Watch your Tone

While reading the Hicks chapter for this week’s class, I couldn’t help thinking of the saying, “It’s not what you said, it’s how you said it.” My husband is quite familiar with it after almost fifteen years of marriage. Most people think of that saying in the context of relationships, but it is just as applicable to the language arts classroom.

My creative writing class is in the midst of a poetry unit. Throughout this unit, they’ve watched videos or listened to poets reading their work as mentor texts. I’ve modeled how poetry should be read, as well – slowly, deliberately accenting/punching certain words, and adjusting volume and pacing to define tone. Still, when some students read a poem, they race through it blindly and the audience misses the opportunity to glean meaning.

The Hicks chapter sparked an idea that I will implement in my class this week. Hicks suggests that students value the process of recording and re-recording their voices, although I would argue that most students won’t like the sound of their voices at first. In my experience, hearing one’s voice on a device is a jarring experience. Or maybe it’s just me, as I think I sound like Fargo’s version of Fran Drescher.  Anyway, Hicks suggests that by “inviting students to record and listen to their own voice can also open up conversations about dialect, multilingualism, and the denotations and connotations of particular words and phrases (p. 103). When students read a poem to the class, they’re probably not hearing what I’m hearing. A million things could be racing through their heads, such as self-consciousness at reading out loud to the class, insecurity about how well they’re performing, or even preoccupation with whatever might seem more important than being in the moment with their poem.  I want them to hear what I hear, so I plan to give them this homework assignment: 

Choose one of the poems from your portfolio and record yourself reading it. Listen to the recording and answer the following questions:

1. Write about the pace in which you read your poem. What did you notice about the pacing? Where in the poem could you adjust the speed for emphasis or to set mood or tone?

2. What did you notice about the pitch of your voice? Could you use a higher or lower sound for emphasis in certain places? What is the intonation like?

3. How about your enunciation? Do you need to over-exaggerate or “punch” the words in specific places for emphasis?

4. Does your oral delivery of the tone match the tone you meant to convey in your writing? Why or why not?

5. Taking into consideration the answers to these questions, re-record your poem and listen to it again. How has it changed?

Hopefully, by completing this activity students will discover the strengths and weaknesses of their delivery for themselves, creating meta-awareness as to the power they carry with their voice. As a mentor text, I will show this youTube video featuring Taylor Mali who performs his poem “Speak with Conviction,” which uses humor to address the importance of what we say and how we say it.

Stuck on Storytelling

Whether it’s a statistics teacher spinning a yarn to hook his students into the day’s lesson, or a language arts teacher using reader’s theater to increase classroom engagement, the use of effective storytelling is the key to the gates of learning. It’s always been that way, whether the year is 1759 or 2421, even though the methods have evolved through the years. We’ve spanned the gamut from the oral tradition to print to film, and now are firmly entrenched in the digital age. The plethora of opportunities in which to tell a story are vast and sometimes overwhelming, but we owe it to this next generation of learners to teach them the collaborative skills of conveying story through multimodal means.

Two readings particularly resonated with me from this week’s reading – the Hicks chapter and the NCTE’s position statement on multimodal literacies. Both firmly support the advent of multimodal literacies for today’s student, and Hicks doesn’t waste time in condemning the traditional approach to slideshow presentations as being “power pointless” (2013). Most teachers wouldn’t argue with Hicks, but it can be daunting to discover alternatives when educators are so overwhelmed with planning, grading, and all of the other tasks involved in teaching today. Power point is a comfortable, if beleaguered old friend that gets the job done, even if it’s snooze-inducing. I loved the readings emphasis on the importance of collaboration, and as an answer to feeling overwhelmed by technology, as educators we should turn over the reins to our students. Providing we give them a clear outline as to what the end product should deliver, students should be allowed the autonomy to research and discover the best program (not power point!) that engages them most. This task causes students to use the higher order thinking verbs from Blooms Taxonomy – creating, evaluating, and analyzing. In addition to the final product/presentation, students could provide an analysis detailing why they chose their specific medium as well as an evaluation of its strengths and weaknesses.

The NCTE article supports this approach in their position statement by reassuring teachers that students “are often more literate in the technical aspects of digital production than many of their teachers.” The article goes on to state, “the definitions of multimodal composing may be written by educators, but they will most likely have first been pioneered by these young people” (2008). By trusting students’ creativity and collaboration skills, teachers will likely be delighted with the new presentation format, and in the process, become students themselves by learning more about the ever-expanding menu of presentation formats that exist.

