eBooks, Apps, and Their Use in the Classroom.
eBooks are awesome.
I should preface this by saying I was an early adopter of e-Readers. I went through several generations of Barnes & Noble's Nook, later switching to a Kindle HD Fire, and, ultimately, using the Kindle and Nook apps to access all my titles via other devices that do more; namely my iPhone and iPad. My love of eBooks was extended to my children as well as the classrooms I volunteered in. My children had e-readers, even though the majority of the titles (and all previous to owning an e-Reader) were physical paper books. I was not as fond of them for my children until they reached chapter-book above stages, however - primarily due to the distracting bells and whistles embedded in the eBooks. However, this is a subjective stance, since my children were all high-level readers and devoured traditional books since a young age. In the classroom, the screen size of my Nook and Kindle tablets was not as large as my current iPad, which was limiting - but I would use my iPad for read-alouds now due to the increased size of my current iPad screen versus my old tablet e-readers. In a darkened room I suspect this might be particularly engaging, especially as a novelty. But does it have to be one?
The reasons I love the idea of e-readers in the classroom - many of which mirror why I love them myself - is the portability of almost unlimited texts (physical books are extraordinarily heavy), the ease of ability to dynamically highlight, take notes, bookmark, and search the content (among many others). Another benefit of e-Readers is of particular value to the classroom: their ability to narrate. Studies show that reading aloud to children is the most effective teaching tool, and teachers have limited time (and, unfortunately, some teachers have poor oral fluency). For students who need to be read aloud to, or engage better with auditory input - this is invaluable. While it is true that narrations are not always as good as a teacher's - depending upon the teacher and recorded narration, it can even be better.
I recently downloaded several new free books from Amazon for children - in fact, prior to this I wasn't even aware Amazon had a section for the top 100 free eBooks for children! Unfortunately, because they are free, the quality varied widely - especially among picture books. Some were poorly formatted for e-reading, although one, The Ugly Duckling, was done very well. For older students not looking for illustrations, the choices are even better. Some also might render differently (and better) on an actual Kindle - for instance, I wasn't able to change from portrait to landscape for some picture books, nor zoom in (despite instructions on how to do so - presumably for a dedicated e-reader) - but in classrooms where these devices were supplied or allowed, this would not be a problem. Furthermore, on a PC (more common in classrooms than tablets or e-readers at the time of this writing), the screen size would be significantly larger - making this point moot.
My older paid copy of the eBook Flora & Ulysses has none of the above problems, and even on my phone I can zoom in and move around the page. Outside of Amazon there are probably more quality free items, I simply used Amazon because I regularly use the kindle app, and keep all my books there, and therefore could add to my collection and keep them in one accessible place. And, of course, eBooks like my copy of Tuck Everlasting are a breeze. As an added bonus - the eBooks are significantly cheaper than their paper counterparts. Apparently, I also have several Warriors and Dork Diaries series books as well - thanks to my youngest. This leads me to another fabulous strength of eBooks - they can be purchased or downloaded at any time, and virtually instantly.
There are many educational reading apps, and some are stand-out for me. My only "later" reader, my son, was very frustrated at Kindergarten age (we homeschooled at the time), and for some reason, Bob Books was the magic series which allowed him to learn (of course, it is also possible he was simply developmentally ready). Because of this, I retained an affinity to this series due to his love of the series, and was thrilled to discover there is now four Bob Books apps for emergent readers. It is also a credible series and source that can be trusted.
Another app I was thrilled to find was "Sentence Builder". It focuses on connector words, which it claims makes up 80% of the English language. This is brilliant. The slot-machine-like sliding panels make sentence building easy, helping students to learn correct grammar, while also enjoying a fun and pleasurable interface.
A stand-out app by the name of "Reading Comprehension,"is one in which helps students (and teachers and parents) determine comprehension levels, as well as being centered on nonfiction. This is excellent for boys (statistically speaking), as well as being of current emphasis among the newer Common Core State Standards.
Dictionary.com's downloadable app grabbed my attention because it does more than simply allow one to look up words, but also features many of the interesting services and features contained on the actual website.
On a related note, another app that seemed download-worthy was "American Wordspeller." This ingenious app lets students search for words like a dictionary, and solves a common (and frustrating) problem - the student doesn't have to know how to spell it to find it. This is something that Google has long practiced, and for this very reason.
In sum, there is a plethora of eBooks and literacy apps for children, developed for general as well as quite specific teaching purposes and audiences (including special needs). While responsible use is important, the choices are almost endless.This is amazing boon for teachers, when a solution is available at your fingertips as soon as you locate it, just by downloading. You could search, find, review and have it in your students' hands in the matter of minutes should a need arise. What else could help increase a classroom's dynamic so efficiently? But never forget that this is a wonderful supplement for the classroom and not an across-the-board replacement - at least for now.
