Literacy Connection: Opportunities that Matter

Saturday I had the opportunity to spend time with Kristin Ziemke at Literacy Connection.  It was a packed house as Kristin pushed us to open our minds to new possibilities.  I always love the conversations that transpire as we think together about ways to grow the literacy opportunities for learners.

My Takeaways:

1. Kids need to be doing real work that matters.  
2. Whatever the text (video, picture book, image, news article, etc.), our conversation should always be focused on the thinking.  
3. As teachers, we need to be intentional about developing the strategies needed to be a digital reader or writer.  

Resources Shared:  

• Read the World Now:  Kristin's Padlet 

Thanks, Kristin and Literacy Connection, I'm looking forward to our next conversation in April.

Going Digital with Our Youngest Learners

It always makes me smile to walk into the classrooms of kindergarten children with spaces set up for learning and discovery, interactive writing hanging on the walls, as well as tools of learning placed carefully in areas for our youngest students.  These classrooms are always filled with math manipulatives to solve problems.  There are picture books around the room to help students take their first steps into our literate world.  These classrooms are full of markers, crayons, pens and a variety of styles of paper for our youngest learners to draw and write to tell their stories.  In addition, you'll find a variety of other tools for students to use to grow as learners.  Our youngest learners benefit from these concrete experiences, from being able to physically hold items and move them, from being able to test out their hypotheses, and from opportunities to learn beside friends.

What does all of this mean as we add iPads and digital tools to the classrooms of our youngest learners?  When I'm thinking about ways to grow digital opportunities for our youngest learners I like to consider applications that allow students to do the same things they like to with other tools found in a kindergarten classroom.  I look for tools that allow students to create, discover, talk, and solve.  I also consider how applications work across platforms and ease of sharing.

Here are a few of my favorite applications for our youngest learners:

VoiceThread:  
What It Does:  This is one of my favorites for the K-2 learner as it allows students to take pictures, create video, and use audio.  They can talk, write, or draw in VoiceThread.  This tool works best when wanting to share creations and connect with other learners.  Students can ask a question, as well as share a book, creation, or picture on VoiceThread.  Students can talk about what they are sharing, and then publish it to get comments from peers.

Benefits for Our Youngest Learners:  It's easy to create and navigate using VoiceThread.  It allows students to talk to share their thinking, build oral language skills and helps our youngest learners share all they know with greater ease.  You can create identities within the teacher account.  This was a game changer for me.  When Deb Frazier showed me how to put all of the students under my account I was then able to use this during our whole group lessons and small group lessons for students to share their thinking around topics as we talked together (and sharing this with parents was helpful).  This was a great way to begin before giving students their own VoiceThread accounts.  (Having district accounts is an additional benefit for our learners.)

This Tool Allows:  Creation, Connecting, Collaboration, Commenting, Curating, Embedding other media, Sharing

Here's an example of a VoiceThread I created for first graders as a geometry preassessment (nothing fancy, but it shows how the tool works):  

Kidblog
What It Does:  When we think about blogging, the first thing we think about is writing --- and let's be honest, writing isn't all that easy for our kindergarten students in the first weeks of school.  However, I like to think about Kidblog as a box as it can hold a variety of types of media.  Students can use Kidblog to share their creations with others.  Kidblog provides a place for students to share writing, video, images, and so much more with an audience.  When my K/1 students would begin to use this tool to write, I worked to maintain appropriate developmental expectations for their writing.  A K/1 blog will look like a K/1 student wrote it.

Benefits for Our Youngest Learners:  Kidblog allows students to share their thinking, work, and creations with others.  It is very intuitive and easy for our youngest learners to navigate.  Teachers can moderate posts and comments, and have the ability to set the preferred privacy for a class.  Students accounts stay grouped as a class, making it easy for young learners to find their friends' posts.  Kidblog gives our quietest learners space to share, and commenting helps to build community.

This Tool Allows:  Creation, Connecting, Collaboration, Commenting, Curating, Embedding other media, Sharing

Made in Kidblog:

Pixie
What It Does:  Pixie is one of my favorite applications for our youngest learners.  It's versatile allowing students to draw, take pictures, write, type, and use audio.  It is possible to put multiple pages together in Pixie to create a story or connect ideas.  When sharing creations in Pixie, it is possible to share as an image, a video, or a Podcast.

Benefis for Our Youngest Learners:  It is easy to use and has a variety of tools available for creation.   Students can create in a variety of ways.  It's an application that grows with students.  As they gain control over greater abilities to write and draw, Pixie will allow them to work in different ways.  Of course, I appreciate the ease of audio for our youngest learners.  Creations from Pixie can be shared in Kidblog or VoiceThread.

This Tool Allows:  Creation, Drawing, Typing, Writing, Inserting Image, Adding Audio, Making Multiple Pages and so much more.

Made with Pixie:

There are so many things that can be done using these three applications that they might be all a primary classroom would need.  Taking the time to use these applications in shared and interactive learning experiences before moving toward independence is a smart way to begin.  Just like shared reading and interactive writing, using these tools as a class to share thinking and to connect with others will help students begin to understand, not only the tool itself, but the significance of purpose and audience in selecting which tools to use.  

