Secret Ways : Character Building

Today's post is part of the #digilit Sunday conversation hosted by Margaret Simon.  This week's topic is "refresh" --- and, Margaret, I finally managed a post.  :o)  (See below for links.) 

#cyberPD
As the school year begins to wind down, I'm beginning to feel the excitement of having a little extra time for summer learning.  One of my favorite ways to refresh in the summer is to join professional conversations around literacy --- and, of course, one of my favorites is #cyberPD.  This year will be the 6th annual #cyberPD conversation.  Each year, Laura Komos, Michelle Nero, and I collaboratively host a virtual professional reading conversation across blogs.  The community has grown over the years and is now nearly 200 members strong.

Each year one professional book is chosen to be read by the #cyberPD community.  During the month of July, the book is discussed across three weeks.  Each week participants read and discuss a different section of the selected book.  Past titles have included (revisit conversations here):

• 2011 Conferring:  The Cornerstone of Reader's Workshop by Patrick Allen
• 2012 Opening Minds by Peter Johnston
• 2013 Who Owns the Learning by Alan November 
• 2014 Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller
• 2015 Digital Reading:  What's Essential by Franki Sibberson and Bill Bass
• 2016 To Be Determined 

It's DigiLit Sunday.  Today I'm pondering screen time...

Recently I was leading a session around technology in the classroom when a teacher inquired, "Don't you worry about screen time?"  It's a smart question.  One I think a lot about.  However, I'm not sure the question is "How much screen time?" instead I wonder if we should be asking, "What kind of screen time?"  For example, yesterday was a day with a lot of 'screen time' for me.  I woke up early and wrote a post for this blog, read a book on my phone as my husband drove us to Bowling Green, and spent time creating a list of meals for break.  The reading and writing I could have done in paper formats, but I prefer to do both digitally.

As a classroom teacher I think there are different kinds of screen time.  Even pediatricians are rethinking screen times as our world changes.  When I see students work to make video book trailers, digital responses to their reading, or share their process in solving a math problem, I see that as a different kind of screen time.  When students are creating a digital composition, reading an eBook, or connecting with experts around the world, I see that as a different kind of screen time.  In my mind, tasks that could be done on paper and pencil, but the learner has chosen to work digitally as they learn, are a smart use of screen time.  Digital tools create new opportunities for us to create, connect, collaborate and work purposefully in new ways.

When I'm asked this question, "What about screen time?" I do pause.  What about it?  Recently someone forwarded an article about student learning which included an image of every student working on an iPad at the same time.  I wondered about choice when I saw the photo.  These were young children, and while there may be times everyone is on a device, I couldn't help but wonder:  What were they doing?  Was everyone completing the same task?  How long did they spend each day on devices?   Did they have opportunities to work with paper, markers, scissors, and paints?  Did they have choice between a variety of tools across their day?  Did they have time to collaborate and talk together about their learning?

I'm excited about new digital possibilities.  As someone who uses digital tools to create, learn, collaborate, and connect, I continually find new ways to work purposefully that weren't possible years ago.  However, I want digital tools to remain a choice.  I hope to create opportunities in which students can determine their purpose, choose their tool, and work with intention.  However, I'm thinking the question is less about "How much screen time?" and more about creating balanced learning opportunities for our students.  When thinking about technology use with my students I think about:

• Who is deciding when technology will be used?
• Is technology one choice among other tools in the classroom?  
• Are students using technology to work in ways that weren't possible before?
• Are students working with intention as they make choices about their learning?
• Are students using technology to connect with others and create new learning opportunities?
• Is technology growing their learning community?  
• Are students using technology to amplify their voice? 
• Are students using technology to create and grow their thinking?  
• Who is doing more work:  the device or the learner?  In other words, who owns the learning:  the teacher, the application, or the student?
• Is technology balanced with realtime conversation, play, and other activities necessary for continued growth and development?  

You Might Like:
Technology's Impact on Children's Brains
Debate Continues as to How Much 'Screen Time' Kids Should Have with Devices

It's been awhile since I've had something new and exciting to say about Evernote, but today is the day!  This week, while in a meeting, I once again noticed the small pen icon at the top of my note.


