Literacy TPCK Team

Literacy and TPCK

A repeating theme noted in responses to the Literacy chapter in the TPCK handbook, is the changing nature of literacy due to technology. It is evident that literacy educators must respond to the opportunity that new technologies put forward. Teaching literacy will continue to be redefined as new technologies are developed.

In order to adapt to these new opportunities, there is strong support for pre-service teacher training such as one-to-one mentoring, participating in modeling activities and ongoing communication with classroom teachers who are using technology in their teaching of literacy. Research has shown that technology-mentoring programs significantly increase use of technology by teachers in their classrooms.

Positive Aspects

• Students using hypertext and hypermedia are “more motivated and seem to have a greater sense of control over what they can access and read.”
• Technology encourages students to take more initiative than with traditional materials.
• Technologies can improve understanding of material and teachers are able to provide “student-centered models of instruction” with technology.
• Technology such as the worldwide web may provide the only or major form of socialization for people who are severely autistic and high functioning.
• Technology may also “help to create cooperative learning and social environments” for all people.

Concerns

• Perhaps content should come first from the teacher as noted in one response: “if we cannot teach the students to read and write and rely on technology to do that, what would we do if the technology crashes?” A good point. What about the affect of learning from a machine instead of in the arms of a loving parent or family member for those very early days of literacy
• The book notes that 95% of children in elementary school have the ability to become literate. One response suggested this figure probably does not includes ELL or the special education population. “Good teaching with technology will look very different for individual teachers who teach students with diverse instructional needs.”
• It is a challenge to provide literacy-rich environments for students with limited access to technology at home.
• Teaching literacy will continue to be redefined as new technologies are developed. Will literacy teachers be able to keep up?
• Educators need to be open to their students having many more skills than teachers do about some technology strategies.
• The literacy goals hold all teachers accountable for the literacy of all students. This is not just the responsibility of the literacy teachers.
• Technologies becoming outdated.
• Important to consider the context of adults reading at a 3rd or 4th grade level in creating a balanced TPCK approach.

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Resources


Pre-K

• PBSKids provides online reading games

Elementary

• Mixbook is a free tool, that was originally designed for creating digital scrapbooks. However it adapts very well to the literacy classroom for the purpose of digital story-telling. It may not be quite as polished as known KidPix, but it is free.

Middle School

• Kidblog "is designed for elementary and middle school teachers who want to provide each student with an individual blog." The advantage over regular blog sites is that the students stay within the community defined by the teacher,and no student contact information is made public.

High School

• Read 180 Reading Program is a proven software program for reading for grades 4-12. It is in this category of high school because it accommodates students with age appropriate materials for special education, or English Language Learners, or any child who is behind. It is a comprehensive system of curriculum, instruction, assessment and professional development designed for any student reading two or more years below grade-level.

Across All Grade Levels-Non Mainstream Cultures

• Learning Ally is an educational lending-library serving people who cannot effectively read standard print because of visual impairment, dyslexia or other physical disabilities. Founded in 1948 by Anne T. Macdonald to address the needs of the growing number of soldiers who were blinded in action during World War II and who were unable to take advantage of a free education through the GI Bill due to their disability. Serves individuals with print disabilities from kindergarten through college and into adult careers.
• Bookshare is another resource for accessible books and periodicals for readers with print disabilities (individuals diagnosed with a print disability cannot access print in the standard way). It is free for all U.S. students with qualifying disabilities (because of a grant). Includes a searchable online library for readers of all ages with communities for different groups. An especially attractive section is for university students for students who need textbooks. There is a university partnership where College and university partners upload books they have scanned for their students to the Bookshare site. This saves time and money for universities by reducing duplication of effort: “scan once, share many times.”
• ReadWriteThink provides K-12 Teacher resources including lesson plans and professional development tools for language arts and literacy.