I should preface this by saying I was an early adopter of e-Readers. I went through several generations of Barnes & Noble's Nook, later switching to a Kindle HD Fire, and, ultimately, using the Kindle and Nook apps to access all my titles via other devices that do more; namely my iPhone and iPad. My love of eBooks was extended to my children as well as the classrooms I volunteered in. My children had e-readers, even though the majority of the titles (and all previous to owning an e-Reader) were physical paper books. I was not as fond of them for my children until they reached chapter-book above stages, however - primarily due to the distracting bells and whistles embedded in the eBooks. However, this is a subjective stance, since my children were all high-level readers and devoured traditional books since a young age. In the classroom, the screen size of my Nook and Kindle tablets was not as large as my current iPad, which was limiting - but I would use my iPad for read-alouds now due to the increased size of my current iPad screen versus my old tablet e-readers. In a darkened room I suspect this might be particularly engaging, especially as a novelty. But does it have to be one?
The reasons I love the idea of e-readers in the classroom - many of which mirror why I love them myself - is the portability of almost unlimited texts (physical books are extraordinarily heavy), the ease of ability to dynamically highlight, take notes, bookmark, and search the content (among many others). Another benefit of e-Readers is of particular value to the classroom: their ability to narrate. Studies show that reading aloud to children is the most effective teaching tool, and teachers have limited time (and, unfortunately, some teachers have poor oral fluency). For students who need to be read aloud to, or engage better with auditory input - this is invaluable. While it is true that narrations are not always as good as a teacher's - depending upon the teacher and recorded narration, it can even be better.
I recently downloaded several new free books from Amazon for children - in fact, prior to this I wasn't even aware Amazon had a section for the top 100 free eBooks for children! Unfortunately, because they are free, the quality varied widely - especially among picture books. Some were poorly formatted for e-reading, although one, The Ugly Duckling, was done very well. For older students not looking for illustrations, the choices are even better. Some also might render differently (and better) on an actual Kindle - for instance, I wasn't able to change from portrait to landscape for some picture books, nor zoom in (despite instructions on how to do so - presumably for a dedicated e-reader) - but in classrooms where these devices were supplied or allowed, this would not be a problem. Furthermore, on a PC (more common in classrooms than tablets or e-readers at the time of this writing), the screen size would be significantly larger - making this point moot.
My older paid copy of the eBook Flora & Ulysses has none of the above problems, and even on my phone I can zoom in and move around the page. Outside of Amazon there are probably more quality free items, I simply used Amazon because I regularly use the kindle app, and keep all my books there, and therefore could add to my collection and keep them in one accessible place. And, of course, eBooks like my copy of Tuck Everlasting are a breeze. As an added bonus - the eBooks are significantly cheaper than their paper counterparts. Apparently, I also have several Warriors and Dork Diaries series books as well - thanks to my youngest. This leads me to another fabulous strength of eBooks - they can be purchased or downloaded at any time, and virtually instantly.
There are many educational reading apps, and some are stand-out for me. My only "later" reader, my son, was very frustrated at Kindergarten age (we homeschooled at the time), and for some reason, Bob Books was the magic series which allowed him to learn (of course, it is also possible he was simply developmentally ready). Because of this, I retained an affinity to this series due to his love of the series, and was thrilled to discover there is now four Bob Books apps for emergent readers. It is also a credible series and source that can be trusted.
Another app I was thrilled to find was "Sentence Builder". It focuses on connector words, which it claims makes up 80% of the English language. This is brilliant. The slot-machine-like sliding panels make sentence building easy, helping students to learn correct grammar, while also enjoying a fun and pleasurable interface.
A stand-out app by the name of "Reading Comprehension,"is one in which helps students (and teachers and parents) determine comprehension levels, as well as being centered on nonfiction. This is excellent for boys (statistically speaking), as well as being of current emphasis among the newer Common Core State Standards.
Dictionary.com's downloadable app grabbed my attention because it does more than simply allow one to look up words, but also features many of the interesting services and features contained on the actual website.
On a related note, another app that seemed download-worthy was "American Wordspeller." This ingenious app lets students search for words like a dictionary, and solves a common (and frustrating) problem - the student doesn't have to know how to spell it to find it. This is something that Google has long practiced, and for this very reason.
In sum, there is a plethora of eBooks and literacy apps for children, developed for general as well as quite specific teaching purposes and audiences (including special needs). While responsible use is important, the choices are almost endless.This is amazing boon for teachers, when a solution is available at your fingertips as soon as you locate it, just by downloading. You could search, find, review and have it in your students' hands in the matter of minutes should a need arise. What else could help increase a classroom's dynamic so efficiently? But never forget that this is a wonderful supplement for the classroom and not an across-the-board replacement - at least for now.
Comments
Post a Comment