Integrating Technology Literacy Standards into Literacy Instruction in Preservice Education  --  Technology Enhanced Literature Circles

 Terence Cavanaugh, Curriculum and Instruction, University of North Florida, USA  tcavanau@unf.edu

 

Abstract: Traditionally, literacy has been focused on the ability to read words on paper but new literacies go beyond and include reading from computer screens, and include media, technology, information, and other critical literacies. This paper describes how one institution has begun integrating technology literacy and literacy instruction in the introductory educational technology class. One of the activities of this integration has been the development and implementation of a technology enhanced literacy circle activity. In this enhanced literature circle students are provided with job assignments within their groups with provide them with reading literacy activities that have been infused with technology.

 Under today’s conventions “every teacher is a reading teacher,” and according to the ISTE standards, so too is every teacher a technology teacher. But are we as preservice teacher educators providing teacher candidates with the experiences to integrate technology into literacy activities?

 

 Literacy and Technology

 According to the US Department of Health and Human Services (2000), in their National Reading Panel Report, technology has implications in education for reading instruction:

• Computer can be used for some reading instructional tasks
• Word processing is a useful
• Multimedia computer software can be used
• Computers do have a motivation use
• Hypertext has a great deal of potential .

The report also states, that the “rapid development of capabilities of computer technology, particularly in speech recognition and multimedia presentations, promises even more successful applications in literacy for the future" (p. 6-9).

 Research has shown that teachers beginning their careers who have graduated from teacher education programs that have a strong focus on reading instruction tend to provide richer literacy experiences for their students than those who attended institutions without such an emphasis (International Reading Association, 2001). It is important to integrate literacy experiences for these preservice teachers to take with them as they begin their careers. Literature circles, reading workshop, and guided reading groups are all part of a balanced literacy program.

 

New Literacies

 Traditionally, literacy has been focused on the ability to read words on paper including books, newspapers, and job applications. Congress, with the 1991 National Literacy Act defined literacy as "an individual's ability to read, write, and speak in English, and compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society, to achieve one's goals, and develop one's knowledge and potential" (NIFL 1991 “What is the NALS?”).

 

Today’s concept of literacy is changing. This new concept of literacy goes beyond only paper to include reading from computer screens and personal devices, and include media, technology, information, and other critical literacies (Semali 2001). The internet and other forms of information and communication technology (ICT) such as word processors, web editors, presentation software, and e-mail are regularly redefining the nature of literacy. In order for a student to become fully literate in today's world, he or she must become proficient in the new literacies of ICT. Educators should integrate these technologies into today’s literacy curriculum in order to prepare students for the literacy future. The International Reading Association (IRA) believes that much can be done to support students in developing the new literacies that will be required in their future. IRA (2002) states that students have the right to:

·         have teachers who are skilled and effective at using new literacies for teaching and learning;

·         a literacy curriculum that integrates these new literacies into the instructional program;

·         instruction that develops these literacies for effective use;

·         assessment practices in literacy that include electronic reading and writing;

·         opportunities to learn safe and responsible use of information and communication technologies; and

·         equal access to information and communication technology.

  

Literature Circle

 The literature circle is a student centered cooperative learning reading activity for a group of four to six students at any grade level or subject area. Each member of a circle is assigned a specific role, with specific responsibilities, which are used guide the group in a discussion of the text material they are all reading. It is important to model and provide tools for students to understand how their literature circles should look and act. This includes the types of questions they should ask, effective research methods, and discussion techniques. Literature circles provide a way for students to engage in critical thinking and reflection as they read, discuss, and respond to books. Students reshape and add onto their understanding as they construct meaning with other readers in their group. The literature circle assignments or roles guide students to deeper understanding of what they read through structured discussion and extended written and artistic response. Literature circles provide a constructive educational opportunity for students to control their own learning as they share thoughts, concerns and their understanding of the concepts, events, and material presented in the material being read. The benefits of literature circles include:

