Literacyspecialinterest issue no 3 literacypln iste

LITERACY SPECIAL INTEREST Journal of the Page 1

LITERACY Professional Learning Network OF ISTE International Society for Technology in Education Inaugural Issue Spring 2015

LITERACY SPECIAL INTEREST Journal of the

LITERACY Professional Learning Network OF ISTE International Society for Technology in Education Inaugural Issue Spring 2015

Rights and Permissions Submitting writers assure the journal that the works they provide for inclusion are their own and present no infringements on any rights associated with them. Submitting writers assure that these works are original and the property of the submitter (unless otherwise specified) and their submission represents no violation of copyright or trademark or other variety of intellectual property rights, anywhere. Submitting writers retain rights to their work, other than for inclusion in this journal, for which they receive no compensation. All parties interested in reprinting or republishing these works, in whole or in part, should contact the submitting writer directly. The journal will not be responsible for rights issues or considerations associated with the works that appear in it, which are the sole responsibility of the submitting writers. The sole purpose of the journal is to promote the professional knowledge of educators, is free of any commercial considerations, and does not seek to promote any products or services offered anywhere for profit or other consideration.

Submissions Those interested in submitting articles for inclusion in this journal should first submit a summary to: literacyspecialinterest@gmail.com, putting the words “Journal Article Summary� in the subject field of the email. On receiving feedback from the journal, prospective submitters may complete and submit a full manuscript.

Editorial Committee Mark Gura Michele Haiken BJ Neary

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TABLE of CONTENTS 1. Up Front

By Mark Gura - Page 4 2. Storytelling, Discussion, & Analysis: Twitter As a Classroom Tool for Middle School Students

By Michele L. Haiken, Ed.D. – Page 5 3. Video First: Presenting Content as Video before Presenting It as Text = Literacy Learning Results

By Dr. Rose Reissman – Page 13 4. Literacy in 3d

By Robert Quinn – Page 20 5. Technology Transforms a Literacy Coach’s Debriefing Session

By Susan Sabella! – Page 24 6. A New, Dynamic Literacy Framework to Accelerate Literacy Learning

By Lynnea West – Page 32 7. Persuasive Writing, Technology, and Animal Rescue

By Amanda Xavier – Page 37 8. Turning Up the HEAT on Literacy: Making Connections with the CCSS and ISTE Standards

by Evelyn Wassel, Ed.D. – Page 43

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Up Front This journal offers accomplished educators the opportunity to share in detail aspects of their work that represent significant achievements and breakthroughs in working with students and colleagues.

Teaching and learning are now very much part of the Connected World, and more important than ever. As much of the focus of today’s curriculum is directed at preparing students to take their own place in that world, it makes perfect sense for educators to participate directly, modelling ways that connecting enhances their practice and ongoing professional learning and growth. Consequently, sharing one’s professional experience takes on more meaning that it did previously, as well.

Over the years, many have alluded to a “Circle of Readers and Writers”, a phenomenon in which readers aspire to be writers, read to inform their writing, and eventually publish, impacting others who will read their efforts and bring that into their own evolving development as writers. When people, and I suppose teachers especially, have near instant access to a near limitless amount of reading material, a Mount Everest of content that is easily self-personalized to reflect interests, fancies, and needs, this phenomenon picks up momentum and moves at transformational velocity .

This has crept up on us rapidly through the emergence of Google and other modern search engines, and a quickly growing body of the results of the basic human needs to listen and be heard that are realized through Web Publishing’s ever widening body of methods and resources.

While all of us live in a world in which these things are true, not all yet see it, perceive its importance, and embrace the opportunity and responsibility it represents.

Fortunately, the writers who’ve contributed articles to this issue of the journal do and have provided some fascinating and important information and perspective.

