Element of Interactivity: Improving Reading Comprehension with the See-N-Read Tool

The element of interactivity I chose is highlighting text by using the See-N-Read tool. This tool is part bookmark and part highlighter. You can highlight important part of the text one line at a time by using the tool. The tool is a thin plastic piece that has a hole cut out in the center so that you only see one line of text at a time as you read. All you have to do is place the See-N-Read over the passage or page you are reading. When you have finished reading one line, move the tool down slightly to read the next line. The website for this helpful tool features See-N-Read products in many different sizes and styles, as well as other products. Some styles even make it easier for you to highlight the text yourself, because the yellow film in the center cut out has been removed. Below is the list of some of the many benefits of this useful tool:

• Read faster
• Improve concentration
• Remember what you've read
• Enhance spelling and academic vocabulary
• Improve learning strategies 

To purchase the See-N-Read tool or other products, visit the website: See-N-Read

Ashley's Visual Processing Disorders

Ashley, (a false name to respect the student's privacy), is a 4th grader at River City Elementary School. She was recently diagnosed with a visual processing disorder and given an IEP. She has been classified as learning disabled by the ESE teacher. Every day, Ashley sits in the front of the room in her class. Her assignments are printed in large font by each of her 3 teachers. The ESE teacher works with her for 30 minutes every morning on her assignments. In addition to sitting up front in class and having her assignments printed in large font, Ashley's teachers give her the accommodations of reading questions/text aloud on tests, extra time on tests and assignments, having key words highlighted in questions, and the option of small group or individual instruction.

5th Grade Social Studies/American History Textbooks

One of the biggest topics 5th graders learn in Social Studies is American History. They learn about how our country came to be the way it is today from the time it was founded to the present. Below is a list of appropriate etextbooks for this topic:

1. We the People
2. Native American History for Kids
3. Cooking Up US History
4. The United States Cookbook: Fabulous Foods and Fascinating Facts from all 50 States
5. The New Big Book of U.S. Presidents
6. The Everything Kids States Book

Great Depression Ebook List

The topic I chose for this project is examples of text that are about or take place in the Great Depression. I created my topic for the upper elementary school grades, (grades 3-5). Below is a list of literature, media sources and books that would be useful in this project:

1. Bud, Not Buddy
2. Pictures from the Great Depression
3. The Great Depression
4. Stories from the Great Depression
5. Songs of the Great Depression
6. Dear America: Great Depression Stories

Feyland The Dark Realm (Feyland Trilogy Book 1) Ebook Review

The Ebook I chose for this review is titled, Feyland: The Dark Realm. It is the first book in the Feyland Trilogy by Anthea Sharp. The book is about a computer game called Feyland, which turns out to be a portal to the Faerie Realm. A 15 year old girl named Jennet is the very first person to play the prototype of the games. It's all fun and games until the game comes to life and Jennet finds herself fighting for her life against the Dark Queen...

The story is very fast paced and grabs the reader's attention from beginning to end! The prologue alone paints a picture in the mind that makes you feel as if you are inside the video game. The Dark Queen is a terrifying villain whom I would definitely not want to cross paths with or get angry! She is not your average fairy princess!! I can't wait to read the rest of the trilogy to find out what happens next!!

I downloaded the novel on my Kindle Fire HDX tablet that I got for my birthday this year. It is available for free in the Appstore or the Books tab on the Kindle and other tablets. To find it, I searched for Free Kindle Ebooks under the Young Adult Sci-Fi/Fantasy section in the Library of books available. There are hundreds of thousands of titles to choose from, and I look forward to downloading more books!

I enjoyed the experience of reading a novel on my Kindle, although I sometimes still prefer to read a regular book. What I do love about Ebooks and tablets is that you can download as many as you want and carry them around with you without worrying about them taking up space in your bag, Tablets also make it easier to read at night because the screens light up. I think this would help students with special needs see the text better.

Tablets and Ebooks are a great way to integrate technology into the classroom when it comes time for reading lessons. As I mentioned before, the screen usually lights up on the device you have which makes it easier to see what you are doing. You can also highlight sections of text, bookmark pages, and change the size and style of the font. These features will help students with special needs, such as learning disabilities and visual processing difficulties, comprehend what they are reading.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Booktalk

A booktalk commercial I made for my technology class based on the first book of one of my favorite book series! Enjoy!

