Transliteracy: Do you have it?

Thanks to tools like the WordPress analytics tool, Google Analytics and HootSuite I can gauge how many people visit my blog, website and Twitter feed, which sites refer the most readers, most popular posts, etc.

When it comes to referrals, I am eternally grateful to sites like  Web English Teacher, FreeReading, Reading Rockets and the Reading Tub (amongst many others) for continuing to send large amounts of traffic to this blog and for sharing so many wonderful posts and literacy resources themselves. It is so wonderful that from Dubai, I can connect with literacy-lovers from around the world!

Yesterday, I noticed two new referral sites that I thought I would share simply because their content was so useful to me!

The transliteracy sideshow above by librarian Bobbi Newman and featured on library professional Gena Hasket’s post on BlogHer is an excellent presentation to share with educators, learners, librarians and parents on the importance of transliteracy – the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media. Thanks Gena for recommending that readers think about and promote transliteracy. And, thank you for sending readers here to this blog!

I would also like to give a shout out to the American Association of School Librarians for including a link to this blog in the School Library Media Specialist’s Roll in Reading Toolkit. If you are looking for toolkits and advocacy materials for helping parents, teachers and others understand the importance of transliteracy, digital literacy, information literacy, etc., make sure to view all of the toolkits on the American Association of School Librarians’ site.

Thinking about transliteracy…

Anna

@bon_education

Ideas for Before/During/After Reading!

“I Love to Read” Image by Carlos Porto

I recently came across a fabulous article by Jim Burke on Reading Rockets titled, “103 Things to Do Before/During/After Reading“. Given that I am about to lead several workshops on reading and digital literacy for parents at the Magrudy’s Education Resource Center, Jim’s article will surely be on my recommended reading list for moms and dads.

Upon clicking the above link, you will notice Jim’s article was originally written in 1998. While that might seem like ions ago to some, rest assured, the recommendations are still 100% relevant. That said, I thought it would be useful to create a supplement to Jim’s article that includes a few ideas on how recent software and web applications can be used to get kids excited and thinking about what they read Before/During/After a book!

Take a look at the ideas below and feel free to add your own in the comments section of this post!

“Postcard: Write to a friend, the author, or to a character about this book.”

• Select one student to be a character in the book you are reading and to write a blog post from that character’s point of view. Other students can then submit questions and ideas to the character via the comments section of the post. To learn how to set up a blog for this project, click here.

“Mapmaker: Draw a map of the book’s setting.”

• Have students create a Google Lit Trip–using Google Earth to document and map the settings within the book at hand. To learn how to use this tool, click here.

“Trailer: Movie previews always offer a quick sequence of the best moments that make us want to watch it – storyboard or narrate the scenes for your trailer. Focus on verbs.”

• Create a movie trailer in the form of a digital story using tools like VoiceThread or iMovie. For tips on how to get started, click here.

“Collage: Create an individual or class collage around themes or characters in the book.”

• Use Wordle to create a digital word collage around key themes, characters or vocabulary in the book.

“Draw! Translate chapters into storyboards and cartoons; draw the most important scene in the chapter and explain its importance and action.”

• Create a digital comic strip book summary using tools like Make Beliefs Comix.

“Dear Diary: Keep a diary as if you were a character in the story. Write down events that happen during the story and reflect on how they affected the character and why.”

• Have students create delightfully illustrated diary entries using the online collaborative storytelling tool Storybird.

“Haiku/Limerick: Create one about a character.”

• Use Twitter to share poems with parents and classmates.

“Notes and Quotes: Draw a line down the middle of the page. On one side write down important quotes, on the other comment on and analyze the quotes.”

• Create a collaborative “wiki-style” notes and quotes page using Google’s collaborative document tools. Feel free to host online book discussions using the live chat functions within the collaborative document applications.

Of course there is nothing wrong with a good ol’ fashion book review assignment, but why not share the reviews with other kids around the world? Check out the Spaghetti Book Club: Book Reviews By Kids For Kids.

Happy Reading!

Anna

Twitter: @bon_education

Website: Bon Education

Widgets for the Literacy Enthusiasts

Reading Rockets had a number of very interesting reading widgets for parents and literacy enthusiasts! Check them out here.

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Summer Reading

Reading Rockets has a nice resource for parents, teachers and librarians titled Summer Reading. Take a look at the resources and tips the site provides to “prevent the summer slide.”

Resources for parents can be found here.

Resources for teachers and librarians can be found here.

Heading to the beach this summer? Here is a great list of children’s Books for the Beach!

I just got back from the beach where I spent my afternoons reading Eat, Pray, Love and The Unbearable Lightness of Being overlooking the San Juan sand!

Cheers to great summer reads!

Anna

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Comprehension Strategies 101: Into the Book

I’m on a reading comprehension kick these days, so I’ve been on the look out for useful websites and research articles on the topic. This morning while reading a study on comprehension and vocabulary strategies titled, “Instruction of Metacognitive Strategies Enhances Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary Achievement of Third-Grade Students” by Boulware-Gooden, et. al. (2007), I was reminded of a resource my colleague Ettie mentioned to me last week called Into the Book.

This website is an awesome resource if you are looking for ideas on how to incorporate comprehension strategies into your daily literacy teaching practices. You can find resources to help students make connections to the texts they read, learn to question, infer, summarize and more! Plus, there are many video examples of teachers teaching comprehension and vocabulary strategies, so that you can get a taste of what the lessons would look like in your classroom!

Thanks Ettie and thanks to the teachers in Kentucky that shared Into the Book with her.

Anna

PS If you are interested in learning more about comprehension strategy instruction, I highly recommend attending the Teachers College Reading Institute this summer. I went last summer and had a ball discussing reading comprehension with K-3 teachers from around the country!

The Resource Room: Vocabulary, Comprehension, Math, Homeschooling and more

While reading through Reading Rockets, I came across a reference to The Resource Room. This site has awesome links to education research and activities for reading, spelling, reading comprehension, math, homeschooling, gifted, LD, and older learners. While doing some research on vocabulary instruction, I found this page on word part instruction and this page titled, “Multisensory Vocabulary: Guidelines and Activities” by Susan Jones.

Surf around this site! It has a lot to take in!

Anna

Reading Rockets!

While surfing the Net today, I found the website for Reading Rockets–a fun TV show on PBS that teaches educators and caregivers about the stages of early literacy development. I love this site because it is filled with straight forward articles on how to teach reading and reading research. In addition, it is filled will streaming videos of teachers in real classrooms across the States modeling best practices around reading pedagogy. Check out this video on spelling and word families. I also like this video on invented spelling! -Anna