In the near past, and to a large degree still, publishing online is seen as something of a lesser stature than publishing in print. When we consider the aforementioned Circle of Readers and Writers, though, and how this idea relates to Education and the means available to it to improve and move itself to the next level, we can see that the opposite is true. Reading and Publishing online is a key method by which Teaching is able to effect the changes that it needs to bring about. With that spirit and understanding the Literacy Professional Learning Network is proud to publish this 3rd issue of Literacy Special Interest journal.

Collegially, Mark Gura, President Literacy Professional Learning Network of ISTE

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Storytelling, Discussion, & Analysis: Twitter As a Classroom Tool for Middle School Students

By Michele L. Haiken, Ed.D. In 140 characters or less, meaningful conversations can occur. In my four years of using Twitter as a personal professional development tool, I have learned from amazing people on Twitter and collaborated with many educators around the world in order to improve my teaching and strengthen my students’ learning. As result of my experience in utilizing this social media tool for professional growth and learning, I knew that there was an opportunity for me to share this technology with my students to empower them as readers, writers, and global citizens.

Twitter is a powerful online social media tool that allows people to engage in conversations and discuss topics that are relevant to their lives. Ninety eight percent of my students are already using social media and have personal computers, tablets, and or mobile devices. Twitter was a technology tool that some were using socially, in addition to Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat.

As their teacher, and a person who embraces technology in her classroom, I wanted to show my students how we can utilize Twitter as an educational tool for learning and also promote positive digital citizenship.

It all began when I read a blog post on The Nerdy Book Club blog by young adult author, James Preller in November 2013 on the power of story and how “stories are essential to our lives.� I was so moved by the blog post, I immediately bought his book Bystander, a fictional story about bullying at a middle school in Long Island. As a middle school teacher, this topic is pertinent to my teaching and my quest to promote empathy within school culture. As I devoured the book, I realized that I wanted all my students to read Bystander and the power of its story as it relates to our school and culture where bullying is a daily occurrence. Hence, I assigned Bystander as a required reading for my eighth grade English students for their outside reading requirement. In addition to reading the book, I wanted to engage my students in authentic discussions about the book and share their responses, connections, and questions about the book. A huge proponent of Twitter as a professional development tool, I required my students to participate in four Twitter book chats after school hours to address the complex characters and issues raised in the book.

Since our lives are so packed with activities, homework and family time, I knew designating a time to a Twitter-based conversation about the book would gain more participants in the outside reading assignment.

My eighth grade students are required to read one outside reading book each quarter and complete an assessment project on the book. My students who are interested in taking Honors classes in High School are required to read two outside reading books each quarter and complete two projects. I offer students a list of recommended titles the beginning of each quarter based on genre (nonfiction, graphic novels, memoirs, etc.) or theme (World War II and social injustice texts to align with Social Studies) for students to choose an outside reading book. Although,

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bullying is a topic that students are bombarded with in school with special assemblies and Health classes, it was never a topic in our English class readings and discussions. I was so moved by James Preller’s Bystander and bothered by the covert bullying throughout the school I might see or hear about that I decided that it would be an all grade read for my students. There were a few complaints and groans when I introduced the book as a book about bullying in a middle school.

For the most part, the majority of my students enjoyed the book and the Twitter book chat discussions even more.

When I introduced the assignment to my classes I included a reading schedule with set dates for the Twitter chats meetings and a Twitter Permission Letter/ Code of Conduct to be shared with their parents and guardians, to be signed and returned to me. I organized the Twitter book chats weekly for forty five minutes for five consecutive weeks to discuss the text, share our thoughts, make connections, and ask questions. I really wanted students to talk with one another about the text, rather than just answer my questions I posted about the book. The Twitter permission letter to families addressed my intentions and objectives in utilizing Twitter for this assignment. To confirm that parents received and read the letter, I required parents and guardians and my students to sign the letter and return it to me prior to the first Twitter book chat. Only the parents of one student contacted me to tell me they were uncomfortable with their daughter accessing social media for a school assignment. I respected their feelings and offered the student an alternative assignment. Out of ninety-three students, I had over sixty students participating in the Twitter book chats. The letter of consent shared with parents is below in Figure 1.

