iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, iCanRead

Growing up, I couldn’t understand why my parents couldn’t figure out how to use the VHS or record a message on an answering machine. I always thought of myself as being tech savvy,…until I had children. Now, when I have a problem with my smart phone, I ask my son for help. Sometimes when he talks to me about his games and apps, I have to ask him to translate what he is saying into something I can wrap my head around.

The digital generation, our children, seem to be wired to understand every electronic gadget. As parents, we have the challenge and responsibility to stay ahead of the learning curve, to be aware of what our children are doing electronically, and even sneak in some learning time. I have just discovered some literacy apps, and they can help you to help your child in reading comprehension.

Reading Rockets, a national multimedia literacy initiative, put together slide presentation of the “Top 12 Comprehension Apps,” and they explain these apps cover “specific comprehension skills, including sequencing, differentiating between fact and opinion, developing word awareness (through antonyms, synonyms, and homophones), as well as several mind mapping apps.”

From free to under $10.00, they list the apps’ appropriate grade level, which skills are reinforced, and device (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch) compatibility:

1. Aesop’s Quest
2. MiniMod Fact or Opinion Lite
3. MiniMod Reading For Details Lite
4. The Opposites
5. Opposite Ocean
6. Popplet
7. Professor Garfield Fact or Opinion
8. Question Builder
9. Same Meaning Magic
10. Same Sound Spellbound
11. SimpleMind
12. Speech with Milo: Sequencing

Need more? From print awareness to phonics, even vocabulary to spelling and writing, dare your children to try out suggested additional apps and reward them with free choice screen time afterwards. Let us know which ones make both parent and child happy.

Image courtesy of Tina Phillips at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Book Review: Picturing Shakespeare (and Other Hard Books)

source: MorgueFile.com

I had always loved to read, but it wasn’t until seventh grade English class that Miss Sauder opened the door to my future. Thanks to her passion for all things “Language Arts,” I knew at just 12 years old I wanted to be an English major. We played with words and sentences, explored sounds and meaning … I could do that all day!

Then I got to ninth grade. With texts like A Tale of Two Cities  and Romeo and Juliet, I started to doubt my choice. It wasn’t Sister Eileen’s fault … it was because of Dickens and Shakespeare. I loved words and language, but dang! They were making it too hard. I could read the words, but with all the time I spent deciphering how they were using words (and sometimes what those words were), I kept getting lost and frustrated.

I was a bookworm struggling … and I was not alone. I doubt I’d be alone today, either.

My own frustration aside, I believe Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, and other literary heavyweights belong in our Language Arts classrooms. This isn’t literature that you put on a summer reading list and leave to the kids to figure out. These are classic works (plays, poems, stories) that require a personal guide the first time through (at least) .

All of that said, the original texts are not (as they say now) “accessible” to everyone. Luckily, there are other ways to introduce students to Dickens, Shakespeare, and many other writers who comprise the “required reading” for high school students in many school districts.

When I started exploring the Saddleback Illustrated Classics on BigUniverse.com I instantly thought of that ninth-grade me. Although Sister Eileen would play a tape with people reading the original dialogue as though the play was being performed, it was still hard for me to “see” what was happening in my mind’s eye. Sister Eileen would frequently stop the tape and explain what was happening.

With a graphic novel version of Romeo and Juliet Sister Eileen wouldn’t have had to pause the story and disrupt the flow of events. Kids today are so lucky! As created by Saddleback, these literary works allow readers a way to

• see what’s happening through illustration, not just words;
•  hear what’s happening with audio (included) and follow the pictures or captions; and
• comprehend the events more readily with modernized text.

Here’s an example. In the balcony scene (left), the story is updated to include asides that set the scene. The essence of the exchange between Romeo and Juliet is unchanged.

Original: “But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.”

Saddleback: “Wait! What light is that? It is Juliet, as bright and beautiful as the sun.”