Kingdom Keepers Booktalk Commercial on Animoto

I created a short "commercial" for the first Kingdom Keepers book using the Animoto website. The link is pasted below. Please enjoy and let me know what you think!

https://animoto.com/play/mmF06e4zn7dGKKZu3zLv0w

Kingdom Keepers Comic Strip

Below is the link to a comic strip I made for the first book in the Kingdom Keepers book series. Enjoy!

http://www.pimpampum.net/bubblr/?custom=&id=57012

Field Trip #2- Literacy Center

For my second field trip in this course, I received permission to visit a local elementary school to observe a 3rd grade ESOL class. ESOL, or ESL/ELL refers to students whose first language is not English. To protect the privacy of the faculty and students at the school, no real names have been used.

Last week, I observed Mrs. G's class at River City Elementary School. Her paraprofessonial, Mrs. M, speaks Spanish, so she is always on hand to help the ESOL students in the class. I was only able to spend about an hour observing the class on Wednesday due to scheduling conflicts, but I have subbed for the teacher before and have been able to get an idea about how things are run in the classroom.

One of the first things I noticed about Mrs. G's class is the variety of materials the students have access to. Items such as the door, the calendar, and the wastebasket are all labeled with pictures and the name of the object printed in English. There are also classroom sets of picture dictionaries/thesauruses, many of which have copies printed in other languages. The classroom library is organized by genre, (i.e. fantasy), non-fiction/fiction books, (i.e. science), and popular children's book series, (i.e. The Boxcar Children). A basket for multi-cultural stories is also available.

The walls of the classroom are covered with posters. Mrs. G teaches reading, writing, and some social studies to her 2 different groups of students, (another teacher teaches them math and science. The students switch rooms before they go to lunch each day, and again in the afternoon before the extra hour and dismissal.) There are very few places around the room where you can actually see the wall. Above the white board at the front of the room, Mrs. G has posters that have examples of different graphic organizers that the students can use. Since I couldn't take any pictures of these without disrupting the lesson, I found a teacher's edition of a workbook that had a couple of examples of graphic organizers.

My favorite posters in the classroom were the Literacy Genre posters that were displayed on the windows in the back of the classroom. There were 2 different posters that displayed this information for the students. One of the posters gave a description of each genre, and another one included both a description and an example of a book from the genre. I have always loved to read, so naturally, this is a display that I would proudly have in my classroom!

Vocabulary is an important concept when it comes to reading. Learning new words helps you to better understand the context of a book or text. Mrs. G's classroom includes several examples of vocabulary. She has 2 Word Walls, (one on the door that connects to another teacher's classroom, and one on the whiteboard beside this door), that have dozens of new words that the students have learned throughout the school year. A small poster on the side of a wardrobe displays "100 Tricky Words", (words that students have difficulty spelling). The whiteboard behind the computers has a piece of chart paper that includes vocabulary words about spiders. I love this poster because it has a picture for each word, (a great strategy for teaching ELLs how to read in English). Each group table has several copies of student dictionaries so the students can learn the meanings of each new word.

Above the whiteboard Word Wall, there are a few smaller posters that include different test taking strategies. The students will be taking the new Common Core test next month, so these strategies will help them succeed and relax when it comes time for them to take the new assessment. These posters include strategies such as "Jail the Detail" and "Slash the Trash" (for multiple choice tests).

The lesson itself on the day I visited was nothing unusual. Mrs. G was reviewing the answers to a worksheet the students had completed that was based on the novel they are reading, (The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo). She called on students from each group to give their answers and promote class discussion. The worksheet with the correct answers was displayed on the projector so everyone could see it. The students will be taking a unit test when they have finished reading the novel. New vocabulary words from each chapter of the novel are posted on the board along with the definitions for the benefit of the students.

Technology Literature Circle

I had never participated in a real life technology literature circle until I began this class. I found it to be both an enlightening and challenging experience. The literature  circle was enlightening because I never knew that it composed of so many different elements. It was interesting to learn about Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, (I chose to do my literature circle on Artemis Fowl). I have read the Artemis Fowl series, but it has been awhile since I read the first book in the series. When I completed the Discussion sheet, (page 1 of the role sheets), it was like I was looking at the series with a fresh pair of eyes. I had to read through the chapter several times in order to create the questions needed for the group discussion.

One thing that made the literature circle challenging is that I was my own group. Since this class is online, I was responsible for each individual piece of information. There were 8 sheets total, and some of them took longer than others to complete. Although the entire assignment took several hours to finish, I enjoyed the overall experience.

