E-reading: Effective Literacy Strategies

in the Digital Classroom

Karen Nitzkin Reading Specialist & Humanities Dept. Chair

24%

42%

31%

3%

Below Basic Basic Proficient Advanced

Nationwide 8th grade reading levels

Source: National Assessment for Educational Progress

Motivation

Engagement

Distractions

Assessments

What everyone says are the causes…

The Diagnosis

Students need help when and while they read

5 keys to working one-on-one…

Question: Ask students questions to check for understanding and focus on main ideas

5 keys to working one-on-one…

Question: Ask students questions to check for understanding and focus on main ideas

Be a Resource: Provide background information to fill gaps in student knowledge and define words they do not understand

5 keys to working one-on-one…

Question: Ask students questions to check for understanding and focus on main ideas

Be a Resource: Provide background information to fill gaps in student knowledge and define words they do not understand

Discuss: Talk through important parts of the book as students read

5 keys to working one-on-one…

Question: Ask students questions to check for understanding and focus on main ideas

Be a Resource: Provide background information to fill gaps in student knowledge and define words they do not understand

Discuss: Talk through important parts of the book as students read

Diagnose: Understand the skills where students have trouble to address them more frequently

5 keys to working one-on-one…

Question: Ask students questions to check for understanding and focus on main ideas

Be a Resource: Provide background information to fill gaps in student knowledge and define words they do not understand

Discuss: Talk through important parts of the book as students read

Diagnose: Understand the skills where students have trouble to address them more frequently

Make accountable: Ensure the student knows you know exactly what work he or she has done

Two Solutions that bring the power of one-to-one to the classroom…

Digital Think Alouds

Actively Learn

                             

Think  Aloud  

 Directed  Reading  and  Thinking  Ac4vity  

Eavesdropping on someone's thinking.  Purpose for teachers:

Model how skilled readers extract and construct meaning from a text.

Purpose for students: Demonstrate the meaning they are

extracting and constructing as they read.

Think Alouds

Teacher Think Aloud Model  

Student Think Aloud Model  

Digital Think Alouds

Question: Show students the questions I am asking as I read Be a resource: Explain key parts of the book in your model for students. Discuss: Close reading/practice with partners Make accountable: Share with peers and teacher Diagnose: Rubric shows students where they need improvement

Paper-Based DRTA  

Actively Learn Example

Question

Embed questions in the text that

function as gates; students must answer before

proceeding to read

Be a resource

Embed notes with multimedia to

provide additional information to fill gaps in students’

background knowledge.

Discuss

Students can see their peer

responses to questions and can start a discussion thread with their

peers.

Diagnose

See all the student annotations. (It is

like a virtual copy of their book.)

See where students have

marked the text as too difficult.

Analyze

Track student progress by all types of measures: • Time spent

reading • Stamina • Common Core

skills • # of Notes

Make Accountable

See where every student is in the

book

Demo

Try it out for yourself

http://read.activelylearn.com

Q & A

Thank you Karen Nitzkin

karen@activelylearn.com knitzkin@milkenschool.org

Twitter - @activelylearn