Graphic versions of classic literature is a wonderful way to get students on the same page (no pun intended). With a more solid understanding of the story / play / poem, teachers can then introduce the original text … and they might just inspire readers to explore other works.

Shakespeare, Dickens, Samuel Clemens, Jonathan Swift,  Robert Louis Stevenson, and others wrote literary classics students will likely see again in college, even if they aren’t an English major.

Using tools like Saddleback Illustrated Classics now can help them later. We are showing them that true learning can come in different forms; introducing them to a product that can fit with their learning needs and style; and helping them become well-rounded people.

Bravissimo!

Inferring with Norman Rockwell – Finding the Clues

One of my favorite ways to teach inferencing skills to students is to use Norman Rockwell.   He captures the hearts of so many of us: young and old.  He has a realistic sense of humor, a poignant grasp of the human spirit, and an ability to express so much in his characters’ faces.   Even if some of his paintings seem old fashioned, students still love them and that makes them a great resource for classroom use.

To practice inferring, ask students to first look at the painting you have chosen.  Ask them to make observations only about what they see.  For example: a man is sitting, he has wrinkles on his face, his mustache is white, he is wiping his brow with a white cloth.  These are all clues we can use to draw a conclusion.  When we put these clues together, based on what we see and what we know, we make an inference.  In this case, those clues tell me that this is an old man and he is tired.

It’s always interesting to see students realize that they make inferences all the time and quite often instantly.  By using paintings and not text, they are able to practice this reading skill in a different way that allows them to gain a better understanding of what their brains are doing when they make an inference.

If you are interested in trying this activity with your students, you will need a Rockwell painting and this worksheet to guide you.

You can make many inferences from one painting since there are so many things that go on in each painting. Once you have introduced this activity to your students together, you can have them work on their own.

• Have a copy of a painting for each student. (They do not have to be the same.)
• Give students a copy to use in small groups.
• Place copies of paintings around the room and have students do the activity while traveling from piece to piece in an “around the world” format.
• Do a shared lesson or activity with a small group.
• Create a center in your room where students can visit and complete the activity.

Collecting Rockwell paintings can be easy. Maybe you have old calendars of his work or a few prints in your home. If not, you can display some of his works from your classroom computer after finding a few examples on the internet. A great resource is the Norman Rockwell Museum website http://www.nrm.org/. Here, along with finding images, you can explore Rockwell’s biography and view his home and studio. Another wonderful website to visit is http://www.rockwelllicensing.com/index.html. Click the gallery tab and view full screen images of Rockwell’s paintings.

Painting suggestions for kids: The Diary, After the Prom, Four Sporting Boys Oh Yeah, Sheer Agony, Clown, Moving In, Losing the Game, Child Psychology, Tough One

Finding clues in a Norman Rockwell painting and putting them together is a fun activity for students and it can really help them to slow down and practice inferring.

~EMP

Theme Versus Subject in Fiction

A common misconception – and sometimes even a challenge even for seasoned readers – is differentiating between a written work’s theme and subject. In order to help students understand a literary work’s theme, teachers must first make sure that the students understand what the subject is.

Early reading fiction usually keeps the subject simple. For example in We Share One World, the subject is about all children, from all nations, sharing one Earth. The author, Jane Hoffelt, throughout the story’s words and beautifully illustrated depictions of children of the world, crafts a theme, or reinforces an opinion or message of multicultural peace.

Young readers need to gain the important skill of differenting between the topic (subject) and author’s theme (opinion).  We as educators — and parents — must present subject and theme not as one-in-the-same but instead as related concepts, in order to increase critical thinking skills for young readers.

