Looking backwards...... looking forward

It is with mixed feelings that I bring closure to what has been one of my most exciting yet, mentally demanding courses undertaken on this campus. I feel privilege to be part of this group of students; it truly was collaboration and cooperation at its best. It endorses my belief in the collective power of teachers and their ability to rally around each other when under extreme stress.
The course was informative and enlightening but much to compact for novice such as myself, whose knowledge of technology and Web2.0 technology was limited to word processing and an occasional reply to an e-mail. Nevertheless, I persevered and once I complete the electronic portfolio I will be relieved. When I read the electronic Portfolio assignment I was very confident that I could easily complete this task, after all I was taught to do lesson plans in college, or so I thought. I soon realise that there is a huge divide between how we were taught to write lesson plans and what we are now expected to produce for this assignment. I welcome however, the new format and I can appreciate the rationale for identifying standards and the need to identify the competencies the learning objectives will assist students in developing.
The next stage in this journey involves sharing this new found knowledge about the tremendous potential of technology and Web 2.0 tools with friends and colleagues .I will need to do a more in depth course and practice using these tools before attempting to convince anyone about its benefits. I hope to use the new term to implement some of the Web 2.0 tools. I hope that I will be able to inspire, excite and motivate my students to use the technology.

The challenges I anticipate in getting teachers to use ICT in their classrooms
As I complete the final leg of EDRL 6004, I know that I have a number of obstacles to overcome if I am to be an effective reading specialist and convince teachers to use technology to enhance reading and writing in their classes. Firstly, I will need to become a lot more knowledgeable about the technology .I know now that the crash course I received ,is just the tip of the iceberg and that I now need a more in-depth course in ICT. I am convinced however that technology can be integrated into teaching and learning and that it can bring learning to life in the classroom. However, if I am to be a change agent and convince teachers about the benefits of technology, I will need to spend at least three more months experimenting, interacting and exploring the technology. When I demonstrate how the technology can be used in the classroom, teachers must be enthused and eager to try it with their students .I need to be confident and comfortable with the technology before I attempt to share it with other teachers. Many teachers, especially the mature teachers, may have difficulty and feel intimidated by the technology. I can relate to that since I still feel incompetent in terms of ICT. I will therefore be very understanding and patient with other teachers who may experience feelings of inadequacy and maybe unwilling to try the technology. I will conduct a needs assessment of my teachers and plan mini-workshops to enhance their ICT skills (and mine) and use the opportunity to infuse reading within those workshops.

Have you read ,"The digital reader: using e-books in K-12 education?”
Terrence Cavanaugh’s The digital reader: using e-books in K-12 education” is the first book that I have read on line and I highly recommend it for teachers of reading and my fellow reading specialists in particular, since it “provided a functional understanding of e-books and their features.” Cavanaugh in this text explores, “countless ways in which e-books can be applied to education.” His book provides information about a range of topics including: how to choose the right software for your class; using e-books across the curriculum; e-book reading strategies; e-books and the reluctant reader and e-books for children with specials need. Everything you need to know about e-books can be found in this text. I learnt how to create an e-book and talking e-books, the author also included an added bonus in the form of sample e-book lessons and activities and applications for a range of grade level. Colleagues, you need to read this book, get a copy for your home and school library. “The digital reader: using e-books in K-12 education” is the most informative, comprehensive text I have read during this course. One of the most impressive things I learnt about e-books from his text is that e-book are cost effective since one gigabyte of memory could contain, “more than 200 illustrated college reference books, or 350 legal volumes or about 2,500 600-page novels” (Munyan,1998). Another important feature of this book is that many chapters are available free on line. No, I am not being paid to advertise this text ,I just felt that I needed to share this information with my colleagues. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did

Word processing- A positive or negative impact on writing
The article “The Word Processor as an instructional Tool :A Meta-Analysis of Word Processing in writing Instruction," presents two perspectives on the impact of word processing on writing. Cirello (1986) claims that users of word processors produce longer documents and develop a positive attitude towards writing. Other researchers such as Rosenbaum (1987) posit that the word processing may have little or no effect on writers. The impact of word processing on students writing is very difficult to measure. One cannot be certain whether student’ positive attitude to writing is directly related to word processing, or whether students their attitude is positive because they simply enjoy working on the computer. Word processing can motivate student to write by eliminating the fears making mechanical errors and miscues, thereby allowing students to write freely and enabling them to focus on higher order skills. On the other hand students’ editing skills may deteriorate because of overreliance on spelling and grammar checks provided by word processing.
Word processing can have a motivational quality especially among struggling writers but word processing alone does not improve students writing. Cochran-Smith et al (1991) identified several propositions which teachers need to note in determining the true value of word processing on writing. They suggest that students make more revisions when using word processing, this is understandable since it is easier to delete and cut and paste information using word processing than using paper and pencil. Writers do indeed have a more positive attitude towards writing when using word processing. As a writer I prefer to use word processing especially when writing long papers ,it is neater and easier to edit furthermore , interrupting one’s thoughts to edit when using paper and pencils can prevent the natural flow of the expression of one’s thoughts.

