Digital Natives

When Kaylee was three, she was able to maneuver an iPhone and knew how to put in the password and go to her 4 folders of apps.  Wheels on the Bus was one of her favorites when she was three.  

At age four, she loved AniMatch, an electronic version of the old memory game with animal pictures and sounds, as well as FirstWords Animals, where she matched lowercase letters and spelled words of animals that made noises and twirled and jumped and made her laugh.  And, by age four, she knew how to swipe and drag, pinch and enlarge on the iPad.  

At age five, she enjoys TeachMe Kindergarten and TeachMe First Grade, where addition, subtraction, spelling, and Dolch Sight Words are the topics.  

The other day, she sat on my lap to watch a You Tube video with me, and as it started, she moved my hand away from my laptop, went right to the arrows, "We need it bigger!" and took care of it herself, enlarging the screen. When did she learn that?  

Marc Prensky refers to our students of today, like 5-year old Kaylee or 9th grader Joey, as Digital Natives.  They are growing up or have already grown up in the digital world.  And we must adapt our teaching  to engage them in ways that interest them

Digital Natives.… are used to receiving information fast.  They like to parallel process and multi-task. They prefer their graphics before their text rather than after. They prefer random access (like hypertext). They function best when networked. They thrive on instant gratification and frequent rewards.  They prefer games to “serious work.” They have a whole library in their pocket. They have little patience for lectures, step-by-step logic and “tell-test” instruction. These skills are often totally foreign to the Digital Immigrants (Prensky 2001, 2010).  

When I presented at the National Title I Conference in January 2012, there were a handful of Keynote and smaller sessions that opened new windows and doors to digital literacy.  I consider myself fairly savvy when it comes to technology, not great, but better than some... but I had one "ah-ha" moment after another.   

What do some of the experts say? 

According to Ormiston (National Title I Conference 2012) the communication spectrum that supports a digital rich classroom includes:

è Collaborating

è Moderating

è Negotiating

è Debating

è Commenting

è Net meeting/Skyping/Video conferencing

è Reviewing

è Questioning

è Replying

è Posting and Blogging

è Networking

è Contributing

è Twittering

è Instant Messaging

è Texting

è Podcasting

è Producing

•  Technology-related discussions often are focused primarily on ways to keep students from using it during the school day, rather than on the potential of digital technology to motivate students and enhance our instruction (Kingsley, 2010, Dagget, 2012).

• Subjects (ages 10-11) translated a paragraph of texts into standard English and a Standard English paragraph into a text – There is considerable evidence of higher achievement with students who text (Plester, Wood, & Bell, 2008). 

• “If teachers are not up-to-date with technology, (including but not limited to smart phones, text messaging, tweeting) they have no business teaching today’s children/students – they don’t have a clue what’s going on” (Dagget, National Title I Conference, 2012).

What can we do in our K-12 classrooms?  "Go faster, less step-by-step; we want more random access,” said a 12-year-old girl.  We can use Smartboards, blogging, podcasting, video production, digital storyboarding, wordle (a word generating image), glogster (a graphic blog), and don’t stop there… try digital story telling or writing. (Thanks to Stone & Norman, 2012, Speakers for Seattle Reading Council's Spring Professional Learning, for sharing the following sites):

• Strip Designer click here!
• Edutopia (A “how to” that’s tech friendly.) click here!
• StoryKit  click here!
• Storyrobe click here! 
• ePub click here! 

We will continue our digital conversation next week, with the benefits of Gaming, some more tips for the classroom, and a bit of research to support it. 

Until next time, share a literacy strategy!

Dr. Denise Gudwin

It’s Monday, It’s ELA Common Core Day! Today’s Tip: Unwrapping the Standards Step 3 and Looking at the whole picture.

It’s Monday, It’s ELA Common Core Day! Today is a continuation of last week's look at Ainsworth's (2003) work in unwrapping the standards, where we focused on Steps 1 and 2 (out of 5). Today's tip is  Unwrapping the Standards Step 3.  We also want to take a moment and look at the whole picture.  Ainsworth's whole 5-step process is a very good way to get to know the Common Core Standards, so next Monday, we will continue with Step 4 and then Step 5 the following Monday, but today we are focusing on Step 3 - Determine the Big Ideas.

