Literacy Now

by Terry S. Atkinson

What began as a grassroots collaboration at Skyline High School in Ann Arbor, MI between a 9th grade English Language Arts Lead Teacher (Kristal Jaaskelainen), an Instructional Technologist (Peter Pasque), and a Library Media Specialist (Dr. Sara Duvall) has become a school-wide movement involving students and curriculum sharing among teachers from all content areas. Comprehensive details about this work (including related links, resources, and “how-to” guides) are featured at https://sites.google.com/site/skylinecpi/. Recognized for their Google Docs/Sites online writing portfolio project with the 2011 Gale/Library Media Connection TEAMS Award (High School Winner), Jaaskelainen, Pasque, Duvall, and members of Skyline’s community discuss the project’s impact on their school in the following YouTube video (4:05).

Since its inception, Skyline’s original Google Docs/Sites online portfolio project has morphed into a Student Learning Network (SLN) Project involving teachers across the school. Instructional Technologist, Peter Pasque described its integration in a recent e-mail interview:

The 21st Century skills acquired in this 9th grade class are leveraged by many teachers across the building in different curriculum areas where the skills necessary to create and share online resources do not need to be re-taught, they at most need to be reviewed.

Our administration is very pleased and supportive of the project as they see transferrable knowledge put into action across the school.  They see students creating final projects in various classes, and students creating shared resources for the Student Action Senate, student groups, and clubs.  

Pasque describes SLNs and their potential for engaging students “such that learning becomes a byproduct of discovery and innovation” in this featured TEDx talk (15:02):

When asked about the SLN project-related changes that have taken place in Skyline’s students as readers, writers, communicators, and creators of both text-based and multimodal texts, Pasque elaborated:

This project is student-centered where the students retain ownership of each online document and resource. Every student creates a Google Website and uses it as an annotated table of contents of their mastery assessments. At the beginning of the term they share the site with the teacher and link to each new document as they are creating it. Typical online course management tools require the students to submit their assignments to the teacher by uploading it to a website. A downfall of traditional systems such as this is students are not required to organize and keep track of their digital projects and papers. If they are savvy enough to do this on their own then that’s great, but with our online writing portfolios and Student Learning Networks (SLNs) we are focused on teaching the students a methodology for organizing and sharing their digital work in a responsible sustainable way. 

Future direction for Skyline’s SLN projects focuses on development of a “Sources Rejected” component in the research process. Students will embed a page similar to the following in their SLNs: https://sites.google.com/a/aaps.k12.mi.us/sln-research-resources/.

Jaaskelainen, Pasque, and Duvall believe that integration of this component will support more critical reading among their students, an area they deem in need of improvement. While considering an increasing number of online and digital sources in upcoming projects, this additional component will help students move forward as 21st Century learners by more systematically choosing or rejecting their sources based on analysis of their credibility.

Terry S. Atkinson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC.

Children inherently are fascinated with exploring their worlds and using their imaginations, the ability to believe in the impossible or to transport oneself into unique and strange environments, in their everyday lives. Books are often a venue that allows their imaginations to soar. Fantasy books invite the reader into worlds with talking animals, strange creatures, and unbelievable possibilities. Science fiction allows readers to believe in the possible. Children and teens are naturally curious and like to think of the possibilities of the world around them. Fantasy and science fiction books allow children to go beyond the boundaries of their worlds and view the worlds through eyes of others and to explore fantastical worlds and possibilities. With the boom of picture books and middle school novels, and the continued popularity of dystopian fiction, a number of books in these genres have stood out in the first half of 2013. Being aware of standout titles will help these novels make their way into the hands of children. ReadWriteThink offers a wide range of lesson plan ideas and activities dealing with the use of fantasy and science fiction books for all grade levels.

 

GRADES K-3

 

Becker, Aaron. (2013). Journey. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.

