Robin Talkowski’s Blog: Reading & Technology

“You made my heart sing today!” I reported to my class yesterday. “That’s personification,” a student quickly quipped. This was the second day of our poetry unit.

Each day we are reading a poem from Nancy Atwell’s book, Naming the World. I set the scene for the poem by giving them a little background and asking a question to help them see how the poem might connect to their lives. Then I read the poem aloud to the students. The students are then given a purpose for re-reading, and they read the poem silently with highlighter in hand to note lines they like or want to discuss further. When they discuss their thoughts, I leave the circle so they don’t address their comments to me. I want them to talk to and with each other. When they have completed their discussion, I re-enter the process and help them discuss how the discussion went from their perspective (metacognition). I then give them some feedback and give them points using Class Dojo. They love their avatar in the Dojo and seeing themselves get points as they give themselves compliments as well as hear my feedback. The best thing about Class Dojo from my perspective is that the teacher can add comments at the end of the day. I so enjoyed watching how students changed their behavior during their second discussion that appeared to be in response to my comments after day one.

So … it was a good class . But why did “my heart sing” you might ask? It was my students’ comments when they were processing their discussion. Here is a sampling.
Student 1: “This is so much more fun when you can relate to it.”
Student 2: “I guess that’s why the Do Now had us talk about people who have disappointed us.”
Student 3: “Yeah, we are always supposed to ask ourselves, what do we already know about this.”

Thank you class for seeing the connection between background knowledge and comprehension. Your learning makes my heart sing!

Did you ever wonder if llamas really spit? How about what are ten strange holidays?

Wonderopolis is a web site sponsored by Thinkfinity that poses questions like this accompanied by a picture or video and then text that answers the question.

This would be a great way to add some novelty into a lesson, stimulate curiosity, and practice some skills. Why not have students read the text and summarize it or find the main idea? Vocabulary is also included in the text to add to the academic value.

Some of my seventh grade students are still missing basic grammar skills. My dilemma is that I need to help them improve these skills even though it is not my primary instructional focus. I use pictures like these as one way to show students how important these skills are. Another approach is to share great web based reinforcing grammar games that they can play independently.

One of my favorite sites is Mr. Nussbaum A Thousand Sites in One. There are many interesting games on this site. My favorite is the Semi-Colon Wars. Scholastic also has some good grammar games especially for younger students. Harcourt also publishes some grammar games at different grade levels.

The Film Foundation has created a wonderful curriculum, The Story of Movies. This curriculum uses three movies To Kill a Mockingbird, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and The Day the Earth Stood Still to examine movie making. The movie that I plan on using with my students is Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. The curriculum that accompanies this film covers so many of the skills that students need to use while reading. The curriculum creators draw a distinction between watching a film and seeing a film. In reading the distinction that I would draw is between reading to understand the gist of a story or a topic and “close” reading to understand the text, the subtest, and the techniques used to create the author’s purpose. The film curriculum asks students to make inferences based on what is seen. Making inferences and drawing conclusions are critical reading skills as well. There is so much more to explore that was inspired by some of the great filmmakers of Hollywood.

The curriculum includes a Lesson Grid, a Teaching Guide, a Student Activity Book, Take 2 and Lesson Quizzes. While I have not yet used this curriculum with my students, I am looking forward to hooking them into improving their reading skills by once again using film.

Visualizing while reading is a critical skill for good reading comprehension. Teachers might instruct students to create a movie in their heads while reading, or they might question students about what sounds they “hear” while reading a passage. This instruction or questioning helps students visualize what they are reading. So can making movies and analyzing movies help students improve their reading skills?

For many years, I have used the American Film Institute’s (AFI) curriculum, Lights, Camera, Action found on Discovery Education Streaming to help my students visualize while reading. Students learn about different camera angles, and we analyze short public service announcements (PSA) to determine how many camera angles filmmakers use in one thirty second PSA. We discuss the impact that different camera angles can have on the viewer. Then students re-read a chapter from a book and visualize the action from a filmmaker’s perspective. This process encourages visualization as well as teaching students how to analyze and read text closely. This “reading like a filmmaker” causes students to understand more than the story line. They also learn the author’s craft and the “tools” that writers and filmmakers use. Students then develop their own films. The films may be short films like the Door Scene from AFI’s curriculum or an interpretation of a section from the book we are reading.

Students improve their visualization and analysis skills and learn the difference between reading to understand a story line and “close” reading to analyze a text.

“No, it is not Burger King Day!” I tell my students when they see the big words on the Smartboard. It is Background Knowledge Day!

Periodically, we have BK Day to change the normal routine, to deal with just before vacation craziness, or to engage the students in an interest area. The students see it as a fun day, and I see it as an opportunity to enrich my students background knowledge which is so critical to reading comprehension. Additionally, with a little advance planning, I can help them see the connections between something they are interested in, such as cars, with the academic subjects they are learning.

Yesterday was a BK Day! It was the day before vacation. I played a DVD called Future Cars from Discovery. The boys were excited; the girls … not so much. Future Cars was a great choice. It showed how so many different disciplines are involved in the design of new cars. Crabs and stingrays inspired some car designers – biology! Others focused on fuel efficiency and car emissions – more science! Aerodynamics and car weight brought in – physics and math!

While my students did not get as excited as I did, when I pointed out the practical application of all these academic subjects, they were engaged. They “talked” to each other during the video via Today’s Meet. “I wouldn’t focus on the car design,” one student wrote. “I would look at acceleration and speed.” Another wrote, “I wish they said more about the car going on water.” Today’s Meet allows you to create a closed chat site for an hour, a day, or longer. It allows “in the moment discussion” and opens up a new dimension to watching a video in class or listening to a lecture.

My secret hope for BK Day is that my sometimes disengaged students who often disparage school will find something that they love to learn about. Something that may become their life’s work! I hope …