I gave it a click to discover it would be possible for me to handwrite notes while working in Evernote.  That's going to be big news for some of my friends who prefer to handwrite their notes.  It was pretty exciting news, but honestly my handwriting is sometimes hard to read; it's often reason I type in the first place.

However I've been playing a bit with sketchnoting.  Though I'm not an artist, I find the way sketchnoting requires me to think visually to be a fun challenge.  I decided to give sketchnoting a try during the meeting.  Creating a sketchnote requires much more synthesizing of information.  It really requires me to listen in a much deeper way.  I'm not sure as teachers we would find a student drawing to seem like they were truly listening, but I promise if you try it yourself you will begin to realize the challenge involved.

Here's a note I created:

• ease of use (much easier than using the Skitch app embedded EN)
• palette had several color possibilities
• I could change the width of the pen/marker
• dots on page make it easier to add lines and consider space
• saves within a note in the same way images do 

As I work with primary students it seems most of the digital tools they use independently are for creation.  Where would we be without tools like Padlet, Pixie, Educreations, Voicethread or Kidblog?   Among other things, these tools allow students to share their thinking in reading, publish their writing in ways we can share with the world, and build thinking around topics.  Digital composing is a part of our literacy workshops.

Finding sites for primary digital readers is something of greater challenge.  Many of the sites we use work well for shared reading.  Some of these sites students can return to, but for emergent and early readers many digital reading sites are too challenging.  Just as in reading print books, I do work to find digital texts that students will be able to engage in independently.  This is a much greater challenge when we are talking about our youngest readers.  Since participating in the #cyberPD conversation around Digital Reading:  What's Essential by Franki Sibberson and Bill Bass, I've been working to build the possibilities for the young readers I support to experience digital texts.  Here are a few of my favorites sites for emergent and early readers:

Tumble Books:  Tumble Books is a "read to me" site.  I have been a fan of this site for beginning readers for years as it has a wide variety of books available.  Many digital sites have books created specifically by developers for their sites, but Tumble Books has many of the popular picture books and early chapter books students might check out at their library available.  The only challenge of Tumble Books is that it is a paid site, but it can be accessed through many libraries including our local Columbus Metropolitan Library Tumblebooks site.

National Geographic Kids Young Explorer Magazine  Looking for informational text for young readers?  National Geographic has really kept up with needs of student readers.  No matter their product, print or digital, students enjoy finding out more with National Geographic.  The Young Explorer digital site allows readers to view and/or listen to past National Geographic magazines.  There are two versions available for reading:  Scout and Voyager.  Of course, a stop by the National Geographic Kids website can always provide additional digital material for students.

The Poem Farm with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater  It's true, I'm a bit of a poetry fan so I like to make sure digital readers have the opportunity to experience poetry.  Amy LV's site is the perfect stop for teachers as she shares so much about her writing process.  Honestly, Amy's site is one of my favorite stops for digital writing mentor texts.  You'll find her site to be helpful in planning for poetry mini lessons.  You can look up poems by topic and technique making it a great stop for shared reading as well.  However, this post is about digital reading for kids so I digress.  The reason I like this site for our youngest readers is that Amy always includes a SoundCloud version of her poem.  Students can revisit poetry and listen to her read it!  There's nothing quite like hearing a poet read her own poetry.

Storyline Online Beginning readers need to hear the sounds of books.  There's something about those wondrous words whispering in their ears through read aloud.  Storyline Online has many titles available to listen to as they are read by readers you just might know.

Unite for Literacy  This website is a must see for young readers.  Displayed as a digital bookshelf, readers may click on a title of choice.  Students can read the book independently or have a narrated voice read for them.  Words are not highlighted and the narration is a bit choppy, but this is an excellent stop for finding digital books.  Additionally, you can adjust the language to have different different languages read.  When I switched the narration I was still viewing the English text, but with the other language narration.

eBooks with Narration  Recently I noticed in my library's Overdrive site that digital titles are becoming available "with narration."  In a recent stop to Overdrive, I discovered that books are becoming available with narration.  This allows readers to view the text WHILE listening to the story being read to them.  Game changer for younger readers!  I've tried to find out more about this, but haven't been able to really get to the heart of what is available and if it will be sustainable shift in children's books.  Anyone know anything more?  Check out your library's digital reading section to see if titles are available.