In honor of Harper Lee who recently passed, here is an example of a multimodal presentation on To Kill a Mockingbird, using Capzles as the presentation format. MS Barnes created this Capzle, which offers real photos with background information that provide viewers with a snapshot of historical events that would have taken place during the setting of the novel. As viewers click through the photographs, a scratchy recording of a sleepy jazz recording plays providing music from the era which evoke a sensory experience and tells a story on its own. I like to think of MS Barnes’ teacher asking for a justification as to why they chose this particular song, as well as the images attached. This presentation style has the possibility to tell a story just as well – if not better – than any narrative a student can write. The NCTE article stressed the importance of “multiple ways of knowing” by using art, music, and drama, among other forms, to tell a story, and that by creating multimodal experiences, students can experience renewed engagement from the over-emphasis on testing and “teaching to the test” so many have experienced (2008).

The Case for Web Quests

I’ve been a fan of web quests, or Internet scavenger hunts, ever since using one as a scaffold to help prepare my eighth graders for their upcoming unit on Greek mythology. Prior to this week’s readings, I believed web quests were a great tool for building students’ schema or awareness of necessary content (cultural practices and beliefs, time frame, language, etc.) before diving into a novel or text. This still holds true, but web quests offer so much more than just providing sound background information.

According to Castek et al (2009), reading digital texts and searching the web for content (a la web quests for example) provide struggling readers with additional supports that “offline” texts can’t provide. Castek claims that some struggling readers actually perform much better when conducting reading tasks online. When conducting online research, these students “demonstrate that shorter units of text, characteristic of online reading, may encourage more active attempts at reading and comprehending, avoiding tendencies to shut down when confronted with lengthy, continuous text segments such as those typically found in a chapter or text book” (p. 16). Castek also emphasizes the importance of having students become fluent in digital research, as they live and function in the digital age. Research on reading comprehension shows that “reading on the Internet requires additional comprehension skills beyond those required to read traditional print text” (2009, p. 1)

While using a web quest, I like the idea of asking students to synthesize information they’ve read from multiple sources. The ability to synthesize is one of the highest levels in Bloom’s Taxonomy, and Castek’s article supports this, as struggling readers are often better at finding information online than in a physical text. They read the search engine results rather than clicking on the article and scanning for clues, so they find the right info more quickly. Also digital texts are shorter that traditional “offline” content which can overwhelm a struggling reader. (2009, p. 6)

The Coiro article (2011) also supports the concept of web quests to help struggling readers. The section about “think-alouds” resonated with me as an activity to introduce web quests, and ultimately, best practices to conduct research online. Coiro (2011) calls this approach “cognitive apprenticeship, in which teachers use think-aloud models to support readers by engaging them in authentic problem-solving activities while calling attention to often overlooked or hidden comprehension strategies that are useful in particular reading situations” (p. 108). Looking back on the web search I used with my 8^th graders, the experience would have been greatly enhanced had I modeled, or conducted a “think-aloud” on how to best approach a web quest. 

Coiro (2011) writes students are motivated by “authentic and intentional reading purposes that are situated in the context of interesting texts” (p. 109), and I love the idea of giving students agency in how they want to conduct their web quest. For example, sticking with the goal of providing scaffolding for a unit on Greek mythology, web quest choices could include Greek history, culture, food, famous battles/wars, religion, art, etc. Students would ultimately accomplish the shared goal of learning best practices for conducting online research as well as synthesizing information, but their motivation level would be increased as they would having the opportunity to choose a topic that interests them. Students would share their findings with the class, which would result what Coiro (2011) indicates as a “higher level of metacognitive awareness” (p. 108).

Perseus preparing for his (web) quest.
By Walter Crane (1845-1915) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Digital Resource Review: Padlet

GENERAL OVERVIEW

Padlet (formerly Wallwisher) is like an online bulletin board. There are countless ways it can be applied in the classroom, and the benefits are many. It’s free, user friendly, and versatile. The official description from their website is “Padlet is the easiest way to create and collaborate in the world. It works like a sheet of paper where you can put anything (images, videos, documents, text) anywhere, from any device, together with anyone. Padlet already has over 5 million walls used for everything from teaching, brainstorming, note-taking, website publishing, bookmarking, selling goods, and blogging.”

Cost

Padlet is free! However, the free version has potential to be a security issue for students, as whatever they post can be accessed by anyone who has a Padlet account. Padlet Backpack is designed for schools so teachers can set up unlimited free student accounts which have as little or as much freedom to share outside the school walls at teacher discretion. The cost is $5 per month or $45 for year. There is a free 30-day trial period. Once you sign-up, you get “delightful support” and even a hand-written love letter, according to their website.

