I didn't want the book to end. I just have to be honest but if good books have to end then this ended the way I wanted it to. "But in this digital age, we both believe that we must keep our eye on the literacy assessment practices we have trusted for years."
Franki along with other mentors have had me conducting reading interviews with students for twenty years. However, I was nudge here and wrote revamp next to Franki's new list of questions. I completely agree if we want to foster digital readers we need to find out where they are to see changes during the school year.
I enjoyed the very encouraging pep talk on the bottom of p92. Digital tools are not meant to throw out things we've done previously. They are meant to be an addition for creating and fostering successful communicators. I feel comfortable with the suggested list of tools for assessing reading. I just need to now think with intention when and why we will use them in our classroom community. I am pondering if second graders can annotate on digital devices, has anyone tried this with primary children? I'd love some tips.
I want to quote Franki and Bill at my curriculum night, "I realize it was the conversations around these projects - not the projects themselves that truly mattered most." I think it's important to not only share the projects when they are completed but share the journey, which in turn may foster more conversations or an extended conversation. I do understand sometimes it's hard for students to share all they have done during their day when they are tired after school but we are doing some meaningful work hopefully out side of recess and lunch.
I have been using a website for quite some time for communicating with families and have always received positive feedback but I never considered this as an act for engaging parents themselves as digital readers. I think this could be another talking point at curriculum night. Who is a digital reader? Who has checked out our class website? Then if you have, you are a digital reader. This scenario might be a good lead in to guiding parents through the various tools we will use this year at our curriculum night and help them log in if necessary or have some intentional guidance for following through at home. I'm familiar with some of the other digital communication tools and will be spending some time over the next few weeks in deciding exactly what I will use this next year.
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ReplyDeletegenuinely fruitful in support of me, keep up posting these types of articles or reviews.
My page; lasertest
Mandy,
ReplyDeleteThanks again for joining in the #cyberPD conversations! I'm with you, I need to update the reading surveys. I also thought hard about including parents/families in the acts of digital reading -- we need to be explicit and not just "assume" they understand the purpose or how to locate what we are sharing. Franki and Bill and all the #cyberPD participants have given us lots to think about!
Michelle
Hi Mandy, I too loved that quote about the conversations around projects. We have a huge Expo night in February that shared all the individual unit learning "so far" during the year. Students create displays, show movies, prezis, etc. and are the hosts at each display. All during the year I tried to share the processes that were happening "before" the final product. There are times when students are disappointed because the visitors just don't understand the work & planning & learning that is involved in that final product. I'm glad you are planning yourself to share more process. It was a terrific chapter. I love hearing about your website too, sounds so helpful. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteMandy,
ReplyDeleteI love that you pointed out the part about the process being important in projects. I see the joy in my students when they are creating...the finished piece may seem "rough" and unpolished, but they don't mine. We have done a great deal of work with videos and this year played with a green screen. Listening through my students talk through scenes and such showed me how well they were processing the text they were evaluating. (I have the best story about A Wrinkle in Time production a group did to remind me why this is critical.) Thanks for stressing this point!
Mandy,
ReplyDeleteI know I want to think more about ways to get parents and my students involved together in digital reading. I'm going to be thinking more about this in the coming year. I know I need to do a better job of showing parents how digital reading and tools offer new possibilities for their children.
Thanks for joining the conversation with your timely posts.
Cathy