1.             Help to teach, not merely check, comprehension

2.             Allow you to teach many facets of comprehension

3.             Encourage students to learn from one another

4.             Motivate students naturally

5.             Promote discussion more effectively than whole groups (Day 2002)

 Literature circles can be known by many different names including: literature studies, literacy circles, book clubs, literature discussion groups, book clubs, and cooperative book discussion groups. According to Schlick, Noe, and Johnson (1999), a literature circle is more than a book club. Where as a book club's discussion only centers on events and plot, a literature circle format promotes discussion from varying perspectives, which provides members with a deeper understanding of the text. During the reading of the selected literature, students complete various jobs emphasizing skills such as questioning, vocabulary development, and writing (MCPS 2000).  The students in their cooperative groups have an opportunity to share material gathered from their assigned or role and have a focused discussion of the material they are reading with their other group members with the teacher acting as a guide or facilitator. A goal of literature circles is to scaffold, assist, and guide students to become more independent and competent with text discussions and strategies for understanding through teacher coaching (MCPS 2000).

 

The Gap

 Research has found that most internet-using students say their teachers don't make good use of the web as a classroom tool. According to the study commissioned by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, The Digital Disconnect: The Widening Gap Between Internet-Savvy Students and Their Schools, many schools and teachers have not yet recognized the new ways students communicate and access information over the Internet, and students feel a disconnect between how they use the internet and how it is used in schools (Levin & Arafeh 2002). From this authors interviews of teacher candidates and their experiences, it was found that their educational experiences for the most part do not include technology integration in education. Add to that lack of background technology integration experiences the fact that many support text material do not include integrated technology either. In an analysis, done by this author, of a commonly used book on the literature circle, a search through the entire book found that the words technology, internet, and eBook do not occur on any of the 176 pages of the text, and that the word computer is only used once in the entire book. The problem for many of our future teachers is a disconnect between the subject material and technology integration. These are teacher candidates who have grown up in a digital age but have not received a digitally integrated education. Consider that states currently do not allow students to use a word processor on a state writing assessment, even though it is known that many students prefer the word processor and that approximately 20% more will pass a state writing assessment when allowed to use one (Russell & Plati 2000). To better prepare teacher candidates, the International Reading Association (IRA 2002) recommends that teacher educators should:

• Integrate effective instructional models that use the internet and other technologies into preparation programs in literacy education
• Show pre-service teachers through practice how new literacies are an essential component of the literacy curriculum
• Provide opportunities for pre-service teacher to practice using age-appropriate information technologies
• Include online resources in the instructional program
• Acquire and make available technology resources for use in pre-service education classes.

 

Technology Enhancement

 In terms of the literacy instruction and classroom design, literature circles are a way for students to share reading experiences. Integrating the internet into the classroom can extend the literature circle by providing a worldwide audience for sharing, along with resources for better understanding the literature and using the technology tools to assist students in accessing, organizing, analyzing, and communicating their approaches to essential questions (Lamb & Smith 1999).

 In the introductory educational technology courses at the author’s institution, a number of selected literacy activities have been chosen and infused with technology for use in the course. These activities include reviewing electronic books, planning and developing classroom activities with eBooks, and using a technology enhanced literature circle activity as part of the class. In this literature circle, teacher candidates are exposed to standard literature circle concepts with technology integrations that require the students to use technology tools such as search engines, paint programs, concept mapping software, and chat rooms. The literature circle assignments that were developed are: Discussion Coordinator; Vocabulary Elaborator; Literary Expository; Graphic Illustrator; Graphic Organizer; Background Researcher; Web Researcher; Media Hunter; and Connector. Each assignment has integrated technology applications (see Table 1) . The job assignment descriptions are added to this paper as an appendix. Using this technology enhanced literature circle approach students working in groups have experiences in all six Technology Foundation Standards for Students from the ISTE NETS:

1. Basic operations and concepts
2. Social, ethical, and human issues
3. Technology productivity tools
4. Technology communications tools
5. Technology research tools
6. Technology problem-solving and decision-making tools (ISTE 2000)

 

Table 1: The technology enhanced literature circle assignments

 These technology enhancements apply the technology tools that are available on a standard computer with internet access. The class meets not only in person but also interacts in an online course environment, in our case Blackboard, using the digital classroom applications for chatroom and whiteboard. Some of the specific job assignments apply different kinds of web applications including search engines and specific web sites to do research. Other job assignments have the students using programs to make drawings, record their voices, and make concept maps. For this class teacher candidates also use digital forms of books while in their literature circle and for other activities.