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On Real Innovation: What Digital Literacy Brings Us #immooc

"I'm defining innovation as a way of thinking that creates something new and better."    ------ George Couros, The Innovator's Mindset (loc 374)

For the next six weeks, I've decided to join the community conversation around The Innovator's Mindset:  Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity by George Couros.  This conversation is being led by George and Katie Martin.  You can join the conversation at the #immooc event hub, the Twitter #immooc hashtag, or the Facebook group.  

Recently I was gathered around a table of educators discussing our district's move toward 1:1 in our elementary schools.  I'm continually reminded how fortunate I am to work in a district that values this shift toward new opportunities for our students.  We have always had people working toward the vision of growing the possibilities afforded through digital technologies.  There has been careful planning of devices, applications, and professional development, complemented by the side-by-side support of technology coaches to help us through these new steps.

As I've moved from building to building in conversations around these blended learning opportunities, there is a mix of excitement and caution as we take these new steps.  Many are excited about the new possibilities that 1:1 will allow our students, but I also sense a bit of caution as educators try to balance this possibility with pedagogy.  As I dig deeper into the shift toward digital learning, I realize that it is less about the tools and more about our instructional practices and the opportunities students have as a result of these new tools.  Couros reminds us, "Technology can be crucial in the development of innovative organizations, but innovation is less about the tools like computers, tablets, social media, and the Internet, and more about how we use those things."

As educators, we work to do what is best for the children that sit beside us each day.  It's the how (his emphasis) that I've been thinking a lot about lately.  For me, this shift isn't as much about digital learning as it is about digital literacy.  It isn't as much about completing tasks, as it is about intentional decision making.  It isn't as much about working independently as it is about connecting to other learners, growing your community beyond your classroom, and having a voice today.  It isn't as much about using digital tools as it is about purposefully selecting from a variety of tools, digital or otherwise, to intentionally create and compose a message.  It isn't as much about learning how to work digitally as it is about learning to live in the new culture created by the availability of digital technologies.  It isn't as much about being a student as it is about becoming a global citizen.  It isn't about schooling; it's about education.

These two tweets were among my favorites this week for showing how students can own their learning process and make intentional decisions (note the digital and print decisions):

Ss connected what they read about pumpkin seeds to place and value! They were so excited to share. @AltonDarby pic.twitter.com/1yiERHFdas

— Meredith Kleman (@adekleman) September 29, 2016

Slides, iMovie, posters, models - V & C in sharing abt Civil War, Gold Rush, Chinese Architecture & English lang.! @BRN_Elementary @hernonch pic.twitter.com/k1F5SizLUG

— Kay Richardson (@KRichardson177) September 29, 2016

Shifting Our Thinking 
The how requires a shift in our thinking.  I'm going to push Couros's definition for innovation in education one step further by saying that innovation creates "something new and better" and raises the level of learning for students - they own it.  Technology allows us to do all kinds of new and better things, but not all of those are best practices.  One of my friends has a new saying, "Just because they can, doesn't mean mean we should."  If the innovation isn't growing the opportunities and understandings of our learners, if it isn't developmentally appropriate, if it doesn't take our learning to new levels, if it doesn't connect us, then perhaps we need to push ourselves to go deeper.

One of my favorite quotes about change is from Troy Hicks in The Digital Writing Workshop, "When we simply bring a traditional mindset to literacy practices, and not a mind-set that understands new literacies into the process of digital writing, we cannot make the substantive changes to our teaching that need to happen in order to embrace the full potential of collaboration and design that digital writing offers (p.2)."  As we move toward 1:1 learning environments we need to be patient with ourselves in this journey, but we also need to ask ourselves the hard question, "What could be different?".

Expanding our definition of literacy to include digital texts, tools, and networks, is one step toward innovative change.  However, it is also requires us to work in "new and better" ways that lift the level of learning.  Perhaps innovation is quite simple.  Perhaps it is just about turning the decision making over to students.  Perhaps it is just about valuing questions over answers.  Perhaps it is about connecting learning communities.  Perhaps it just about being willing to take the first steps.


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DigiLit Sunday: Thinking About Screen Time

It's DigiLit Sunday.  Today I'm pondering screen time...

Recently I was leading a session around technology in the classroom when a teacher inquired, "Don't you worry about screen time?"  It's a smart question.  One I think a lot about.  However, I'm not sure the question is "How much screen time?" instead I wonder if we should be asking, "What kind of screen time?"  For example, yesterday was a day with a lot of 'screen time' for me.  I woke up early and wrote a post for this blog, read a book on my phone as my husband drove us to Bowling Green, and spent time creating a list of meals for break.  The reading and writing I could have done in paper formats, but I prefer to do both digitally.

As a classroom teacher I think there are different kinds of screen time.  Even pediatricians are rethinking screen times as our world changes.  When I see students work to make video book trailers, digital responses to their reading, or share their process in solving a math problem, I see that as a different kind of screen time.  When students are creating a digital composition, reading an eBook, or connecting with experts around the world, I see that as a different kind of screen time.  In my mind, tasks that could be done on paper and pencil, but the learner has chosen to work digitally as they learn, are a smart use of screen time.  Digital tools create new opportunities for us to create, connect, collaborate and work purposefully in new ways.

