Literacy Now

Close reading/deep reading and digital literacies/new literacies were rated as hot topics in the annual edition of What’s Hot and What’s Not in Reading Today. Reading professionals and classroom teachers alike are recognizing the importance of instruction that asks students to gather information from multiple texts and formats referred to in the Common Core State Standards. This piece explores how middle school students used Diigo, an online social bookmarking app, to digitally annotate texts and dialogue with each other to better understand science ideas.

Reading disciplinary texts can be difficult for adolescents. Not only is the content unfamiliar and conceptually challenging, the texts themselves contain features such as visual representations that are often crucial for gaining a rich understanding of the text. However, many students aren’t sufficiently prepared to analyze and think about these features, as was reported in Time to Act: Final Report from Carnegie Corporation of New York’s Council on Advancing Adolescent Literacy. Also, in a 2008 article about adolescent readers, Timothy and Cynthia Shanahan suggest comprehension difficulties arise because of the students’ lack of familiarity with the content as well as their lack of familiarity with the unique textual attributes that reading in a given discipline requires. Finally, many adolescents lack the strategies necessary for monitoring their own comprehension so when they encounter difficult, disciplinary-specific texts, they aren’t prepared to read them closely, according to Carol D. Lee and Anika Spratley.

Annotation apps (iAnnotate, DocAS, Diigo, etc.) support active reading and provide students with features that allow them to mark texts as they engage in close reading. Students can employ these apps to help them target specific information and summarize key claims or findings related to their prior knowledge. When students use digital annotations to raise questions, they read more actively. By reading each other’s annotations, they are exposed to alternative ideas that may differ from their own, resulting in their appropriation of new ways to interpret texts.

While the use of apps has rapidly increased in schools, there remains little research on the ways annotations can be used to support close reading. This exploratory effort sought to begin to examine the possibilities. In their middle school science class, students were taught how to use Diigo to add sticky notes to online text in order to reflect on their thinking. As the class shared the same digital reading space, the digital annotations engaged their ability to clearly state their ideas, illustrate their thinking, and support their claims with evidence. Their annotations were coded and analyzed and it became clear students used annotations for multiple purposes: to pose questions, formulate claims, and request evidence from peers to answer questions they had about ideas in the text.

About 77 percent of the students used annotations to respond to a peer while about 20% indicated a response to the text and 3 percent indicated response to a side conversation. The process of collaborative annotation encouraged students’ documentation, critique, and refinement of ideas, which can aid learners in close reading of science texts. Peer interactions involved defining terms, posing questions, responding to questions, stating a claim, summarizing what the text or other students shared, disagreeing or challenging a peer, extending a peer’s idea with more evidence, and clarifying peers’ ideas when misinformation or a misunderstanding was advanced. These purposeful exchanges indicate a high degree of engagement with the process of online argumentation through the affordances and features of collaboration that Diigo provides.

There is great value to the social exchange of questions. Laura Kretschmar, the classroom science teacher noted the questions students generated came from a range of different perspectives on the texts that “[individual] kids may not have on their own.” Collaborative annotation served as a means of building social connections and “served as an opportunity for more kids to participate.” The teacher remarked on the need to hold students “accountable to reading the text” by having them first read the text and post their annotations before responding to others’ annotations.
Teachers can use annotations as a diagnostic tool in order to see where students’ misconceptions lie. Collaborative annotation provides space for peer-to-peer learning. Implementing a new technology requires classroom and school-based infrastructure. Integrating an annotation tool such as Diigo pays off when it becomes a frequent part of classroom practice.
To sign up for a Diigo Educator Account:

1. Explore the Diigo for Educator site.
2. Post articles, or links to online content, on your classroom website. (examples: Ms. Swandby’s site, Ms. Kretschmar’s site).
3. Model the annotation strategy thinking aloud. This process may include questioning, clarifying, and making connections.
4. Summarize by preparing a list of annotation categories students can refer to as they read.
5. Invite students to annotate using the active reading guidelines.
6. Assess student engagement with texts by reviewing their annotations.

Diigo gave all students a voice. It promoted dialogue focused around working together to better understand the text. Approachability of peer-to-peer interactions provided useful peer scaffolding. Peer-interactions became a student-driven entry point, welcoming different perspectives to engage with the text. Self-analysis of dialogue invited student reflection on quality conversation.

Jill Castek is a Research Assistant Professor at Portland State. She leads the Literacy, Language, and Technology Research group. She can be reached at jcastek@pdx.edu.

This article is part of a series from the Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).

