Be Not Consumers Only!

I found the the article "The World of Digital Storytelling" by Jason Ohler quite instructive. For example, Ohler made the point that the digital technology is so powerful that for some, the more technology used, the weaker the story becomes. He then suggested practical steps to help prevent this problem.

Moreover, the article "The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling" was very enlightening. Among the many important points that were raised, Robin discussed the notion about teaching students to become producers and not just consumers. I think as educators this is one of the things that we should consider when preparing youngsters to contribute in today's society. Are we preparing them to be producers or just consumers?

Enabling the differently able

I was most impressed with the article "Learning to write: Technology for students with disabilities in secondary inclusive classrooms." The article focussed on some of the powerful technology available for writing and organizing to assist children with disabilities. A graphic organizer of such technologies is shown below:

If we utilize these technologies, we can make a big difference in the lives of students who find difficulty to write because they are differently able.

What a Website!

I am amazed at the utility of some of these websites as reservoirs of really helpful resources. One such impressive website is "Readwritethink" It is a collaborative effort between the International Reading Association (IRA) and the National Council of Teachers of English(NCTE). What I particularly like about this site is the many lessons tailored made for different levels done in a similar format to what we have to do for the Lesson Portfolio. There is a database of actual lessons that state the standards use, number of sessions and instructions. Ready made resources may even accompany the lessons. Therefore, this facility can aid us in the Electronic Portfolio assignment.

Leading the Way

Educators now have at their fingertips powerful new technology that they can utilize to enhance literacy. Unfortunately many teachers, eager to use the technology, force it into the lessons without properly planning its integration. As a result, the technology is emphasized to the detriment of the content and skills that the children ought to learn. In other words, the technology becomes an obstruction to the lesson or worse - completely prevents learning of the content and skills!.

Thus I was most pleased to read the article "Instructional Planning Activity Types as Vehicles for Curriculum-Based TPACK Development" which discussed this very problem and offered an approach that can prevent such a dreadful mistake. TPACK stands for Technology pedagogy and content knowledge. The approach to technological integration is to first decide on the objectives of the curriculum and the instructional strategies to be used and then consider which is the best technology tool to use in the delivery of the lesson. In this way there is a proper balance between content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and technological knowledge. In so doing, reading specialist can reap the real benefits of technology. In addition, the article entitled "K-6 Literacy Learning Activity Types" is a handy tool for quickly linking "Activity Type" to the examples of technology that can be used. The information presented in a table facilitates ease of use. There are 11 tables that span principal literacy areas and thus will be very helpful in tackling the Web 2.0 and Portfolio assignments.

Making Learning Fun

This ICT course designed to sensitize budding Reading Specialists to the many forms of Web 2.0 technology and how it can specifically be used for literacy development has been most exciting and informative. I have become aware of the many forms of the manifestations of this technology and how they connect. Additionally, I have learned how to apply the technology to improve literacy. Knowledge is one thing but application is quite another! Application is the challenging part. Our lecturer and her team, in addition to making the course stimulating and enlightening, must be commended for the many useful resources that they provided such as free image databases, Youtube videos and WikiEducator workshop. These resources and the labs have made the technology easier to grasp and apply. The powerful Web 2.0 technology and the resources that I have received from this course will greatly assist me in using Social Networking as a tool and strategy for enhancing literacy.

WikiEducator - a great idea!

I became very excited when our lecturer of the ICT programme invited us to join the training workshop "WikiEducator". The goal of WikiEducator is to develop a free education curriculum using the wiki medium and the idea of the workshop as I understand it is to help people learn how to use wikis to collaborate and develop content by observing how contributors to the WikiEducator projects operate. Contributors accept different roles and develop content or assist in the various aspects of content development according to the roles that they have assumed. You the learner can interact with the contributors and participate in projects. This programme is new to me so I will see how it goes. However I think that the hands-on information will help a person develop the practical skills to use wikis effectively. Maybe in the end, you and I might become a valuable WikiEducator literacy contributor someday.

Reading Strategies - Not 1 but 50

In one of our reading courses the book "50 Content Area Strategies for Adolescent Literacy" was recommended to us. I bought the book and discovered how quick and easy it is to access tested research based strategies that are actually used in the classroom. I am exploring the notion that proven strategies can be enhanced when used with Web 2.0 technology. Each strategy provides the following information:

• Supporting research for the strategy
• Step-by-step strategy implementation
• Classroom example of strategy in action
• Strategy literacy focus before, during and after lesson
• Literacy component that the strategy develops, for example, fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, writing or oral language.

Therefore, if you got stuck on doing your Web 2.0 paper, or lessons and you need some stimulation or ideas, this simple yet powerful book might do the trick.