lesson ideas from experienced teachers who previously taught this text. Some members shared links for engaging activities regarding Julius Caesar, while others pointed her to existing threads on ECN about teaching Shakespeare, because their great ideas for teaching Julius Caesar came directly from this site. Similarly, when asked to teach a new course or text, even experienced teachers can seek mentorship by tapping into ECN’s vast network of teachers willing to help and share ideas.

The helpful and cooperative environment of ECN develops a sense of social connection and belongingness among community members. Teachers need not feel isolated in their classrooms, they can reach out on ECN to receive almost immediate support from others. In one of many such examples on the site, one ECN member posted she was stuck in the midst of a project with her class and asked for suggestions for completing it soon. She got seven replies to her post that very day, each with different ideas. ECN members took interest in her project and provided constructive feedback. In return, she shared the revised project plan she completed with the help of ECN members. As members ask and answer questions, ECN fosters a sense of connection and collaboration. 

ECN’s members teach in classrooms around the world. The global nature of ECN connects members to a network of international colleagues, which is particularly helpful for English teachers in remote locations without access to professional development by other means. In addition to providing curriculum ideas, ECN serves as a source for career guidance. For instance, an English teacher in Iraq received assistance from a U.S. teacher in developing his research proposal for admission to a U.S. university. ECN is an international English department, connecting peers all over the globe.

ECN discussions are participant-driven and focus on what teachers want and need. When they get tasked with teaching something new, run into challenges in the classroom, feel lonely or isolated, or want to share successful lesson plans and strategies with others in the field, ECN can be a rich online resource for teachers.

Asma Khan is a doctoral student at the University of Rochester. She studies English as a Foreign Language teachers’ use of online spaces and can be reached at asma.yousafzai@gmail.com. Jayne C. Lammers is an assistant professor and director of the secondary English teacher preparation program at the University of Rochester. She studies adolescents’ literacy learning and can be reached at jlammers@warner.rochester.edu or on Twitter at @URocProf.

This article is part of a series from the International Reading Association’s Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).

Screencasting tools such as Explain Everything allow teachers and students to create and share content with a wider audience. These dynamic applications allow users to annotate, animate and narrate slides. Slides can be illustrated by drawing, importing images from the web, or taking pictures with a device such as a smartphone or tablet. Presentations can also be uploaded using PowerPoint, Prezi or Keynote. Next, users simply click on the record button to narrate and explain the content of each slide. After completing the slides, the application compiles a movie file that can be exported and shared via the Internet in a variety of ways, such as Dropbox, Evernote, Facebook, e-mail, YouTube, or saved on the device for future viewing.

Explain Everything can be used in a myriad of ways in the classroom including publishing student writing, illustrating audio journals, and creating book trailers. In this column, we share how Chase Young used Explain Everything with 2^nd graders to create book trailers to recommend books to their peers. Book trailers are similar to movie trailers in that students write a script and publish a movie that gives an exciting overview of a text, and leaves the audience in suspense. This link shows how 2^nd graders used the Explain Everything app to create book trailers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se4qF3H6q2Q.

Here are two examples of 2^nd grade book trailers:

• Dumb Bunnies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0PeQVzmsgc
• Maybelle in the Soup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJRcvv6JVvk

This screencasting app can also be easily integrated across the content areas. In Social Studies, students can research famous people that impacted the United States. As a final project, students used Explain Everything to share their learning. Here is a second grader’s report on Betsy Ross: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZBhSGETfTY. Students can become experts in science by conducting inquiry-based research and publishing their expository writing using screencasting tools. For example, one 2^nd grader used Explain Everything to create a digital essay on butterflies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juyHu0nZhWQ.

When considering the possibilities for classroom use, we thought carefully about screencasting’s capabilities and how we could utilize them to enhance our existing curriculum.  For instance, students can demonstrate learning in a variety of ways, such as digital storytelling or explaining mathematical procedures. These projects can be easily uploaded to a class blog to make sharing with family, friends, and a wider audience easier. Screencasting is also a great tool to use for flipped classroom design. For example, the teacher can record a lesson for students to watch at home before coming to class so in-class time can be devoted to hands-on learning, projects, and discussions.

Although there are numerous screencasting tools, we selected the use of Explain Everything due to its easy-to-implement design. With extended time to explore and utilize the app, the students became more proficient and successfully implemented the tool independently. Through this experience, students learned the benefits of using digital tools such as screencasting both in the classroom as well as beyond the four walls of the classroom. Listening to their peers’ book trailers inspired students to extend their reading plans and fostered a sense of excitement about reading and sharing about books using this digital application. We encourage you to try this app out with your own students and hope you’ll share about it using the comment feature below.

Katie Stover (katie.stover@furman.edu) is an Assistant Professor of Literacy Education at Furman University in Greenville, SC.

Chase Young (chase.young@tamucc.edu) is an Assistant Professor of Education at Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi in Corpus Christi, TX.