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Figure 1: Parent Permission Twitter Code of Conduct Over the next two months, English 8R students who are working towards an “A” are required to read Bystander by James Preller and participate in three Twitter book chats regarding the text. This letter is to give you more information about the project and to address internet safety.

Twitter is a micro-blogging tool that is designed to allow acquaintances to stay in touch with each other. Twitter was originally intended as a social networking tool, but it is quickly growing into a wide variety of applications. For example, if you have a Twitter account, you might send a post (called a tweet). Your friends who also have Twitter accounts can sign up to “follow” you. When you send a tweet, all of your followers get a notice either via text message to their cellular device or to a desktop computer program.

Besides the social aspects of Twitter, there are many possibilities. Businesses have made Twitter accounts to alert customers to sales. Celebrities have made accounts to keep their fans up to date.

Radio stations & DJs have made Twitter accounts to allow listeners to send in questions, comments, or to discuss the topics on the show.

So, what does this have to do with middle school English? In world of education technology, Twitter is a hot topic. Many teachers are trying to integrate this technology into their classroom in different ways. One of my personal passions is to explore and work with emerging technologies, so I am using Twitter to help make my classroom better.

For this project I would like the students to create a Twitter account that they would use for school purposes only. Three times between December and January, students will access Twitter to participate in a Twitter chat. They will answer and raise questions about topics addressed in the book Bystander by using the hashtag #RMSBystander.

Students will understand that they can partake in social media for educational purposes, and they will learn to practice positive digital citizenship behavior.

The week before our first Twitter book chat I held a meeting after school to introduce Twitter to the students and offer a “how-to” demonstration in setting up a Twitter account and using Twitter. Each student was given a cheat sheet that covered the Dos and Don’ts of Tweeting and explained an anatomy of a Tweet. I recommended students who already had a Twitter account to make a new account specifically for our class project so that I do not have access to their pictures from the weekend parties and other social media sharing they do with their friends. I was clear in reminding students that we were using Twitter for educational purposes and that my own account is for that, I do not share pictures of my family and food or discuss personal matters online. For me, Twitter is strictly professional and used in a positive manner.

Students used a hashtag to follow the Twitter conversation and be included in the book chat.

Google defines a hashtag as “a word or phrase preceded by a hash or pound sign (#) and used to identify messages on a specific topic.” Our hashtag was #RMSBystander and with each new book and Twitter chat we included a hashtag that included the book title and “RMS,” the initials

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of our middle school. Every time a student tweeted, he or she included the hashtag in their tweet.

Everyone had a voice on Twitter and no one was able to hide during the discussions. During the Twitter book discussions students shared their own stories, made connections, and critically addressed the issue of bullying in our school and society at large. I was impressed by their honesty and keen awareness. I did start off the Twitter chat by asking questions for students to respond to throughout the Twitter chat but that always lead to deeper conversations and comments posted by my students responding to one another. The students weren’t just answering the questions that I posed during the Twitter book chat but were also talking with each other in an online environment, supporting and responding to each other’s ideas. I noticed that students who might not talk to each other in class, face to face, were responding to each other online and offering constructive discussions piggy-backing on each other’s ideas. Students learned that a retweet was like a high five, pointing out an insightful comment and students looked forward to me retweeting their comments or looked for one another to retweet in agreement or support.

Positive communication was modeled throughout the Twitter discussions.

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Figure 2: Excerpt of Twitter Book Chat for Bystander by James Preller Dylan Urb @DylanurbRMS Jan 20 @eddiec0llins I agree punishment is only temporary so it doesn't really have any affect #RMSbystander Dennis K @Dennis_Kennelly Jan 20 @eddiec0llins I agree #rmsbystander Gavin Kenny @GavinKenny6 Jan 20 @TeachingFactor @mhs3535353535 They can have informative assemblies like we have #rmsbystander Dylan Urb @DylanurbRMS Jan 20 @TeachingFactor @abbyforesman1 I think that the bullying in our school is hard to pinpoint. It’s either in whispers or online #RMSbystander Eddie Collins @eddiec0llins Jan 20 #rmsbystander I don't think punishment in school really stops kids from being bad because getting in trouble ups that kids bad reputation.