Debut author Aaron Becker takes us on a magical journey in his upcoming picture book Journey. Bored at home, a young girl draws a door on her bedroom wall that opens into a magical land—an strange land filled with wonders, danger, and the promise of a great adventure. With the help of her trusty red marker, the girl creates a boat, a balloon, and a magical carpet that whisk her on her journey to the unknown. In the midst of her exploring she is captured by an evil emperor and must find a way to free herself and make her way home. This wordless book, filled with washes of colors and intricate line drawings, shares the story of an ordinary girl on an anything-but-ordinary adventure.

- Melanie Koss, Northern Illinois University 

 

Brown, Peter. (2013). Mr. Tiger Goes Wild. NY: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

Author/Illustrator Peter Brown does it again! Brown’s latest picture book shares the delightful story of Mr. Tiger, a Victorian tiger bored with his prim and proper life. He longs for excitement, friendship, and fun, and he knows just how to get it—he goes wild! Be prepared for a shocking spread right in the middle of the book, as Mr. Tiger reaches his height of capers. Brown’s style continues to evolve, with a combination of pencil drawings, manipulated construction paper, and wood borders that lend an old-world charm. His use of color make Mr. Tiger stand out in all his glory against a black and white background, with hand lettered speech balloons that beg to be read aloud.

- Melanie Koss, Northern Illinois University 

 

GRADES 4-5

 

Healy, Christopher. (2013). The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle. NY: HarperCollins.

In this sequel to The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, Princes Liam, Frederic, Duncan, and Gustav are back in another rollicking tale. Now that the countryside is safe from the evil witch, the League of Princes now have to keep a sword with magical powers from getting into the hands of evil warlords who want the object for their own twisted purposes—world domination. But the sword is hidden in the witch’s castle, which they must storm once again. This fractured fairy tale once again provides the male perspective of commonly told tales, and is packed with twists, turns, and a heaping dose of humor. Fans of the first book will surely be just as please with the second, and definitely ready for more.

- Melanie Koss, Northern Illinois University 

 

Mass, Wendy. (2013). Pi in the Sky. NY: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

What happens when you mix a middle grade fantasy novel with physics, time, space, and planets across the entire universe? Pi in the Sky, Wendy Mass’s latest novel. Joss, the seventh son of the Supreme Overlord of the Universe, fades a bit into the woodwork. All of his older brothers excel at everything they do, and he is left to deliver pies. Although these aren’t just any pies, it is still not the most glamorous job. But when Earth suddenly disappears, Joss is called on to do more than deliver pies. He must find Earth and restore it to its place in the universe, not the easiest task. With the help of Annika, a quirky girl from Earth, Joss goes on his once-in-a-lifetime mission. Full of humor, science, twists, and turns, Mass’s novel will challenge lovers of galaxies and pies and push them to new heights. Read an interview about the book on IRA's Engage blog, one with School Library Journal, and another at authorlink.

- Melanie Koss, Northern Illinois University

 

Graff, Lisa. (2013). A Tangle of Knots. NY: Penguin.

A twist between Savvy and Criss Cross, A Tangle of Knots combines characters with special magical abilities with the intricacies of everyday life. Eleven-year-old Cady is the last remaining orphan in Miss Mallory’s Home for Lost Girls. Talents range, and Cady’s is her ability to bake the perfect cake just right for a person in need. But how can baking save the day? After an air balloon crashes into their building rendering it uninhabitable, Miss Mallory’s charges must move into the Lost Luggage Emporium, a strange place with lost luggage, a Talent Thief, and a woman who lost her voice. The lives of the girls and those that live in the Emporium entwine and mysteries unravel as Cady realizes she might just find out what happened to her missing parents. Told from the third-person perspectives from multiple characters, readers work to put together the puzzle of how the characters’ lives intersect and are led to wonder if there is such a thing as fate. Read more about author Lisa Graff on the Engage blog.

- Melanie Koss, Northern Illinois University

 

Saunders, Kate. (2013). The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop. NY: Delacorte.

Eleven-year-old twins Oz and Lily’s family inherits an old London house and the mysterious old shop downstairs. The house used to be owned by Oz and Lily’s eccentric great uncles, who were great chocolate makers. When they move into the house, they learn that the house, chocolate recipes, and their uncles aren’t all that they seem. The twins wind up in the middle of a wild plot and must save a chocolate recipe from evil villains who wish to steal the recipe and destroy the world. With the help of an odd assortment of characters, including a hilarious immortal rat and an elephant’s ghost, the story will keep you guessing as it leads to its unexpected conclusion.

