Multimedia Texts and Activities

Over the past two years, I've been working with Frolyc to create activities for student iPads. It has been a wonderful experience to see the Activity Spot app grow and change.

Now, teachers can add text, pictures, web links, and video. Students can respond with drawings, open-ended responses, fill in the blank responses, and drag and drop organizers. Teachers can see student responses in real time.

Over the break, I spent time cataloguing the activities that I have created. Wow--I have created and posted 130 different activities! At first, much of my work focused on learning the affordances of the app--what could I do with it? What could kids do with it? What regular classroom tasks could the app encompass?

In the past few months, I've become much more strategic, trying to put together sets of activities to complement units of study or classroom topics. And all of this has been happening at a time when I have been learning all that I can about digital literacy and multimedia in the classroom.

Activity Spot is the perfect tool to help students transition into critical thinking about multimedia. Texts, videos, pictures, and web links are right there for students to explore.

Here are some of my favorite activities! Some are premium activities, while others are free.

Activities for grades 2-3
The A-10 Thunderbolt:  This informational text describes the A-10 Thunderbolt, and is a favorite with reluctant readers. Students read the text and complete a scaffolded summary. (Also included in paper form in Paraphrasing and Summarizing Lessons for Nonfiction Reading.)

The Flooded City: Venice: This informational text shows the text structure of problem and solution. (Also included in paper form in Problem and Solution Texts for Teaching Text Structure.)

Black Bears and People: This is another problem and solution text. I love looking at the pictures that readers create to go along with the text!

Activities for grades 4-5
The Painted Turtle: This is one of my newest activities and I am so pleased with it. My home beta tester (my fourth grade son!) enjoyed it. With this activity, I really used the capabilities of Activity Spot to create something that cannot be duplicated in a traditional text--students read the cause and effect text, and then compare it to a video on the same topic. (You can find the Painted Turtle text in Cause and Effect Activity and Texts for Teaching Text Structure.)

What is Mass?: This activity is an example of how Activity Spot can be used for science instruction. Students read about the difference between mass and weight, and then think about which tools are used for measuring these properties.

Energy Flow in Ecosystems: Picture the scene--a holiday party with grown-ups, kids dressed in their best clothes, surrounded by breakable Christmas collectibles. How can I amuse 8 and 10 year old cousins? With learning, of course! This picture shows what my son and nephew created after they read about energy flow in ecosystems. They used the camera roll on the iPad, found the awesome praying mantis picture, and labeled it. My proudest moment.

Activities for grades 6-8
Steel: From Swords to Skyscrapers: This chronological order informational text is so appealing to kids who like Minecraft! Multiple choice questions and a sequencing activity challenge students to use the text structure of chronological order. (Also available in paper form in Chronological Texts for Teaching Text Structure)

Emily Dickinson: I really like how this activity uses the capabilities of Activity Spot. Students learn about Emily Dickinson's life, and then view a video that highlights her use of imagery. Finally, they look at a commercial for "Emily Dickinson's Garden" to consider elements of author's purpose.

Endangered Species: The web features some fantastic writing, and with Activity Spot, you don't have to print and copy digital texts. This activity includes a link to an article from the US Fish and Wildlife Service highlighting lesser-known endangered species. After reading the article, students compare the text to a video, making this a great activity to help readers compare different kinds of text.

Looking forward
This is only a small sampling of the texts and activities that are available. Other teachers are creating and sharing as well. In the next few weeks, I hope to add even more informational texts. If there are activities you would like to see, fee free to request them here or on the Frolyc site.

Do you have lesson ideas that you'd like to add? You can create your own free and premium activities on Activity Spot! Visit Frolyc.com to learn how.

Traditional Text or Digital Text?

I've learned that it's great to read both! Read more about it in my post on the Frolyc blog.

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Learning from Videos: Animal Observations

When I started using Antarctica as a theme for teaching nonfiction back in 2008, I used mostly print resources. I had a sometimes-functioning LCD projector, no Internet access to the LCD (the cord wasn't long enough!), and limited computer lab access.

So much has changed. This year, half of those print resources that I so carefully accumulated in 2008-2010 ended up staying in the box. It's not that I'm against print resources--it's just that I can be much more selective now that I have so many digital resources at hand.