Samberg, Max @mhs3535353535 Jan 20 @TeachingFactor @GavinKenny6 they can make an effort but the kids decide the final outcome #RMSBystander Johannes Alvarez @JohannesAlvare2 Jan 20 #RMSBystander, yeah our school is not exactly perfect Brian L @BrianLarkin2000 Jan 20 #RMSBystander @dylanurbRMS yeah people are ignorant and don't listen at the assemblies sophie @sophie3murphy Jan 20 #RMSBystander I think more often than not teachers don't make anything better, that in the end the kids can end it Eddie Collins @eddiec0llins Jan 20 #rmsbystander @mhs3535353535 the kids are the ones who control the bullying because they are the bullies, victims, and bystanders.

Amanda Engels @amandae7246 Jan 20 @TeachingFactor They definitely don't end bullying, but I think students start 2 realize the awful effects it has #rmsbystander The Teaching Factor @TeachingFactor Jan 20 Q6: Can teachers and schools help students end bullying? #RMSBystander In reading the excerpt of the archived Twitter chat the student’s name appears along with their twitter name or “handle.” A person’s twitter handle begins with the @ symbol. My Twitter handle is @TeachingFactor. My students used their own names or pseudonyms for their Twitter identity. Below the person’s Twitter identity and handle on the archived Twitter excerpt is the actual tweet. On Twitter a tweet can be a maximum of 140 characters, including spaces and punctuation. To be part of a specific conversation, a hashtag must be included in the Tweet.

Students included the hashtags with their Tweet so that everyone who is part of the conversation

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can view the Tweets, not just the Tweets of people they are following. Students also included specific handles in their Tweets to directly address something to person said or asked in a prior Tweet. In reading the excerpt, the tweets are chronological with the most current tweets on the top. At the bottom of the excerpt is the question that I posed to my students. I label the questions Q1, Q2, and Q6 is towards the end of our chat.

Students respond to me by including my Twitter handle (@teachingfactor) and also include the handle of others they are talking directly with. At the end of the evening, I archived chat by copying and pasting the entire chat in a Google Document on Google Drive. Another archived tool is Storify (http://storify.com), a free online tool that archive Twitter chats and highlight the top Tweets in a slideshow format, but for longer Twitter chats, I found that Google Drive was the best tool for archiving all the Tweets generated throughout the Twitter Chats.

Student conversations on Twitter weaved in and out of the text with comments and side conversations about our own school. Students admitted that bullying is a huge problem in many schools across the United States, and our own school is not immune. Social media sometimes becomes a means in which bullying takes place. But, by facilitating the Twitter chats, I wanted to promote Twitter as a social media tool in a responsible and educational manner. I was impressed by my students honesty about bullying in our school and shared the archived chat with my school principal and school social worker to highlight the conversations that one teacher and a her students were having about bullying and one book about bullying. My students were excited about the Twitter book discussions and asked for more book discussions online. As one of my students replied at the end of the chat, “This chat allowed me to think of the reading in new ways.”

After the series of Twitter Chats on Bystander, our second Twitter book chat was with the book The Wave by Todd Strasser. Written in 1981, The Wave is based on a true incident that occurred in a high school history class in Palo Alto, California, in 1969. A high school teacher introduces a new “system” into his classroom to promote learning and success and illustrates how propaganda and peer pressure help Nazism rise in Germany in the 1930s. Students were studying World War II in their Social Studies class and Strasser’s text helps to extend the conversations about injustice and history outside of the classroom. Currently, my students are reading and tweeting about I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World (Young Reader’s Edition) by Malala Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick. With each of the books read and discussed students make connections and judgments across texts, drawing conclusions, and sharing big ideas that surface from reading and conversing about the text. In our Twitter chats the students are engaged and responding to one another. The Twitter book chats help students monitor comprehension, merge their thinking with new ideas, react to, respond to, and often question the information.