 Using the technology integrated approach with the literature circle should help better prepare teacher candidates for their future students. Today’s students, sometimes called millenials, are ones who have grown up and come of age along with the internet. It has always been there for them; they see the internet as something that has always been available to them, with free and ubiquitous information that they can access at any time (Patrick, 2004). In many situations, today’s students feel that the assignments given at school actually discourage them from using the internet as much, or as creatively, as they would like (Levin & Arafeh 2002). Integrating internet and computer applications into assignments such as the literature circle, should provide direction and effective integration of technology for student success.

 

 

Expansion

 

The integration of the literature circle into the educational technology class also exposes the students to the continuum, from fully face-to-face to fully online, that such an activity could be done with students. In some of the learning circle activities the teacher candidates are interacting with each other in an online environment. This provides these future teachers with experiences to see how technology enhanced activities could be used in distance learning or hospital/home bound student situations. It is important to prepare future teachers to be able to interact with their students in using methods that students can and want to use. The technology enhanced literature circle is one such way.

 Reading difficulties make educators, schools, and students frustrated.  It is estimated, from a national longitudinal study, that more than seventeen percent of young children will encounter a problem learning to read (NCITE 1996).  Additionally the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) report of 1994 indicated that all schools in the USA have a number of children who are failing the task of learning to read.  In the report it was found that 42% of fourth-graders, 31% of eighth-graders and 30% of twelfth-graders were reading at a "below basic" level (NAEP 1998). To help students with reading fluency, teachers need to provide and monitor oral reading. To achieve this goal for reading, teachers can assist students by integrating technologies (NIFL 2002).  As reading is a basic component of most educational activities, then providing alternative formats, scaffolds and supports for those activities becomes necessary to be able to reach all students. According to the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), in order “to reach learners with disparate backgrounds, interests, styles, abilities, disabilities, and levels of expertise” the educational materials should be flexible and adaptable for all learning styles (Myer and Rose 1999).  Preparing today’s teacher candidates to integrate technology as a literacy tools by providing with literacy and technology experiences should better prepare them for the concepts and the students they will have to teach.

  

References:

 Day, J. P. (2002). Moving Forward With Literature Circles: How to Plan, Manage, and Evaluate Literature Circles That Deepen Understanding and Foster a Love of Reading (Theory and practice). Scholastic Professional Books. New York.

International Reading Association. (2001). National commission on excellence in elementary teacher preparation for reading instruction. Paper presented at the annual convention of the International Reading Association, New Orleans, LA.

IRA (International Reading Association). (2002) Integrating Literacy and Technology in the Curriculum: A position statement. Newark, Delaware.

ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). (2000). National Educational Technology Standards for Students: Technology Foundation Standards for All Students [Electronic Version]. Retrieved October, 2004, from http://cnets.iste.org/students/s_book.html.

Lamb, A. and Smith, N. R. (1999) Themes and Literature Circles. Retrieved September, 2004, from http://eduscapes.com/ladders/themes/literacy.htm Updated 02/03.

Levin, D. and Arafeh, S. (2002). The Digital Disconnect: The Widening Gap Between Internet-Savvy Students and Their Schools [Electronic Version]. Retrieved October, 2004, from Pew Internet and American Life Project site http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Schools_Internet_Report.pdf.

MCPS (Montgomery County Public Schools). (2000). Discussion Groups & Literature Circles in the MCPS Early Literacy Guide [Electronic Version]. Retrieved September, 2004, from http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/english/elg_lit_circles.htm#purpose.

Meyer, A. and Rose, D. H. (1999). Learning to Read in the Computer Age. Brookline Books.  Electronic version, retrieved November 2004 from http://www.cast.org/udl/index.cfm?i=18

National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP). (1998). NAEP Achievement Levels for Reading 1992-1998. Available online at http://www.nagb.org/pubs/readingbook.pdf .

National Center to Improve the Tools of Educators (NCITE). (1996) Learning To Read/Reading To Learn Campaign; Helping Children with Learning Disabilities to Succeed. Available online at http://idea.uoregon.edu/~ncite/programs/read.html .

