Literacy Now

In today’s world, the topic of using technology in the classroom can be intimidating. In this monthly column, join one teacher on a quest to discover the best way to meet the needs of her digital-age learners…moving beyond the technology tools to focusing on supporting each student’s learning.

p: infoxchange_australia via photopin cc

As we approach the end to another academic school year, many people (not in the educational field) keep asking me if I'm counting down the days or looking forward to having a couple of months off. I'm sure other educators hear similar questions and I have to say that those questions frustrate me a bit. I feel like they imply that I can't wait to get out of the classroom and away from my students, putting us in the stereotypical school situation...which we are not.

I don't know about you, but I enjoy being with my students. We have fun in our classroom together where we all learn together every single day. It's bittersweet for all of us when they pass on to the next grade because our tight-knit learning community is breaking up as they move forward to the next step in their learning journey. I'm proud of them and I know that they are more than ready for the next grade, but I also know that I will miss them.

Teaching is a constant journey that causes us to reflect throughout the year on what went well and what we want to change for the next group of learners headed our way. With that in mind, I am always searching for new resources, tools and insight on what will reach my individual learners best wherever they are in their learning journey. My summer fills up fast with conferences, un-conferences, and workshops.

I know that funding is tight (or nonexistent) in many of our systems. That leaves us with the responsibility to either pay out of pocket to attend conferences and professional learning events or go without. But are those our only options? In today’s digital world, is it possible to continue our professional growth without shelling out our hard earned dollars?

The answer is a resounding “YES!” I thought I would share a few ideas on how you can harness the power of today’s technology resources to help you get the professional learning for which you are searching all for the low, low price of…FREE!

Let’s Discuss!

No matter what your interest or certification, there is now a host of learning communities in which you can engage in conversations. In addition to blogs written in formats such as IRA’s Engage, just about any professional organization has an online community where you can register a user name and begin posting ideas, questions, strategies, or tools.

These discussion boards, such as this one from Thinkfinity, become asynchronous conversations where practicing classroom teachers can all share their experience to benefit everyone within the learning community. What I love about these message boards is that I am getting relevant information from teachers who have actually used these tools, strategies, and lessons plans with actual students.

Tweet Away!

Another way to connect and grow professionally is through Twitter. I know that many people have written Twitter off as a waste of time. After all, who wants to know what celebrity is having trouble deciding which latte to get this morning?

However, Twitter is as useful as you make it. If you want to professionally grow in a certain area, look for other educators who are experts in that area. Twitter is all about the connections and relationships you build with other tweeters. Don’t expect to sign on and post a question and immediately get an answer. Other educators need to ”know you.” Send a tweet introducing yourself and join in the conversations. If you are unsure of where to begin, take a look at this list of educators.

Also, many people are not aware that there are real-time tweet chats on just about every subject that would interest an educator. These are informal learning times where a topic has been selected and educators chime in with their resources, lessons, ideas, and strategies within that particular hour. Here is a list of educational Twitter chats to get you started. Tweet chats are fast paced. You wouldn’t believe how fast an hour long chat will fly by or how many practical ideas and resources you will gain.

Also, most conferences now have Twitter hashtags, like #IRA2013, where you can follow all of the ideas, insights, and resources shared by the presenters and attendees.

Getting a Little More Formal

Do you enjoy learning in a more formal manner? Just like with blogs and discussion boards, most organizations offer webinars of live or recorded sessions. One of my favorites is Classroom 2.0 Live. They have at least one live webinar a week complete with audio, chat, desktop sharing, and sometimes even video. These webinars are led by today’s leading educators and you can learn from them, ask questions, and get a multitude of ideas all from the comfort of your home or local coffee house.

The great thing is they archive all of their other webinars and you can gain access to for free. Want to learn about LiveBinders, educational apps, or blogging? They have a webinar for that. Want to learn from your favorite authors? They have webinars for that, as well. One great perk is that after you view one of their webinars, recorded or real-time, you get a link to print out a certificate for professional development hours.