This article is part of a series from the International Reading Association’s Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG). 

At school and at home, one of the most difficult challenges I face is in engaging reluctant readers.  My son, who is a very capable reader, doesn't enjoy reading for pleasure.  He tells me so every time I put a book in his hands—a conversation we have often. Every year, I have students who walk into my classroom already in the mindset that they don't like to read and never will.  As an avid reader, my heart aches a little each time a child tells me they don't love books.  As a teacher, I know that the best way for a student to be a really strong reader is to read—a lot! 

Of all the components of my job, helping kids find a love of reading is among the most important.  So what can be done when a child just doesn't want to read?  Finding just the right book or topic to suit a child's interests is the key.  I have also found that graphic novels are excellent choices for reluctant readers.  The text is broken up into more manageable pieces, the pictures appeal to visual learners and can aid in comprehension for struggling readers, and graphic novels have a “cool factor” that makes them in demand in both school and classroom libraries.  There is no doubt that kids love comics and graphic novels, and we should be using that love to our advantage when it comes to getting kids to read.

Kids also love technology. When graphic novels are paired with digital readers or other mobile devices, it is a truly irresistible combination.  Although interactive graphic novel apps have been a bit slow to take off, there are some available.  One of the currently available interactive graphic novels is Lego Ultra Agents.  This app combines a comic book reading experience with a classic game app to create an enhanced reading experience.  Marvel's Avengers: Iron Man—Mark VII is another app with a similar set-up.  It includes an interactive comic book enhanced by requiring the user to solve puzzles in order to unlock the next piece of the story as they read.  These apps are really engaging and fun to use.  They are great for helping kids feel that reading doesn't have to be a chore.

There are also quite a few other options for the use of digital graphic novels in the classroom. Many of the graphic novels available in digital formats are not interactive, but kids will still love being able to view them on their reader or tablet screen.  Favorite series such as Percy Jackson & the Olympians, The Kane Chronicles, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and Artemis Fowl can all be found as digital format graphic novels.  For some reluctant readers, the novelty of reading on a mobile device may tempt them into giving reading for pleasure another chance and a selection of graphic novels on those devices may help students realize that engaging with a book can be an entertaining experience.

In addition, middle- and high-school students can also find their favorite book series as digital graphic novels.  Beautiful Creatures and Maximum Ride, among others, have been released in Manga versions and digital formats.  Even better, older students may also be interested in exploring the new, updated graphic novel versions of classic stories such as Macbeth and The Odyssey.  These novels often have the original text, but have been adapted to a graphic novel format.

Aside from well-known books adapted to graphic novel format, there are a variety of apps that offer other comic and graphic novel options. Campfire Graphic Novels is an app offering a selection of comics based on people and events from history, which would be an excellent addition to a digital classroom library.  Middle School Confidential is a set of graphic novels aimed at the upper elementary and middle school age group.  The books are designed to help kids deal appropriately with tough situations and to reduce bullying, The Middle School Confidential website also offers a free teaching guide to allow for these books to be used with a whole class as a character education lesson.

The ways graphic novels can be utilized in the classroom are endless, from independent, self-selected reading to whole group lessons.  The variety of stories available in the graphic novel format is continuing to expand, as parents and teachers see that kids like to read and engage with these books, even when they are hesitant to read traditional books.  By combining the appeal of the graphic novel genre with the innovations found in new technologies, kids of all ages benefit and can find love and joy in engaging with literature.

Lindsey Fuller is a sixth grade teacher in Decatur, IL. Her interests are classroom technology integration, literacy instruction, and Common Core curriculum development and implementation. You can read more from Lindsey on these topics at her blog, Tales of a 6th Grade Classroom.

There is little doubt that technology has exponentially increased our ability to share information and collaborate with a global audience. One of the challenges for teachers, however, often lies in finding tools that make this process authentic, user-friendly, and efficient while providing an “environment” that offers the security needed to ensure the privacy and safety of students. One tool I’ve found with the capacity to address many of the aforementioned criteria is Padlet, a free, web-based board where teachers and students can easily communicate, collaborate, express ideas, and share information.

In simplest terms, Padlet is a digital wall where users can post content of their choice, including text, images, documents, and videos. Users can even add their own digital drawings. The use of Padlet is fairly intuitive (see Padlet tutorial video or Padlet Junction) and the interface is very user-friendly. Sharing content is easy as walls can be imbedded into websites, distributed using a link, or posted on multiple social media outlets. One of the unique capabilities of Padlet is that it can be utilized on a variety of devices, including computers, tablets, and smartphones. As a result, students can create a wall on a computer at school and can even update content on the wall on the way to soccer practice using a web-enabled phone. Google Chrome users can also access an extension called Padlet Mini. This extension allows users to share content directly with an existing wall or add it to a new one created from the browser without direct use of Padlet. Finally, a Padlet wall can be exported and saved in multiple file formats, including .pdf, Excel, and image (e.g. .jpg), meaning if internet access is not available, there are additional options for users to examine content.