Twitter is one digital media tool that can be used effectively for discussing stories and the powerful impact they have on our lives. Twitter also allows space for students to critically discuss topics that are relevant to their lives and share stories, images, and other links to

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meaningful texts that address the same topics. Twitter helps extend classroom discussions outside the classroom and for students to deepen their thinking through tweeting about reading.

Through my experiences using Twitter in the classroom, I have been able to capture the “richness” of conversations and the “complexity of experiences” when sharing stories.

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Twitter Resources for Teachers Kathy Schrock’s Guide to Everything Twitter http://www.schrockguide.net/twitter-for-teachers.html A Teacher’s Guide to Twitter (Edudemic) http://www.edudemic.com/guides/guide-to-twitter/ 50 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom via TeachHUB http://www.teachhub.com/50-ways-use-twitter-classroom EDUHACKER’s Teaching with Twitter http://www.eduhacker.net/digital-humanities/resources-teaching-twitter.html Works Cited Preller, J. (2013). Everybody Else is Already Taken. Retrieved from http://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2013/10/27/everybody-else-is-already-taken-by-jamespreller/ Preller, J. (2011). Bystander. New York, NY: Square Fish.

Strasser, T. (1981) The Wave. New York, NY: Laurel Leaf Books.

Yousafzai, M. and McCormick, P. (2014). I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World (Young Reader’s Edition). New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.

About the Author: Michele L. Haiken, Ed.D. is a middle school English teacher at Rye Middle School and an adjunct professor at Manhattanville College. She is enthusiastic about integrating technology into the classroom to promote critical thinking and learning. You can read more about the projects she and her students are involved in on her blog http://theteachingfactor.com.

Contact her at michele@theteachingfactor.com

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Video First: Presenting Content as Video before Presenting It as Text = Literacy Learning Results

By Dr. Rose Reissman I am a Title 1, middle school ELA teacher. A very significant number of the students I work with are newly arrived ESL students. I’ve helped these struggling readers dramatically by adopting online videos, many from common resources like YouTube, and using them to hook and prepare them for the traditional text and literature reading assignments I give them after they view the videos. Starting off with video from YouTube with my English Language Learners, or for that matter, with underachieving Native English Speakers can be the key to supporting readers in handling and learning from related, traditional print content.

Using videos as a starting point, digital text to start from provides a great storytelling platform for discussion that is accessible to all students. This is an especially effective way to immediately level (find a commonly understood /comprehensible informational/fictional narrative) the range of reading for a broad spectrum of readers, including ESL, special needs and visual learners, who may be working in the same middle school classroom or learning the same Common Core ELA skills. I particularly like this approach when I have my students working on journal writing reflection or argument pieces.

Using this approach, readers who are reluctant to make immediate, engaged, emotional, argument or content connections with a conventional print text will be drawn in by the visual and spoken content. Of course, many students are also unable to “engage” with the text because they genuinely lack the English academic vocabulary or special nuanced vocabulary needed to get the “print” idea. But even if they simply hear some of the same vocabulary that they cannot comprehend in a print format, they can visually contextualize, see, and grasp the meaning as part of a digital viewing (a form of range of reading texts required by the Common Core).

Video First would seem to be an obvious strategy for middle school teachers, particularly those who are serving majority students who do not test on grade level, those from non-English Language speaking homes, or are special needs students, particularly those with ADHD, dyslexia or other challenges.

Yet, how few teachers who would concede that using video first to engage and excite such students, who often are inherently, or by choice or nurture digital learners, actually do start with video?