Step 3 – Determine the Big Ideas… What do they need to already know?  What type of literacy skills will they need to use? Is this important for my students to learn?

Need to Know

Skills to Use

How will this help my students?

First, here are the standards.  Then look below for our focus discussion:

Kindergarten Teachers: 

Standard RL.K.2: With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details.

1^st Grade Teachers:

Standard RL.1.2: Grade 1 students will retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

2^nd Grade Teachers:

Standard RL.2.2: Grade 2 students will recount stories, including fable and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.

3^rd Grade Teachers:

Standard RL.3.2: Grade 3 students will recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.

4^th Grade Teachers:

Standard RL.4.2: Grade 4 students will determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.

5^th Grade Teachers:

Standard RL.5.2: Grade 5 students will determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.

6^th Grade Teachers:

Standard RL.6.2: Grade 6 students will determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.

Take a moment to think about what your students will "need to know" to do this...   what "skills will they need to use?"  and always, the bottom line is "how will this help my students?" Ask yourselves the questions that are pertinent to your grade level, your students' levels and the needs of your group... For example:

What do they need to know?

• Do they need to know what retell or recount means?
• Do they need to know how a folktale is organized?

What skills will they need to use?

• Do they need to be able to retell or recount?
• Do they need to be able to listen to a story, to use their listening comprehension skills?
• Do they need to know the difference between major details and insignificant ones?

How will this help my students?

• Will this help them during your instructional time?   
• How?
• How will retelling, recounting, determining theme, identifying major details help them with their achievement in reading?

And finally, let's look at the whole picture... go back and look at how the standard builds from one grade to another, look at the Kindergarten one, and the first grade, and second grade, all the way to sixth grade or above.  It is important to see where our students are going, not just having tunnel vision looking at our current grade only.  We can see how the learning is layered.  We will look at this whole picture more in-depth in a future post, with another standard.

“ ‘Unwrapping’ the academic content standards is a proven technique to help educators identify from the full text of the standards exactly what they need to teach their students.  Unwrapped standards provide clarity as to what students must know and be able to do.  When teachers take the time to analyze each standard and identify its essential concepts and skills, the result is more effective instructional planning, assessment, and student learning”  (Ainsworth, L., 2003).

Until next time, share a strategy!

Dr. Denise Gudwin 

100 BOOKS EVERY CHILD SHOULD HEAR BEFORE STARTING SCHOOL

Since it's back to school time, it seems fitting that we share some great books for kids...  Local libraries have various lists of books – here’s one, Thanks to the King County Library System, Washington.  What if our Kindergarteners, first graders, or second graders come to us not having heard most of these books (or any others)?  We need to read aloud to our students.  Every day. Just like we eat. And just like we need gas in our car (or a plug in for our electric car) to drive it, our students need to hear good books, for reading and writing and background knowledge and vocabulary – and just for the love of reading…  Don’t let the age levels cloud your thinking!

Recommended for Babies:

 1.   Ten, Nine, Eight by Mollly Bang

 2.   Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown

 3.   The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle

 4.   Freight Train, by Donald Crews

 5.   Lunch, by Denise Fleming

 6.   Where’s Spot, by Eric Hill

 7.   Is it Red? Is it Yellow? Is it Blue? An Adventure in 

      Color, by Tana Hoban

 8.   Brown Bear, Brown Bear, by Bill Martin

 9.   Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom, by Bill Martin

10. Who’s Counting? by Nancy Tafuri

11. How Do I Put It On? by Shigeo Watanabe

Recommended for Toddlers:

12. On The Day I Was Born, by Debbi Chocolate

13. Good Dog, Carl, by Alexandra Day

14. Feathers for Lunch, by Lois Ehlert

15. Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley

16. Ask Mr. Bear, by Marjorie Flack

17. Is Your Mama a Llama? by Deborah Guarina

18. Hush! A Thai Lullaby, by Minfong Ho

19. Rosie’s Walk, by Pat Hutchins

20. Harold and the Purple Crayon, by Crockett Johnson

21. Jump, Frog, Jump! by Robert Kalan

22. The Teddy Bears’ Picnic, by Jimmy Kennedy

23. Whose Mouse are You? by Robert Kraus

24. The Carrot Seed, by Ruth Krauss

25. Over in the Meadow, by John Langstaff

26. Dim Sum for Everyone! by Grace Lin

27. Little Blue and Little Yellow, by Leo Lionni

28. Guess How Much I Love You, by Sam McBratney

29. Whose Hat? by Margaret Miller

30. Shades of Black, by Sandra Pinkney

31. The Little Engine that Could, by Watty Piper

32. Good Night, Gorilla, by Peggy Rathmann

33. We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, by Michael Rosen

34. Cars and Trucks and Things that Go, by Richard

      Scarry

35. Lizard’s Song, by George Shannon

36. It Looked Like Spilt Milk, by Charles Shaw

37. Farmer Duck, by Martin Waddell

38. Mouse Paint, by Ellen Stoll Walsh

39. “Hi, Pizza Man!” by Virginia Walter

40. Noisy Nora, by Rosemary Wells

41. The Lady with the Alligator Purse, by Nadine  

      Westcott

42. Buzz, by Janet Wong

43. The Napping House, by Audrey Wood

Recommended for Preschoolers:

44. Happy Birthday, Moon, by Frank Asch

45. Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing, by Judi 

      Barrett

46. Madeline, by Ludwig Bemelmans

47. The Mitten, by Jan Brett

48. Stone Soup, by Marcia Brown

49. The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant, by Jean de 

      Brunhoff

50. Mr. Grumpy’s Outing, by John Burningham

51. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, by Virginia Lee 

      Burton

52. Mama Zooms, by Jane Cowen-Fletcher

53. The Empty Pot, by Demi

54. Pancakes for Breakfast, by Tomie DePaola

55. Abuela, by Authur Dorros

56. Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman

57. Corduroy, by Don Freeman

58. Millions of Cats, by Wanda Gag

59. The Three Billy Goats Gruff, by Paul Galdone

60. The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses, by Paul Goble

61. All the Colors of the Earth, by Sheila Hamanaka

62. Lilly’s Puple Plastic Purse, by Kevin Henkes

63. Bread and Jam for Frances, by Russell Hoban

64. Amazing Grace, by Mary Hoffman

65. Angelina Ballerina, by Katherine Holabird

66. The Wolf’s Chicken Stew, by Keiko Kasza

67. The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats

68. The Caterpillar and the Polliwog, by Jack Kent

69. Anansi and the Moss Covered Rock, by Eric Kimmel

70. I Took My Frogs to the Library, by Eric Kimmel

71. Tacky the Penguin, by Helen Lester

72. I Love You Like Crazy Cakes, by Rose Lewis

73. On Market Street, by Anita Lobel

74. Frog and Toad Are Friends, by Arnold Lobel

75. Frog Goes to Dinner, by Mercer Mayer

76. Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey

77. Raven, by Gerald McDermott

78. Goin’ Someplace Special, by Pat McKissack

79. Pigs Aplenty, Pigs Galore, by David McPhail

80. Martha Speaks, by Susan Meddaugh

           81. The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash, by Trinka  

                 Noble

           82. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, by Laura Numeroff

           83. The Ant and the Elephant, by Bill Peet

           84. The Talk of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter

           85. Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Martin Luther King,            

                Jr., by Doreen Rappaport

           86. Curious George, by H. A. Rey

           87. The Relatives Came, by Cynthia Rylant

           88. Grandfather’s Journey, by Allen Say

           89. Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak

           90. The Cat in the Hat, by Dr. Seuss

           91. Caps for Sale, by Esphyr Slobodkina

           92. Imogene’s Antlers, by David Small

           93. Snapshots from the Wedding, by Gary Soto

           94. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, by William Steig

           95. There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, by  

                 Simms Taback

           96. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very 

                 Bad Day, by Judith Viorst

           97. Lyle, Lyle Crocodile, by Bernard Waber

           98. Owl Moon, by Jane Yolen

           99. Seven Blind Mice, by Ed Young

           100.  Harry, the Dirty Dog, by Gene Zion

How can exposing students to these books and others increase higher order thinking skills?

My favorite is My Big Dog, by Janet Stevens and her sister, Susan Stevens Crummel.  What's yours?  Next month, I'll share my personal favorite list, including Children's and YA books.

Our topic next Thursday is Digital Literacy.  Stay connected for some great info!

Until next time, share a literacy strategy,

Dr. Denise Gudwin