Taking the Time You Need

During the summer, I do thoroughly enjoy having some time where I don't have to set my alarm clock and I can meet friends for lunch. Also, I do (like many of you) cram a lot of professional learning into those two months off because I'll have more flexibility to read and participate in professional learning throughout the summer months.

My husband once laughed and told someone that real teachers don't get time off. They work just as hard, if not harder, during the summer as they do during the school year. The only difference is that we aren't in classroom with our students. We're out there learning to become the best teacher we can be for our next group of students.

So this summer, as I strive to learn as much as possible from all of you, I hope that we can connect and learn together. Because learning together (like in many of our classrooms) is what is going to impact our students most. Providing them with as many opportunities to create, collaborate and work together in authentic learning activities while supporting their work with relevant tools is really what it's all about.

Julie D. Ramsay is a Nationally Board Certified educator and the author of “CAN WE SKIP LUNCH AND KEEP WRITING?”: COLLABORATING IN CLASS & ONLINE, GRADES 3-8 (Stenhouse, 2011). She travels the country to speak, present, and facilitate workshops in applying technology to support authentic learning. Read her blog at juliedramsay.blogspot.com.

In today’s world, the topic of using technology in the classroom can be intimidating. In this monthly column, join one teacher on a quest to discover the best way to meet the needs of her digital-age learners…moving beyond the technology tools to focusing on supporting each student’s learning.

For many of us, this is the last big push before the end of the school year. Not only do many of us face the dreaded days spent administering standardized test to our students, but we are also trying to impart those last lessons that we hope that our students will take with them for a lifetime.

We have spent a fantastic year where the students have been a community of readers, writers, debaters, publishers, communicators, creators, scientists, artists, historians, and mathematicians. Recently, my students have begun asking me, “Will you keep up all of our online work?” I reassure them that I have no intention of taking down any of their fantastic work.

Their question caused me to pause and think upon my own experiences; when my book was released, it was the tangible quality of holding it in my hand that validated all of the hard work that had gone into it. For our students, of any age, it is powerful to write a piece for others to read, discuss and contemplate. Even in our digital world, students still need that tangible quality of a final project that they can hold and share with someone else that will validate their work.

My students use a wide variety of digital tools for publishing their work for a much wider audience. They love all of the different publishing tools that they use (and are constantly finding new ones), but they still crave creating their own hardcover book. They are always creating little paper version with paper folded in half and stapled together. So how do we provide students with publishing options that will meet their digital aesthetic while providing them with the physical copy of the book?

One tool that we stumbled upon several years ago is StoryJumper. On StoryJumper, the students have the ability to create digital picture books. The creators of this tool did a fantastic job of creating the shadowing and animation of an actual book. One student commented, “Wow, it’s just like a real book.” It is a book; it is just digital. Every year when my new group of eager writers sees a StoryJumper book, they are immediately drawn to it.

Teachers can easily set up an entire class so that each student can create their own book. There is not only a large collection of clipart and backgrounds to choose from, but also a user can create and upload their own illustrations, graphics, or photos, making their book unique and personal. My students love that their book is different from every other book ever published because they can easily customize it to what they envision.

The StoryJumper templates guide students into creating a front cover, title page, dedication page, and each page for their story. Because it is digital, students from different locations can easily collaborate and publish. Once a book is complete, the students can share it through email or they can purchase their hardcopy version to keep and share with others.

The options for this tool are only limited by your writers’ imaginations. My students have created family and regional cookbooks, anthologies of fables and poetry, short stories, expository pieces on habitats, family histories, how-to books, and informational books of their favorite topics. One student even created a joke book.

My learners love the fact that their StoryJumper books are both digital and hardcopies. They can share the digital version with all of their global peers and family members who live a great distance from them. Then they can also have purchase a copy to carry with them to share with all of those important people in their lives.

It still surprises me that with all of the other digital tools that they use, my students thoroughly enjoy—and seek out new opportunities—to publish a hardcover, hardcopy version of one of their pieces of writing.