The opportunity for collaboration is enhanced by the fact that there is no limit to the number of people that can simultaneously edit a wall and changes are visible instantly. To ensure privacy, teachers have several options in the settings associated with a wall as well as the ability to provide oversight after content has been published. For example, the visibility of the wall can be customized to the extent that the wall is hidden from Google searches. Access can also be set to various levels, from public to password protected. Finally, comments on walls can be filtered as the administrator of the wall has ability to moderate posts.

Padlet has a variety of uses in the classroom for both teachers and students. Teachers could create a wall with information or resources for parents and students to view at home. Within instruction, a wall could be used as a point of origin to direct students to examine specific resources around a particular topic, including files, links, and multimedia. There are several examples of teachers using Padlet to collect responses and information from students. For students, Padlet walls could be used to showcase digital work, as a digital notebook, as a collaborative space to brainstorm about a topic, or to share resources with each other on a topic. Further promoting collaboration among students, Padlet walls could be used as “location” for students to engage in group discussions as well as for sharing reflections about learning.

Padlet is certainly a tool with a variety of potential uses for both teachers and students. I would encourage you to access the Padlet gallery to see the many examples of how others have utilized it. Afterwards, I am sure you’ll be inspired to try Padlet in your own classroom!

S. Michael Putman, PhD, is an associate professor and interim chair within the Reading and Elementary Education Department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His areas of research include the impact of teacher preparation and professional development on teacher self-efficacy, including efficacy for classroom management; middle school student dispositions toward online inquiry; and the effective use of technology within teaching practices and for improvement of student outcomes.

This article is part of a series from the International Reading Association’s Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).

Every June, I feel as though the warm weeks of summer will never end. And without fail, every August I feel as though the final weeks of summer break have snuck up on me and I'm not yet prepared to go back to the classroom. Ready or not, the time has come once again to get ready to welcome new students to my classroom and plan out our year together.

For many teachers, planning the new year now includes making decisions about how technology will be integrated into the classroom. As mobile devices become more prevalent in the school setting, this can be an overwhelming task. In the last few weeks, I've had teachers ask me which apps I would recommend for starting the school year. Here are a few of my favorites:

Subtext is by far one of my favorite apps to use with my language arts classes. It allows my students and me to conduct close readings and annotate text together as a class. Students can also use it to make notes during independent reading and work collaboratively on pieces of text. The app can be used with purchased books, downloaded books, PDFs, text or articles found on the web, or even with suggested articles found within the app. Subtext is a free app and offers students the opportunity to read and interact with text digitally, allowing them the chance to develop necessary skills.

Trading Cards is an app from ReadWriteThink.org that is always a big hit with my students. Users are able to create a digital trading card that depicts a person, place, object, event, or vocabulary word. The student answers a series of questions about the topic, allowing for comprehension practice as well as the opportunity to do research as necessary. Students are able to customize their cards for color and style, and add a picture to finish off the project. My students love creating these cards and presenting them to the class when finished, or printing them for display in our classroom. The cards are a fantastic way to integrate research into your language arts classes or as a final project when wrapping up a unit topic.

Strip Designer is an app that makes story creation and publishing a little more fun. Students use their device to take pictures depicting their story, and then use those pictures in the comic strip template of their choice. Text bubbles and other fun elements can be added to enhance the effect. This app is a great choice for encouraging students to use creativity in their writing, and the graphic novel format is especially appealing for the upper elementary and middle school age groups.

While the supply of apps for students seems endless, there are also a great number of apps created specifically for teachers. Read With Me Fluency is a tool for educators that is designed to streamline the process of collecting fluency and running record assessment data. Student reading sessions can be recorded and saved for parent conferences or to be scored later, the app will store class data and generate reports, and specific options are available for comprehension questions and time limits. This app has the potential to be a major timesaver in the classroom.

Another fantastic app created with teachers in mind is the Scholastic Book Wizard Mobile. The app is an extension of the Book Wizard at scholastic.com, except that the mobile app allows users to scan the bar code on the book instead of manually entering search information—which saves a lot of frustration and effort! Once the book has been scanned, the app will display the cover, title, author, interest level, and reading level. This is a handy, timesaving tool for any teacher in the midst of organizing a classroom library or adding books to one that is already leveled.

These apps are the ones that stand the test of time because they are tools that extend or facilitate learning, rather than being full of content that becomes stale after a month. Apps such as these will enrich your classroom throughout the year to come, and provide both you and your students with the means to make this school year an incredible learning experience for everyone involved.

Lindsey Fuller is a sixth grade teacher in Decatur, Illinois. Her interests are classroom technology integration, literacy instruction, and Common Core curriculum development and implementation. You can read more from Lindsey on these topics at her blog, Tales of a 6th Grade Classroom.