When I'm asked this question, "What about screen time?" I do pause.  What about it?  Recently someone forwarded an article about student learning which included an image of every student working on an iPad at the same time.  I wondered about choice when I saw the photo.  These were young children, and while there may be times everyone is on a device, I couldn't help but wonder:  What were they doing?  Was everyone completing the same task?  How long did they spend each day on devices?   Did they have opportunities to work with paper, markers, scissors, and paints?  Did they have choice between a variety of tools across their day?  Did they have time to collaborate and talk together about their learning?

I'm excited about new digital possibilities.  As someone who uses digital tools to create, learn, collaborate, and connect, I continually find new ways to work purposefully that weren't possible years ago.  However, I want digital tools to remain a choice.  I hope to create opportunities in which students can determine their purpose, choose their tool, and work with intention.  However, I'm thinking the question is less about "How much screen time?" and more about creating balanced learning opportunities for our students.  When thinking about technology use with my students I think about:

• Who is deciding when technology will be used?
• Is technology one choice among other tools in the classroom?  
• Are students using technology to work in ways that weren't possible before?
• Are students working with intention as they make choices about their learning?
• Are students using technology to connect with others and create new learning opportunities?
• Is technology growing their learning community?  
• Are students using technology to amplify their voice? 
• Are students using technology to create and grow their thinking?  
• Who is doing more work:  the device or the learner?  In other words, who owns the learning:  the teacher, the application, or the student?
• Is technology balanced with realtime conversation, play, and other activities necessary for continued growth and development?  

What are the questions you consider when thinking about screen time?  How do you help balance opportunities for your students?  

You Might Like:
Technology's Impact on Children's Brains
Debate Continues as to How Much 'Screen Time' Kids Should Have with Devices

As part of a continuous collaboration among educators interested in digital learning, Margaret Simon hosts a weekly Digital Learning round-up on her blog:  DigiLit Sunday.  Stop by Reflections on the Teche.  

DigiLit Sunday: Digital Reading Opportunities for Primary Learners

As I work with primary students it seems most of the digital tools they use independently are for creation.  Where would we be without tools like Padlet, Pixie, Educreations, Voicethread or Kidblog?   Among other things, these tools allow students to share their thinking in reading, publish their writing in ways we can share with the world, and build thinking around topics.  Digital composing is a part of our literacy workshops.

Finding sites for primary digital readers is something of greater challenge.  Many of the sites we use work well for shared reading.  Some of these sites students can return to, but for emergent and early readers many digital reading sites are too challenging.  Just as in reading print books, I do work to find digital texts that students will be able to engage in independently.  This is a much greater challenge when we are talking about our youngest readers.  Since participating in the #cyberPD conversation around Digital Reading:  What's Essential by Franki Sibberson and Bill Bass, I've been working to build the possibilities for the young readers I support to experience digital texts.  Here are a few of my favorites sites for emergent and early readers:

Tumble Books:  Tumble Books is a "read to me" site.  I have been a fan of this site for beginning readers for years as it has a wide variety of books available.  Many digital sites have books created specifically by developers for their sites, but Tumble Books has many of the popular picture books and early chapter books students might check out at their library available.  The only challenge of Tumble Books is that it is a paid site, but it can be accessed through many libraries including our local Columbus Metropolitan Library Tumblebooks site.

National Geographic Kids Young Explorer Magazine  Looking for informational text for young readers?  National Geographic has really kept up with needs of student readers.  No matter their product, print or digital, students enjoy finding out more with National Geographic.  The Young Explorer digital site allows readers to view and/or listen to past National Geographic magazines.  There are two versions available for reading:  Scout and Voyager.  Of course, a stop by the National Geographic Kids website can always provide additional digital material for students.

The Poem Farm with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater  It's true, I'm a bit of a poetry fan so I like to make sure digital readers have the opportunity to experience poetry.  Amy LV's site is the perfect stop for teachers as she shares so much about her writing process.  Honestly, Amy's site is one of my favorite stops for digital writing mentor texts.  You'll find her site to be helpful in planning for poetry mini lessons.  You can look up poems by topic and technique making it a great stop for shared reading as well.  However, this post is about digital reading for kids so I digress.  The reason I like this site for our youngest readers is that Amy always includes a SoundCloud version of her poem.  Students can revisit poetry and listen to her read it!  There's nothing quite like hearing a poet read her own poetry.

Storyline Online Beginning readers need to hear the sounds of books.  There's something about those wondrous words whispering in their ears through read aloud.  Storyline Online has many titles available to listen to as they are read by readers you just might know.

Unite for Literacy  This website is a must see for young readers.  Displayed as a digital bookshelf, readers may click on a title of choice.  Students can read the book independently or have a narrated voice read for them.  Words are not highlighted and the narration is a bit choppy, but this is an excellent stop for finding digital books.  Additionally, you can adjust the language to have different different languages read.  When I switched the narration I was still viewing the English text, but with the other language narration.

eBooks with Narration  Recently I noticed in my library's Overdrive site that digital titles are becoming available "with narration."  In a recent stop to Overdrive, I discovered that books are becoming available with narration.  This allows readers to view the text WHILE listening to the story being read to them.  Game changer for younger readers!  I've tried to find out more about this, but haven't been able to really get to the heart of what is available and if it will be sustainable shift in children's books.  Anyone know anything more?  Check out your library's digital reading section to see if titles are available.

