Teaching Reading with Technology

Teaching Reading with Technology

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Reading is the construction of meaning. Without understanding, there is no reading. When we read, we pick up information and our minds work continuously to connect that information to what we already know, remember what is important, adjust our funds of knowledge to incorporate new ideas or interpret them in a different way, read “between the lines” to get at deeper meaning, and evaluate information and ideas. When teaching reading, we teach students to develop phonological awareness, develop a strong phonics base, integrate phonics and structure, and read for comprehension.

ICT is affecting how reading is being taught in elementary schools. Teachers are integrating commercially available programs into the reading curriculum. Some such programs include The Learning Company’s Kid Pix and talking book versions of popular children’s stories. Linda Labbo (2000) introduced these programs in her kindergarten literacy curriculum. To use these programs, the teacher must first demonstrate keyboarding skills and the usefulness of the computer in whole class instruction, for those students who do not have sufficient experience with computers. In Labbo’s class, the Kid Pix program provided the kindergartners with the opportunity to express their emerging literacy abilities through electronic text. For example, with the software, they began to make the kinds of speech-to-text connections that young learners make when using more traditional writing materials such as paper and pencils, crayons, or markers (Labbo & Kuhn, 2000). These explorations had the advantage of being easily modified, so that if a child decided that her expression was not exactly what she had hoped for, she could easily change her work or even begin again. On the other hand, if another child found that what he had created captured what he was attempting to express, he could save it or print it out as a permanent, tangible artifact of the work he had done.

Kasper (2003) already talked about how important technology can be in the development of children’s literacy . It does not oly offers the teacher the opportunity to enhance their curriculum, but it provides learner ample opportunities to improve. Using ICT can help students with poor reading skills since they are more accesible and handy too. Implications in the classroom. It does not only affect the way children learn but, it also affects the way we teach . Children will be exposed to different things at a different time from when using more tradtitional materials ( speech -text conenctions and make the work he had done a tangible thing can be examples) As teachers, we also should develop the ability to ” edit” materials in order to avoid distractions or to extend them to higher levels.We should teach students to look for the best information and materials on line and to be more independent . We should be able to provide continuous support to learners and help them in the development of skimming and scanning strategies. Assesment is also greatly modified since it gives us the opportunity to create more personall and faster ways of assesment ; at the same time they can help us in the placement of students according to their reading levels and selct a specific area or sub skill we want to emphasize .

Source :

http://pages.uoregon.edu/moursund/DigitalAge1/Project-Reading.pdf

http://blogs.funiber.org/formacion-profesorado/2010/09/30/integrating-ict-in-reading