Sometimes our students enjoy having that tangible book in their hands as evidence of their hard work. They like taking it to share with others. My authors love taking their books to read to younger students and we keep a library of their books for them to be read by everyone in the class. They are shared with anyone who will take time to listen and look at their books. Their books always receive a lot of attention at our Young Authors' Conference because they look so professional, and my students are so proud of and enthusiastic about what they've created. After all, they created it so that others would read it.

So next time your students begin to publish, remember that sometimes students want to have that tangible book in their hands to share with others. It's a way for them to receive validation for all of the hard work that they've done now, and in the future.

Julie D. Ramsay is a Nationally Board Certified educator and the author of “CAN WE SKIP LUNCH AND KEEP WRITING?”: COLLABORATING IN CLASS & ONLINE, GRADES 3-8 (Stenhouse, 2011). She travels the country to speak, present, and facilitate workshops in applying technology to support authentic learning. Read her blog at juliedramsay.blogspot.com.

Of all the educational tools available in Apple's App Store, those aimed at reading and language arts are pretty scarce, especially for older students. And although a plethora of interactive storybooks and e-reading apps are available, literacy tools can be harder to find—but they do exist.

Whether you have a single iPad in your classroom, or are in a 1:1 setting, these reading-related apps are worth taking the time to review.

FREE APPS

YALSA's Teen Book Finder: The Teen Book Finder is a fantastic resource for discovering the best books/media for teens. These selections are made through a collaboration of librarians and educators throughout the United States, and all the books included have been recognized by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). The app allows users to search for reading material by title, author, and genre, as well as by award or list. Features include a reading list function with social media sharing capability, a favorites button, a local library locator, and a “Hot Picks” section which features three popular titles a day. The Teen Book Finder boasts plenty of reading inspiration for young adult audiences, combined with the cool factor only an app can provide.

Best Books For...: Peekaboo Studios offers a series of apps that allows users to find books based on age—Best Books for Babies, Pre-K, Tweens, and Teens are included among this group of free apps. Each offers a selection of age-appropriate reading suggestions, as well as brief descriptions of the included titles. Users can view the suggestions as a list, or by choosing a topic of interest. These apps are certainly not perfect—the lists are far from exhaustive, and do not necessarily contain the highest quality reading choices for each age group. But for intermediate and older students who may be reluctant readers, these apps can be a useful tool for rousing reading interest. Also available for Nook, Kindle, and Android.

ICDL: The International Children's Digital Library app is a collection of free children's books from around the world. These books are available in a large variety of languages, the books are beautifully illustrated, and a large quantity of titles can be found for a wide age range. The app is completely free, with no hidden in-app purchases and no advertising. The purpose of the developers is to provide books to underserved children who may not have access to libraries. ICDL contains a search feature with extensive options, making it easy to browse books that meet very specific criteria. Although the books contained in this app aren't likely to be new releases, it is an excellent resource for classic literature and/or ESL classrooms, and all the functions are very child-friendly. Some users have reported problems with crashing, but we have not had this problem.

Constant Reader Free: This app allows users to create book lists for reading history, favorite authors, favorite books, etc. These lists can be shared via email and updated or reordered as needed. Features include the ability to rate books, share favorites through social media, and add personal notes to reading selections. Users can also receive recommendations based on reading preferences, and write their own reviews. The downside to this app is that the free version only allows for one book to be added per day, which would make adding past reading history very time consuming. A paid version of the app is available for $4.99 if users find this to be an unacceptable limitation. Regardless, Constant Reader is a useful tool that allows for students to keep track of and categorize the books they have read throughout the school year. Teachers should be aware that this app is not designed specifically for students, and it allows users to read collective notes and reviews for all book titles.

PAID APPS

Kids' Book Finder ($1.99): With nearly 27,000 critically reviewed books in its database, this app is a treasure for teachers, parents, and students. he most impressive feature this app offers is the ability to search for books based on grade level, topic, genre, awards, or a combination of any of these categories. It is also possible to search the catalogue by title, author, illustrator, or keyword. A list feature allows for the creation of a book list that can be shared via email. This feature is somewhat underdeveloped, as it would be more useful if multiple lists could be made, saved, and edited. Despite this small flaw, Kids' Book Finder is an incredible resource for finding quality books for children of all ages, and the detailed search function is a unique feature that makes it worth buying.

