Struggling readers need to be motivated. Part of an educator's job is to motivate students. But how? Student A is not motivated in the same way as Student B. Teachers have always struggled with motivating struggling students. After we've carved out one on one time, involved special education, scheduled student study teams, and met with parents, we still have the daunting task of studying each student individually to find what makes them move. So we talk to these students to tease out some information that will assist us in discovering some way to intrinsically and extrinsically motivate them. With the resurgence of technology in the classroom and in the case of my school - 1:1 computing we can look to tablets and computers to entice our struggling students.
There are many e readers and ebooks out there. Kids are motivated to use them. But, will they be motivated to continue to use them over time? Not all e readers are created equally. Struggling students require an e reader that does something. It should have multiple capabilities beyond words on a computer screen. An e reader should have a host of electrnic tools and features. It should include the capability to read to the student and highlight the words as it reads. Some low level animation of the pictures adds interest. The ability for the student to record themselves reading the text is an important feature once a student has "read" the same story multiple times. Engaging stories are important as well. Unfortunately, there are no e readers that have all these features.
So if a teacher can capture and hold a struggling readers attention with an e reader, is the e reader delivering skills the student needs for vocabulary development, phonics and phonemic awareness? There is much to consider. Technology is not a magic bullet. Technology is just another tool among many.
Some of the disadvantages of e readers, and computers in general, is that sometimes they don't work. That can be frustrating for a child. It can extinguish any motivation to read books on an ipad if the wifi goes down, if little fingers touch a new tab and the book disappears. Devices do require training and problem solving skills. When do we get around to teaching and learning?
Multimodal e books are interactive in that they combine text with sound, animation,and images and often include text that is read aloud and highlighted (Morgan 2013).
To be continued...
The e reader should be used as a tool that builds on proven best practices. E readers are just another way to interact with text.
There are many e readers and ebooks out there. Kids are motivated to use them. But, will they be motivated to continue to use them over time? Not all e readers are created equally. Struggling students require an e reader that does something. It should have multiple capabilities beyond words on a computer screen. An e reader should have a host of electrnic tools and features. It should include the capability to read to the student and highlight the words as it reads. Some low level animation of the pictures adds interest. The ability for the student to record themselves reading the text is an important feature once a student has "read" the same story multiple times. Engaging stories are important as well. Unfortunately, there are no e readers that have all these features.
So if a teacher can capture and hold a struggling readers attention with an e reader, is the e reader delivering skills the student needs for vocabulary development, phonics and phonemic awareness? There is much to consider. Technology is not a magic bullet. Technology is just another tool among many.
Some of the disadvantages of e readers, and computers in general, is that sometimes they don't work. That can be frustrating for a child. It can extinguish any motivation to read books on an ipad if the wifi goes down, if little fingers touch a new tab and the book disappears. Devices do require training and problem solving skills. When do we get around to teaching and learning?
Multimodal e books are interactive in that they combine text with sound, animation,and images and often include text that is read aloud and highlighted (Morgan 2013).
To be continued...
The e reader should be used as a tool that builds on proven best practices. E readers are just another way to interact with text.