Technology and teaching children to read
I have finally completed reading the thirty (30) page NEIRTEC report “Technology and teaching Children to Read, ” This report was very informative and of great educational value for me as an educator ,it was simple to read and the format of the information was organized and well structured. It provided me with an interesting outline of how to create a framework to integrate reading and technology, one of the burning questions that plagued me as I struggled through this course. The report reassured me that multimedia is a critical resource, which should be available in every classroom .Moreover, it presented information on the National Reading Panel review on technology and reading research conducted between 1987 and 2002 giving valuable insights into the five critical components of reading and ways technology can be integrated to enhance the teaching of these areas. A detailed outline of examples of the potential uses of the technology to support teaching was also included in the appendix.
Recommendations for the teaching of each component were suggested, these were informed by research studies in which various software were used to teach reading. The report also addressed the issues of motivation and other considerations necessary for maximizing the benefits of technology integration. I was really impressed by this report and I have already made two additional copies for my colleagues at school since, “current research points to many exciting possibilities for technology to enhance reading instruction and there is great potential ready to be explored by schools, technology developers and researches.”(p.20) My only concern however is whether the use of technology will soon make teachers obsolete since technology can; present information and activities ,assess students’ work ,respond to students work and ,provide scaffolding for struggling readers.

My first adventure into the land of Digital Story telling
Digital storytelling lab session was one of two sessions which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was truly fascinated by the extent to which the technology could be adapted to make learning and teaching truly fun. I enjoyed adding music to enhance the mood of the story, as well as, introducing various animations while creating a story. I also felt that it was unfortunate that this technology was available for quite a while and as a teacher with twenty-nine years service, I was unaware of its existence. I think I have truly denied myself and by extension my students the opportunity to enjoy the many benefits of Digital Storytelling. However, all is not lost, having been exposed to the technology I am now cognizant of the fact that I need to become more knowledgeable about other existing technologies, which can enhance teaching and learning in my classroom . I can now bring a much more interactive and exciting medium for teaching literacy and creative writing in particular, into my classrooms.
Firstly, I will need to do a more in depth course in the use of technology such as Digital Storytelling and become more comfortable using the technology. My school is already equipped with a digital camera and computers and I will be experimenting with using Digital storytelling in my classroom this term. I hope to share my new found knowledge with my colleagues and I trust that they will be as exciting as I was during the lab session on Digital Storytelling.

Digital storytelling –A fun way to teach and learn creative writing

Digital storytelling –A fun way to teach and learn creative writing
Creative writing has and continues to be a source of great stress for both teachers and students. It is very difficult to get students to express their thoughts and feelings because many of them do not read and as such have very limited ideas to express, while others have ideas and do not know how to express them. Digital storytelling can provide scaffolding for such students, as Jason Ohler in his article “The World of Digital Storytelling,” states “such technologies give voice to a number of otherwise quiet children and to students whose skills don’t fit the usual academic mold.”Digital storytelling can be effectively used in the classroom to assist students in planning their stories through the use of the storyboard. It is a welcome change from the traditional semantic map which is used and overused in most classrooms .In any event many students have difficulty transferring the ideas share during the brainstorming activity and the ideas documented in the semantic map into paragraphs .The use of pictures in digital storytelling can scaffold struggling writers by assisting them in concretizing their thoughts and ideas. By adding titles to each story page the teacher can provide additional support for students to shaping their stories. Digital storytelling caters for the multiple learning styles of students; it can be an exciting interactive fun way of doing creative writing. Digital storytelling can take the boredom, which many students, especially boys, experience with writing, by assisting them in crafting exciting stories using a multisensory medium. The use of audio and video elements adds an exciting element to story writing, one that reluctant writers will find very appealing.

Can we benefit from ICT studies in Singapore?

The article, “Investigating the efficacy of the use of ICT for slow learners: Case studies in Singapore Primary Schools,” provides a meaningful insight into the impact of ICT on teaching. This case study explores workable teaching strategies to maximize students’ learning and identifies critical factors which need to be examined when using ICT in the classroom. These factors include: the role adopted by the teacher and learner, ICT educational conditions, teacher training, early intervention and the use of ICT to motivate slow learners. It therefore provides meaningful information for school administrators and teachers for implementing ICT in their schools and classrooms.

Wettasinghe & Hasan posit that “a classroom rich with technology can be a more intrinsically motivating classroom setting, than one free of technology.” I concur with this view since ICT educational conditions and technologically rich learning environments are fundamental pre-requisites for students to gain from assistive technology. I envy the teachers of Singapore who were fortunate enough to have KidSmart units donated to their classrooms by IBM. In Trinidad and Tobago, laptops were promised to S.E.A students but many classrooms do not have computer access and therefore cannot reap the benefits of ICT.

Teacher training in the use of ICT and the need for teachers to make the necessary paradigm shift in their teaching methods were identified as major conditions for facilitating improved student achievement. Teachers interviewed indicated that they had to change their teaching framework and focus more on the “meaningful use of the knowledge of the technology.”

