Tips and Strategies

Here are some simple teacher-tested strategies to make effective use of commonly available technology and other resources to support the school's K-5 balanced literacy program.

1. LCD Projector to Support Reading and Writing
2. Word Processing to Support Editing
3. Collaborative Internet Projects to Extend Resources and Make Connections
4. Publish Student Writing on the Web
5. Digital Cameras for New and Improved Writing Activities
6. Video Cameras for Reading and Writing "Studios"
7. Rely on Internet to Expand Teacher Resources
8. Clicker Software for Better Word Work
9. Electronic Books to Extend the Classroom Library
10. Online Rubrics for Assessing Reading and Writing

Support reading by:

Projecting shared reading material on the classroom wall or screen so that all students can see it and read along.

Projecting reading-rich websites on the classroom wall or screen to expand your classroom library of shared and guided reading material.

Projecting graphic organizers and templates (made with word-processing [Microsoft Word] or mindmapping [Inspiration] software) during guided reading. Students can more easily collaborate.

Graphic Organizer/Template ideas: identify story parts, create character maps, construct main and supporting idea outlines, respond to reading response forms.

Support writing by:

Projecting teacher, class, and student writing material for editing and commenting during shared, interactive, and guided writing. When everyone can see the material, they are more likely to participate actively in the editing process.

Projecting concept maps using Inspiration or other mindmapping software as the class or group plans writing. This strategy facilitates collaboration and encourages students to generate ideas because of the flexibility of the tool.

See http://www.graphic.org/ for sample concept maps and tips for using Inspiration for various types or writing assignments.

Use word processing software to support editing of student writingin grades 3 and up

If students are in Grade 3, use different colors and fonts for students to comment on each other's writing. This works well with students who are too young to use the "track changes" function easily. Students will need a consistent code for this strategy to work. One way to begin -- Try RED for changes in punctuation, GREEN for misspellings, and YELLOW for sentence structure.

If students are in Grades 4 and above, use the "track changes" function (in Microsoft Word) to suggest modifications that the writer can then choose to keep or not. This feature can be used both by the teacher to comment on student work and by students to peer edit.

For help in using the features of Microsoft Word for editing, refer to: http://www.microsoft.com/education/WordTutorial.aspx

Have your class participate in ready-made, collaborative Internet projects

Examples include:

If You Could Take Someone to Dinner (K-8) http://www.eduplace.com/projects/dinner.html

A Tale to Be Told http://schoolweb.missouri.edu/nixa.k12.mo.us/sullivan/tales/index.htm

E-Pals classroom exchange (Ages 6 - 11) http://www.epals.com/  

Friends and Flags http://www.friendsandflags.org/ (K - 12)

Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership http://www.learner.org/jnorth/fall2003/crane/index.html

Publish student work on the Internet

Kids' Space: http://www.kids-space.org/index.html (Go to Gallery to submit student work)

Kid Pub: http://www.kidpub.org/kidpub/

The Poetry Zone: http://www.poetryzone.ndirect.co.uk/index2.htm

Giggle Poetry: http://www.gigglepoetry.com/

Electric Soup: http://homer.hcrhs.k12.nj.us/esoup/about/Young-Writers.html

Got a digital camera? Use it to create writing activities that accommodate and inspire students' multiple intelligences. You can do this by:

Capturing graphics for prompts for student writing. These can include places visited, a sequence of events, amazing sites, emotional moments, etc.

Providing students with opportunities to write about images and to add their own "toppings" - sound or music, hand or computer drawings, etc.

Posting the graphics along with student writing on classroom bulletin boards, in class newsletters or on the web.

Creating visual collages in a graphics program, highlighting student writing and accompanying digital pictures.

For sample literacy lessons that rely on digital photography, visit:

Independent writing with Digital Photo Prompts

English classroom uses of the digital camera (Check out "Create a Story" and "I Can Read Places") http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~ucfcasio/english.htm

Set up an ongoing video reading and writing studio in your classroom by keeping your digital video camera on a tripod at all times.

Allow students to record themselves while reading their own writing or the writing of others. This is a great way to inspire your readers and writers to be more fluent and to edit their work one more time!

Here is a link to a list of Internet resources on using digital media in the classroom: http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/wired.html

Rely on the Internet as a teacher resource for classroom lesson ideas, professional resources, and support for balanced literacy.

There is plenty of excellent material ready to be used in your classroom. Good sites include:

ReadWriteThink: http://www.readwritethink.org/

Carol Hurst's Children's Literature site: http://www.carolhurst.com/

Children's Literature Web Guide: http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/

Mrs. Silverman's webfolio: http://kids-learn.org/

Use Clicker software to visually support student word work and motivate reluctant students by:

Creating word grids with specific content-area vocabulary.

Downloading additional grids at: http://www.learninggrids.com/us/

Allowing older students to create grids of synonyms by using a thesaurus. A free, online thesaurus can be found at: http://thesaurus.reference.com/

See how Clicker works at: http://www.cricksoft.com/uk/products/clicker/default.asp

http://www.cricksoft.com/uk/products/clicker/guide.htm

Use commercially-available electronic books to extend your classroom library with multimedia reading materials.

There are lots of resources available and several are bilingual. Research indicates that these resources:

Support struggling decoders by "reading to them."

Motivate reluctant readers with amusing graphics and sounds.

Add to story comprehension with supplementary literacy activities.

Good examples of books include titles produced by Living Books such as the Arthur series, Stellaluna, and Dr. Seuss' ABCs among others. Books can be purchased online at http://www.kidsclick.com/living_books.htm

Use the Internet to get help in creating rubrics to assess student literacy learning.

Good sites include:

Rubistar: http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php

Kathy Schrock's Guide to Creating Rubrics: http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/assess.html

Examples of rubrics at ReadWriteThink: http://www.readwritethink.org