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This is part two of the Digital Decoder series. Within this edition we'll explore how to use Discovery Education and six other digital resources to help students predict what they will be reading, re-state what they’ve just read, and make connections to the text that they are reading. We'll also explore a free mobile app called Fotobabble lets you take a picture or select an image from your camera role, record narration via your phone’s mic, and then share your work.
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The Digital Decoder: Digital Tools to help improve reading - Part Two
Last week we explored four different digital resources that, when combined with the first three reading strategies outlined below, could help your students improve their reading and become even more engaged with the text.
This week we’re going to explore how to use Discovery Education and six other digital resources to help students predict what they will be reading, re-state what they’ve just read, and make connections to the text that they are reading.
The reading strategies that we are examining during this series are as follows:
1. Breaking down the sounds - Phonemes (Last week)
2. Chunking unfamiliar sounds and words (Last week)
3. Re-Reading (Last week)
4. Predicting
5. Re-Stating
6. Connecting to the Text
Matt’s Media Tips 10-15Take Teaching to the Next Level Where Microscope and Mouse Meet
Connecting to a Global Community of Educators
4. PredictingYou could tie in lots of different digital resources to this strategy. One simple idea is to use pictures, key words, and/or sounds and ask students to predict what they think they’ll be reading about. After reading the text, have the students compare their predictions to the actual content of the text.
Two digital resources/activities
1. Create a Word Cloud by cutting and pasting the reading passage into a word cloud generator like www.wordle.net, www.tagxedo.com, or www.tagul.com.
Project the word cloud up on a screen and ask the students to predict what they think they’ll be reading about.
Extension: Ask students to identify words that they don’t know or are difficult for them to read.
2. Find an image from Discovery Education and ask your students to imagine what they might be reading about.
Extension: Zoom into a part of the image so that the whole picture can not be identified. Ask your students what they think will be revealed when you zoom out. Then ask your students to imagine what they might be reading about.
5. Re-Stating Re-stating requires students to look for and explain the main idea in a piece of text in a shorter form/short answer.
Two digital resources/activitiesDigital Storytelling, which can encompass a whole lot of things, can be a great strategy to employ here.
Elementary idea: Read out loud, or have your students read aloud, a piece of text and then have them recreate that text/story in their own form. One tool that you can use is http://littlebirdtales.com/
Secondary idea: Have students create a Six Word Story with http://ipiccy.com. A six word story (as you might have guessed) requires that students can only use six words to restate the text that they just read.
6. Connecting to the Text
It probably comes as no surprise to you that students who are given several different ways to demonstrate their understanding and/or mastery of a subject or skill tend to deeply learn the content.
Naturally this principle can be applied to reading. In fact, we’ve just explored a few strategies in the preceding pages.
This principle is amplified when students are able to connect to or see the relevance of the content that they are learning.
One great example of a teacher helping her students connect to the text can be found inside Discovery Education. Click on this link to see what I’m talking about - Literacy In the Classroom (you will be prompted to log in first). This Discovery Education video is part of a series called Teacher to Teacher: Professional Development for Today’s Classroom: Technology in the Classroom.
And here’s a little known tip/gem. Whenever you see More to Explore tab appear on your Discovery Education Media Player - click on it! There you will find similar content. In this case the More to Explore tab will take you to fantastic content covering things like digital storytelling, brainstorming ideas, and, you guessed it, more.
Connecting to Text Digital Implementation/Idea
If you watched the video mentioned above than you saw the “Sketch to Stretch” activity. This activity required students to draw an image that came to mind when they read the text. The image could not be a scene from the story but rather it had to convey their connections or feelings that the text evoked.
I think www.photopeach.com is a great resource to use if we wanted to convert this into a digital activity. Photo Peach is a free digital storytelling platform that only works with images. It is simple, easy to use, and is completely web based. It includes copyright-free music and even has an embedded quiz generator so that its users can create short five-second quiz questions (yes it counts down for you).
Building off of the Sketch to Stretch activity you could have students create their own imagery or search for imagery within Discovery Education and upload it to Photo Peach to create a story. Students can match their imagery to music, type in text or vocabulary words, and/or add their own quiz questions. Photo Peach also includes a comment section at the end where students can provide feedback of one another’s work.