5 Minute Reading from Daily Lit Review

Earlier in the semester, I signed up and created an account on the website for Daily Lit. I have enjoyed reading the samples of the novel I chose each day. I decided to have the website send me the next section of the novel, (Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom), on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I am currently on Chapter 2 of the novel, and just received section 11 today, (Friday, February 20th, 2015). As I mentioned in my previous post about this daily reading adventure, there are 65 sections total. I should be finished with it by early summer.

The actual story that I chose to read is slower than I expected it be. As I am only on Chapter 2, not much has happened yet, but I'm hoping that this changes soon. The best part about the Daily Lit program is that I can keep up with my readings no matter where I am. When I receive my next section, I always receive it in an email. I can then access my email account through my phone and read my new section while in the car, before class, or at home. It only takes a few minutes of my day to get caught up, which works well with my busy schedule! I look forward to receiving my next daily reading section.

Audiobook Process Review

Audiobooks are a great way to listen to your favorite books when you don't have time to sit down and read a huge novel. You can purchase or rent books in various formats, (such as books on tape, books on CD, or digital downloads from the Internet), and many bookstores and public libraries provide them for everyone to enjoy. It's a great way to catch up and "read" whether you are at home or on the go.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently downloaded the audio versions of the first 2 books in the Kingdom Keepers series by Ridley Pearson. I am already familiar with the entire series, since I own printed copies of all of the books. However, I also enjoy listening to the audio. As a graduate student and a part-time substitute teacher, I don't always have time to myself to read for pleasure, unless I am reading something on my phone. That's why I'm glad that I decided to download these 2 books. I received my own Amazon Kindle Fire HDX for my birthday, so I can bring them with me wherever I go. I often enjoy listening to music on the Internet when I am working on assignments for school because I find that it helps me to relax and concentrate better on whatever it is I am working on. Now, I can also listen to one of my audiobooks while I am working. My new Amazon Fire phone came with a set of ear buds, so if the rest of my family is watching television or talking, I can plug them into my Kindle and listen to my audiobooks without disturbing anyone.

Audiobooks are the way of the future. In the classroom, they would be a wonderful resource that teachers can use if they have students with visual processing difficulties. You can find audiobooks for almost any kind of book for people of all ages. Multiple genres are available, and some textbooks even come in audiobook format. What audiobooks have you listened to?

Field Trip #1 Library Study

During my library study, I visited 2 different locations of the Jacksonville Public Library. My entire experience lasted about 2 and a half hours, (12:00 pm-2:30 pm). First, I visited the Main Library in Downtown Jacksonville. They do not have a special needs collection like I originally thought, (the clerk I asked had no idea what I was talking about). However, they do have a valuable resource called "Talking Books", which provides people with visual processing difficulties with audiobooks and computers. This resource is only open Monday-Friday, so it wasn't available when I visited the library. I was able to take some pictures of the room, though, (see below).

The Main Library also has special programs for children with various learning needs. One of these programs is called "Traveling Tales". This resource is a storytime program that parents and families can take home to enjoy together. It includes a thematic unit specifically designed to encouraged reading readiness and language skills for children between the ages of 2 and 5. Each unit comes with 5 books based on the theme, a CD and DVD, (depending on the unit, not all units come with DVDs), a flannel board story, a manipulative, (such as a puzzle), and a program manual that contains words to songs, rhymes, exercises, and other program ideas. When a family finishes one unit, they can turn it back into the library and check out another one. There are 76 different themes to choose from, (everything from airplanes to zoo). The Traveling Tales program focuses on each of the following skills:

• Oral language
• Emergent comprehension
• Phonological awareness
• Letter knowledge/awareness
• Emergent writing
• Print awareness/motivation

To check out a Traveling Tale, you must call the Main Library at 630-2417 to reserve a kit.

All of the Jacksonville Public Libraries offer programs for children ages 18 and under. Children ages 0-5 can come in and enjoy storytimes in the mornings. This program is usually offered 3 times a week, depending on the library branch you visit. School-age youths, (ages 5-12) can participate in early release day activities, (fun educational activities on early release Wednesdays) and arts and crafts. Tweens and Teens, (ages 12-18) can join book clubs that feature discussions on popular young adult books. They can also participate in arts and crafts. There are multiple online resources on the Jacksonville Public Library website that each of these groups can access for free. All of the activities described above are free and open to the public.