The issue of early intervention such as the LSP - Learning Support Programme in this study is indeed critical since young children are more receptive to learning. ICT can therefore be very useful in “bridging experience with abstraction,” in so doing engaging students in meaningful, authentic classroom learning activities and experiences.

Finally, a lab I truly enjoyed!

I thoroughly enjoyed my lab session on e-books. I was able for the first time to follow the instructions from beginning to end and create an e-book. More importantly, I felt a sense of achievement at the end of the session. I could easily see the connection to my classroom teaching and immediately I started speculating on how I will be using e-books in my classroom, in the new term. Right away I recognized its applicability in the teaching of phonics, comprehension and most importantly, fluency. I kept wondering why this session was not used earlier in the course to enable us to experience a sense of success, and be motivated to attempt the other challenging aspects of assistive technology. Everyone left the class smiling and many of my colleagues agreed that they did not feel the sense of hopelessness which we normally experience at the end of previous sessions. On the contrary, this session left me motivated and anxious to share the technology with my colleagues at school.

I want to suggest that the session on creating and using e-books be done earlier in the course, thereby allowing students to move from the known to the unknown, and linking previous knowledge of the Microsoft power-point program, which most teachers are familiar with, to new learning in a stimulating and constructive way.

Using technology as a catalyst for change

Electronic books or E-books can indeed be a catalyst for change in motivating both students and teachers in traditional classrooms, to use technology to enhance teaching and learning. In fact, I am of the view that e-books are the most palatable form of technology for use in our classrooms. E-books, because they add the dimension of multimedia to traditional storybooks, make reading appealing and engaging to students. The use of sounds and animation to accompany text facilitate the learning styles of various learners in our classroom.

Milby and Rhodes (2007) article, ‘Teacher-Created Electronic Books: Integrating Technology to Support Readers with Disabilities,’ outlines the many benefits of using e-books. They submit that e-books allow the readers to reap the many benefits of traditional storybooks, while adding an exciting dimension to “capture student responses to engaging children’s literature.” This article endorses the use of e-books for repeated text reading. This is especially useful for teaching fluency and scaffolding struggling readers.

E-books can be used to teach any phonic element in the curriculum due to the added sound and animation component. Moreover, I can easily create an e-book in a matter of minutes based on the specific needs of individual students in the classroom. Creating an e-book is simple and can truly act as a catalyst for change since it does not pose a great challenge to traditional teachers who are reluctant to use the technology because they perceive themselves as incompetent. The e-book is a great way for teachers to get acquainted with technology since its benefits as a form of assistive technology are very obvious.

I intend to copy this article for my staff and engage them in a discussion with the aim of highlighting the tremendous value of e-books in improving fluency, comprehension, phonics and developing a love for reading among our students.

Value of blogging

After reading the article “Adventures in Blogosphere: from blog readers to blog writers” by Lara Ducate and Lara Lomicka, I recognise the potential of blogging as a tool to enhance reading and writing, two areas which continue to be a challenge for all teachers. Blogging is a computer assisted learning tool, and I feel that this makes it an attractive and appropriate medium for our students, who have a natural, almost built in ability to learn using the computer.

The research done by Ducate and Lomicka endorses the positive role of computer assisted tools, particularly blogging, in teaching and learning. As the title suggested children can be taken on an adventure in cyberspace; sharing their ideas and learning from their peers, in a social environment free of inhibitions and intimidations usually associated with the traditional classroom. In such an environment struggling readers and writers, as well as, shy and introverted students can express their feelings and interact with others, learning vicariously, while at the same time building their self confidence and self esteem. The scaffolding provided by the computer in terms of spell and grammar checks, frees the student to express herself/himself and to write spontaneously and regularly. This article also endorses the findings of Ferdig and Trammel (2004) who claims that blogging “enhances students’ interest and involvement in learning”, while “giving students a glimpse of a variety of viewpoints to help them expand their own”.

In my opinion, blogging can facilitate meaningful and interactive discussions in my classroom, and in the wider community, thereby providing opportunities for social and collaborative learning. Current controversial issues such as capital punishment and the advantages and disadvantages of giving S.E.A students laptops, can generate interesting discussions which can go along way towards developing students’ critical thinking skills.

Why I became a Reading Specialist

I became a Reading Specialist because this portfolio afforded me the opportunity to assist teachers in planning interventions for struggling readers. During my years of teaching Social Studies at the secondary level I encountered a number of students, who had severe reading problems. I felt handicapped because I was unable to assist them. I had no idea how to diagnose, or even plan an intervention to assist them. I felt very inadequate, as a teacher I should have been able to help them. I felt that somehow I had failed them. Furthermore, I have been employed both as a “Reading Facilitator” and a “Reading Specialist” without any training. I was painfully aware that I lacked the knowledge and skills to do justice to either jobs. I have been waiting for many years for the university to start a reading programme, I therefore did not hesitate to join the Masters in Reading Programme. I knew that it was going to give me the skills I need to be able to help struggling readers, as well as teachers of struggling readers. Finally ,I have always dreamed of starting a reading clinic for struggling adults in my community , this programme will give me the knowledge, skills and strategies to be able to realize this dream.