Digital Language Arts II: “Guide Me, Please”

Bedtime stories. Did you grow up with them? Did you have the opportunity to be read to by, and to read along with, a caring family member? Were you asked, “What’s that word?” Did you ask, “What does that word mean?” Curiosity for stories and language never really leaves us, but sometimes it gets buried under the weight of unengaging school instruction. Do you ever recall telling your mom, “Can you stop reading this story to me, please? It’s boring and I’d really rather do something else.” Hopefully not! Perhaps you can recall, though, thinking as much in one or more of your classrooms while growing up.

As we think about how we engage in the act of guided reading – reading to our students, having our students read to us, and discussing elements such as tone, style, theme, grammar, vocabulary, point of view, and so on – we can use our two overarching questions (How I can I improve what I do? What can I do that I couldn’t before?) to frame our understanding of how we might integrate technology into the process.

Idea 1: Delivering electronic anticipation guides via student response systems

Before tackling new reading material of any significant depth, whether fiction or non-fiction, it is useful to gauge student understandings of the ideas they will encounter in the material, as well as to pique their curiosity. This can be done with (ugh) a worksheet questionnaire, or perhaps through a class discussion. The former may turn you off as much as your students. The latter can be extremely powerful. But how can we make it better? How can we benefit from engaging in discussion and yet still record the data as with a worksheet? And how can we increase engagement at the same time? We can use electronic student response systems in the context of the discussion. For The Butterfly by Patricia Polacco, for example, we can anticipate the story by asking, “Would you risk your life to help a friend in danger?” and using a Likert-scale answer format on the student response systems. Students answer, discuss, and then proceed to the next question.

After we have finished reading the book, we can ask the same questions from the anticipation guide and record their answers using the response systems as well. We then compare the responses, pre- and post-reading, for a fruitful discussion on how and why student attitudes and responses may have changed. Having the data in electronic format makes it fast and easy.

Idea 2: Annotating text with a document camera, projector, and interactive whiteboard

Each student in a guided reading group may have their own copy of the reading material, but how do students comment on specific portions of the text? How does the teacher, for that matter? Does student Molly say, “On the 27th line, halfway through, Sarah points at the vase and…” Does the teacher say, “Jason, find three adjectives in the fifth paragraph…” while the other students struggle to follow along? Perhaps so, but those methods can be terribly awkward at times. We can improve the analytical process, while again increasing engagement, by using the tools above to show the pages of the material, live, large, and in color, on an interactive whiteboard. Molly can user her finger or a board pen to draw a circle around the text as she explains her point about Sarah. Jason can likewise highlight his three adjectives so that every student knows exactly which ones he identifies. And if he makes a mistake? No problem. The group can ask him to “erase” one highlight, and replace it with another. These simple acts of physical interaction can go a long way towards reinforcing the ideas in students’ minds. And with some models of document cameras and boards, images of the pages with the student annotations can be saved for later reference in class and at home through online posting.

Idea 3: Supporting teachable moments through just-in-time web research

Almost without fail, at some point while reading together in a guided reading group, students will ask questions about ideas, topics, or words that they do not understand. In some cases, the teacher knows and can explain the answers, and in some cases not. But what may be the best way to handle it? The teacher can say, “I don’t know… let’s Google it!*” By having just one computer available right in the group, whether a teacher laptop, student laptop, or even a nearby desktop, questions can be researched and resolved on the spot, while student curiosity is still high. And in as much as the answer itself is important, so too is the act of modeling digital literacy in context. “We’ve got three million responses, guys… what can we do to narrow the results?” “Do you think this website looks like we can trust it? Why?” “Does this first answer seem reasonable, or should we keep looking?” Each of those questions can be used by the teacher to build effective web research habits in students without them even realizing it. And in that one simple change in practice, by integrating one simple technology tool, we are able to accomplish what we could not accomplish in the group otherwise.

*DLA team member Nicole’s favorite in-class phrase

So, there we have three simple ideas for improving what we do, or for allowing ourselves to do more, in the guided reading process by way of technology integration. Do you have other ideas for guided reading enhancements? We’ve love to have you share!

Next up… we’ll take a brief detour to mention some of our favorite novels to use in elementary language arts, and then return to this multi-part series for a look at how to integrate technology into practice/reflection/analysis.