Starting with video is an approach to understanding things that has good precedent. For instance, currently on sports broadcasts, when there is a debate about whether a play was within the rules or was a violation, the umpire, manager, or players who want to argue the judgment ask

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immediately to go to video. Unlike these video savvy sports players, though, most educators, even those who are into video as adults and consumers outside of their work in school, still lead with the print text book or article first because that was the way they successfully learned themselves, or had the habit reinforced in their student teaching experience.

Yet, were ELA educators to lead with the video, just think how many more reluctant student readers and writers, students who are behind in traditional ELA test scores and disinterested in traditional printed, would be drawn into compelling content available in print that teachers can set before them.

As an English teacher I find it effective to present my students with a mixture of hard copy print content items (articles, books, essays, graphic narratives, etc.), videos, and audio texts on the same topic or theme. This approach generally works well with majority ESL or ELL background learners and classes of students who score poorly on important tests. But until recently, I, too, have been guilty of using video, only as a second platform after students have examined comparative print texts.

But recently, I stumbled into reversing my usual print text first, then following with digital content item sequence. The success I found by reversing this sequence proved to be an important, inspiring addition to my understanding of appropriate instruction for today’s students.

Background of the Video First Approach As an emotionally engaged world citizen, I am concerned that recent events such as the tragedy of 9/11/2001, will become “Ancient History” to my millennial, middle school students who were born in the late 1990’s and beyond. As part of a project I had them do on this theme, I recently had my sixth graders look at news articles related to 9/11, items about the Survivor Tree and the Canine Rescue Dog who would return to Ground Zero. Both of these print news stories were readily available online.

My classroom collaborator, Mr. Grzelecki, shared my enthusiasm for using actual, ongoing news items to teach both citizenship and literacy.

His goal was to get the students to develop persuasive arguments as to whether or not it was important to students born just around the 9/11 events (or after) to commemorate them each year and whether focusing on articles about a surviving tree and a rescue dog were appropriate at all in light of human death. However, I was concerned that expecting students whose reading levels were mostly just on or above 6th grade level and many of whom had been born in Bangladesh or Uzbekistan might be pushing text information comprehension and engagement, with complex, sophisticated content, too far.

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While the articles Mr. Grzelecki and I had gleaned for this key life and literacy focus activity were on too advanced a Lexile Level (a measure of reading level ranging from below 200L for emerging readers to 1600 L for advanced readers) for these new-to-middle school students. Early in the school year we both realized that if we tried to “lead” with the print articles first, we would quickly lose our 9/11 life lesson teachable opportunities.

Stumbling into the Video First Strategy Instead of initially focusing on the special domain 9/11 vocabulary of “First Responders,” “memorials”, “FEMA”, and other necessary terms, we both felt that by presenting videos we would begin with compelling scenes about the themes and stories the students would be working on.

While I argued for footage of the actual collapse of the World Trade Towers, my colleague remembered some more uplifting video that would put these millennial sixth graders in touch with the presence and potent beauty of the World Trade Towers rather than the devastation and loss playing itself out as it collapses. He suggested that we use the Philippe Petit tightrope walk across the Towers as an intro for the students. This would give them a sense of what had been lost. He also felt that the magical personality of Petit on camera and his obvious joy in eluding the tower security personnel to achieve his walk, would serve to emotionally lighten the tragedy of 9/11. Indeed, as we watched the footage, even the students who had trouble with Petit’s accent or some of the wording included, watched with the same fascination evidenced by the audience of New Yorkers watching below on the street. When the arresting officers and the building authorities described the applause and cheers Petit earned for his walk and how he rested on the tightrope as though he were alone on a beach, the students, too, watched the scene with wide eyed joy. Asked about Petit’s comment that he looked a bird flying above him in the eye as an aloft companion, the students were able to explain why he did that. From the inspiring Petit, the students were able to explain in reflective journals the lure of the Twin Towers and the loss felt when they crumpled after the terrorist attack. Some students had actually read the children’s book about Petit’s feat, Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordechai Gerstein and others had read excerpts of Petit’s Man on a Wire. They used the video as a jumping off point for online and print research into Petit. They were then motivated to read lexically challenging print materials because they had digital schema background knowledge to use to support print vocabulary context clues and comprehension.

