Readia Moderation
As a Literacy Specialist, I really struggle with readia. I truthfully believe our students need to be taught to read with books, not technology. Apps that can expose young children to the alphabet and letter sounds are great, but they cannot replace the act of reading and the verbal teaching of the English alphabet and sounds. Tap, Click, Read talks about literacy teachers need to define reading and literacy within the new realm of technology, readia. One may call me old fashioned, but to me, reading and literacy consists the incorporation of books, paper and pencils. Within my definition of defining reading and readia, technology needs to be a mere tool of assistance. It can be an incentive based tool in the classroom, in a literacy driven classroom. Media with literacy can also be used to help parents who may not know how to read themselves or for families whose native language is not English.
For my professional work, I use technology or media to gain ideas on how to create fun activities for students when teaching them phonics of fluency. In a literacy driven classroom, technology needs to have a definitive role, and thats not to take the place of a teacher. In my literacy classroom, technology is a tool of a assistance. It is a resource I use to create meaningful, fun and interactive activities for my students while teaching them the act of reading. As a teacher without a SmartBoard in my classroom, that is truthfully the only role technology can have, and I am okay with that.
To conclude my thoughts on technologies role in a literacy driven classroom, I know I have to be open to the role of technology and how to best use it without replacing my position, as the teacher. This year, my goal is to use iReady more intensively in my classroom. iReady is the perfect example of readia in my opinion; it is a web-based educational program, that is absolutely incredible. After a diagnostic assessment the program can tell me exactly where EACH of my students struggle when it comes to literacy development (phonics, comprehension, fluency, vocabulary etc). I do not want to simply put my students on iReady and have the program teach them the gaps in which they are struggling, but I can use it as a tool to help teach difficult aspects of literacy, such as vocabulary.
So, I will ask you. What is the media's role when it comes to teaching young minds the act of reading?
Guernsey, L. & Levine, M. (2015). Tap, click, read: Growing readers in a world of screens. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
For my professional work, I use technology or media to gain ideas on how to create fun activities for students when teaching them phonics of fluency. In a literacy driven classroom, technology needs to have a definitive role, and thats not to take the place of a teacher. In my literacy classroom, technology is a tool of a assistance. It is a resource I use to create meaningful, fun and interactive activities for my students while teaching them the act of reading. As a teacher without a SmartBoard in my classroom, that is truthfully the only role technology can have, and I am okay with that.
To conclude my thoughts on technologies role in a literacy driven classroom, I know I have to be open to the role of technology and how to best use it without replacing my position, as the teacher. This year, my goal is to use iReady more intensively in my classroom. iReady is the perfect example of readia in my opinion; it is a web-based educational program, that is absolutely incredible. After a diagnostic assessment the program can tell me exactly where EACH of my students struggle when it comes to literacy development (phonics, comprehension, fluency, vocabulary etc). I do not want to simply put my students on iReady and have the program teach them the gaps in which they are struggling, but I can use it as a tool to help teach difficult aspects of literacy, such as vocabulary.
So, I will ask you. What is the media's role when it comes to teaching young minds the act of reading?
Guernsey, L. & Levine, M. (2015). Tap, click, read: Growing readers in a world of screens. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
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