Digital books with narration. Columbus Metropolitan Library

You can see how I have been able to locate titles available with narration.

I'm hoping to grow the list of sites available for my youngest readers.  I'd love your recommendations.

Here are some other favorite digital sites (not all are for beginning readers):

Follow Mrs. Cathy's board Reading Websites on Pinterest.

DigiLit Sunday seems the perfect day to talk about digital reading and connecting with other learning communities through the Global Read Aloud.  It all starts tomorrow!  I will be participating with students in the conversation around picture books by author, Amy Krouse Rosenthal.  I'm so excited she has been chosen for this year's event.  Of course, if you're not a primary teacher there are other titles featured for students at a variety of age ranges.

As a reading intervention teacher, my plan is to take one day each week to read the title being discussed with students I support whose classes aren't participating #gra15.  We will then likely take time to post on our blog and join the conversation with other classrooms via the hashtag #graAMY.  I'm never quite sure where the event will go so I just dive in and get started.  The connections and next steps seem to become obvious once we begin.  Across the years I've learned to trust the process.

I've found certain benefits to be true year after year:

• Students get excited about the featured author.
• Students begin to notice patterns in the author's work. 
• Students find authentic ways to respond and talk about the featured titles.
• Students learn to talk about books in connected conversations.
• Twitter allows us to see what others are thinking about the titles featured.
• Twitter allows us to connect with other classrooms around the world.
• Students talk about the author across the year.  

Trying out Sway. #wabtr @tara_smith5 @CathyMere @cvarsalona @MuellerHolly @jarhartz @Jreaderwriter @jffahey9 https://t.co/g3stCVORjQ

� Margaret Simon (@MargaretGSimon) September 20, 2015

Hmmmm.  Sway.  It wasn't the first time I had heard of it.  I had been wanting to play around with Sway since I heard Randall Sampson talking about a few weeks ago (here's his Personalized PD Sway).  I just hadn't found the time and then Lori Green was talking about it too.  So when I saw Margaret's tweet, I had to pop over to her blog to see what she had to say about Sway.  On her blog, Reflections on the Tech�, she shared creations from Dot Day using Sway.  Stop over and check them out.  

What I needed to do seemed obvious.  It was time to play with Sway.  I returned to a post from Thursday, Why Digital Literacy?, that I shared on the #cyberPD blog discussing key considerations for digital literacy.  I decided to use the bullet points for content and give Sway a try.  Here's my first attempt: 



I'm looking forward to playing around a bit more with Sway.  I liked the ability to add photos, video, and links to the Sway.  The movement makes the presentation more appealing.  I could see myself using it in much the same way I use Smore for sharing information in user friendly ways.  I'm adding Sway to my go-to list of presentation applications.  Thanks, Margaret, for pushing me that one extra step.  


Today's post connects to a post I shared Thursday on the #cyberPD blog on Thursday, September 17th.  The blog was established to provide a space for #cyberPD community members to share their discoveries about last July's featured study title, Digital Reading:  What's Essential by Franki Sibberson and Bill Bass.  The site is currently looking for participants interested in posting for October.   On Tuesday, October 6th, at 8PM EST the community will be chatting on Twitter about their first steps in launching their workshops with a digital lens.  Hope you can join us!

As part of a continuous collaboration among educators interested in digital learning, Margaret Simon hosts a weekly Digital Learning round-up on her blog:  DigiLit Sunday.  Stop by Reflections on the Teche.  

We finally purchased a new iPad for my husband.  He still had the original first version which was working amazingly well, but it doesn't have a camera.  Let's face it, the camera changes everything.  We didn't really purchase it for personal reasons; we purchased it so he could use it at school.  Since purchasing my iPad five years ago, the way I work as an educator has changed in ways I still find hard to explain.  It's not just the iPad that makes the change, but it certainly makes it all so much easier.