Here's an example of a Padlet page used in a language arts classroom:

source: Padlet.com

REVIEW

Rationale 

I chose Padlet for its ease of use and versatility in the classroom. KathyShrock’s site offered a plethora of rubrics, which helped me build my own. Padlet is definitely geared towards inspiring creativity and collaboration in students. I like that it’s free, but the major flaw with the free version are the privacy issues for the students. If students open and use their own personal account in the classroom, any Padlet user would have access to the students’ information with the exception of their e-mail, which according to Padlet is never publicly displayed. There are ways to wiggle around the privacy issue, however. When I used Padlet for a group activity, I gave each group a link to a page I created in my own account, so the students would be protected. They copied the link into their browsers and the activity went just fine.

For the sake of the rubric and overall review of the product, however, I reviewed the “Backpack”, or school version of Padlet.  Padlet is extremely user friendly, and I used it with a class of 8^th graders who had never heard of it before. They used it intuitively with no difficulties. Cost wise, the “Backpack” or school version of Padlet costs $5 per month or $45 per year, so it’s quite affordable. According to my rubric, Padlet earned 14 out of 15 of my criteria for a creative, collaborate program.

                                                           3                                                      2                                                      1

Ease of use	Product is intuitive and needs little instruction	Students will need some instruction prior to use	Significant time will be invested in instructions
Cost	Free!	Low expense, easily fits into budget	Significant investment
Privacy	No student information needed or information is protected under firewall of school.	Some student information needed.	Outside users will have access to content
Connect, Collaborate, Create	Product will enrich classroom culture. Product serves diverse needs with its versatility.	Product has potential to enrich classroom culture. Product is moderately versatile.	Students must work alone. Creativity is constrained to specific applications.
Engagement and Motivation	Students will definitely like this program.	Students will probably like this program.	Students will not like this program.

Review

From a student perspective, Padlet provides an exciting avenue for creativity and collaboration. The students I worked with enjoyed how easy it was to use, and seemed to appreciate having the agency to work with multiple media sources easily to make their point. In my experience, Padlet is appropriate for grades four and higher. The biggest drawback as mentioned earlier, is the privacy issue. I only felt comfortable giving the students my link to use for their group’s page, as I didn’t want the students to use their personal information to register. That problem would be alleviated, however, with the Padlet “Backpack” option designed for schools.

When thinking about Padlet through the lens of a power framework, particularly, this program has much to offer. I conducted a lesson using Padlet with a class of 8^th graders who had never used it. Other than explaining my expectations for the class activity (characterization posters,) I didn’t spend any time telling them how to use the application other than “click on the screen to add text, insert a photo, song, or video from the Internet.” It was intuitive for these 21^st century learners who adapted to Padlet immediately. Additionally, Padlet provides multiple access points for all types of learners. Some students searched the web in Spanish. Others were motivated by the visual and artistic component. All seemed to be inspired by the fresh way of creating posters collaboratively.

Comparable resources

There are other resources similar to Padlet, but the ones I found were geared toward business professionals. Two examples are:

Realtimeboard Their definition is “Whiteboard. Finally in your browser. The simplest collaboration tool for project leaders, marketers, designers, developers, and creatives.” This application is marketed more toward business professionals to use in meetings. There is a free option, but it only allows three boards. For a classroom, one would need to purchase the premium option which is $10 per month.

Stormboard “Online brainstorming and collaboration. Brainstorm, organize, prioritize and act on the best ideas in the same room or around the world on a real time sticky note whiteboard.” Again, this application is marketed to business professionals. Seems almost identical to Realtimeboard with the exception on the ability to “vote” for popular ideas. Pricing is comparable to Realtimeboard.

Ideas for literacy instruction

I used Padlet as a tool to create character posters while studying The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Each group was assigned a character, and each student had their own Chromebook to use. By entering my code for their respective pages, they bypassed having to open an account (and divulgepersonal information) to Padlet. They added quotes, pictures, songs, and symbols that represented their character, and then presented it to the class on the Smart Board.

I also used Padlet for an exit ticket while preparing for a Socratic Seminar. I asked students to think of a question they would like to discuss about the novel in our upcoming seminar, and it was interesting for them to see all of their ideas appear simultaneously on the Smart Board in front of class.