Digital books with narration.
Columbus Metropolitan Library

  

You can see how I have been able
to locate titles available with narration.

I'm hoping to grow the list of sites available for my youngest readers.  I'd love your recommendations.

Here are some other favorite digital sites (not all are for beginning readers):

Follow Mrs. Cathy's board Reading Websites on Pinterest.

As part of a continuous collaboration among educators interested in digital learning, Margaret Simon hosts a weekly Digital Learning round-up on her blog:  DigiLit Sunday.  Stop by Reflections on the Teche.  

DigiLit Sunday: Playing Along with Sway (Why Digital Literacy?)

This morning I woke up trying to decide what I would post for #DigiLitSunday.  As I was working my way around the internet, I received a tweet from Margaret Simon.  

Trying out Sway. #wabtr @tara_smith5 @CathyMere @cvarsalona @MuellerHolly @jarhartz @Jreaderwriter @jffahey9 https://t.co/g3stCVORjQ

— Margaret Simon (@MargaretGSimon) September 20, 2015

Hmmmm.  Sway.  It wasn't the first time I had heard of it.  I had been wanting to play around with Sway since I heard Randall Sampson talking about a few weeks ago (here's his Personalized PD Sway).  I just hadn't found the time and then Lori Green was talking about it too.  So when I saw Margaret's tweet, I had to pop over to her blog to see what she had to say about Sway.  On her blog, Reflections on the Teché, she shared creations from Dot Day using Sway.  Stop over and check them out.  

What I needed to do seemed obvious.  It was time to play with Sway.  I returned to a post from Thursday, Why Digital Literacy?, that I shared on the #cyberPD blog discussing key considerations for digital literacy.  I decided to use the bullet points for content and give Sway a try.  Here's my first attempt: 



I'm looking forward to playing around a bit more with Sway.  I liked the ability to add photos, video, and links to the Sway.  The movement makes the presentation more appealing.  I could see myself using it in much the same way I use Smore for sharing information in user friendly ways.  I'm adding Sway to my go-to list of presentation applications.  Thanks, Margaret, for pushing me that one extra step.  


Today's post connects to a post I shared Thursday on the #cyberPD blog on Thursday, September 17th.  The blog was established to provide a space for #cyberPD community members to share their discoveries about last July's featured study title, Digital Reading:  What's Essential by Franki Sibberson and Bill Bass.  The site is currently looking for participants interested in posting for October.   On Tuesday, October 6th, at 8PM EST the community will be chatting on Twitter about their first steps in launching their workshops with a digital lens.  Hope you can join us!

As part of a continuous collaboration among educators interested in digital learning, Margaret Simon hosts a weekly Digital Learning round-up on her blog:  DigiLit Sunday.  Stop by Reflections on the Teche.  

Growing Readers in Digital Spaces

"We have found that when our students have lots of ways and reasons to connect, their stance as learners begins to change (p. 72)." Sibberson & Bass 

When the school year ended I had good intentions to stay connected with my students.  I had brought parents in for a discussion around keeping students reading across the summer, updated our reading hub, and talked with students about summer reading plans.  As the calendar turned from June to July, I was struggling to connect with readers I had served in intervention.  My students are too young to have their own accounts so all correspondence goes through their parents.  They don't see my updates on Twitter.  They don't read my emails.  The only way I stand a chance is if they stop by our hub, but that didn't seem to be happening.

Where did I go wrong?

As the calendar turns from July to August, I'm still finding it difficult to connect with these readers.  I'm hoping they're still reading, but I miss hearing about the books they are discovering.  I miss hearing them make recommendations to one another.  When I had my own classroom we spent time together in digital spaces across our year.  We had a class Shelfari account.  We posted together in our class blog space.  We continually visited our Kidblog account to write, read, and respond.  We posted together using our class Twitter account.  We used our Symbaloo spaces to connect to sites for our learning.  Digital tools were embedded in the learning we did across our day.

Building Digital Habits
In thinking back to my last year working as an intervention teacher, I hadn't really developed those same digital habits in my students.  I had tried to incorporate greater use of digital tools.  We responded to reading using Pixie, Educreations, and Explain Everything.  We set goals and talked about our reading lives in Evernote.  We participated in the global read aloud.  We commented on the reading hub blog periodically.  The problem, as I think back, was that we didn't do anything regularly or in routine.  We didn't really talk through the purposes of digital work.  Digital work wasn't consistently an option for my students.  Limited time added to the challenge.  I found it easier to work with students digitally if their classrooms had set digital spaces and digital work was just part of the way they learned.