- Melanie Koss, Northern Illinois University 

 

de Lint, Charles. (2013). The Cats of Tanglewood Forest. Illus. by Charles Vess. NY: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

Based on their 2003 picture book A Circle of Cats, de Lint and Vess have created an illustrated novel that beautifully pairs words and pictures into an enchanting whole. Lillian Kindred spends her days roaming Tanglewood Forest, a forest she believes is magical although she has never encountered magic in her life. One day, as she naps, she is bitten by a poisonous snake and saved by magical cats that turn her into a kitten. Together with the cats, a fox, and other woodland creatures, Lillian goes on an adventure to find her way back to being a regular girl. Vess’s illustrations are not to be missed. They appear throughout the book in full color spreads, and are full of details that enhance the richness of de Lint’s words. As an extra surprise, peek below the dust jacket for another stunning piece of Vess’s art. This coming-of-age story details the journey of one girl and asks the reader to question the idea of destiny or if we shape our own lives.

- Melanie Koss, Northern Illinois University 

 

GRADES 6-8

 

Blakemore, Megan Frazer. (2013). The Water Castle. NY: Bloomsbury.

After Ephraim Appledore-Smith’s father had a stroke, his family moves to the mysterious town of Crystal Springs, a town where everyone is just a bit smarter and stronger. They move into his family’s ancestral home, the Water Castle, a stone building on a hill with hidden rooms, mysterious passageways, and a secret past. Mallory’s family has always been the caretakers of the castle and guardians of its secret: a connection to the elusive fountain of youth. But since her mother left she has lost her belief in magic. Will’s family has always been at war with the Appledore family, and he doesn’t like the new kid. But the three inexplicably come together to investigate the secrets of the castle. Blakemore’s writing shares the thoughts of all three characters, intermixed with journal entries from a long ago castle resident. She challenges the reader to decide; do they believe in magic? Read about author Megan Frazer Blakemore's writing process on the Engage blog.

- Melanie Koss, Northern Illinois University 

 

Black, Holly. (2013). Doll Bones. NY: Simon & Schuster.

Consistent with her previous books, Black’s newest novel is just as creepy and suspenseful and does not disappoint. Three friends, Zach, Poppy, and Alice, spent their childhoods playing in a world of warriors, mermaids, pirates, and most of all, the Great Queen, a haunted china doll. But in middle school, Zach quits playing until Poppy begins to be haunted by dreams of the Queen. Together the three seek to lay the Doll Queen’s bones to rest. Sinister traps await the trio, leading the reader to wonder if the doll is just a toy or something real and dangerous. This novel is scary, spooky, and has just enough reality to make one stay up at night. Read more about Holly Black in this Engage blog interview.

- Melanie Koss, Northern Illinois University 

 

Baucom, Ian. (2013). Through the Skylight. Illus. by Justin Gerard. NY: Atheneum.

Jared, Shireen, and Miranda have moved to Venice with their family while their professor father is there to do research. Bored, they explore shops in the city and are given presents and a strange book from an old shopkeeper. The gifts bring them great and unexpected powers, and combined with the story found in the pages of the old book, the trio go on an adventure to save three others who live centuries ago. Rashid, Maria, and Francesca were kidnapped and will be sold into child slavery long before during the Middle Ages. Jared, Shireen, and Miranda, with their newfound powers, are the only ones who can save them. Told through stories that intertwine, readers travel from the present to the past and the lives of all six children are at stake. Lending an air of mystery and history are embedded translations of pages of the old book, which move the story on by providing extra bits of information necessary for the trio to solve their quest.

- Melanie Koss, Northern Illinois University 

 

GRADES 9-12

 

Yancey, Rick. (2013). The 5th Wave. NY: Penguin.

