VoiceThread

This week in class we examined VoiceThread.  

VoiceThread is a collaborative sharing media player that has an interactive discussion space built in to it.  Teachers, or students, can upload images, documents, presentations, or videos into their VoiceThread collection.  Students could work in groups to create a VoiceThread project to present or share with the class.  After creating a VoiceThread video presentation, other students can then add voice, text, or video comments to the presentation. 

VoiceThread is great to transition students from slideshow presentation to video presentations.  It starts out looking and feeling like a slideshow, where users can input "slides" of video, text, or images, which will then be pieced together to create one holistic video.  Students could then input audio recordings and clips, within the VoiceThread video, which becomes a perfect environment for students to practice their communication skills.  In the middle school classroom I could use VoiceThread to meet the Common Core standard: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.6.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.  VoiceThread allows for easy collaboration on a variety of topics within the use of a collaborative digital site.  In a mathematics lesson, I would use VoiceThread to upload a series of images each with a math problem for students to solve.  Students can then use the doodle tool and audio comment feature to solve the problem and record their thoughts and problem solving processes. 

References

National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards for English language arts and literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Washington, DC: Authors.

V. (n.d.). Amazing conversations about media. Retrieved February 22, 2017, from http://voicethread.com/

Digital Audio Tools in the Classroom

This week's readings talked about using digital audio tools in the classroom.  There are so many benefits of incorporating digital audio tools in the classroom, and I believe that every teacher should try to use at least one of these tools in their classrooms to enhance their literacy lessons.  Using digital audio tools can be an easy way for students to self-evaluate their reading, for teachers to provide feedback to students, and to enhance content outside of the classroom.

One digital audio tool I would consider using in my classroom is an audio recorder.  Audio recorders can come in many forms from physical devices, apps, websites, and more.  For example, this video shows a student using Garageband, an application available on a computer or tablet, to audio record herself.  The student was then able to self-evaluate her fluency of reading a text.  Not only was she able to playback her recording and listen to herself, but she was also able to visualize her oral reading and punctuation through the sound waves displayed.

I think having an audio recorder that displays sound waves available for students to use, would be a great tool to have in the classroom.  Audio recorders are fairly easy and simple to use, and can also be available for students' use outside of the classroom.  Teachers could use audio recorders to help students meet a variety of speaking and listening English Language Arts standards.  Two standards I would use a digital audio recorder with would be: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.6.4. Present claims and findings, sequencing ideas logically and using pertinent descriptions, facts, and details to accentuate main ideas or themes; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation. And CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.5. Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.
A digital audio recorder that includes sound waves would help students hear and see their volume levels and clear pronunciation of words. Students could also use a digital audio recorder to enhance their presentations with audio clips of their researching and reasoning.

References

National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards for English language arts and literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Washington, DC: Authors.

Sims, A. (n.d.). Guided Reading: Using Garage Band to Work on Fluency. Retrieved February 20, 2017, from http://edtap.psu.edu/video/reading/

VideoNot.es

VideoNot.es
VideoNot.es is an easy way to take synchronized notes with videos, and it works with a variety of online video sites, such as YouTube, Vimeo, Khan Academy, and more.  After a video is uploaded from one of the sites, a note-taking screen is presented on the right side of the video.  All the notes you type are automatically synchronized with the time of the video.  Later, you can click on a note line for the video to jump to the corresponding part.  One of the greatest features of VideoNot.es is that it automatically saves to your Google Drive, and can also be exported to Evernote, another note-taking website that can be accessed anywhere there is internet.
Teachers can take notes on videos they want to present to the class, or students can take notes on videos they are exploring for a writing assignment or research project.  VideoNot.es would fit in nicely with CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.R1.6.7: Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.
I created a VideoNot.es, taking notes on a video about fractions, to show you how quick and easy it is to manage.  I used a mathematics content because that is my background and something I am comfortable with.  VideoNot.es could be used as a way to integrate literacy with other content areas, such as mathematics.

References

National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards for English language arts and literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Washington, DC: Authors.

V. (2013). The easiest way to take notes synchronized with videos! Retrieved February 18, 2017, from http://www.videonot.es/

Thinglink

Thinglink is a digital tool that allows students to annotate images and videos through a diverse range of media that can easily be layered on top of content.  Thinglink has over 70 different annotation tags students can choose from to annotate their images and videos.  These tags include: weblink, text, video, image, audio, maps, and so much more. Thinglink prides themselves on being easy to use.  Their three-step creation process makes annotating content a breeze for even the most basic internet user; simply upload your asset, add content, and share!