National Institute for Literacy (NIFL). (2002). Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read. Available online at www.nifl.gov .

NIFL (National Institute for Literacy). (1991). The State of Literacy in America: Estimates at the Local, State, and National Levels [Electronic Version]. Retrieved September, 2004, from http://www.nifl.gov/reders/!intro.htm#C .

Patrick, S. (2004) The Millennials - excerpted from a speech presented at the No Child Left Behind – eLearning Summit. Orlando Florida.

Russell, M. and Plati, T. (2000). Mode of administration effects on MCAS composition performance for grades four, eight, and ten. Chestnut Hill, MA: The National Board on Educational Testing and Public Policy [Electronic Version]. Retrieved September, 2004, from http://nbetpp.bc.edu/reports.html.

Schlick Noe, K. L. and Johnson, N. J. (1999). Getting Started with Literature Circles Christopher-Gordon Publishers, Inc.

Semali, L. (2001, November). Defining new literacies in curricular practice [Electronic Version]. Reading Online, 5(4). Retrieved October, 2004, from http://www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/lit_index.asp?HREF=semali1/index.html

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2000) Reports of the Subgroups Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching Children to Read. Chapter 6: Computer Technology and Reading Instruction [Electronic Version]. Retrieved September, 2004, from http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/nrp/report.htm.

  

Appendix

 Discussion Coordinator^(tech) Assignment:
 Your job is to develop a list of questions that your group might want to discuss about this book, or part of book. Your task is to help people talk over the big ideas in the reading and share the other members’ reactions through a discussion board, weblog, email or chat.  Usually the best questions come from your own thoughts, feelings, and concerns that occur as you read. You can list these ideas below during or after your reading and then post them online for your group to discuss. If you want, you may use some of the example questions below to help you develop the topics for your group. Part of your job is also to make sure that each group member contributes to the discussion session.

 Vocabulary Elaborator^(tech) Assignment:
 Develop a list of words for your group to define in the context of this book, or part of book. Your task is to help define these words from the reading and share with the other members through a discussion board, weblog, email or chat.  The words you should select to define should be words that you or other members of your group cannot pronounce, define, or understand in the way it is presented. Find your words:

1. First, point to the unexplained word and then underline or highlight it. 
2. Next, read the sentence containing the unexplained word. 
3. Lastly, use a dictionary to check the definition of the word.  Use either an interactive dictionary that occurs when you highlight the word or visit an online dictionary site.

 Literary Expository^(tech) Assignment:
Select from the book or passage several favorite or interesting passages.  Your task is to select three or four of your favorite parts of the story to share aloud with your group members. As you read and find sections that you like, highlight the paragraphs and record the corresponding page numbers you enjoyed reading and want to hear read-aloud. Possible reasons for selection include: important, well written, humorous, informative, surprising, controversial, funny, confusing, and/or thought provoking. Once you have selected your sentences use a microphone and software (like sound recorder) to record your sentences and upload them to the discussion site for the other members to download and play on their computers. During the playing of the “read aloud” segment, the other group members will play and listen intently to your recordings as they read along with the sections and determine and then share, with chat or the discussion board, what particular aspect of the reading they enjoyed the most. After the book or section has been read in its entirety by the group, the literary expository will record and upload his/her selected “read aloud” sentences or paragraphs and identify for group members the location of his/her selections.  You must find at least three, but no more than five sentences, to “read-aloud” to your group.

 Graphic Illustrator^(tech) Assignment:
Draw two pictures into the whiteboard section that depict the main idea and feeling in that narrative.  Your task is to create illustrations, in the online discussion section, that show a characters’ interaction with other characters or story elements.  After using the drawing tools to create your picture, add text labels to the parts to assist everyone with understanding your drawings. Additionally, you will draw pictures that show story/text ideas and then discuss your idea pictures with your group, using either the shared whiteboard, or with paint program and then copying and pasting the pictures to the whiteboard space. Once your pictures are finished, create a text box and write out a description of the characters’ interaction in complete sentences and standard paragraph form.  Use the space below to develop your paragraph drafts.