In a recent column for the Journal of Adult and Adolescent Literacy, I indicate the need to encourage students to not only read, but write online text. I believe we need to move students from content consumers to content curators, to individuals who construct online content. The truth is that as technologies and literacy advance it is becoming easier and easier to play, create, and post digital content on the Internet. More to the point, we can provide opportunities for our students to rewrite, recreate, or remix information.

What Do You Mean by Remix?

We live in a remix culture. When I use terms like "remix" or "mashup," it may sound foreign or taboo, that it doesn't make sense I can read something online, and then rewrite or recreate it.

For a better understanding of the pervasive nature of remix in culture, I recommend Kirby Ferguson's Ted Talk, " Embracing the Remix".

Keep in mind that many have already seen plenty examples of remix in popular culture. One of the key examples I provide for remix includes the recent spate of remixes of Brian Williams content from The Tonight Show.

Getting Started With Remix Using Popcorn

Now that we're beginning to understand the nature of remix and mashup in culture, one of my favorite tools to use with students and teachers to explore the nature of remix in composing online content is Mozilla Popcorn. Popcorn is one of the fantastic, FREE tools offered by the Webmaker community to help teach and learn digital skills and web literacy. Learn more about Popcorn, through the following video from Kevin Hodgson, or check out Common Sense Graphite.

To get started with Popcorn, I first start with teachers in class, or professional development and ask them to write down six words that they identify with. In the Webmaker TeachTheWeb Massive Open Online Collorabtion this was called the Six Word Memoir assignment. I view the Six Word Memoir assignment as a digital alternative to the traditional BioPoem activity. After teachers identify their six words, I show them the basics of Popcorn, and then allow them to remix my Six Word Memoir. With some time and tinkering, educators are quickly adding in their own photos, music, and text to my content.

Read, Write, and Remix Your Identity

After teachers become a bit more experienced with manipulating Popcorn, I usually up the ante by showing them to the version of My Philosophy Statement. In the Webmaker MOOC this was labeled your credo, but at its simplest form it is a philosophy of teaching and learning statement. In our Instructional Technology & Digital Media Literacy (#ITDML) program, we require students (veteran teachers) to start the program by blogging about their philosophy statement. At the end of the program they remix this statement using what they've learned. Many students choose to remix my content as a starting point. Here is my credo to review and remix.

W. Ian O'Byrne is an assistant professor in the Department of Education at the University of New Haven. You can read his blog , follow him on Twitter (@wiobyrne), or on Google+.
This article is part of a series from the Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).

In today’s world, the topic of using technology in the classroom can be intimidating. In this monthly column, join one teacher on a quest to discover the best way to meet the needs of her digital-age learners…moving beyond the technology tools to focusing on supporting each student’s learning. 

It’s the beginning of a typical day: there’s a hum of learning beginning in the classrooms, students are running errands to various parts of the school building, and announcements break in for current school news.  Then it’s discovered! Someone has gone into the restroom and written on the walls with a pencil. Outrage ensues and a culprit is quickly discovered. This type of behavior simply cannot, will not, be tolerated. From this point on, all pencils are banned from school grounds.

As teachers, we know that this is ludicrous. We understand that kids will be kids. Mistakes happen. We look for these opportunities to harness the power of turning a mistake, or lapse of judgment, into a moment for our students to learn and grow as individuals. Likewise, we know that we cannot deprive other students of other learning opportunities because one student misused their pencil. After all, a pencil is simply a tool; a tool with incredible potential to support not only content-area learning, but also creativity, collaboration, and problem solving.

However, in today’s classrooms around the world, some teachers are doing just that; they are banning a tool that brings a world of learning possibilities far beyond our imagination. That tool is social media. Those two words typically have a polarizing affect upon teachers. They either love it or they avoid it like the plague.  

Many teachers, parents, and administrators are afraid of the potential dangers associated with social media. Are there potential dangers associated with social media? Yes. However, do we ban scissors and physical education classes because there is a potential of danger? No. Within the safety of our classroom walls, we teach students safe practices until those practices become habits. That is also what we need to do with our students and social media.

Safety First

We have been using social media in our classroom for six years. When we started, I only had a vision of making our classroom visible to my students’ family. I wanted for my learners’ parents and relatives to become a part of the learning that was taking place in our classroom. So I approached my administrator and explained my purpose. I also explained I had put several safety measures in place for our students. After hearing all of my plans and knowing that many of our learners’ family members were all over the world, she agreed to allow us to use social media in order to bring home and school closer together as we worked to strengthen the community bond.

We began with Twitter. First of all, I would be the only one with the login information and my personal phone was the only device connected to that account. I would control everything going out of our Twitter account and filter anything coming into our classroom. We would only follow other classes of students, children’s/young adult authors, or educational resources.