Here are some other ideas, courtesy of Padlet’s sample page:

Story Analysis

http://jn.padlet.com/article/232-story-analysis

Biography

http://jn.padlet.com/article/219-bio

ELA standards

Because Padlet is so flexible, it could be used to support almost any standard. Based on 8^th grade Colorado ELA standards, here are some that resonated with me:

Integrate multimedia and visual displays into presentations to clarify information, strengthen claims and evidence, and add interest. (CCSS: SL.8.5)

Use Integration of Knowledge and Ideas to: i. Analyze the extent to which a filmed or live production of a story or drama stays faithful to or departs from the text or script, evaluating the choices made by the director or actors. (CCSS: RL.8.7) ii. Use graphic organizers and note-taking formats while reading to map relationships among implied or explicit ideas or viewpoints iii. Develop and share interpretations of literary works of personal interest

Use Integration of Knowledge and Ideas to: i. Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums (e.g., print or digital text, video, multimedia) to present a particular topic or idea. (CCSS: RI.8.7)

a. Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. (CCSS: W.8.1) i. Develop texts that offer a comparison, show cause and effect, or support a point ii. Write and justify a personal interpretation of literary or informational text that includes a thesis, supporting details from the literature, and a conclusion

Quality reasoning relies on supporting evidence in media: a. Take a position on an issue and support it using quality reasoning d. Use appropriate media to demonstrate reasoning and explain decisions in the creative process.

How to get started

Padlet is user friendly from the get-go. Simply go to Padlet.com and follow the prompts to sign up. Before doing that, however, you have the option to create a page without having an account if you want to explore the site and see how it all works.  For step by step instructions, click on the youtube link by Arush Mohan. 

Finding a "just right" book app

Diving into the e-book app world is daunting, to say the least, and I'd better confess my ignorance right now. At first glance, I assumed the guiding question “what do I gain/lose by using digital books” was purely a matter of sensory experience – the weight of a novel in your hands with real pages to turn vs. clicking the screen on a device to view the next page.  After reading the Zipke article, however, I discovered the wonders of e-book apps, or “bapps” if I want to sound trendy. How engaging for students to not only become immersed in a great text, but to enhance the experience by interacting with the characters, having choice in the narrative or plot, and explore links to enrich their understanding of a time, place, or a song that is an integral part of the story.

While most of the articles focused on elementary students, my experience teaching eighth graders prompted me to search for appropriate digital book apps for this demographic. The Zipke article advises the importance of choosing the right e-book app for one’s students. One that has “the potential to bring exciting new digital features to the reader, but needs to be in conjunction with strong writing, interesting language, subject matter that draws students in, and developmentally appropriate themes” (p. 376).

Adding to Zipke’s criteria, the Jonas-Dwyer article points out the need to “consider whether the app providers keep the information private.  Make sure you read the privacy information provided by the app developer. A Wall Street Journal investigation found that smart phones may, in some cases without your knowledge send your device’s unique ID, age, gender and/or location to external sites” (p.55). This was a problem in my school. While there were several apps teachers wished to use, the students were required to divulge personal information to sign up which resulted in students and parents receiving unexpected e-mail solicitations. Needless to say, that experience made most of our teachers wary of trying apps that weren’t already approved by the school district.

Despite the negative experience my school had with apps, the right book app can inspire a reluctant reader to look forward to and enjoy the process of reading thanks to the extra incentives and support. Armed with the knowledge provided by this week’s readings, I began my search for the perfect batch of books apps for eighth graders.

Holy information overload, Batman.

There were So. Many. Apps. After casting too wide a net with my first searches, I tried to be very specific with terms like "award-winning interactive fiction for middle school." I found some great potential e-books, but more information was needed. For example, an award-winning interactive version of Sherlock Holmes popped up, available for $2.99, but there was no “lite page” as Zipke referred to the free preview. 

SHERLOCK: Interactive Adventure by HAAB. 

Available on iTunes

I did have some success, however. An interesting prospect that can help me find the right apps for middle school students is the School Library Journal’s Ebook Market Directory. This directory provides a snapshot of nineteen vendors that offer the spectrum of buying, renting, or leasing e-books based on a specific target age. Still a daunting task to sift through all of the information, but it seems like a good place to start. Another website with good potential for my target audience was Common Sense Graphite. I liked their ratings system, and the information was easy to scan. I also tried the Kirkus Review and New York Times reviews as Zipke recommends, but those weren't as user friendly as the ones I found.

Despite the challenge of filtering through the plethora of information, the search is worth it. Finding the right e-book(s) for that student who needs a little extra motivation and support can potentially make all the difference. With the rapid pace in which technology is advancing, the process of pinpointing the right app should only get easier.

A question for my peers: do you use e-book apps in your classroom, and if so, how did you find them?