Having just finished Digital Reading:  What's Essential by Franki Sibberson and Bill Bass, I'm finding myself thinking more and more about the work I do supporting readers in classrooms.  As I step back into my role in August I know I want to be building habits that will help my students to grow as readers, both in traditional and digital ways.  I know that I want to find ways to make digital opportunities an intentional part of our lessons.  I know I want to grow their connectedness with their reading communities, books, and authors.  Most of all, I know I want to find ways for parents and students to be [digital] readers TOGETHER.

What changes will I make?

• Build My Awareness:  Instead of creating new spaces, I want to work within classroom systems where they exist.  I want to be more aware of digital spaces students are using in their classrooms and weave these spaces into the work we are doing.  Students don't always need to respond in their notebooks.  I'm going to need to be more intentional about helping them to find times they want to share their response/thinking with others beyond our group.  If students have digital space to collect important work, I want to utilize this space more as a part of our normal routine.
• Use Digital Spaces:  When students do not have digital opportunities in their classrooms, I need to be ready to grow spaces we can use.  Finding opportunities to use our community blog space, create spaces for personal blogging/response for students who do not have them, and taking them back to our hub to connect/link to spaces that support our learning as part of our routine will be essential.
• Connect Parents to Our Learning:  I've spent a lot of time building our community hub. I need to find ways to bring parents into this space with greater intention.  I'm not sure yet how I will accomplish this. I think it will be combination of working to improve the content so parents want to go there, continually updating and reminding parents of information here through emails or consistent posting, and getting students to help guide parents into this space may be a start.  
• Intentionally Embed Digital Possibilities:  Last year I had some students who would light up when digital tools/reading sites were used during our lessons.  I need to figure out who those students are early and provide them with opportunities that might help grow their interest in literacy.  I also need to make more of an effort to balance digital possibilities with traditional print possibilities in both reading and writing.  
• Document Our Reading Stories:  Right now, I use Evernote to document our reading stories.  I'd like to find ways to turn this over to students.  One place I'd like to begin is in keeping track of the books we read (more on this in an upcoming post).  I'm also playing around with Seesaw, Google, and our new Canvas LMS to figure out how to make this work.  

Digital tools/sites provide new opportunities and space for genuine choice.  My lessons have to stay focused on literacy, but I could be doing more to open paths toward digital possibilities.  This year I want to work to build the authenticity, intention, and connectedness discussed by Franki and Bill into the way we learn so that when summer comes next year, these habits will be part of the way we work as citizens in our literate [digital] world.  

Digilit Sunday: Supporting Students in Revision and ReMEDIAtion

Revision and ReMEDIAtion
For six weeks I'm joining the community at #CLMOOC in playing with digital composition.  Each week we are given a new way to consider our work and try to create through that lens.  Our first make was an unintroduction (mine is here) and our second was to reMEDIAte something (mine is here).  It's been interesting to read through community Google posts, Twitter chat archives, blogs, reflections, and other writing around makes.  There's this period where everyone struggles to figure out the make, then the play begins, then the reflection occurs, and then new understanding are created collaboratively.  Isn't this exactly the cycle we'd want in our learning communities?

In the classroom, we seem to always be pushing to move forward.  We're always working to start new writing, try new tools, and get to our next project.  We're constantly wanting to check things off our lists.  In this push for forward movement it's always a bit of challenge to get students to revision their work.  It's not easy to convince students to rework a piece by adding dialogue, trying it as a poem, teasing out a scene, or strengthening a character.  It's not easy to get students to look for better words, create stronger sentences, write stronger leads or finish with an ending that helps clarify a point.

New Possibilities in Digital Writing
Perhaps using digital tools offers a new way to see revision.  This week's #CLMOOC challenge asked us to reMEDIAte something (reMEDIAtion reflections here).  What does it mean to reMEDIAte?  CLMOOC says in reMEDIAtion, "The focus is on media, and ways in which moving from one medium to another changes what we are able to communicate and how we are able to do so."  For me, I thought of reMEDIAtion as a way to think deeply about purpose.  What is the message we hope to convey?  How does changing our medium strengthen that message?

To reMEDIAte I wanted everyone to see the ocean the way I saw it (my reMEDIAtion post).  I wanted people to feel the healing power of sitting beside the water.  I used an image for my first composition, a video with music for my second, an image with a poem for my third, and then converted the poem into Haiku Deck to be able to use images for each stanza in the final make.  Most people seemed to prefer the image and poem.  It seems reading the words of the poem while feeling the image presented worked best for most readers.

I often think about the abundance of visual media now being used to create messages.  Visual media can be moving.  Sound can add other layers of emotion.  Words, however, really allow the author to speak directly to the "reader" to share the intended message.   Video and sound seem to me to leave more up to the reader in determining the author's intended message.  Playing with different mediums can open our eyes to new possibilities.

Helping Students to ReMEDIAte
What does all of this mean for our students?  I see reMEDIAtion as a way to have a conversation about composing in ways that strengthen our message.  How do words, images, sounds, and video help us to create more powerful compositions?  Taking the time to reMEDIAte with students might help young digital writers to understand that there are a variety of ways to share your message.  Choosing the one that really speaks the most clearly to what you want to say is essential.  Physically revisioning and reMEDIAting in different ways with the same intended message and having peers discuss the results might really strengthen our purposeful decision making in the writing process.