What can be done:  Pulling up our class Twitter account during a share session, for example, allows me to amplify our conversation by sharing it with others beyond our classroom.
Grows Our Connectedness:  Having access to a few computers and iPads certainly opened the door for students to connect more with one another.  Through blogging, sharing learning artifacts created or captured digitally, and utilizing digital spaces students began to connect more to the learning of their peers in our classroom community.  Additionally sites like Twitter, Padlet, and Weebly allowed us to grow our connections beyond our classroom.  Having an iPad in hand made it easy to say:

• "Let's tweet that out to other classrooms to see what they think." 
• "Let's ask this author about their thinking when writing this book." 
• "Let's share that with our families."  

What can be done:  During reader's workshop a student is reading a nonfiction text.  He has used the picture initially to determine meaning, but as he reads he discovers the author intended something different.  I can snap a picture of the page, open up Airserver, and show students what their friend noticed that might also help them in their reading.    
Provides a Window into Process:  As a teacher it has always been possible to walk around a classroom and see process.  I've always been able to sit down with a student to confer and talk about their process.  Now with an iPad (or other device) it is possible to make process more immediately visible to students.  An iPad made it possible for me to quickly snap a picture, bring up a piece of digital writing, or share other artifacts that show next steps in a process or allow students to talk about the thinking behind their work.  Some examples of ways we can show process thanks to digital tools:

• Kidblog makes it possible to show a post in the beginning stages and the most recent edits/revisions side by side.  Viewing these two pieces side by side can help students talk about the changes they made and the decisions behind revisions.
• Using Educreations, Explain Everything, or other interactive whiteboard tools can allow students to share their process across content areas by taking pictures, adding text, and talking about their steps along the way.
• Using audio and video tools on a device can allow students to share their decisions in learning with others.  

What can be done:  A student builds a lego design at home after much work.  She takes a picture of it and embeds it in a blog post explaining it to students.  I can then project the post the following day.   
Increased Authenticity:  Since beginning teaching many years ago, I worked to create authentic opportunities for students.  Digital tools have made these opportunities truly authentic.  Students have more ways to show their understanding, share their learning, and collaborate with others in authentic ways thanks to a variety of tools, applications, and spaces available -- and, yes, beyond our school day.  Some ways we more authentically work thanks to digital tools:

• Often our class works to answer questions or solve problems shared by other classrooms on Twitter.  
• Students now have a variety of ways to grow and share their thinking with others.
• We talk often about places as we participate in learning with classrooms around the world.

What can be done:  A student spent days writing a picture book.  It's a story of his favorite space at home with drawn illustrations and carefully written text.  He'd like to share it with his family.  He snaps pictures in Educreations, adds his voice, and we send it in an email (or share it on Twitter or embed it in his Kidblog account).
Real Audience:  No matter how hard I tried, it seemed so much of our learning was between the student and the teacher.  Now, however, students have a real audience.  Their voice doesn't just matter tomorrow, but can be sent out into the world today.  Response and feedback from others can be shared easily with students.

• Students receive comments from others on their personal blogs.  They soon discover ways to strengthen their message for readers.  Conversations around titles, information shared, images included, and other decisions to bring an audience to our work are a part of our work.
• Twitter makes it easy to connect with a real audience.  It is also possible to quickly questions/comments to experts, companies, and friends who can help us discover more. 
• Voicethread can make it possible for students to actually hear from their audience as people comment around the work they are sharing.  

What can be done:  During a reading conference, a student decides to change his reading goal.  We can quickly add the goal to the reader's goal book, and then snap a picture to send home to parents.  
Timely Communication:  Having an iPad makes it possible to share our learning with others in a click.  It's now possible to take a piece of learning and share it with parents, families, and other classrooms in just a snap.

• Parents can be kept up-to-date with information shared on our class website.  Through shared blogging on our class site, students can work together to share important learning with others.
• Learning conversations can be recorded in applications like Evernote and shared with parents.
• Using whiteboard tools lessons can be recorded and shared with parents so they have an understanding of new concepts being taught.  