Through Thinglink, teachers and students can enhance images and videos utilizing the different tags mentioned above.  Through their creations, students learn about visual presentation skills and how to communicate through digital storytelling.  As Hutchison & Colwell (2015) mentioned in chapter four of their book, "annotating photos and other web images can be a valuable activity for demonstrating understanding," (p. 64).  Annotating photos and videos is a great way to meet the following standard:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.3.E Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative.  After reading a book, students can annotate an image of or from the text and include annotations to reflect on what they experienced and resolved throughout the text.  Click here to see a great example from Thinglink of how a student annotated an image about what they learned and experienced from the book Of Mice and Men. 


References
Hutchison, A., & Colwell, J. (2015). Bridging technology and literacy: developing digital reading and writing practices in grades K-6. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.

National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards for English language arts and literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Washington, DC: Authors.

T. (n.d.). Annotate images and videos. Retrieved February 16, 2017, from http://www.thinglink.com

Digital Images in the Classroom

I really enjoyed this week's readings about images in multimodal texts (Serafini, 2011), as well as the chapter four in the textbook on using digital images in the classroom (Hutchison & Colwell, 2015).  Both of these texts go hand in hand for creating lessons around teaching our students how to read and interpret digital images.  As the book mentions, it is important that we explicitly teach our students about digital images so that students build their comprehension skills of digital images and can better understand digital images, such as advertisements, in the real world.  The book and the article mention several different ways to engage students in digital images and teach them, through hands-on experiences with technology, how to interpret, understanding, and visualize digital images. I would like to mention a couple of my favorite points from the article and book, as well as how I would combine the two texts to create questions and ideas for students in my classroom.

One of the perspectives for comprehending multimodal texts that I connected with the most from the reading was about the "grammar of visual design" (Serafini, 2011). One of the structures of the grammar of visual design is composition, "How objects are organized and positioned in a visual image," (Serafini, 2011, p. 346).  One way I would use this structure of visual design in the classroom would be to ask students to annotate a web page to determine the central idea and information of that web page.  By annotating a web page, students can show that they understand the meaning of the web page and draw attention to important aspects.  Some questions I would use to guide students would be, "What catches your eye first?" "What are the dominant colors? What effects do they have on you as a reader?" (Serafini, 2011, p. 346).  I would also ask students, "How did you determine which parts of the web page are important to annotate and which parts are not?"  

T. (n.d.). TOMS® Official Site

Sample website students could annotate, http://www.toms.com/ 

The second structure of the grammar of visual design is perspective, "How close or far away the viewer is positioned relative to the objects," (Serafini, 2011, p. 346).  It is important for students to notice the perspective of the characters in relation to themselves.  Which characters or objects are close to you?  Which are farther away?  Are you looking up or down at the character or object?  What does the positioning of the character or object tell you about it?  These are some of the questions I would ask students to guide them in learning about the positioning of the character or object in the digital image.  A great way to teach students about perspective would be through the use of advertisements.  I think I would have students examine both digital advertisements and non-digital advertisements.  We would discuss the character or objects' positioning in the advertisements, as well as examine the similarities and differences between the digital and non-digital images. This would provide students with an authentic experience in the perspective of digital images. 

(Sagin, 2016)

The third structure of the grammar of visual design is visual symbols, "Ideas that are conventionalized through their use in sociocultural contexts," (Serafini, 2011, p. 346).  Visual symbols can be quite difficult for students to grasp, as the symbols constructed are often used to convey meaning beyond the literal level of the image.  Thus, discussing these meanings and getting students to think about the image beyond the literal sense, can help students learn about connotative elements. 

