Read | Education with Technology Harry G. Tuttle

Archive for the 'Read' Category

21st Century Skills Critical Thinking- Fact? Inference? Judgment?

Many students need help in developing critical thinking skills as part of the 21st century skills. A technique that I have used both when I taught Critical Thinking courses at the college level and when I have taught higher level thinking in my own Spanish or English classes is Fact-Inference- Judgment.

Look at this picture taken by me in Costa Rica:

Fact – something that is obviously (physically) in the picture, text, movie, etc. Everyone will agree to this fact. For example, there are four people in the picture. There are pigeons.

Inference- based on noticing things in the picture, text, movie, etc., a person makes an assumption. This assumption is only a short logical step from the observation. A person can state what he/she observed and what inference this lead to. Others can easily understand the logic of going directly from the observation to the inference. Inference making people use statements like “Based on observing… I notice … I see and therefore …). For example, I notice that they have on short sleeves so I infer it is warm. It looks like there are young children, a young adult and an older adult, I assume that this is a grandmother, a daughter and her children.

A judgment is a value statement or emotional statement. Although something in the picture or text may be a springboard, there is no logical leap. Judgments take a strong value or emotional stand on the media. Judgments usually express their viewpoint through opinion-based adjectives (“handsome”, “unsafe”) , adverbs (“dangerously”, “peacefully”), verbs (“kill”, “love”) and nouns (“murderer”, “saint” ). A judgment can be easily challenged by others. Some judgments for this picture are “The family is happy” (Not really, the little boy began to cry as the mother moved the pigeon closer to her son.” A fact is that the two older women are smiling. ) and “Costa Rica is overrun by pigeons.” (Fact: Pigeons are in some city parks.)

As we help students to give only facts and inferences about media, we develop their critical thinking. As we help students to see that some statements are judgments (pure opinion not based on facts or inferences), we develop more critical thinkers.

My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students, is available through Eye on Education.

Also, my book, Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, is available through Eye on Education.

Integrating Thinking Through Reading

Published April 30, 2008 Accountability , Achievement , Assessment , Bloom , higher level thinking , learning , Read , Reading , Student , Think Leave a Comment
Tags: Bloom, Critical thinking, Education, Higher level, Read, Reading, School, Thinking

As teachers we can incorporate many critical thinking through reading activities into our classroom. We can have students:

Annotate the text

Explain the context of the reading

Outline or Summarize

Predict

Ask questions about the text

Compare/ contrast to other readings

Connect to other readings or other things containing the ideas found in the text

Pre-assessment: Open Eyes or Blinded

Published March 1, 2008 Academic , Accountability , Achievement , Assess , Assessment , assessment for learning , Diagnostic , ELA , English , ESL , grammar , Pre-assessment , Pre-test , pretest , Read , Reading , Vocabulary Leave a Comment
Tags: Asses, Class, Diagnostic, Diangnosis, Education, ELA, English, Formative assessment, grammar, Pre-assessment, pretest, Reading, Rubric, Vocabulary, Writing

This semester I have given many pre-assessments to my students. Last semester, I made many mistakes in instruction because I did not know enough about my students before the beginning of the semester. I taught material that they knew and did not delve into material that they did not know. I assumed that they could read the textbook when their reading rate and comprehension which I tested once I saw a problem revealed an average class reading rate in the low 100s and a comprehension rate of 60% or lower. I thought that since they were college students they could organize their own writing.

So this semester, I have given them writing diagnostic, writing patterns past knowledge diagnostic, grammar diagnostic, vocabulary diagnostic, and reading diagnostic. I can hear the moans about wasting all the time on diagnostic. My students spend 45 minutes on the combined writing and grammatic diagnostic, three minutes on the vocabulary one, four minutes on the past writing patterns and about 15 on the reading one. So in just about one hour and ten minutes I have done six diagnostic tests that have transformed how I teach writing to the students.

What pre-assessments do you give and how do you change your instruction to better improve your students’ learning?

Reading Speed and Comprehension Online Test

Published January 10, 2008 Accountability , Assess , Assessment , assessment for learning , Comprehension , online , Read , Reading , technology 7 Comments
Tags: Comprehension, Education, English, online, Reading, School, Speed, Web

Have you every wondering about the reading comprehension of your students?

The following are some sites designed for high school or above to test both reading speed and comprehension. Most of these have about ten paragraphs to read

http://www.readingsoft.com/ – a reading of about 8 paragraphs. Times and then has comprehension questions

Rocket Reader of http://www.rocketreader.com/cgi-bin/portal/fun_tests/perception has a reading test that includes specific vocabulary

ExecuRead of http://www.execuread.com/speedtest.htm has reading test timed and comprehension

Unless we give the students diagnostic reading tests such as these, we may never know their entry level of reading. Is it really far to assign ten pages of reading to a student who reads less than 100 reads more minute (If a textbook page has 400 words, it will that that student four minutes per page or a total of 40 minutes to read ten textbook pages.)?

What other reading diagnostics do you give your students?

Improving Reading Skills With Technology

Published August 20, 2007 Achievement , Digital , ELA , English , ESL , Flickr , Language , learning , Power Point , PowerPoint , Read , Reading , technology , technology integration Leave a Comment

I wrote another article on improving reading skills through technology, Ramping Up Reading With Technology. There are fourteen different easy-to-apply techniques. Try these out in your classroom so that your students can be better readers! Although the examples are in English, many of these will work in ESL and World Language classes.