SUBJECT       VS         THEME

(topic)                             (Author’s opinion or main point)

For the younger children who are trying to grasp the subject, asking them, “What is the author saying?” is too abstract. One concrete approach is to ask “What details did the author provide?” For example, every page in We Share One World supports a multicultural theme of living in peace. The author reinforces her opinion (theme) through the book’s words (children all sing songs, play with friends, go explore nature) and Marty Husted’s illustrations of Asian, Africa, Arabian, and other children happily living indigenously and within a multicultural community. The author shows readers that as many nationalities and races share the physical world (air, land and sea), we also share universal traits – and living in peace is the central message.

More advanced fiction, however, may include a variety of subjects, and the theme about one of those subjects may not be so straightforward and, many times, even difficult to discern. Readers must dig deeper to understand what an author is saying about the subject – and not impose their own set of values and opinions onto an author’s work. It is important for teachers to communicate to students that a reader’s personal views may not be implicit in a work of literature, and may even be contrary to it. Also an author’s theme is not always a universal truth, it is merely one’s opinion. Knowing this is a cornerstone to critical thinking skills applied to reading comprehension.

What has worked for my students in literature-based writing classes is helping them separate the subject from the theme by setting up a rubric, drawing the line between both (see below). Fact gets a narrow column, whereas the author’s opinion about that subject gets a much larger column. When the theme is complex, sometimes we work on the third column (listing details) second – and can glean the theme after the details are in place. And this segways neatly as the basis of a theme-based essay assignment.

Reading Lingo

Getting students to understand not just a reading strategy, but the terminology for each strategy seems to be one of the keys for me.  If I just keep using the words monitor and clarify, visualize, and infer, for example, a lesson, or part of it may just go in one ear and out the other.  I cannot just assume that students know what we mean when we use all that “reading lingo” even if they’ve been hearing it for years.

This year, I have been taking my time in making sure my students really know the name of each strategy as well as how to use it.  Here are some activities I’ve done to help students with this.

Ways to Teach the Lingo 

• Post the term (the strategy) in the room so that students get used to seeing the words.
• Discuss what the lingo means.  For example, look up the words monitor and clarify and discuss why the strategy is named this.
• Discuss situations when you would use this strategy, putting emphasis on and using the words from the strategy name.
• As you model how to use the strategy, emphasize the name of the strategy as you think out loud.

Ways to Practice the Lingo

• Ask students to explain why a strategy is called what it is called.  You may need to model this at first.  For example, “When I read, I monitor myself and if I don’t understand something, I pause and clarify so that I do understand.”
• Have students come up with a logo or icon to go with the strategy you are learning.  For my icon for Monitor and Clarify, I make a small rectangle, and inside, I draw a capital M, then two parallel lines to represent a pause and a capital C.  M || C
• Read!  The best practice for reading is to READ!  And while students are reading, invite them to write down (in a graphic organizer) when they use the strategy and what they do.  The key here is getting students to fully understand what they are doing as they read.  That’s why I enjoy teaching reading strategies in the fourth grade.  They have reading pretty much under their belt and are ready to start thinking about their reading.

Ways to Assess the Lingo

• Have students write a definition of the strategy using the words from the strategy correctly.  When I ask them to do this, I give them a time limit (90-120 seconds).  Anyone who does not pass, gets the chance to discuss the definition again and then retake the quiz at a later date.  Because it is such a quick check in, this takes no time as all.
• Listen and observe.  Watch your students and listen to them read.  Ask them questions about what it is they are doing as they read and jot down notes in a journal or on a checklist.

My students seem to think it’s great to learn about the lingo to reading as much as they learn how to use the strategies.  In this way, they are taking more ownership over their learning.  And if that’s the case, more learning and growing can happen!

~EMP

Monitor, Pause, Clarify

Over the last week, my students have been practicing the comprehension strategy Monitor and Clarify while reading a variety of texts in groups, individually and online.  I have found this strategy to be a great one to begin the year as it gets students to become aware that they need to monitor themselves and then check for clarification.  As I look out at the faces in my room I am seeing struggling readers make positive eye contact with me as I emphasize that ALL readers must monitor themselves and strong readers begin to see the benefits of slowing down to monitor their reading and thinking.