It has been my experience with primary writers, that revisioning digitally is easier than when having written a story with pencil, crayons, and markers.  The look is cleaner when students have finished.  There's an ease to making changes.  Digital spaces like Kidblog actually allow students to see their first piece beside their revised piece.  Digital tools, it seems to me, are easier to manipulate and making changes is easier than when we have physically written and drawn with pencil.  Perhaps digital writing creates opportunities to think deeply about our purpose, revise our work, reMEDIAte our composition, and push our work as creators and authors to new heights.

If you'd like to join the #CLMOOC you can go to the Google Community linked above to find all of the information you need.  There are four more makes, I believe.  I'm finding I'm learning more about composition, digital writing (and creating), digital tool possibilities, educational practice, and the "writing" process all while building a new community that thinks deeply about the work we do as literacy educators.  Additionally, I've stumbled upon some new poetry friends through #CLPOEM.  You'll find lots of sub-communities running through this event.  

As part of a continuous collaboration among educators interested in digital learning, Margaret Simon hosts a weekly Digital Learning round-up on her blog:  DigiLit Sunday.  Stop by Reflections on the Teche.  

DigiLit Challenge: Digital Transformations (and a few others)

True confessions.  During the end of the year I have tunnel vision.  I just get busy accomplishing my to-do list and lose site of everything else in the world.  Like a runner nearing the finish line, I take deep breaths and keep my eyes straight ahead.  Of course, now that I can breathe again I'm noticing the little things that have slipped through my fingers in the last weeks:  my house (oh it needs cleaned), my mail (oh the stack is mountainous), my flowerbeds (oh the weeds!), and this #digilit challenge hosted by Margaret Simon.

Margaret graciously hosts a Sunday #digilit round up each Sunday.  I try to participate as much as I can.  It has pushed me to think more about my use of digital technologies to make meaning.  It has made me pause to consider the way digital literacy is shifting the work I do with young children.  Two weeks ago, in the midst of the end of the school year, Margaret posed a challenge:  to reach.  Her plan was to offer a bit of digital challenge for four weeks to push participants to reach to new understandings and considerations for digital literacy.

Well, I'm late to the party, but I JUST LOVE THIS IDEA.  Today I'm going to try to catch up.

Here we go:
Week 1 (5/24):  Challenge this week: Turn an image of nature into a work of art: #photoart

I used Photo Splash to take turn this photo of our
tulip tree (poplar) into a black and white --- then splash
the color back into the flower on the tree.  I then moved
it into Frame It to add a frame.

Week 2 (5/31):  This week’s DigiLit Challenge is an Invitation. You can create your invitation on the app of your choice.

Here's an invitation to relax made on my current favorite 
quick video app --- Magistro.  Choose a theme, find a song, 
insert video and/or photos, and presto --- you have a video. 

Week 3 (6/7):  I invite you to think about digital literacies and transformation.  

Digital tools and social networks have changed the way I work as a reader, writer, and educator.  I used to find my next books by going to the library or bookstore to look at what was displayed.  Now most everything I read is digital.  I keep a list of "next reads" on Shelfari and learn about new titles from blogs and readers on Twitter.  I used to write in a notebook, but web 2.0 tools have pushed me to write for an audience and be more thoughtful about my purpose.  Professional development as changed drastically.  No longer am I limited to the professional development in a seat, now I can learn in virtual communities.  For me, the connections have proven to be the most significant transformation.  I have a community of educators ready to jump in and think through new ideas with me at anytime.  There's virtual book talks, MOOCs, Google Hangouts, and much more to keep me learning.  

I've been fascinated by Sketch Notes.  I've been wanting to try my hand - literally - at this way to show thinking.  I started with Sketch Note, then tried Ink Flow, but finally went back to Noteshelf as I preferred the drawing tools and the ability to write in a magnified view.  

What about you?  Want to join the party?

DigiLit Sunday: Digital Connections with Poet, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

Poetry Across Spring

So It Began
It began in a poetry unit planning session.  It was one of those team conversations where one person says something, then another person adds to that, then another person links the ideas, and before you know it all of the talking and adding and linking creates an unbelievable plan.  This was the way poetry planning went with first grade teachers Carolyn Carr, Deb Frazier and Marie Nixon.  Though I have moved to a primary intervention role, these three still let me crash literacy planning parties.  (The benefits of this, both personal and professional, are a topic for another post.)

As we were planning the learning for the poetry unit, we began to talk about how we would create excitement around poetry.  What would hook readers from the start?  Many ideas were discussed, but in the process we began to talk about a Skype session with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, author of Forest Has a Song and contributor to many other poetry books.  Amy's poetry is often used in first grade with students as Amy shares poems daily on her blog in addition to writing about her process in her poetry and sharing tips for poets.  Amy's Poem Farm is often a part of our mini-lessons and shared reading in our workshops.

Planning a Skype Session 

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater her decisions
as a poet.  Will she write about, to, as
or with?