Furthermore, we would spend the first week of school engaging in serious conversations about cyber-safety and netiquette. These conversations were not meant to scare students, but were intended to help open their eyes to all of the benefits of social media as well as the potential dangers. We used the Net Cetera resources from OnguardOnline.gov to guide the dialogue. What surprised me the first year we had this conversation is how many students were already using social networking sites with little to no supervision or guidance. Because we had these conversations, my students understood their online choices and actually made themselves safer when they were away from the filters and safety precautions at school.

Following our in-class discussion, students took the Net Cetera books (also available in Spanish) home to their parents. The students put on the teacher hat and led conversations with their parents about online safety. Parents contacted me in awe of their students’ ability to articulate the importance of making wiser choices when online.

Our foray into social media quickly grew as students began to realize and crave an authentic reason to share their learning, discuss their books, publish their writing, and create challenges for their global peers. They would share their successes and ask for help in overcoming obstacles. Since we had laid a strong foundation in understanding the place for this tool in supporting our learning and communicating with others, my students began connecting with experts who could answer their questions, writing mentors who could guide their writing development, and role models who provided inspiration in pursuing their dreams.

Speak Up

I knew for this to have long-term, successful ramifications, I needed parental support. My learners’ parents needed to understand that social media was more than celebrities sharing their mundane life choices; it was a tool that could connect students to a world of learning opportunities not available through other mediums (See Giving Every Student a Voice with Twitter).

All parents in our district signed a release form allowing photos of their students to be posted online. We would never post a photo with a child’s name.  However, I wanted for the parents to see the amazing potential social media afforded their students.

At our “Meet the Teacher” night before school began, I began sharing all of our plans and the role Twitter (later we added blogging , Skype, and Instagram) would play in our learning. I explained the safety precautions in place and how the students would be learning lifelong skills within the safety of our classroom.   In the six years we have used social media, I have only had one parent who didn’t want his child’s photo posted and after two months of watching our Twitter feed, he changed his mind. I attribute this to the fact that the parents became a part of the conversation. They were well-informed. Social media was never presented as an “extra,” but as tool to support their students’ learning and growth. It provided a relevance and authenticity to their learning while inviting parents to join us in learning adventures.

Going Beyond

When embarking on anything new, education is the key. Change is scary. The unknown evokes fear in many. As the teacher, we must be educated and able to articulate and support our practice. Our choices must be purposeful and support relevant and meaningful learning for all of our students.

It’s important to take time to communicate our ideas while validating and addressing the concerns of administrators and parents. After all, we are the ones leading the learning of all of our students. We need to be the ones advocating for what is best for them in today’s digital age.

It’s time for us to stop banning “pencils,” and open our students up to a whole new world of learning. The answer is not in banning practices or tools that can build our learners far beyond our classroom. There is a world that is overflowing with opportunities for them to grow and connect with their global peers all within the safety of our classrooms. It is our responsibility to pave the way where students can harness the power of different tools to support them on their path of lifelong learning.

Julie D. Ramsay is a Nationally Board Certified educator and the author of Can We Skip Lunch and Keep Writing?: Collaborating in Class & Online, Grades 3-8. She teaches ELA to sixth graders at Rock Quarry Middle School in Tuscaloosa, AL. She also travels the country to speak, present, and facilitate workshops in applying technology to support authentic learning. Read her blog at juliedramsay.blogspot.com. 

I vividly remember sitting in a graduate reading course where we were discussing Walt Whitman's poem “My Papa's Waltz” and feeling extremely uncomfortable. Usually, I was a very active participant in class and enjoyed engaging in discussions with my peers. This time it was very different. I felt like I wanted to disappear under the table, fearful of being called upon and not having the "right" answer. I worried that my interpretation of the poem would not be what the professor wanted or be the same as my classmates. I was scared of being different. I was reminded of this scenario just a few years later when I took a teaching position at an alternative school for students with emotional and behavioral disorders.

Students identified with emotional and behavior disorders (EBD) typically have been labeled as disruptive, insolent, disobedient, and displaying frequent behaviors that impede learning and interfere with the educational process, as noted by Michael Fitzpatrick and Earl Knowlton in Preventing School Failure. I understood that my student’s prior academic experiences were very similar to my experience with My Papa’s Waltz. I knew I had to create meaningful and engaging learning experiences.  

I chose to implement digital poetry as part of my writing instruction. Today’s students live in a multimedia world and my students were no different. They were very motivated to use technology and I felt that by integrating technology into a poetry unit, I could overcome the negative behavior of my students and engage them in the learning process. Jeffery Schwartz argues in Teach the New Writing that the understanding of writing and communication by today’s students has surpassed that of their parents. Furthermore, “to teach reading and writing in a global world, we need to follow our students’ lead into a new understanding of media text.”