The second library I visited today is the Charles Webb Wesconnett  branch on 103rd street, (next to Walmart). I was there for about one hour and 15 minutes, (from 1:15-2:30 pm). During the time I visited today, I did a lot of people watching. I noticed that 24 people were on the computers in the adult section, (the largest part of the library). At the same time, there were 5 people checking out books at the front desk, (2 children checked out materials as I was leaving the library). There were also 4 teens who were using the computers in the teen area. The teen area at Webb is very small; it is pretty much just one long bookshelf of fiction books, a round table with 5 computers, and a smaller bookshelf that contains a few teen magazines and graphic novels. It is located in the very back of the adult section of the library, between the tables and front windows to the left and the non-fiction section on the right. In the children's department later on in my study, I found 6 children on the computers. There were also 8 children who were studying or tutoring with an adult.

While I was studying the adult section of the library, I counted the number of people who were browsing the shelves for books. There were 10 people at the time walking through the stacks. At the various tables in this section of the library, 6 adults were reading on their personal laptops, cell phones, and tablets, or looking through the materials they chose from the shelves. One great resource that is available for patrons with special needs is the large print section. 6 short bookcases, (3 columns of shelves on each side) provide books that are written in large print that makes it easier for people with visual difficulties to read their favorite books. About half of this section was dedicated to fiction materials and the other half was occupied by non-fiction books. Webb library also has 4 aisles of audiobooks, (both fiction and non-fiction) that are available on both tape and CD. The foreign language section at Webb is also very limited. Only one aisle was dedicated to materials that were printed in another language, and that language was Spanish. Other libraries that are much bigger than Webb, (such as the West Regional branch), have a variety of materials available from multiple foreign languages. 

Ok, we've talked about the materials you can find in the Webb library, so let's talk about some of the different rooms that are available. All of the libraries in Jacksonville have at least one room that you can reserve for private studying, teaching, or other events. In the area located between the front desk and the restrooms, there is a large, square room of glass called the e-classroom, (electronic classroom). There are several computers inside that can be used when you need to demonstrate something to a large group of people. Along the back wall by the front desk, you will find a study room. 2 conference rooms are located in a small alcove between the auditorium and the study room. The auditorium has a set of green double doors and is located directly beside the restrooms. At the time of my visit, all of these rooms were being used. People were studying in the study and conference rooms, and there was a seminar about filing your taxes going on behind the closed doors of the auditorium. 

The website for the Jacksonville Public Library is also a valuable resource to use. The home page allows you to learn more about programs and events, access the library catalog, sign up for computer classes and the e-newsletter, and even ask a librarian a question. At the top right hand side of the screen, you can log in to your own library account by inserting your library card number and pin number. This allows you to check out/renew library materials, pay any fees you may have, and reserve materials to pick up. When you reserve materials, you can choose the branch that you want to visit to pick them up and they will be held for you for up to one week.

Screen Shot of Jacksonville Public Library Website

You can also use the website to find library locations and hours, access resources such as E-books and the special collections department, ask about volunteer and career opportunities, and much more!

 Sign outside of Talking Books/Special Needs Library at Jacksonville's Main Library Branch

 Spanish Materials Are Available at the Charles Webb Wesconnett Branch

 You can check out books on tape too!

 The word "Read" is displayed in various languages above the shelves in Webb's Children department

 A peek inside the Talking Books/Special Needs Library at the Main Branch

 Another view of the inside of the Talking Books/Special Needs Library

 A variety of audiobooks are available at Webb Wesconnett

 The auditorium at Webb Wesconnett

 One of the conference rooms at Webb Wesconnett

 The electronic classroom at Webb Wesconnett

 A sign advertising for Story Time at Webb Wesconnett

 Another view of the "Read" display at Webb Wesconnett

 Celebrating Black History Month at Webb Wesconnett's Children Department

Children who are just learning how to read can check out YReaders

 Brochure explaining the Traveling Tales Program at Main Library

Brochure that explains the various youth services available at all of the public libraries in Jacksonville

The Noun Project

The 10 Icons I picked for this project as follows:

 1. Crayon: Be creative in your writing

 2. Paper and Pencil: Write neatly and edit your work for errors.

 3. Highlight: Look for new words you don't understand.

 4. Note taking: Write down new ideas and thoughts

 5. Current Events: Can you relate the topic to something that is happening in real life?

 6. Silence: Be quiet and respectful when others are talking.

 7. Participation: Let your ideas be heard!

 8. Research: What else can you learn about the current topic?

 9. Network: Find someone else who knows something about your topic

10. Sum it all Up: Does your writing make sense?