Having a surprise Skype session would be fun, but we wondered if there was a way to help students get more from talking with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater.  We knew she had much she could teach us.  So we talked and crossed our fingers and hoped we could make this work.  In conversations between the four of us and Amy it was decided that instead of one session, we'd arrange three sessions.  The sessions would stretch across the spring to give us time to work from what we had learned in between our learning conversations.   We wanted the sessions to accomplish these things:

1. Session One:  get students excited about poetry and put the sounds of poetry into their ears  
2. Session Two:  help students to understand the craft of writing poetry
3. Session Three:  to celebrate student work  

There are no words to describe how grateful we are to Amy for taking on this role in our poetry study.  There are no words to describe how excited we have been to learn from a poet with such experience.  There are no words to describe the way it unfolded even better than we had hoped.  Every time we talked with Amy, her words carried into our lessons and inspired our young poets.  

As I reflect I think these things helped to make our Skype sessions a success (this is not an exhaustive list -- and I am sure Amy would have different points to add -- these are just parts I noticed from my point of view):

Learning with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

Learning from Experts

Digital literacy is changing the way we learn, communicate, and live in our world daily as adults, but it is also making huge shifts in the way we work in our classrooms.  Digital learning gives students a voice today.  Digital learning provides new opportunities to connect with experts, collaborate with others, and learn in new ways.  When I was in school, communicating with an author was rare.  If you did get to touch base with an author, it was often by sending a letter and maybe - just maybe - getting one back.  

the entire first grade in a session
with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

In our work with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, we were able to move beyond the excitement of talking with an author to using our time on Skype to learn from her.  Amy helped us to see the fun in reading poetry and playing with words (lesson 1), in ways to think about our poetry (lesson 2 writing about, to, as and with --- point of view of a poem), and in celebrating our work (lesson 3 listening for the parts of poetry that catch us and make us pause).  

There was also the additional advantage of being able to follow her blog and tweets to continue to learn from her.  We were able to continue our conversations between Skype sessions on Twitter and in student blogs.  Students enjoyed, and learned a lot from, her Sing That Poem! project in April.  They learned about topics, rhythm, rhyme, and craft (and a little about music too).  Students were able to share their poems digitally and comment on the poetry of their peers.  Digital literacy opens new doors and creates new opportunities for young learners.  

A HUGE THANK YOU TO AMY LUDWIG VANDERWATER!  XOXO

As part of a continuous collaboration among educators interested in digital learning, Margaret Simon hosts a weekly Digital Learning round-up on her blog:  DigiLit Sunday.  Stop by Reflections

Blogging as a Genre

Recently, I sat down with a group of first through fifth graders to kick off our Slice of Life writing group.  Our group would have the goal to write every day in the month of March.  We would meet once a week to provide support for one another.  After much debate I had decided to set up a blog on Kidblog to host all of the writers.  They weren't required to write in this space, students could write on their class blogs or personal blogs if they had one, but most chose to stay in this space.  

As we talked about the blog questions began to surface:

"Can we write about whatever we want?"
"Can I get on the blog whenever I want to get on the blog?"
"Do we just write in the comments?"  

I hadn't expected these questions.  Of course students could write about whatever they wanted, but we did chat a bit our responsibility in public writing.  I assured them they could get on their blog anytime they wanted to get to their blog.  It would be possible for them to access the blog at home, at school, in the library, at grandma and grandpa's house.  I then showed them how they would have their own space to write about topics of their choice.  They wouldn't need to write in comments to my post, but would have their own digital space. 

Considering Blogging as a Genre

I have written before about blogging with young learners:  Am I Crazy?  Blogging with First Graders.  In this post I consider the reasons I think blogging with young learners is an important part of building a learning community.  The day we started our writing event and the conversation with students reminded me of the importance of teaching blogging as a genre.  In today's world, blogging seems like a worthy genre study.  Taking time to help students to understand what blogs can give them as readers and how they could use them as writers is worth some time.  

In teaching blogging as a genre we should consider the purpose of blogging.  Why do bloggers blog?  Why do readers read blogs?  As a reader, I have blogs I follow because I know they provide information I want to know.  I read blogs for entertainment, information, and to push my thinking.  There is something about having "fresh writing" that appeals to me as a reader.  I also read blogs to join conversations with others.  There's something about being able to interact with the author and other readers I find interesting.  As a writer, I blog to ask questions, to reflect, to join larger conversations across blogs, and to connect with an audience.  

In teaching blogging as a genre we should consider the characteristics of blogs.  Providing opportunities for young learners to read blogs and begin to consider the characteristics of these digital spaces through inquiry can help to understand blogging as a genre.  What do you notice as you visit blogs?  What are blogs about?  What does the space usually look like?  There are blogs that write about a particular topic.  You'll find blogs that focus on sports, cooking, books, movies, education, science, gaming, and other areas of interest.  You will find blogs where authors focus their writing around a topic, but you will also find blogs where people share life experiences with a larger audience.  Some bloggers write every day, others weekly or as they are inspired.  It's helpful to understand the features of blogs such as blogrolls, useful links, and other features bloggers will include in their spaces.  

