Chapter 9
“Technology in English & Language Arts Instruction”
1. What Does TPACK Look Like in English and Language Arts Instruction?
A. Language arts refers to those language-based processes by which we think, learn, and communicate
i. Elementary curricula focus on developing the fundamental skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking
ii. Later grades focuses on literature, composition, and formal communication
B. Reading and writing in the content area: because literacy skills and processes are fundamental to all other disciplines, language arts instruction is often stressed in the content area courses
C. TPACK
i. Teacher knowledge that is the result of the synergy among three knowledge domains of technology, pedagogy, and content
ii. Essential features include the use of appropriate technology in a particular content area as a part of a pedagogical strategy within a given educational context to develop students’ knowledge of a particular topic or meet an educational objective or student need
2. Issues and problems in English and Language Arts Instruction
A. Expanding the Definition of Literacy
i. The definition of literacy is a fluid one across our history; evolving from the ability to sign one’s name, to being familiar with canonical texts, to being able to read and write and make sense of the written word, to the current definition of literacy
ii. Current definitions of literacy
· “Today, literacy is no longer an end point to be achieved but rather a process of continuously learning how to be literate.”
· “The new literacies include the skills, strategies, and insights needed to successfully exploit the rapidly changing information and communication technologies that continuously emerge in our world.”
iii. From the International Reading Association: “Traditional definitions of reading, writing, and viewing and traditional definitions of best practice instruction—derived from a long tradition of book and other print media—will be insufficient.”
B. Exploring New Instructional Practices
i. There is a direct link between the emergence of new literacies and the need for new instructional practices
ii. Students need instruction on how to find and access appropriate electronic sources
iii. Students need instruction on how to use the required hardware to both access the information they need and create their presentations
iv. Students need instruction on how to separate out the biases and inaccuracies (intentional or other wise)
v. The body of literature regarding ways to implement new instructional practices is growing
C. Making Decisions about Keyboarding Instruction
i. The most common way to write using a computer is to input data through the use of a QWERTY keyboard
ii. QWERTY keyboard is the traditional typewriter keyboard; QWERTY are the first 6 letters of the first line of the traditional keyboard
iii. Discussions are ongoing regarding the requirement of keyboarding as a pre-req to using computers for writing
· Pro arguments: with proper training, students can be taught good habits and techniques that can support fluent and speedy keyboarding
· Con arguments: formal keyboarding training takes up too much student time and computer resources
D. Creating Social Learning Environments
i. The emerging literacies are much more contingent on social interactions with others than the traditional literacies are
ii. Re-defining the student-teacher relationship by positioning the student as the technology expert
iii. Social constructivist theory (Vygotsky, 1962) asserts that learning occurs through interactions with others
E. Working with Diverse Learners
i. When students experience literacy problems at a young age, they tend to continue to have reading issues throughout their school career
ii. There are many reasons for having literacy issues at a young age
iii. There are many internet-based resources to help teachers assist struggling readers
F. Motivating Students
i. The more students read, the better developed their language and reading skills become
ii. New literacies are helping teachers encourage students to read and write for pleasure or as a free-time activity
G. Teachers’ Growth as Literacy Professionals
i. The recommendation of the US Department of Education is that 30% of a school district’s technology budget be spent on professional development; the current expenditure on technology-centered professional development is about 6%
ii. Teachers have become more active in learning how to integrate technology into the curriculum in a meaningful way—cyber-mentoring, partnerships with universities, etc.
3. Technology Integration Strategies for English and Language Arts Instruction
A. Language Skills Development
i. Teaching decoding skills
· ‘Sounding out’ words
· Students who have access to digitized speech support increase their decoding abilities—several websites offer interactive speech support
· The following phonics websites were identified as being the most useful for children
ii. Developing other reading skills
· Software-based and online systems
· References resources
· Electronic devices
iii. Creating everyday teacher activities
· “Everyday activities with everyday applications”
· For example, using the slide shuffling feature of a power point presentation to shuffle the key points of a story up and have the students sort them out
B. Literacy Development
i. Networked literacy projects
· Using on-line literacy mentors to discuss the literature the students are working with
· Using story starters provided by the teacher, who emails it to a student; that student adds to the story then emails it to the next student; etc.
ii. Activities with interactive storybooks (e-books) and talking books
iii. Uses of reading management and intervention programs
· Accelerated Reader
· Read 180 Program (geared towards struggling readers in grades 4 through 12)
· Reading Recovery (geared towards struggling 1st graders)
iv. Digital story telling
v. Connections to online reading materials to engage students
vi. Writing in blogs
vii. Motivating students with video projects
viii. Threaded discussions at a distance
C. The Process Approach to Writing
i. Prewriting
· Electronic outlining
· Concept mapping software
à Kidspiration
à Inspiration
ii. Drafting
iii. Revising and editing
iv. Publishing
· Traditional (paper) publishing
· Electronic publishing