The strategy itself is simply called Monitor and Clarify, but I have added in a Pause.  Just like we can pause a song or a movie, we can also pause our reading at various points in a text.  Maybe we want to take in the scene or think about the actions of a character or consider what we may do in a similar situation.  The pause is an important part of the reading process.

It is during that pause that a reader can decide what to do to help them to clarify.  Strong readers tend to instinctively know what to do, so this pause is a way to get them to acknowledge the thinking they do as they read.  For a struggling reader, the pause is a chance to look over a list of “fix-up” strategies such as reread, read on, look at the pictures for clues or look something up, and then follow through with one or more.

For each comprehension strategy, I like to make a simple logo, a visual symbol that represents what the strategy means and then I ask the students to create on too.  (Often it will look similar to mine, which is fine.)  For Monitor and Clarify I use an M and a C with two vertical lines between the letters to represent the pause, just as we see on a play/pause button on a DVD or MP3 player.

M || C

That’s it – a simple way to visually define the strategy and emphasize the pause.

In what ways do you explain or practice Monitor and Clarify?

~EMP

Reading Logs

As the first weeks of school are under way, I find many teachers are talking about reading logs for students.  A reading log can help students to keep track of what they read and other useful information.  I’ve had students keep reading logs for a variety of reasons.  This year, I am going to have my students keep two reading logs: one at home and one at school.

At Home Reading Log

As part of students’ nightly homework, I want them to get into the routine of reading for 15+ minutes.  My fourth grade team of teachers and I designed a reading log where students can keep simple track of what and how much they read at home.  The columns which need to be completed each night are seen on the table.  We included the weekend along with the four homework nights and required that students read 90+ minutes each week.  That way, if a student can’t get to reading one night because of other commitments (let’s face it, it happens!), they can make up the time another night.  The completed log is due on Friday morning.

 Sidenote: We also have included a math log on the same take-home sheet, where students log how many minutes they practice their math facts each night and what type of activity they do.  Parents need to initial this as well.

In-School Reading Log

The in-school reading log will be much more involved as we will be monitoring our students and using this reading log as a formative assessment.  We are starting our school year with a focus on comprehension strategies and so we are customizing the log so that students can focus their attention to what they are thinking as they read.  As we progress through the year, our hope is to modify the reading log to our needs and the students’ studies.  For example, when we start learning about story elements, there may be more specific reflection on that.

Reading Log Variations

There are SO many ready-made reading logs out there.  Certainly you can find something that will do the trick, but I like the idea of creating my own.   By simply creating and manipulating a table in a Word or Google Document, you can customize a reading log that can fit your students’ needs.  Here are some other ideas for categories or columns you may add:

• Notate whether a book is too easy, too difficult or just right.
• Tell if you enjoyed the book and briefly state if you would recommend it to a friend.
• State whether you read the book, if the book was read to you or if you partner read it.
• Write a short summary of what your read.
• Write a quick prediction of what’s to come.

The purpose of a reading log is for students to become aware of what they are reading, how much they are reading, keep track of their thinking and see how their reading and thinking has improved over the course of time.  I used to think it was enough to just write in the daily planners for students to read at home or enough to give students sustained silent reading time in class, but now I think differently.  By keeping students accountable for these things in writing, they become more responsible for their own learning.  And that can only help them grow as readers!

What other ideas do you have for reading logs?  Please share!

~EMP

Reading Comprehension and Drum Circles

It’s no surprise to us that different children learn to read at different rates. The problem may be that we sometimes forget just what that means in the minds of our students. I was reminded of how difficult reading can be for students just last week while participating in a drumming circle.

Last week I conducted a graduate class in Learning Through the Creative Arts and on the fourth day, we brought out the drums. There were all sizes and colors. We sat in a circle and after a brief introduction, we began to play. I started with a repeated rhythm and the rest of the people joined in. But there was one woman who was hesitant to tap her drum. She stared at my hands wide-eyed. She looked around the circle as everyone else played, what seemed to her, effortlessly. Every so often she would smile nervously and tap softly on her drum.