Award winning author Rick Yancey’s latest book will have you on the end of your seat and leaving the light on. Aliens have attacked the Earth and only few have survived. Survival might not be a good thing. After the 1st wave, darkness covers the land. After the 2nd wave, the few lucky ones escape, and after the 3rd wave only the unlucky survive. The 4th wave brings the rule to trust no one. Cassie is a survivor but the 5th wave is upon her. She’s alone and running from the bad guys, who look human but are really in disguise. When she meets Evan, she must decide to whether or not to trust. Another book told with alternating narrators, The 5th Wave takes you into the mind of those who wish to persevere and what they will sacrifice for survival.

- Melanie Koss, Northern Illinois University 

 

Charbonneau, Joelle. (2013). The Testing. NY: Houghton Mifflin.

Reminiscent of The Hunger Games, Joelle Charbonneau creates a post-war world with a strong government who has created colonies to help sustain the world. Upon graduation day, colony residents are chosen for The Testing, a rigorous United Commonwealth Program that only the best and brightest are chosen for. Cia is from Five Lakes Colony, and no one from her colony has been chosen for The Testing in years, her greatest dream. When Cia and a fellow colonist Tomas are chosen, Cia must leave her colony with the words of her father, “Trust no one,” ringing in her ears. The Testing puts the students through dangerous mental and physical tests, and only the strongest survive. Tomas and Cia form an alliance with the hopes of making it to the next stage of the program. Charbonneau fleshes out Cia’s character and gives us a strong, confident protagonist to root for. Readers will anxiously be waiting for book 2, Independent Study, coming out in January 2014.

- Melanie Koss, Northern Illinois University 

 

Young, Suzanne. (2013). The Program. NY: Simon & Schuster.

Suicide has become a national epidemic, and teens that exhibit signs of depression are immediately placed in The Program, a proven course of treatment to cure depression and prevent suicide. However, the cure also entails a complete wipe of memories. Sloane knows she is under constant surveillance at home and in school, and fights to keep her feelings hidden to avoid this fate. Her parents have already lost one child to The Program, and she refuses to be the second. The only person Sloane feels safe around is her boyfriend James, but they are both fighting symptoms of depression. Together, Sloane and James fight not only society but also themselves.

- Melanie Koss, Northern Illinois University 

 

These reviews are submitted by members of the International Reading Association's Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group (CL/R SIG) and are published weekly on Reading Today Online. The International Reading Association partners with the National Council of Teachers of English and Verizon Thinkfinity to produce ReadWriteThink.org, a website devoted to providing literacy instruction and interactive resources for grades K–12.

 

Kids love comics. I know I did (and still do). I wasn’t much of a reader when I was younger, but once I discovered comics and comic books, I became more engaged and interested in reading. To see the action drawn out helped reinforce what I was reading in the word balloons and narration boxes. I retained the information much more easily. The more I understood, the more confident I became. And the more confident, the more I wanted to read.

p: Enokson via photopin cc

Words AND pictures. It totally makes sense.

Sometimes you don’t even need the words. Study a Norman Rockwell painting. His paintings had such an effect on me as a child. I used to lie on the floor in my parents’ living room, flipping through their big, heavy book of Rockwell’s paintings. In one single image, his paintings tell a whole story. He was a master storyteller. He’s one of the reasons I do what I do today. In fact, before I knew how to read and write, I would draw my own stories through pictures.

Storytelling, in its most basic form, is a series of images that tell a story. If you think about it, we’ve been communicating and telling stories this way all the way back to cave drawings. And look at our world today—from IKEA assembly instructions to road signs and airplane safety pamphlets; we read pictures to understand information. We know that the smartest way to grasp an idea is to show it in an image or images.

For the past 20 years I’ve worked in children’s TV animation as an artist, writer, director, and producer. More recently I’ve written and illustrated the Ollie & Moon picture book series for Random House Children’s Books. When creating storyboards for a children’s TV show, I want the panels to tell the story without the dialogue. If you can understand what’s happening through the storyboard panels alone, then the scene is working. Adding the dialogue is extra reinforcement.

In my upcoming Step Into Reading comic reader, OLLIE & MOON: ALOHA!, I was able to combine my love of storyboarding, picture books, comic books, and clear communication!

Communication = success.