What can be done:  After each student in our small group finishes reading the selected text we write about our thinking.  Ava grabs her reader's notebook, a pencil, and some thin markers.  Ry picks up a device and goes to his Kidblog account.  Tommy grabs an iPad and opens Pixie. He begins to draw and add audio to share his thinking.  
Differentiation:  Technology gives students new possibilities for learning.  Choices are no longer only paper or pencil, but students can write on blogs, create videos, write infographics, make sketch notes, and have choice in the way they like to learn.  In many ways, this is the game changer.  Students have a variety of options that can change the way they work.

• Younger students transitioning to written storytelling can use audio tools to record stories first as a method for prewriting.  Telling and listening to the story as they work can make it easier to move from story to paper.  
• Audio books can provide another way for students to read and think about new literature.
• Students who have much to share and enjoy thinking during lessons can utilize tools like Padlet, Corkulous, Today's Meet, and other writing/drawing applications to track thinking across lessons.  

What can be done:  Students are working to determine how many chairs are in our classroom.  Most students are walking around trying to count and recount to solve.  Dani picks up a container of math tools and begins to set up a visual representation that will allow her to solve.  She's quietly tucked in a corner so I stop by to see what she is doing.  We decide to share her strategy with students.  I pause the group, snap a picture of her work, and project it on the group.  Dani shares her thinking with the students.  

Digital tools have opened new possibilities for learning and collaboration.  A variety of sites have made it possible to host spaces to learn together.  There are blogs, blog roundups, wikis and websites to link communities.  Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook allow for conversation, sharing, and collaboration.  In the past, I would have told you I do most of my learning, sharing, and collaborating on Twitter, but more and more I am finding my favorite digital collaborative learning space is Google Plus.

I've never been one to post a lot on Google Plus which seems like a collision of Facebook and Twitter.  In the last year, however, I've been working more and more in Google Communities.  I have come to find Google Communities to be one of the best spaces to grow collaborative communities around common goals.

Google Communities allow you to bring a group together publicly or privately.  You then write a description, create your home, invite members, and you're ready to go.  Within a Google Community you can create subtopics to keep your conversations organized.  Participants can post using more than 140 characters (an advantage over Twitter) and add links, images, video, etc. to their posts.  The posts then stay connected in one space making them easy to read and discuss.  Participants can then comment directly under the post which helps to keep ideas tied together.



I have found Google Communities to work for local groups collaborating.  How often do you leave a meeting and have something you'd like to add or ask about a topic of discussion?  How often are you working on a project and locate links the connect to the work your group is doing?  Google Communities allow you to keep the conversation going.  As educators, Google Communities work for professional book talks, bringing buildings together, helping leaders who work together even though they may be spread across locations, and supporting groups collaborating toward a common goal.  They add the convenience of allowing participants to work around the challenge of finding common time, and instead joining the conversation as their lives allow.

While I have found Google Communities to be a great space to build local conversations, they also open the door to collaborating with others interested in the same topic from around the world.  Recently, Julie Johnson and I opened a "digital playground" community for some professional development we were hosting within our school district around digital making and growing our digital literacy understanding.  We opened the "playground" up to others around the world.  Our group grew to include participants from other timezones and countries.  We all benefited from the variety of learners and expertise in our digital community.  I participate in communities like the CLMOOC where educators from around the world collaborate around an idea, and host communities with participants from a variety of timezones talking about ideas in which we have mutual interest like #pb10for10 (Picture Book 10 for 10 Community with picture book celebrations) and #cyberPD (annual summer book talk).

A Google Community isn't perfect.  There can be challenges in following conversations, keeping up with posts, and finding important links.  It seems that having a page to host links and more static information in an organized manner would be helpful.  Hosting pages within Google Communities might accomplish some of these goals (as far as I know, at this time Google Sites cannot be hosted within a community though a link could be added).  However, for me, Google Communities still seems the smartest space to work and collaborate digitally.