I began the digital poetry project by having students create digital biography poems. The students began by using a template to compose "I Am" biography poems. Then using Windows Moviemaker Live software which comes standard on PC's, the students transformed their poems into digital poetry by adding images, audio, effects, and transitions to extend the meaning of their poems and create a representation of themselves. This was a very powerful activity for these learners because it allowed for them to share information about themselves and successfully engage in academic learning. They were comfortable sharing their lives through the digital poems and it brought us closer as a community of learners.

Building on the success of the “I Am” poems, we engaged in a deeper study of poets and poetry. Again the students would create digital poems but this time they would interpret their favorite poems. The students began by reading the poems of many notable poets and choosing their favorites. After some sharing time and discussion, the students chose the poem they wanted to turn into a digital movie. I provided them with storyboarding organizers and they planned their digital poems, screen by screen, integrating the text with images and audio. Next, they uploaded their images and text to Windows Moviemaker and completed their poems with adding transitions, effects, and audio. The finished poems demonstrated a level of interpretation that I do not think I would have seen from my students if we had just discussed the poems face to face. For example, Jenna, an eighth grader, chose the poem “Little Girl Be Careful What You Say”by Carl Sandburg. For her digital interpretation, she only used black and white images. When asked why, she stated that she really wanted to convey the mood of the poem which to her felt very somber. I do not think the students would have been able to share this level of interpretation without the aid of digital technology.

I have since moved on from the alternative school to my current position as a university professor where I teach undergraduate and graduate course in literacy. The digital poetry project has become a staple in my graduate language arts course. The feedback from my students has been extremely positive. They have enjoyed being introduced to this new medium and many have indicated that they plan to implement similar projects in their own teaching. They too have realized the value of incorporating digital technology into literacy instruction.

A sample of the poems created by students can be found on Facebook.

Dr. Kristin Webber is a veteran teacher with over 20 years of teaching experience. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Early Childhood and Reading at Edinboro University where she teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in literacy. She also serves as the Program Head for the Graduate Reading Program. While in the classroom, Kristin has taught at every level from preschool to high school. Her research interests include the New Literacies, instructional technology, adolescent literacy, and reluctant readers. This article is part of a series from the International Reading Association’s Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).

Dear Online Concept Map,

I am sorry. I have ignored you for some time. I knew you existed but, as a time-poor teacher, your software seemed unnecessary. I assumed that having each student use pencil and paper to compose a concept-map in his/her own exercise book was a sufficient alternative to an online version. Forgive me. I didn’t realize your software had additional features to stimulate critical and creative thinking. And who would have thought that you sought to have students collaborate to compose each concept map, let alone that you wanted these students to share their maps with others? I promise to never dismiss your potential again.

Apologetically Yours,

High School Teacher

***

A recent encounter with the technical report “The Theory Underlying Concept Maps and How to Construct and Use Them” by Joseph D. Novak and Alberto J. Cañas (2008) provided this educator with the opportunity to recast concept maps as a central and meaningful, rather than a supplementary, learning activity. Novak and Cañas’s report triggered a new appreciation for online concept maps due to their suitability for collaboration and ability to trigger critical and creative thinking.

The benefits of online concept maps over their offline equivalent:

• Multiple students can collaborate in real time to create, edit, and debate their concept map’s construction. Screenshots can be taken or URLs generated to enable sharing with other students.

• Online versions of concept maps may be edited, refined, and enhanced at all stages of their construction. Concepts initially placed in one part of an online map can be dragged easily to a different section should the students recognize a more appropriate or additional relationship.

• Some online concept mapping tools allow users to see a step-by-step animation of the concept map’s construction. This feature can prompt revealing conversations between teachers and students about their cognitive processes and understanding of the topic.

• Some software packages allow for URLs, images, and annotated notes can be hyperlinked to each node (the shape containing a single concept within the map). Other tools allow for students to link an individual node to a separate, but related, concept map. Following such links allows students to dive deeper into concepts of personal interest or need.

• While concepts can be provided by the teacher, or identified by the students, the appropriate cross-links lines and arrows interlace the concepts to show a relationship. Cross-links can include linking words/prepositions (is, has, enables, implies, produces, is reliant on, raises the issue of) must be determined and applied to the concept map. Critical thinking skills are essential at this stage of the map’s construction to ensure the cross-links selected convey their understanding of the topic accurately.

Nicole Timbrell is a high school English teacher at Loreto Kirribilli in Sydney, Australia. In 2013-2014 she took a year away from the classroom to complete graduate study in Cognition, Instruction and Learning Technologies at the University of Connecticut. Follow her on twitter at @nicloutim.