(Visual Argument Analysis. 2013)

References:

Hutchison, A. & Colwell, J. (2015). Bridging technology and literacy. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield

Sagin, E. (2016, December 20). WordStream. Retrieved February 11, 2017, from http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2015/12/02/creative-display-ad-ideas

Serafini, F. (2011). Expanding perspectives for comprehending visual images in multimodal texts. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54(5), 342-350. doi:10.1598/jaal.54.5.4

T. (n.d.). TOMS® Official Site | The One for One® Company. Retrieved February 11, 2017, from http://www.toms.com/

Visual Argument Analysis. (2013, February 07). Retrieved February 11, 2017, from https://crispyconclusions.wordpress.com/2013/02/07/visual-argument-analysis/

Tablet Touch & Student Learning

This week I had the opportunity to present a research article about the impact that the role of touch has on students' understanding of digital texts (Simpson, Walsh, & Rowsell, 2013).  The researchers in the article wanted to find a connection between the impact of touch on students' use of tablets for literacy tasks.  Several pairs students throughout different countries were examined and videotaped using iPads during a literacy task.  The researchers later examined these videotapes, as well as any gestures and talk that was made throughout the literacy task, to see if there was a connection between the physical act of touch the students made, and their metatextual awareness of the text.  In the end, the researchers concluded that there was not a strong understanding of the impact that touch has on the reading process of students, or where touch sits in explanations of socially meaningful actions.  The data needs to be interrogated further, by asking students to review and explain recordings of their interactions, which will allow researchers to track the students' cognitive development through the use of iPads. 

Throughout my presentation my classmates brought up some interesting points and we had a lively discussion about the article.  One of my peers discussed how the researchers did not have any comparison between the students who used the iPads and students who did not use iPads to complete the literacy task.  This may have better helped the researchers determine whether or not there is a connection between students touch and their understanding of texts.  I also brought up the question to my classmates, "Do you think there is a need to examine the role touch plays on students' reading interactions?"  For the most part I believe my peers agree with me that there is not a real need to examine the role touch plays on students' understanding of digital texts.  It was an interesting study, something that had never been done before, and definitely something that could be improved upon in the future.  However, as an educator who needs to use and spend his or her time wisely, I think there is not necessarily a need to examine how touch connects to students' understanding of digital texts. 

If you would like to check out my Prezi presentation of the article, please follow the link below. 
Presentation

Reference
Simpson, A., Walsh, M., & Rowsell, J. (2013). The digital reading path: Researching modes and multidirectionality with iPads. Literacy, 47(3), 123-130. doi:10.1111/lit.12009

Benefits of Blogging

Throughout our readings for class, I am beginning to feel inspired to bring the blogging world into my own classroom one day.  There are many benefits to blogging in the classroom that we have read and talked about, and I would love to share my top seven benefits with you!

1. Blogging helps students develop authentic, meaningful connections with the digital world.  Through connections with another class, a relative from a different state, or even someone from around the globe, blogging can bring new and exciting experiences students may not otherwise have.

2. Students begin to learn about their digital footprint.  They learn that once they post online, it is online forever.  This teaches students to make choices about what is appropriate for their blog, as well as making appropriate comments on other's posts.

3. Blogs are a great way to keep students who are absent up to date!  As Cassidy (2012) recalled a winter flu season in her article, she mentioned how students were able to still learn and keep up with their school work, even when they missed school for several days.  Through their classmates' videos posted on their blogs, the sick students were able to learn about "silent e" (p. 41).

4. Parents now have immediate access to what is going on in the classroom.  Rather than waiting weeks or months for a classroom update, parents can simply view the class or student blogs and know what is going on.  They can also see their students' improvement throughout the school year.

5. Comments are a great way to bring meaningful text into the classroom.  Students love to receive and read the comments left on their blog.  One way Cassidy (2012) makes these texts meaningful is by reading them aloud together in the classroom.

6. Blogging helps students improve their reading, writing, and speaking skills.  Cassidy (2012) gives some great examples of how students use their blogs to improve these skills.  Students improve their literacy skills with their blog through the use of videos, pictures, writing posts, and reading comments.

7. Finally, students' blogs serve as a digital portfolio.  All their work from the beginning of the school year till the end is immediately available to the teacher, parents, and students.  Parents can see their child's improvement and what they are working on throughout the school year.  The teacher is able to see how the child is progressing in certain skills and abilities, and is able to intervene when necessary. Lastly, the child has a portfolio that will last them a lifetime (as long as they keep their blog!), something they can look back on with pride and accomplishment.

Now, would you have a classroom blog?

Reference
Cassidy, K. (2012) Connected from the start: Global learning in the primary grades. Virginia Beach, VA: Powerful Learning Press.