Often we think communication is just through words. But communication is also very visual. When we learn at an early age how to interpret actions, emotions, ideas, and feelings, we are set up for success. Through words and pictures, our comprehension is enhanced because we’re seeing the action that we’re reading in words.

An important aspect of telling a story through pictures is to show the action that the words describe. In my comic reader, there’s a page where Moon dares her best friend Ollie to play the ukulele while dancing the limbo (they’re in Hawaii after all!) The images that accompany the word balloons not only show Ollie strumming the ukulele and dancing the limbo, they show the emotional shift in Ollie’s face when he feels nervous before doing his dare.

So even if there’s not a ton of action on a particular page— like an image of Moon standing alone on a beach with worried eyes and unsure posture—those simple gestures will convey to the reader what’s happening, i.e., that Moon’s afraid of the ocean.

Here’s an exercise that demonstrates how a picture can clearly convey what’s happening in a story.

• Download the sample Ollie & Moon comic reader page where most of the word balloons are blank. Use it on your SMART board, or create a larger version of the image for your class to see.
• Discuss with your students what they think might be happening by looking at the images. Then have them come up with the dialogue for the word balloons. You write the dialogue in each word balloon.
• When you’re done, read the page you created together aloud. Then read the actual page from the book. If I did my job well, you may be surprised at how close your students got to the actual text in the book!

Here are some more exercises:

• Create your own comics page by cutting out images from magazines or newspapers of people in action, doing specific things (i.e., playing baseball, going to the beach, cooking, etc.). Add word balloons and let your students add the dialogue. You can download a page of word balloons to cut out and paste on your created comics page here.
• Here’s a good one to practice telling visual stories, with no words. Download a sample blank page of panels. Make copies and have your students illustrate a story in just three or six panels (depending on the amount of time you want to spend on this).

Focus the students by giving them a scenario like two dogs flying a kite; an alien landing on earth; a crab building a sand castle; etc. Ask your students to fill in the images and create a sequence of events that tells a story. For example—a crab builds a sand castle and then a wave washes it away.

There are no prizes for being the best illustrator—your students can use stick figures if they want. The point is to tell a simple story in three or six panels with no text or dialogue.

Click here to download blank panel pages.

• Download the images in a sequence that I’ve provided for you. Cut them out and shuffle. Then have your students put the images in the proper order of events based on the clues in the images.

Click here to download images.

I hope your students have fun with these exercises. And I hope they continue to have fun reading words and pictures and learn to love reading of all types!

DIANE KREDENSOR is an Emmy Award-winning artist for her work on animated TV shows such as Pinky and the Brain, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and WordWorld, to name a few. Her most recent children's book, OLLIE & MOON: ALOHA! is the third in the series for Random House Children's Books and introduces a brand new format, Step into Reading Comic Reader. Graphic panels and word balloons full of punchy dialogue introduce emergent readers to the joy of comics. The easy-to-follow plot is about trying new things and what it means to be a best friend. Diane happily lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her partner, their son, and two cats that bear a passing resemblance to Ollie and Moon. See more at http://ollieandmoon.com/ and http://dianekredensor.com/.

by Michael Putman

Have you ever tried to find an app to use within a lesson, only to give up because you are overwhelmed by the sheer number available or because you’ve already spent too much time in a fruitless search? I know I have, but my hope is that by presenting the following two websites, I can eliminate (or reduce) this possibility for both of us in the future.

The first site, which is housed within Kathy Schrock’s Guide to Everything, is entitled iPads in the Classroom. By now, many of you are likely familiar with Kathy’s work and have come to know that one of her hallmarks is the sheer number of resources that she provides on selected topics. This website is no exception. In just glancing at the page, you may experience that overwhelmed feeling creeping in – bear with me. Instead, I want to highlight a specific link: Bloomin’ iPad. As you may have guessed, “Bloomin’” refers to Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy. What Kathy has created on this page is simply brilliant: a series of visuals that illustrate various apps for several devices that will allow you to structure your technology integration to reach selected levels of the taxonomy. In our current context where we consistently hear of the need to address higher order thinking skills, we now have a tool to determine an app that may help us do just that. For example, if your goal is to have the students engage in some form of literary analysis using technology, an examination of the “Analyzing” gear yields a tool that can be used to facilitate this process. Please note - the most recent version of the “Bloomin’ Apps” is what you see at the top of the page, but I highly recommend that you scroll down the page to examine the previous versions of this tool as they contain additional apps.

