Thursday, July 9, 2015

#cyberPD - Digital Reading Part 1


Our #cyberPD event has become an integral part of summer professional development for so many outstanding educators! I am delighted to be co-hosting again this year, alongside Cathy Mere and Michelle Nero. This year, we're reading Digital Reading: What's Essential in Grades 3-8 by Bill Bass and Franki Sibberson. Our schedule is as follows:

Week of 7/6 - Chapters 1-2
Week of 7/13 - Chapters 3-5
Week of 7/20 - Chapters 6-7
Week of 7/27 - Wrap-up (live) Twitter Chat

We've moved our #cyberPD home to a Google Community this year! We still extend the invitation for people to visit individual blogs and comment there, but the Google Community will allow for yet another place to keep the conversation rolling. You can visit it by clicking here.


Reflecting...

My thoughts this week are also influenced by the time I spent at NerdCamp in Franki's session on Digital Reading. She shared her slides publicly via Twitter, so I'm hoping it's okay that I provide the link HERE! You can peruse the slides to see more about the key points she made. My favorite quote from her session was from slide 17...

"Choice invites intentionality and purpose."

Can't stop thinking about this! I'm a huge fan of choice in the classroom, and I know we have to make sure we are providing supports as students navigate their learning journeys. These supports will allow them to be intentional, purposeful users of technology in their reading and writing lives.

In chapter 1, I kept going back to the idea of how and when I've been using digital texts/resources in our classroom and in my own learning. I teach in a school where every child has a device; for the past two years, that device was an Android tablet (Kuno.) In the fall, we'll be switching to Chromebooks. We have been fortunate to have connections at our fingertips, but the more I think, the more I realize I may not have been as intentional as I could've been about the choices I made regarding digital literacy.

Moving forward, the three anchors that Franki and Bill focus on will be absolutely essential! Authenticity, intentionality, and connectedness will definitely help me plan for future lessons and experiences for my fourth graders.

To that end, I also attended a session led by Pernille Ripp at NerdCamp and one thing in particular has really stuck with me. She said,

"We're not teaching digital natives. We're teaching kids who use technology."

That quote really supports what Bill and Franki were saying in the first chapter. Just because students are online doesn't necessarily mean they truly understand how to navigate successfully, how to make intentional choices, and how to truly "learn" digitally.

In chapter 2, I forced myself to think about the decisions I've made in my classroom in the past two years that I've been teaching fourth grade. Was I staying true to what I believe about reading and writing instruction, grounded in the workshop approach? Sadly, I feel like I lost sight of some of my beliefs as I've made the transition from first grade to fourth grade. This chapter in particular has really helped me be honest with myself! The questions Franki and Bill pose will be essential for me as I bring myself back to my roots. 

I especially love on page 22 how they included the structural components of reading workshop and how those don't change just because we may be doing things digitally. The questions posed on page 23 will also help me as I meet with my readers next year!

I'm excited to now go over to our Google Community and read what others took away from the first two chapters!

15 comments:

  1. Hi Laura,

    Thank you SO much for the link to the presentation! I live in NY and cannot attend the wonderful camps I see everyone writing about, so this was fabulous for me. I am always amazed and how much I learn and gain as I continue to build my PLN in this community. I am trying to start #ILA15athome so that I can do the same for ILA15 and learn vicariously through others. THANK YOU!

    Stephanie

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    1. I absolutely LOVE that idea for #ILA15athome, Stephanie! I always suffer from FOMO when people are tweeting about these amazing conferences, so when I can't be there, I appreciate those who tweet their learning. I'm thankful to be a part of your PLN!

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  2. I so agree with what you're saying about being intentional. I see what we've been doing at school is be digital users, not digital thinkers. I'm anxious to see how I can move our thinking forward! So glad to have had the chance to hear Franki and Pernille talk!

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    1. I couldn't agree more, Michele. I'm so excited to move forward, inspiring my digital thinkers. It was great to see you at Nerd Camp!

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  3. I love those three anchors. (And thanks for the link to Franki's slides!)

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    1. You're welcome! I thought they'd add another layer to our thinking.

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  4. Laura,
    The section on how the major elements and tenets of reading workshop do not have to change because our students are reading on devices also resonated with me. Thanks again for the reminder.

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    1. You're welcome, Elisa! Always love to connect with like-minded thinkers!!

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  5. Laura,
    The section on how the major elements and tenets of reading workshop do not have to change because our students are reading on devices also resonated with me. Thanks again for the reminder.

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  6. Laura,

    What an added bonus to hear Franki talk about digital reading at Nerdcamp! Wow - that quote is powerful and oh, so true! "Choice invites intentionality and purpose." The tricky part is providing the authentic opportunities for choice in learning in our classroom.

    Interesting about switching from tablets to ChromeBooks ... will you get to keep the tablets as well? Last year, my district went 1:1 in K-2 with tablets and 2:1 in grades 3-8 with tablets and ChromeBooks. The district's reasoning? We use different devices and tools for different applications. Makes sense, right? There are times when a tablet will do the job and others times the ChromeBook/laptop is more beneficial. However .... the lack of PD was astounding and frustrating for many teachers that the technology felt like an add-on and then teachers turned to finding lists of apps to push out. Not where we want to be headed with digital literacy. I hope this year provides some change.

    I was so happy to read Franki and Bill encouraging teachers to remain true to the core beliefs in literacy instruction and weave in digital texts and tools to enhance instruction and learning. Just knowing that makes this digital learning journey that more exciting for me!

    Always love learning with you, Laura!
    Michelle

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    1. I absolutely LOVE your district's thinking on the device choices!! While I definitely appreciate the fact that each learner has a device in hand, we do need different tools for different purposes. No, the tablets will be designated for use in K-3 next year, so we'll only have the Chromebooks. The biggest drawback so far is losing the camera option, but I'm already playing around with possibilities for how to work around that.

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  7. Thank you for sharing Franki's slides with us. It was so nice to see photos of student work. It really brings the book to life. We have always wanted to attend a Nerdcamp but the dates haven't fit it into the calendar yet. Hopefully next year. I

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    1. NerdCamp provides some powerful learning and connecting opportunities!! Hope it works for your schedule next year!

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  8. Laura,
    I really love the way you wove the thinking from the book, your classroom and recent conversations at NerdCamp into one thoughtful piece. Choice does invite intentionality. How wonderful that each of your students has a device. I think many of the things we wrestle with would work better if we didn't have to worry about the multiple student users on one device.

    Glad to see you back on the blog. I've missed reading your thinking.
    Cathy

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    1. Cathy,
      I can't thank you enough for your last comment. I've struggled to write over the course of the past two years, and it means so much that a trusted, respected colleague (and friend) cares about what I'm thinking. So thankful for our connection!!

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