Reading in the 21st Century

Published June 21, 2007 21st Century , ELA , English , Read , Reading , Skill 1 Comment

I wonder what “reading” means for the 21st century. Does it mean

Getting information from images, graphs and charts, as well as text?

Skimming for links on webpages as well as reading left to right word for word? (I’m sure students read more online than they do offline.)

Following webpage links to more in-depth information about the topic?

Writing down sticky-note comments on the electronic text as a person reads it and those comments are available for others to see?

Questioning the author through emails, blogs, and videoconferencing?

Blogging or videoconferencing with others about the meaning of the text? (Book clubs/literature circles online)

Comparing other sources of the same information such as looking at the same news story from newspapers of several countries?

Writing information to a WIKI about other stories with the same theme, location, or problem?

Getting cultural information that helps in the understanding of the reading material from a person in that country? What would a person from Colombia tell about Hernando Téllez’ “Just Lather, That’s All”?

Reading 50% or more of non-fiction?

Decoding text messages?

Determining the authenticity of the reading material?

Being able to build or do something as a result of reading instructions?

Improve Students’ Inference Reading with PowerPoint

Published June 13, 2007 Achievement , ELA , English , Inference , Leaders , Power Point , PowerPoint , Read , Reading , technology Leave a Comment

Here are a few ways to use PowerPoint type programs to improve students’ inference reading.

* Show students a Flickr or Google picture with the question words next to it. The question of When will probably be an inference question since they will have to figure out the season, the time of day, etc. Do for several pictures until everyone can answer the inference questions for a passage.

* Students write inference questions about a short displayed passage (a paragraph). They can start with using synonyms for the words already in the passage. The boy goes to the store. Where did the youth go?

* Students go up to the Smartboard and circle the critical words in the projected passage question and then circle the corresponding words in the passage.

*Students see two side by side newspaper articles about the same topic. They circle the words that show the author’s bias – red for the left side article and green for the right side article.

How do you improve students’ inference reading with PowerPoint type programs?

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Improving Reading Comprehension Through PowerPoint

Published June 11, 2007 ELA , English , learning , pedagogy , Power Point , PowerPoint , Read , Reading , Teacher , technology 2 Comments

Teachers can improve their students’ literal reading through common technology such as PowerPoint like programs.

* Show a picture and have the students take turns asking and answering Who. Where, When, What, and Why questions about the picture.

* Haven them read a short projected passage and the orally answer Who, Where, When, What about the passage.

* Project a passage from PowerPoint on a Smartboard and have students circle the literal answers to questions about the passage.

* Have students read a short passage and then select the corresponding picture from four possible Flickr or Google choices.

How do you improve students’ reading comprehension through PowerPoint type programs?

Reading for Meaning Through Technology

Published June 1, 2007 Comprehension , Flickr , learning , Meaning , Read , Reading , Student , technology Leave a Comment

When I was in middle school and high school, I remember that reading Social Studies and Science textbooks was a matter of finding the answer in the passage. For the math textbook, I had to understand and solve problems by applying the formula or concept. For the English textbooks, I had to do literary analysis, a very specific type of reading. There was the textbook and myself, sometimes a weak combination.

So how do we help students to read for meaning today through the use of technology?

Do we

Model our thinking process as we read a passage to the students? An English teacher may ask “If Don Quixote becomes crazy by reading books, will we become crazy by watching tv?” We can digitally record this thinking for the first chapter of the book and then have students record their thinking aloud for subsequent chapters. These digital recordings can become podcasts or web movies that capture the deep thinking in the reading.

Have students answer questions as they go through the text, readings, or websites? In Social Studies, a question can be “What other rivers have been the center of civilizations?” In Science, a question may be ” What other reactions have required heat? Why?” Students can respond in a class blog so that students can see the many possible answers.

Ask students to compare/contrast what they are reading to a previous reading using a T-chart in a Word chart form or in an Inspiration-like form? In what ways are Don Quixote and A Midsummer Night’s Dream similar?

Assign students to find images that prove the idea that they are talking about using Google or Flickr? Images of “bread” from around the world show the universal need for food.

Ask students high-level thinking questions about the topic and have them respond with a personal response system. Sancho is most like which other sidekick? A- B- C- D-

Have them use a Smartboard-like device to underline all the words that show the same meaning or emphasis? Students can read a website passage and underline all the words or phrases that show the author’s bias.

How else do you have your students read for deep meaning through technology? Share your ideas. If I get them within the week, I might include them in an article I’m writing on reading and technology.

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Reading Vocabulary and Technology

Published May 31, 2007 ELA , English , Learn , Read , Vocabulary Leave a Comment

Vocabulary is the basis for good reading not only in English but in other subject areas.

English teachers can show the students a thematic based picture of vocabulary items at the start of each lesson. For example, the teacher may show a Google picture of twenty different animals and have the students, in groups of two, identify each of these. The teacher can have a whole class review. This brief daily vocabulary review helps the students increase their vocabulary.

When students identify which word in a group does not fit, they are sharpening their vocabulary reading skills. The teacher can show four words such as A-Robber B-Thief C- Villain D- Crook and the students respond with their Personal Response System clickers.

Students can be given a word and they create an Inspiration map with meaning, synonyms, antonyms, and the word used in a sentence. Students can compare each other’s maps. In addition, students can create associated word maps for a given word such as war. They can use the Flickr third party program of airtightinteractive to see various other words (tags) associated with the initial word.

As students use electronic talking books, the books read to them and pronounce words. These books can be CD-ROM or online.

How else do you use technology to improve students’ reading?

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Education with Technology Harry G. Tuttle