LevelFinder ($1.99): Leveling your classroom library just got easier! If your students participate in Accelerated Reader, this app is a must-have tool. It allows the user to find AR levels, point values, and quiz numbers for over 126,000 AR titles. Books can be searched by full or partial title, author, level range, or point range, making it much easier for students to find book suggestions for their reading level. This search function is what makes this particular app unique. However, perhaps the most useful characteristic of LevelFinder is that the database is completely contained within the app. This allows for the app to be used even when a Wi-Fi connection isn't available, making it ideal for schools that are not yet using wireless devices in the classroom.


All of these apps have proved reliable for my students, and each offers a unique literacy-related tool for the classroom. So whether you are looking to spark an interest in reading in your students, provide them with ways to engage with the books they are reading, or simply need help leveling your classroom library, these are worth checking out!

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.

In today’s world, the topic of using technology in the classroom can be intimidating. In this monthly column, join one teacher on a quest to discover the best way to meet the needs of her digital-age learners…moving beyond the technology tools to focusing on supporting each student’s learning.

When you begin a writing project with your students, do they jump up and cheer? Or do they roll their eyes, sigh, and grumble? Ever wonder how some teachers inspire young authors to blossom while others fight off the weeds that choke their students’ desire to write? That is where our story begins…

There once was a teacher who felt like she dragged her students through writing projects and activities. They loved class, they loved learning, but they hated writing. She tried throwing in some technology projects, to pique their interest, but the students still resisted writing. Just like Christmas presents weeks later, the exciting newness of the technology lost its sparkle.

In addition to the weight of her students’ disinterest in writing, she faced an even bigger challenge. This teacher was feeling the dragon known as standardized testing breathing its hot, stinky breathe down her neck. She felt the pressure to get her students to perform for the standardized writing assessment. She loved her students and wanted what was best for them. She knew that giving them the gift of writing would open up new worlds and give each of them a voice. What could she do?

Her district promised her help from a writing fairy in the form of a consultant. With the direction of the consultant, hired for all of the English Language Arts teachers in the district, she began breaking down writing lessons into a pattern that her students could emulate. Even after following everything that she had learned, her students’ test scores were not improving. In her heart, she knew this was not teaching her students how to become writers. She recognized that they were much more capable, and she knew they deserved more than these pseudo-writing lessons.

“Enough!” she declared. “I will start from scratch and have my students help me find the secret recipe.”

Together they traversed through many paths searching for the way to making writing meaningful for the students. Although the dragon of standardized testing was still there, they continued on their quest focusing on what would help student learn and embrace the life of a writer in today’s digital world. There were many bumps along the road that taught them that learning from mistakes and challenges were just as important as finding the right path.

p: Enokson via photopin cc

In their pursuit, armed with optimism, they re-evaluated all of their old writing practices and perspectives. They tested, tried, challenged and reformed a new way of writing that created a community of voracious writers, writers armed with keyboards, digital tools, apps and tablets. These students were overwhelmed with joy when it was time to write in all of their classes. They had found the secret to sharing their voice in the world and exploring who they were as learners. In fact, they loved writing so much, they looked for new times to fit in writing projects by even begging their teacher, “Can we skip lunch and keep writing?”

These young writers and their teacher knew that they had found a way of writing that could not remain a secret. They knew they had a duty to share it with the world; it was their obligation to bring their secret to as many other people as possible so that many more learners could find their voices and impact their own learning and the learning of those around them.

Would you like to know the secret recipe for getting your students to love writing so much that they beg, “Can we skip lunch and keep writing?” The secret is yours for the taking.

Join me in San Antonio at IRA’s 58th Annual Convention on Sunday, April 21, from 3PM–4PM in Grand Hyatt, Lone Star Ballroom C. Come and hear about our journey, listen to our success stories, learn new teaching strategies, tools, and practices, and go home with the “secret” to getting your students to beg to keep writing.