The second website is aptly titled “Best Apps for Kids.” It is actually a blog that is not solely focused on education (or literacy), but is intended to be a resource for parents seeking appropriate and, in most cases, educationally sound apps for iPads, iPods, or iPhones. Regardless of the intended audience, there were several notable features I found within the site that made it a great choice for finding apps for use with children. First, each review provided an overall quality rating for the app as well as information on the educational quality, general value, and child friendliness. In each case, the information presented was concise, yet useful in determining the functionality of the app.  Second, I also liked that the user could search the website using a variety of criteria. For example, if I was trying to help my kindergarteners practice letter recognition and wanted to integrate iPads within the activities, I could search for apps via the grade level, device, or topic. Finally, the blog features Free App Friday, which I felt was very relevant given that many of us are on a budget. While the name is self-explanatory, the fact that the authors of the blog compile a current list of free, recommended apps and publish it on a specific day of the week is definitely a welcome relief from happening upon (or missing) “freebies” on your own. (Read more about Best Apps for Kids in Kimberly Kimbell-Lopez’s recent article.)

Whether you are a teacher who just received your first set of iPads or someone looking for new methods to utilize mobile devices within your instruction, I think the resources presented at these sites will help you quickly and efficiently locate several apps relevant to your instructional goals. Happy “apping”!

Mike Putman is an associate professor in the Reading and Elementary Education Department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

by Jen Scott Curwood
The University of Sydney
June 20, 2013

In and out of school, young adults use digital tools and online spaces to create, collaborate, and communicate through multiple modes and mediums (Curwood, Magnifico, & Lammers, 2013). For example, research by the Pew Internet and American Life Project indicates that 80% of adolescents use online social network sites, 38% share original creative work online, and 21% remix their own transformative works, inspired by others’ words and images (Lenhart, Ling, Campbell, & Purcell, 2010; Lenhart, Madden, Smith, Purcell, Zickuhr, & Rainie, 2011).

But how do teachers view digital literacies and how do they integrate technology in meaningful and transformative ways in schools? Two recent studies address this question.  The first study below reviews a decade of research within the New Literacy Studies and examines the increased focus on digital tools and online spaces. The next study highlights the ways in which teachers’ beliefs and practices significantly shape how technology and digital literacy practices are positioned within (or absent from) the curriculum.

Teachers’ perceptions of integrating Information and Communication Technologies into literacy instruction
Hutchison and Reinking’s (2011) study is the first national survey to investigate literacy teachers’ beliefs and practices related to technology. Notably, nearly all teachers have access to Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) and technology support in their schools, but “relatively few literacy teachers have moved from assimilation of ICTs within their teaching to a deeper curricular accommodation where ICTs are more central to their conceptions of what comprises literacy and literacy instruction” (p. 328). So how can ICTs be centrally and effectively used in the classroom? Another recent study helps address this question.

A review of research on literacy and technology
The New Literacy Studies is a line of research that began three decades ago; it conceptualizes literacy as situated within social and cultural contexts. As such, a young child’s literacy development is inextricably linked to their home and community environments. Mills (2010) reviews 90 peer-reviewed articles and outlines the growing “digital turn” in New Literacy Studies. This is evidenced by empirical studies that show how technology can support collaboration, digital media production, and online communication. For instance, the Computer Clubhouse in South Central Los Angeles offers young people the opportunity to become producers, rather than just consumers, of digital media and take part in the creative process (Peppler & Kafai, 2007).

To learn more about literacy and technology, see the National Educational Technology Standards and the International Reading Association’s New Literacies Position Statement. Also consider how the Common Core State Standards can be met through integrating new literacies and digital tools into school-based learning.

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This post was invited by the IRA Literacy Research Panel. Reader response is welcomed. Email your comments to LRP@/