Discovery Education Webinar ScheduleDiscovery Education Webinar ScheduleDiscovery Education Webinar Schedule
Dates Time (EST) Link
10/15 7pm - 8pm
Discovery Education Science Middle School: Learn how to navigate the sections to interact, watch, and read, using virtual labs, videos, and articles. The webinar also shows you how to use assignment builders and assessments to guide and measure your students’ understanding and mastery.
10/16 7pm - 8pm
Challenge Based Learning 101: Join us as we explore challenge-based learning (CBL), a systematic teaching method that engages students in learning knowledge and skills through an extended inquiry process structured around complex, authentic questions and carefully designed products and tasks
10/17 7pm - 8pm
Build Your Lesson with Discovery Education Science Techbook: Join us as we build a media-infused science lesson presentation that you can use in your classroom. Each month we will demonstrate how to create a truly engaging lesson presentation using digital resources and PowerPoint/Keynote. At the completion of the webinar you will be able to download the finished product and use it in your classroom.
10/18 7pm - 8pm
Putting the E in STEM with Discovery Education Science Techbook: A follow up to our webinar about the new engineering virtual lab, this webinar highlights the new stand alone tools that have been added to the Discovery Education Science Techbook.
10/19 1pm - 2pm
Keyna: A Virtual Field Trip! Renowned conservation specialist M. Sanjayan, lead scientist at The Nature Conservancy, will share research and stories from his time spent in Africa. This engaging journey is meant for all grade levels, however will focus on middle school students and will highlight social studies, science, and math content.
Just like last week, I wanted to find an app that would complement one or more of the reading strategies that we have explored.
Fotobabble could do just that. This free app lets you take a picture or select an image from your camera role, record narration via your phone’s mic, and then share your work via email, Twitter, Facebook.
If social media or email is not an option, remember that your Fotobabbles are stored locally on your devices so they can be projected and/or shared within the classroom setting.
If iPads, iPhones, iTouches are being used int he classroom, creating Fotobabbles could be incorporated into Sketch and Stretch or Six Word Story activities.
Click here for the free download
FotobabbleByFotobabble, Inc
The Discovery Educator Network (DEN) is a global community of educators passionate about teaching with digital media, sharing resources, collaborating,
and networking. With over 100,000 members providing professional development to over 600,000 educators worldwide, the DEN connects teachers
both on-line and in-person. Discovery Educators have exclusive access to a wide range of resources, professional development activities, networking
opportunities, exclusive Discovery Educator events and more. Find out how you can be part of this dynamic and supportive community.
Become a DEN Star today!
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10/8/2012
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8/27/2012
Miss a week? Catch back up here! 2012-2013 School Year Archives
Back to School Review. Check out some of the major enhancements made to Discovery Education over the summer. We'll give you a chance to weigh in, showcase a new back to school webinar series and highlight Nearpod, a very cool classroom mobile app.
The Digital Decoder. Part one of a two part series that explores how to use digital resources to assist struggling readers. We’ll also explore Audioboo, a free mobile app that turns your mobile device into a roaming podcasting machine
Getting Quizzy With It. Everything you ever wanted to know about creating a Discovery Education Quiz and more - including an easy step-by-step guide for embedding Web 2.0 content into a Quiz! We’ll explore a unique mobile app called Stack the States as well.
Five free tools from DE plus one that’s too cool for school. We’ll also explore links to even more free resources and then play with a free mobile app, Sketch Nation Studio, that provides a simple game design/creation platform.
Downloading Closed Captions Explore how to download closed captioned files and manipulate their text on both a PC and Mac. We'll also examine the TechChef4U app that links to many education apps! Finally, in this edition, I provide links to the Best of Matt's Tips and Tricks webinar resources.
In-the-know about Infographics. This edition highlights the new 2012 election material within DE. It also dives into different ways that you and your students can evaluate and explain data by examining three different sites that create infographics. Sock Puppets, an iPad app that is animated by your voice, is also explored.
Opening up Closed Captions. Check out all of the new and enhanced ways to stream captioned content. We’ll also continue to explore the back-to-school webinars and play with EasyBib, an Android and iPad app that makes citing reference material a breeze.
Scratch.mit.edu, Popplet.com and EduTechr mobile app explored.