 Graphic Organizer^(tech) Assignment:
 Create a content or concept map from the reading that helps better understand the reading. Create your concept map from the reading with the main idea at the center or top and the related ideas moving out with descriptors connecting verbs. You can use the shared whiteboard space or create it with mind mapping software, such as Inspiration, and then copy and paste it to the whiteboard. You can also use other digital concept mapping tools and resources (many tools are available online) to create maps such as a Venn diagram; timeline; or concept web. Paste your concept map into the whiteboard space to share with the other group members and see if they have any other points or connections to add. 
International Reading Association’s Read•Write•Think: http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/index.asp
Teach-nology web site: http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/graphic_org/

 Background Researcher^(tech) Assignment:
Read and identify from the text when and where the writing occurred.  Your task is to identify the historical time frame or location and research a topic related to that time or location of your choice. In the text, characters behave in a certain manner or events are described in a certain way, which reflects a specific period in time or location, this is known as the setting. You should investigate a topic of interest that happened in that specific time period or location of the setting, if the book is not story based, then identify a fact from the reading and research that fact and find something of interest to you. In the list below from the readings identify at least three statements that indicate the historical or locational (or factual) setting. Then go online and use research tool and search engines to research and find an associated website that you find interesting concerning that time or location and share your findings and websites with your group members in the shared chat or discussion space: giving the URL, describing the site and how it relates to the reading, and explaining why you found it interesting

  Media Hunter^(tech) Assignment:
Reads and identify from the text interesting aspects include in the text and then locates associated media to share with the other literacy circle group members. Your task is to identify some aspect from the reading and then search and find either images, sound files, or video related to that topic, time, or location. You can search to find media on a topic of interest that happened in that specific time period or location of the setting, if the book is not story based, then identify a fact from the reading and search for associated media concerning that fact. In the list below from the readings identify at least three statements that indicate the historical or locational (or factual) setting. Then go online and use media search tools and find associated images, sound files, or videos from websites, you can use the media search tools listed below or others you may know of. These media files should be ones that you find interesting concerning that fact, time, or location.  Share your findings and their websites’ URLs by either copy and pasting the images onto the whiteboard or uploading the image/sound/video files to the shared discussion space for the other members to download and “play” on their computers and then comment on. Make sure with your group members in the shared chat or discussion space you include the source URL and state how the media relates to the reading.

 Web Researcher^(tech) Assignment:
Create a summary book study or author study concerning the material you read, and construct a question you would like answered by the author (or another expert). If you decide to do a book study, then you would be looking at reviews or resource relations to the book or its contents, search for the book title and then review your results. If you have decided to do an author study you will be looking for information about the author: who he/she is, what else has he/she written; when did they start writing; what else are they working on now; where are they from; when were they born, etc... biographical data. One way to start getting information on the book or author would be to go to Amazon.com and search for the book. There you will find the start of some reviews, and a link to the author’s name. If you click on the name link it should also produce a list of other books by that author currently for sale from Amazon. Don’t think that one site is all you will need to visit. Find out if the author has a site. Look for a publisher site that may give you insight and information about the book or author. Find your sites and information, then copy and paste relevant portions into a word processor (don’t forget to get the reference and URL), then combine your findings into a new summary. Post or share your summary book or author study with your group. Now with your group develop a question that you would like to ask the author of the book about the material. If your author or topic (expert) is not available from the list below, use a search engine with ask author and the authors name, or ask expert and the topic name as the keyword search terms. Many times authors are available to ask questions through e-mail. Consider asking an author or other expert your question (with teacher permission). When you get an answer be sure to share it with your group and class.

Connector^(tech) Assignment:
 Make connections from the reading to other experiences: to other texts, to yourself, or to any other things you have heard about or seen. Your task is to make statements that explain connections between what you are reading: and something you have read in the past; and some of your own personal experiences; and anything else in the world (for example: the news, movies, television programs, people, etc.). As you read consider what you are reading and try to make the connections. You can create your own connections or use the examples below. In the shared discussion or chat space: state the page/location of the sentence you are connecting; then copy and paste, rewrite or summarize the sentence; and then explain about the connection you are making.