This week’s article on the use of digital readers in the classroom opened my eyes to a new use of technology in the classroom. While I have experienced using different types of technology in the classroom I have never really considered the use of Kindles and other digital readers with students. Based on the article, it sounds like there are many benefits to using these devices with students, particularly increasing student motivation, providing an opportunity for students to respond to the text while reading, and providing reading assistance for developing readers.
I must admit that I have been a holdout with the whole digital reader trend and find that I am reluctant to trade the feel and familiarity of an actual book with a digital device. Although I think it is important that students learn to enjoy books, it seems that we may be at the beginning of the phase out of actual paper texts. Digital readers can be very convenient and useful for students and we might just see their popularity in the classroom increase. Who knows? Maybe one day we won’t even assess certain text feature understanding with students such as which way to hold a book or how to turn pages and other reading behaviors.
At first when reading this article I also thought that digital readers would merely be a substitute for an actual book. As I read I realized that there are many features available to help developing readers. I think these would be great to use with students who perhaps have higher comprehension abilities but who my still be developing their fluency. I worried about the computer reader feature but was delighted to hear that the two students studied did not end up using this feature much. It seemed like this feature was more useful to the developing reader with lesser skills. I thought their comments were significant as they showed that the transfer of a book onto a computer screen did not take away the reader enjoyment features in replace of visual/auditory stimulation. The students still enjoyed telling the story in their head and hearing it from someone else ruined it. I, like so many others, have often felt the same way after reading a book and then seeing the movie.
I do not feel that digital readers would be very useful in my classroom of kindergarteners at this point, although depending on the books available and certain applications it could develop into a useful tool for all readers. Curious, I went onto Amazon to see what children's books are available for the Kindle and was surprised to see many young children's books have been adapted. I have seen young children using alphabet or phonics games on iphones and ipads, and I suppose that these too will soon be used in classrooms as another practice modality. I think we do need to be careful just how much screen time we expose our children to, but I am excited to keep up with the potential growth of digital readers in classrooms to see just how great their potential can be.
Larson, L. C. (2010). Digital readers: the next chapter in e-book reading and response. The Reading Teacher, 64(1). Retrieved from: http://cte.jhu.edu/ELC3/Uploads/ELC_78/Ebook_readers.pdf
Hi Justine,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your blog this week, and I agree that Kindles seem to be here to stay. I like thinking about implementing their use in the early childhood classroom, as well as other technology. I found an article that discusses the use of digital video to get hs students more interested in reading. The author suggests that using a flip video camera can also be another way to engage students in reading. I like the idea of videotaping my students reading books or discussing topics.
It will be interesting to see how much technology continues to impact us as teachers in the classroom.
Here's the link:
http://proquest.umi.com.proxy3.library.jhu.edu/pqdlink?did=2076353231&Fmt=7&clientId=5241&RQT=309&VName=PQD
Hi Justine,
ReplyDeleteI had a similar reaction to the e-readers. First, hesitant about using them instead of books, but then realizing they have features I hadn't thought of that can be helpful to students' literacy development.
The read-aloud feature might be helpful in teaching kids pronunciation of certain words. I don't think there is much worry about kids using the voice feature instead of reading the words on their own, because the robotic-sounding voice does get annoying to listen to. I had one on my computer and it was dry and monotone.
I liked that the teacher could really get insight in to what the students were thinking because they were using the notes feature as they read. It is rare to find a tool which allows a teacher access to the stream-of-thought cognitive processes a child has while reading.
I still worry about kids having too much exposure to electronic devices. In my experience doing most of my work on computer; one day I was looking at the screen and thinking, "I can't look at a screen for one more minute!" I still like the feel and look of reading from paper, and hope young students never will lose the opportunity to experience books in that way.
Thank you for your post.
Kristen A.