4/2/2012 Mi Content es Su Content. Book- marking and sharing your Discovery Education content across your school and district, two great contests, and two text-to-sign mobile apps
3/26/2012 Can You Picture it? Learn how to create a six-word story using iPiccy.com and Discovery Education. Digital Story Challenge! MeeGenius Audiobook app for mobile devices.
3/19/2012 Audio Book ‘em Dano. Eight simple steps for creating an audiobook using iTunes and any computer (Mac/PC). Molecules mobile apps.
3/12/2012 It’s All About The Sharing. Uploading, sharing and accessing your own content within Discovery Discovery Education. Cel.Ly app polling device via any device.
2/27/2012 Teacher Center Treasure Trove of Resources. Interactive Calendar Atlas, STEM Connect explored. Socrative App (student response).
2/13/2012 Special Valentines Issue - Things I love about Discovery Education. Five Minute Preps, Images,Coaches Eye App
2/6/2012 What did you say? Closed Captioning on an iPad? Getting Closed Captions to play on your iPad, GreenScreens on iPhone/iPad with GreenScreen FX app
1/30/2012 Let’s Give Them Something To Sing About Differentiated Instruction Using Songs, First Student Media Contest of the Year, ShowMe and Educreations whiteboard apps
1/23/2012 Meet the Faces of Discovery Education Get up close and personal with the Discovery Education on-air talent, special student webinar series, Story Kit app
Miss a week? Catch back up here! 2011-2012 Archives
7/19/2012 Sneak peek at the back to school enhancements. Roadshow app.
6/11/2012 Fun things to do over the summer with technology and media. Mustacheme app is featured.
5/21/2012 The ins and outs of Digital Storytelling. Digital Storytelling Web 2.0 presentation and apps
5/14/2012 Who Knew We Had News? Find an additional set of free Discovery News videos, the Video Yearbook, video almanac, and great webinar information. Roadshow App for playing back videos on-demand is reviewed.
5/7/2012 My Five Favorite Summer Resources. We explore five free interactive sites that parents, students, and teachers can use over the summer. We’ll also explore a free translation app for mobile devices.
4/30/2012 Getting Your Game On. Finding great games, simulations and more within Discovery Education. Back-to- School Sneak Peek Webinars announced. Futaba Classroom Games for Kids iPad app explored.
4/23/2012 Getting the Point with PowerPoint and Keynote. Learn how to trim audio & video in PPT and save both PPT & Keynote presentations as images to embed in Web 2.0 sites. 2 Screens and Joinme mobile presentation apps explored.
4/16/2012 It’s all about the Theme. We’ll explore several different ways to find unique thematic content. Three most voted upon stories revealed. Studyblue mobile flashcard app highlighted
4/9/2012 Scratch and Pop. Six-Word Story finalists revealed. Links between Discovery Education and
1/18/2012 In a Class of Their Own Setting up Discovery Education Classrooms, Discovery Education Live Webinars, Quizlet App.
1/9/2012 Building out the New Year Five of my favorite things you can do with the Discovery Education Builders, Rover App for DE Students
12/19/2011 Special Holiday Edition 13 Tips from Educators around the US and Canada, Videolicious App
12/12/2011 50 Ways to Use Discovery Education Tips and tricks galore iSwifter - Flash for iPads
11/28/2011 What I am Thankful for Building out your PLN Wordspree and Math Acorn Apps
11/14/2011 Things I Stole From the Community DEN Tips, Four really cool tips you can do with Google. TED and Animoto apps
11/7/2011 First Six Weeks Aggregated
11/4/2011 Creating an “iCenter" How to create an ePub using DE videos. Spirit of Innovation Challenge
10/24/2011 Spooky Edition Digital Storytelling, Web 2.0 Piqua City Community Night, Crazy Pumpkin and Halloween Card Creator Apps
10/17/2011 Stick it to IT Collaborative Note Taking Site Educator Spotlight - Jennifer Everett, ToonTastic and PuppetPals Apps
10/3/2011 Opening Up Closed-Captions Closed-Captions for Macs and PCs, 10 FAQs Customer Service Receives
9/26/2011 Common Core, Web 2.0 and DE Three cool sites that integrate nicely with Discovery Education. Administrator Spotlight - Molly Hay!
9/13/2011 Can you Hear what I’m Writing? Embedding an eReader into your Writing Prompts, Getting to know Discovery Education SCIENCE