How to scaffold students to use these digital resources? I decided to start by watching students as they engaged with videos on their own. What were they doing? What were they noticing?

What I Saw

-Lots of talk: Watching videos does get students engaged in talking. Many students would cluster around a laptop to watch a video--"Look at that!" "Ew!" "What's that animal?"

But...

-Not much use of content-specific vocabulary: For all the talking going on, students weren't using much content-specific vocabulary. Listening to their conversations, it was impossible to tell what they were watching or what they were learning from it. Their comments were mostly reactions, not elaborations or statements.

My time watching the students helped me to consider what my next steps would be. How could I help students to watch video purposefully? The availability of firsthand video means that students learning about a remote location don't have to depend on other people's words or generalizations--they can view video and create their own ideas. But this kind of purposeful watching doesn't come naturally to young learners.

Next Steps

So what can video do that my text resources cannot? Extended, minimally produced animal videos are my favorite video resources. They are a great use of technology because these videos give students an experience that they would not otherwise have.

Students can learn a great deal from these sources. Consider this video of the Antarctic icefish:



What can students learn from watching this? There are so many interesting details about the icefish! I made this observation form to help students focus their observations:

It will be interesting to see what students do with this. Will their conversations change? Will they be able to weave details gleaned from a video into their writing? Will they be able to create their own observation forms?

I'm also interested in seeing if students consider the sources of the videos. How was the footage obtained? Is this typical of the animal? This kind of learning will be essential for our students as they encounter more and more video resources.

If you are interested in trying this with your students, here is a YouTube playlist that I created of animal footage:

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Online Reading Comprehension

I decided to jump outside my comfort zone and tackle a topic that has intrigued me for years--online reading comprehension. What do students understand of what they read online? How do their reading strategies differ? As classroom teachers, how can we best support students?

The new lines of research in this area are fascinating and filled with ideas to consider. Basically, the main points can be summarized like this:

-Online reading comprehension is different from offline reading comprehension, in ways that we still don't understand entirely;

-Methods for teaching offline reading comprehension don't always transfer well to online reading comprehension;

-Students don't always transfer what they know and can do in social situations to academic reading situations;

-Collaborative learning activities are especially helpful for online reading comprehension, as students learn new tech skills readily from each other.

I'll be presenting about online reading comprehension at the Pennsylvania Educational Technology Expo and Conference...stop by and check it out!

Resources for learning more:

Research in Learning Technology: Online journal with enough articles to keep you reading and thinking for weeks!

Literacy Beat blog: This post explains how to frame digital reading as inquiry.

Jill Castek's site: Lots of resources and journal articles related to online reading.

CAST Strategy Tutor: An online tool to support reading.

Looking at the interplay between online and offline reading comprehension: A 2009 presentation by Julie Coiro.

ORCA: A presentation about the Online Reading Comprehension Assessment, to be released at some point in the future.

New Literacies of Online Reading Comprehension and Research: A presentation by Dr. Donald Leu.

Texts for Digital Think-Alouds and Multimodal Activities

Cornell Feeder Watch Cam: Lots of visual images to discuss and explore.

MV Fram Expedition Blog: A blog of a ship's journey to Antarctica. Many students are unfamiliar with the backwards chronology of a blog.

Frolyc: Create your own multimodal activities and publish them to student iPads.



References

Bearne et al. 2007. Castek, Jill, L. Zawilinski, J. G. McVerry, W. I. O'Byrne, and D. Leu. (2008). The new literacies of online reading comprehension.

Brumberger, Eva. (2011). Visual Literacy and the Digital Native: An Examination of the Millenial Learner. Journal of Visual Literacy.

Dobson, Teresa, and J. Willinsky. 2009. Digital Literacy. In D. Olson and N. Torrance (Eds), Cambridge Handbook on Literacy.

Henry, Laurie, J. Castek, W.I. O’Byrne, and L. Zawalinski (2012). Using Peer Collaboration to Support Reading, Writing, and Communication: An Empowerment Model for Struggling Readers. Reading and Writing Quarterly, 28.

Hinrichsen, Juliet, and A. Coombs. 2013. The five resources of critical digital literacy: a framework for curriculum integration. Research in Learning Technology, v. 21.

Littlejohn, A., Beetham, H., and McGill, L. 2012. Learning at the digital frontier: a review of digital literacies in theory and practice. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 28:6.