When our drum circle came to an end, you could see her relief. And then came the verbalization of her epiphany. In those uncomfortable moments during the drumming circle she felt as if she had been placed in the shoes of her struggling readers: those who can’t decode words and have trouble comprehending what they do read. Being put in that situation where she felt like the “one who didn’t get it” was a very powerful and revealing experience for her. She, becoming very emotional about the whole experience, was thankful for the chance to be put in her students’ shoes for a moment so that she could imagine what it must feel like for them.

It brings up a good point. Struggling readers are doing just that – struggling. We do our best to help them, teach them and guide them as they learn, but we also need to remember what it truly means to struggle at something.

I may not have gone through the experience that woman did, but witnessing it and sharing it has helped me to realize how my attitude and approach to reading instruction can affect a child’s learning. I have the power to motivate my students with good book choices and differentiate for my students with appropriately leveled books. (And isn’t it wonderful how this can be done so easily on Big Universe?) But the most important thing to remember is what is going on inside the child that it learning. Learning to read and write may be uncomfortable and challenging at times (as most good things are), but it should not be frustrating.

So what ended up happening to our shy drummer? Well, after some time she became more confident and ended up leading a drum circle herself – smiling and grooving her way through. But her experience from earlier, she says, will stay with her for a long time and hopefully make her a better teacher.

Visualizing for Comprehension?

Earlier this week, I came across Critical Components of Reading: Comprehension Activities. (I know that is sounds like a fancy, hard-to-read article. but really it is not.) At the top of that page, it talks about how using Visualizing can be a helpful comprehension activity:
Teach students to make a visual picture in their mind of what is occurring in the story. Have students stop at the end of each page, close their eyes, and visualize what has happened in the story so far. Encourage students to discuss what they are visualizing about the story so that any misconceptions can be corrected. Students may benefit from hearing someone else describe what they have been reading.

I am a visual learner and when I remember things I “see them” in my head (I form pictures in mind), so I can see how this strategy could help with comprehension.

I started searching the internet for other ideas about ways to use the Visualizing Strategy for Comprehension:

• Into the Book lists Visualizing as a teaching tip for reading and understanding fiction books
• ReadWriteThink provides an activity using Visualizing to strengthen comprehension skills.
• The Reading Lady provide a lesson plan called “Visualizing from a Vivid Piece of Text”
• The Inspired Classroom has a blog post about Visualization in Reading and Music stating that visualization is a huge key to comprehension.
• Reading.org calls Visualization the missing piece between reading and writing

What are some ways children can use the visualizing skill along with the reading and writing that happens on BigUniverse?

image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/68676385@N00/290412819/

Web 2.0 meets Reading 2.0

I often hear questions about how reading and technology can work together. I mean can technology tools really help students and/or teachers with phonics and phonemic awareness? There might be some ways technology can help with vocabulary but what about fluency? How can technology assist with comprehension and assessment?

I have recently found a wiki that provides lots of ideas to answer the questions above. The Tech Tools of Reading provide great examples, definitions, activities, and technology tools to try. The part that really stood out to me was “What Happens When Web 2.0 Meets Reading 2.0.” Even though this is a plan for a series of workshops, there are some ideas that can get you thinking about what is possible.

The ideas presented on this site are good for parents and teachers interested in using technology tools to enhance reading skills and can be used in various parts of a Balanced Literacy Program.

Here are a few of the topics from this wiki (I really like the one at the bottom) :

• Tech Tools for Reading
• Web 2.0 Meets Reading 2.0
• Phonemic Awareness
• Phonics
• Vocabulary
• Fluency
• Comprehension
• Assessment
• Internet Resources
• Teacher Resources
• Web 2.0 Resources
• Tech Tips for Tired Teachers