Are you a fan of Plugged In? Come see Julie D. Ramsay present a session on collaborating in class and online at IRA’s 58th Annual Convention, April 19-22, 2013, in San Antonio, Texas.

Julie D. Ramsay is a Nationally Board Certified educator and the author of “CAN WE SKIP LUNCH AND KEEP WRITING?”: COLLABORATING IN CLASS & ONLINE, GRADES 3-8 (Stenhouse, 2011). She travels the country to speak, present, and facilitate workshops in applying technology to support authentic learning. Read her blog at juliedramsay.blogspot.com.

Technology has given us the capacity to change the way we do so many things in the classroom. It seems no matter the task, there is always an app for that.

Classroom library management is no exception. We spend a lot of time and money building our classroom libraries; it makes sense to invest in a reliable management system in order to keep track of all those precious books we loan out to students. But up until recently, this has been a time-consuming and tedious task.

Fortunately, there is indeed an app to make this aspect of classroom life a little easier. Book Retriever is a low-cost iPhone app that allows for the creation of a classroom library database. It is very easy to use—simply scan the ISBN barcode on the back of a book, and the app will identify and add that book to the classroom library list. The book listing includes title, author, cover photo, and the number of titles available, as well as Lexile level, grade level, and the current price to purchase a replacement.

While this is amazing in itself, the extra features are really what make this app. No barcode? No problem. Create a barcode by entering the necessary information and print a label via a wireless printer, then attach the barcode to the book. Occasionally a book will have an unrecognizable ISBN, in which case the teacher will need to enter the title and author information for the book. (Scholastic titles, unfortunately, tend to be the books that most often carry these oddball numbers.) Luckily, this doesn't make the app unusable, but it will require a little more time and effort to get these books entered into your online database. As an added bonus, the barcode creation feature also makes it possible for the teacher to enter other items into the database. Anything that can have a label stuck to it could be checked out through this app, which is incredibly handy in a classroom setting!

Another fantastic feature is the ability to select a student to see what books the student currently has checked out. Books can also be searched by ISBN, title, author, etc., allowing the teacher to see who is in possession of a book at any given time. A full list of books in the database is offered, which is excellent for insurance purposes, as well as for reference when choosing new titles to add to the library. This library listing can be sorted by title or author, or by check out status. The status selection option provides a complete list of books that are currently checked out. In addition, a leveled reading chart, a list of "Hot Books," and tips for creating an engaging classroom library are included.

Once all the books in a library have been scanned into the app, the teacher creates a class list. Student names need to be entered, and the teacher has the option of including a variety of other information, including parent emails. When a student wishes to check out a book, the teacher simply selects the “Check Out” option in the app, scans the book, and chooses a student name from the list. The default due date is two weeks from the day the book was checked out, but this can easily be changed when the book is scanned. Another excellent feature of this app is the late notice reminders that automatically get sent to parent email addresses when a book is overdue. Checking a book in is as easy as selecting the “Check In” option and scanning the barcode.

Perhaps one of the best features of Book Retriever is that it is ideal for a classroom with limited technology access. It can be used efficiently in a classroom with a single iPad, or with a teacher's iPhone. Since the app is not a free download, I only purchased it for my iPad, instead of spending the money to install it on every iPad in my classroom. With check in and out only requiring a quick scan, we easily manage with the app on a single device. It does, however, require a Wi-Fi connection to properly create an online database.

Of course, few apps exist that are models of perfection, and Book Retriever does have a bug or two. Some users have reported difficulty in creating an account. The developer suggests avoiding spaces and special characters when creating a username, as this tends to cause problems. I had some difficulty getting my password verified, but after several tries was finally able to get it working and create my account. The good news is that the developer seems to be quite responsive to any problems, so users who have difficulty should not hesitate to ask for assistance.

Book Retriever is very reasonably priced at $0.99, and is currently only available as an iPhone/iPod Touch app (which can also be used on the iPad). A desktop version is available on the developer website, but it appears no other mobile platforms are currently supported. Book Retriever can be previewed and downloaded here.

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.