Malloy, Jacquelynn, J. Castek, and D. Leu. 2010. Silent Reading and Online Reading Comprehension. In Revisiting Silent Reading: New Directions for Teachers and Researchers, E. Hiebert and D. Reutzel, eds.

Walsh, Maureen. 2010. Multimodal Literacy: What Does It Mean for Classroom Practice? Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 33:3.

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Frolyc and Freebies!

I am so excited that Frolyc is finally up and running for everyone!

Here is a little bit of background. As many of you know, I get lots of emails from people that I don't know. Often it is just a quick back-and-forth, but I have also had longer correspondences with a number of great teachers over the years. Last winter, Niru emailed me to ask some questions about expository text. We started chatting and she told me about Frolyc--an app that allows teachers to publish text and questions to the iPad.

I am not usually the first person to embrace new technology, but I was excited about the idea of Frolyc. My oldest son had just gotten a Kindle Fire and I could see how engaging digital text could be. Over the next few months, Niru and I talked more and more as she created the app. The world of coding and creating apps is totally beyond me, so it was interesting to hear how the process works. (And the more I heard, the more complicated it seems!)

Writing content for Frolyc has been fun. I get to write text and add photos and video links. Kids can answer multiple choice questions, use drag and drop graphic organizers, and complete word searches. It is so neat to see how readers interact with this new kind of text. In my classroom, I have used Frolyc as an incentive for kids during independent reading, a tool to build background for science units, and a way for students to build their skills with multimedia texts. Lexile levels are provided for the texts, so you can be sure that you are giving students an appropriate challenge.

So here's how it will work. On the computer, you can set up your Frolyc account and create your classroom. You can author your own activities or choose some of what has already been created. (You'll see some favorites from the text structure units, as well as plenty of new texts!) Then, put the Frolyc app on the iPads. Kids can select their name from the list and then use the activities that were assigned to them.

Right now it's free! And you can get double free if you sign up.

1. Sign up to try Frolyc.
2. Leave a comment on this blog post about your experience. Was there something that was confusing? Interesting? Something else you'd like to see?
OR
Email me at elkissn@yahoo.com with your comment.
3. Leave me your email address and the title of something $3 or under from my TpT catalog that you would like! (Or you could request a piece of a larger unit--i.e., "a story for inferring" or "a story elements assessment.)

I look forward to hearing from you!

Multiple Literacies

I had such a wonderful time at Friday's workshop--thank you to everyone who attended! As promised, here are the links to more information about multiple literacies.

This is a nice introduction to multiple literacies:
http://www.drawingwriting.com/multlit.html

This site includes links to videos with teachers explaining how they use multiple literacies in the classroom:
http://faculty.uoit.ca/hughes/Contexts/MultipleLiteracies.html

Here is a discussion of how to use visual literacy in the classroom:
http://k-8visual.info/whatis_Text.html

During the workshop, we looked at how readers process information that is composed of both images and text. I love the Elephant and Piggie books for this--they are an easy introduction to reading pictures. Older students enjoy Calvin and Hobbes. The story doesn't live in the pictures or the print--it exists in the combination of the two.

"Re-composing" means taking information from one modality and transferring it to another. This is a great reading activity, as it requires students to integrate ideas. Last school year, I wrote about how students can do this to build summarizing skills. But re-composing doesn't have to be a formal lesson. On a visit to South Middleton Park last night, my youngest son and I re-composed some of the signs that were posted around the park, putting the information from the pictures into words. (The sign about how dogs must be leashed and cleaned up after was particularly funny!)

Reading visual texts is not necessarily easier than reading print--instead, it requires a different set of skills. Modeling your own thinking as a reader interacting with these texts is an important way to help kids understand how to integrate pictures with text.  For our readers who struggle with both decoding and language comprehension, visual texts can be a pathway to helping them to understand making inferences and summarizing stories.

Here is a collection of links related to graphic novels, visual literacy, and multiple literacies.

Graphic Novels in the Classroom (teacher blog)
http://classroomcomics.wordpress.com/category/classroom-practice/

Cartoons for the Classroom
http://nieonline.com/aaec/cftc.cfm

Graphic Novels for (Really) Young Readers (includes a list of suggested titles)
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6312463.html

The Comic Book Project
http://www.comicbookproject.org/index.html