I love to read. Magazines, books, articles, blogs are all sources that I enjoy reading from. I think that becoming a teacher has changed me as a reader. I am constantly using strategies that I teach my children: re-read, discover new vocabulary, make connections, make predictions, make inferences. When reading to reach a "final project", I use the same strategies listed above. Educational articles are always read with my students in mind, and the more that I get to know my kids, I think of particular students that would love this new resource or tool that I have learned about. I enjoyed being able to read the article about Digital Footprints and learn about new tools to use in my classroom. Stopping and taking notes was really helpful to be sure that I understood what I was reading, as well as taking in what the women in the interview were saying.
Diigo would be such a wonderful tool for my classroom. We are currently subscribed to Scholastic Scope, and the articles can be saved as PDF. Students can use the mouse on the laptop or the stylus to highlight and take notes. The articles from Scholastic are quality and challenging texts that students really have to think deeply about. Working through an article using this tool is a great way for students to show their view of the text and to let me know what they are thinking. My only concern is that the free plan only allows for one article to be saved at a time.
Diigo: Digital Footprints
How do your students like the Scholastic Scope? Do you feel they learn and make connections with the text? We used Achieve 3000 for awhile which is non-fiction reading and students could interact by making questions and summaries. The complaint by teachers was that the articles were boring. How does Scholastic Scope compare as far as readers engagement?
ReplyDeleteTo use the Diigo effectively you would probably need to upgrade and who would pay for that?
I feel that is our challenge as teachers how to effectively manage these new digital tools but not having to pay for everything.
Do you feel that Scholastic Scope makes your readers think more critically and grow as readers?
My students LOVE Scholastic Scope. The text complexity is great and most of the activities that go along with the stories are great. Scope is 6-8 grade, but there are other Scholastic options. They articles are all different- there is usually a narrative non-fiction piece around current events, a reader's theater, sometimes a debate, grammar, and a short fiction story.
ReplyDeleteAs for Diigo, that was the concern that I had. You can only upload one PDF at a time. We're working on another way to bring up the online magazine for scope to write on and manipulate.
That's a good point. It seems, though, that if you saved the article to your computer and then could upload another, perhaps it would work? I wonder, too, if overusing a tool like Diigo would dilute its effectiveness. Perhaps multiple tools for engaging in active reading might be more effective than using one tool? Good food for thought!
ReplyDeleteI still cannot get Diigo to download my documents with the annotations...
ReplyDeleteI do find that new digital tools work kind of the same way as new toys...Once the excitement of newness is gone, the thing becomes less effective or less motivating. Then we are challenged to find a new way to accomplish the same thing or a new way to use the tool to keep the excitement going. Something we have been talking about in my study skills class is experiencing the same information in multiple ways to improve understanding and promote deeper learning...which is the whole point of multimodal texts, right? So, I think it makes sense for students to have access to multiple tools. They can choose which one is most appropriate for the task or they can combine tools to create the product. Either option also provides opportunities for reflection about choices made.