Developing Literacy Skills in a Digital World

Are you looking for ways to support and engage your students? Here's an example of how we recently integrated some simple, but effective digital tools to engage, educate and empower our students.

A Bit of Background . . . 

This fall we provided literacy support to sixteen high school boys with severe learning disabilities. We reviewed their files, met with staff and and completed the required standardized testing to gain a basic understanding of their literacy skills and needs. They were bright and creative, but despite working with skilled and caring teachers, most had experienced a great deal of academic failure. Many struggled with basic everyday reading tasks and their spelling scores explained their reluctance to write - only two scored above the 17th percentile on a standardized spelling test. 

Our goal was not only to address deficits in critical literacy skills; but also to provide tools and strategies that remove obstacles to learning and empower students with alternate ways to access information and communicate ideas. To personalize their learning and achieve greater success, we wanted to learn more about their background, previous experiences, values, attitudes, talents, interests, strengths and needs. Rather than quizzing, testing, interviewing or assigning an 'All About Me' essay, we chose a multimedia format and integrated some of our favorite digital tools - Animoto, YouTube, BrainPop and Wordle.

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Animoto is free for teachers and you can add their app to your IOS devices. To learn more and set up an account, visit http://animoto.com/education. Animoto "analyzes music, photos and video clips, and orchestrates a custom video." If you're wondering what to do with all your vacation photos or want to impress parents with a year end video that doesn't  take hours or days to create, try Animoto.

Programs like Wordle (www.wordle.net) and Tagxedo (www.tagxedo.com) are fun, free and effective tools that allow you to enter your own text to create unique word cloud images. They can be used in countless ways and we're sure you and your students will love them.     

The Project . . .

Using Animoto and Wordle, our students created a video, or digital description of themselves. Evaluation rated the following:

• Overall Effectiveness: solid understanding of how to effectively use Animoto and Wordle to create a digital description (lifestyle, personality, values, etc.)
  
• Content: unique, shows evidence of planning and is presented in a logical sequence (introduction, main idea or theme, supporting details, conclusion)
• Images, Text, Theme and Music: well suited to the message, add impact and reflect a positive digital footprint
• Wordle: unique word cloud image contains interesting adjectives to describe personality traits
• Literary Devices: a simile or metaphor was used to "spice up" the text
• Application and Extension: share 3 examples of how a multimedia format might be an effective way to deliver a message or complete an assignment

A word of caution: Before you begin, try to anticipate potential problems that are often associated with technology. Poor Internet connections, out-dated equipment/technology and blocked websites are a few that we encountered. Students may not remember to email or bring images from home, but they can likely find them with access to Facebook. Setting up Animoto accounts for your students can be tricky, but this link is helpful: http://help.animoto.com/entries/104077-how-do-i-set-up-accounts-for-my-students      

The Benefits  . . .

• We discovered so much more about our students than their files or test scores could show. Some were easily defeated or distracted and accomplished little, while others spent extra time working at home. Each video revealed a unique story and a glimpse into their lifestyle, personality, passions, talents, interests, values and beliefs. Some featured fun, sports-loving, personalities who loved to ski and play video games. Others crafted their digital story to show a more sensitive, deep thinking and perhaps misunderstood side of their personality.
• Multimedia projects can help develop digital footprint awareness (But, we suggest you discuss guidelines for appropriate content and use.)
• Our students were developing relevant 21st century literacy skills and the ability to effectively communicate in ways that involve more than just text and speech. Initially, some were skeptical and chose alternate assignments because they saw little value in a project with minimal text. Later, they began to see multimedia formats as an alternate and sometimes more effective way to demonstrate knowledge. The applications are endless, but here are a few of the ideas we discussed: creating a timeline for Social Studies; a portfolio  for Art, Cooking, Band, Woodwork; explaining procedures in Math, Science or PE; or producing book or movie trailers for English or Theater and highlighting events, like field trips.
• The project incorporated core English Language Arts expectations related to reading and reviewing, writing and representing and oral language (speaking and listening).
• Students were actively involved in the reading process as they searched for instructions, quotes, music, images, definitions and adjectives. As inspiration, we discussed parts of Neil Parischa's best seller, Book of Awesome and their 'connections to the text' were reflected in their video.
• The video creation closely paralleled the writing process and involved planning, editing and revising unique content to reflect their personal voice. Text was intentionally minimal to suit the format, but word choice was a focus.
• YouTube music clips and BrainPop's Similes and Metaphors movie helped our students understand, recognize and incorporate literary devices. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1c6zF9aJxs)                            (http://www.brainpop.com/english/writing/similesandmetaphors/) 
• In small group conversations, our students were communicating ideas, clarifying understanding and expressing their personal views and perspectives. They developed a richer vocabulary as they made up their own student friendly definitions and played with words. They described themselves as epic, loquacious, upright, conscientious, obnoxious and inspirational!
• The resources and strategies involved in this multimedia project are affordable, effective and accessible for all students. The project can easily be expanded, modified or enhanced to incorporate other digital tools.