In teaching blogging as a genre it is important to consider the connectedness of blogs.  Blogging changes audience and purpose.  Students can get their writing and thinking beyond the teacher and into their community and the world.  There's so much power to learning that your voice can make others stop to think.  Unlike other genres there is a connectedness to blogging.  There's something about being able to interact with the author to ask questions, add to thinking, or share stories.  There's something about being able to read through comments to find out more or join the conversation.  Often conversations connect across blogs and blogging events often help to support this connectedness.  

In teaching blogging as a genre we have to consider digital responsibility.  Of course, with public writing comes the need to understand our obligation as digital citizens.  In blogging, our writing will speak to who we are as people.  Writers need to understand their voice will be sent into the world so there is an obligation to being thoughtful about our contribution.  Additionally, in blogging there is a responsibility to comment, collaborate, grow conversations, and interact responsibly.  

Dictionary.com defines genre as:

It seems considering blogging as genre with particular form, content, and style would allow us to open new doors for young writers.  If we use blogging in the traditional ways we've asked students to write so we know if they understand, we have missed the greater possibilities provided through blogging.  Blogging allows writers to extend their voice out into the world.  By allowing students to use blogs in the way they are used by readers and writers in the world, we open the door to new possibility.  Literacy is power and students can learn this by interacting in these connected environments.  

I'd love to hear your thoughts.  What do you think we need to help students to understand about blogging?  How does it change learning?  Can it be considered a genre or is just another place where writing can live?  

DigiLit Sunday: Growing Communities in Digital Spaces

As part of a continuous collaboration among educators interested in digital learning, Margaret Simon hosts a weekly Digital Learning round-up on her blog:  DigiLit Sunday.  Stop by Reflections on the Teche (today's link-up) to read, discover, and link.  

As technology and educational practice evolve I find myself constantly asking new questions. Are the changes I am making improving education for children?  Are the changes I am making helping learners to build connections with other learners?  Do these changes give children more control and ownership of their learning and work?  Is what I am doing best practice or am I just working in old ways in a new space?  

I think we constantly have to ask ourselves if this practice is empowering children in new ways.  If we are just delivering content in the same way, we have missed an opportunity to create spaces that provide information, share resources, encourage interaction and put students in charge of their learning.

One of the greatest gifts of digital spaces is the power to connect.  Digital spaces allow us to connect in new ways within, and beyond, our learning community.  Digital spaces equalize the voices in our learning community.  Everyone can contribute, ask questions, and seek more information.  Digital spaces allow learners to not only create and share with others, but to receive and give feedback to other learners in authentic ways.

Learning in digital spaces can create possibilities for students to own their learning in new ways.  In digital spaces, students can own the work they are producing and collaborate with other learners.  They create content for, not just their teacher, but for a much larger audience.  They can choose learning opportunities that match their personal interests and fit their needs.  They can find answers and revisit challenging material in digital spaces.

Joining Digital Learning Communities:  Slice of Life

Our Slice of Life Writing Group

New connections are possible in digital spaces.  This week begins the Slice of Life Writing Challenge.  Two Writing Teachers host this challenge on their blog, connecting writers and classrooms around the world as they work to write every day in March.  This will be my fourth year in the challenge, and my second year to have a group of students to join the event.  The digital space hosted by Two Writing Teachers will allow us to connect to other classrooms and writers.  We will give and receive feedback from a variety of people, and learn new things about ourselves as writers along the way.

In this event, children aren't writing for the teacher; they are truly writing for an audience that reaches beyond the teacher.  Through the event they will connect with other writers.  They'll learn the power of their message and ways to get people to respond to their writing.  They'll understand the importance of making their writing clear and easier for someone else to read.  The process, and the feedback they will receive, will change them as writers.

Creating a Hub
Anytime I work with a community of learners, I think it is important to create some type of hub.  This is a digital space everyone knows they can visit for links to other spaces, important updates, and other  information that becomes useful as we work together.  Typically I use Weebly to create hubs with student learners.  In the case of Slice of Life, I chose Weebly for my hub as it will allow me to create a page for updates, links, information, insert video, and build a space useful for writers.  By adding a page to my Merely Reading website, I can easily bring together our community by putting all information in one space:  March Slice of Life Challenge.  On our page you'll find:    

Students learn to start at the hub.
Once students arrive at the site, they can click the blue
button to get our blogging space.

Buttons will take students directly to the
blogs of friends participating in the event. 

Here we will grow important links to other
participating classrooms and build resources for
helping writers.

The page allows me to continually
share important information with students
and families.  (Yes, snacks are important.)

I can also create short video tutorials
to answer questions commonly asked by students.
(I can also post video created by students here as well.)

This year my group of writers are students in grades 1-5.  They come from a variety of classrooms, and have a varying amount of knowledge of writing and digital publication.  For this reason, I know I will need space to create short video tutorials and share important updates.

New Possibilities
Digital spaces allow us grow our learning communities so students can access information outside of our school day.  Writers will be able to go to the website from anywhere, at anytime, to get to their digital writing spaces, access important information, receive help, and connect to other writers.  These possibilities completely shift the dynamic of learning.  No longer are conversations only teacher to student, but instead student to student, student to community, student to world.   Digital spaces make new things possible for young learners as they work meaningfully to discover, learn, curate, collaborate, create, and connect in purposeful ways.