Although a sixth grade school assembly would later run a locally produced video with actual scenes of the towers’ collapse and the makeshift memorials, Mr. Grzelecki and I chose to use video of the Survivor Tree and the Canine Rescue Dog both of which were non-print news stories to introduce a focus on resilience and survival. Interestingly, when the students pre-

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surveyed (before seeing the video) on whether focus should be placed on survivor trees or animals, they did not think that focus was merited. However, after viewing the videos, many changed their minds. They listened avidly to the persons who restored the tree branch into a flourishing cedar tree that was returned to the site. They witnessed how the resilience of this tree symbolized and inspired persons at the site and focused the visitors on the theme of resilience.

They watched and enjoyed the joke when Tom Brokaw on Today gave a shout out to his Labrador, talking about how well behaved 15 year old rescue canine Bretagne was during her owner Denise Corless’ speech. More to the 9/11 commemoration theme, the students learned firsthand from Denise and from the photos and footage how the dog served as a therapy dog for those rescue teams who could not find anyone to rescue. Again, the video opened a visual and oral spoken portal for learning, collaborative conversations, and metacognitive conversations about how they could tell what Bretagne thought and did as part of her canine rescue mission.

We highly recommend that colleagues make use of our Video First approach and have conceived the following framework to guide them in using it to plan and implement learning activities: 1. Collect print texts which are Lexile level appropriate and challenging for students and represent desired informational literature for fact and detail and journal prompt or reflection writing.

2. Use the Video Viewing as an opportunity for Range of Reading whole group discussion that specifically introduce special domain or academic vocabulary that will reiterate in the selected print readings.

Our students spent several periods discussing the videos and writing reflections on the larger issues they suggested: Why spend time on detailing the feat and fascination of Philippe Petit, when the towers collapsed? Is there a need after over a decade for commemorative ceremonies and coverage about 9/11? To what extent is 9/11 relevant to students born after 1998 or those not from NYC or NY State? Why might it be relevant or not relevant? If there are commemorative ceremonies or a need to spend time in school talking about 9/11/2001, should any percent of that time be focused on a survivor tree or a canine rescue dog who comes to revisit the memorial after a decade? How important is this resilience in light of the human deaths?

As ELA educators, I and Mr. Grzelecki and the majority of our colleagues also envision ELA skills as supporting critical informed thinking and decision making on social issues.

3. Build from the discussions to reflection and arguments on these questions of life and literacy for which there are not a slew of correct answers, but rather a range of persuasive

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responses, which can be argued with details from print readings and from further research. This nicely situates the use of the video which was almost if not universally accessible for all students as a platform for mandated Common Core persuasive writing training and argument writing plus short research, 4. Beyond print research, the style of the videos and indeed almost by definition the format of a network news show such as the Today excerpt or the focus of a documentary such as the PBS excerpt on Petit or the You Tube survivor tree excerpt, is to model student potential interviewing techniques. Both these videos have interviews on them. If the students are asked to go out as either interviewers or oral historians to get their family, friends and neighbors reaction to the issues raised as they saw the videos, they can then do speaking, listening, collaborating, interviewing and writing as they survey reaction to these issues beyond their classroom. Their writings can be persuasive papers or arguments or narratives of their interviews written as dialogues (narrative writings).

5. Students can also be asked to compare and contrast in terms of range of readings and writings, the information and perspective/author/filmmaker purpose of the video works and the print works. To what extent do the Survivor Tree and Bretagne Canine Rescue dog differ in content or perspective from the print articles on these subjects? What information about Petit is offered in the video in contrast to the data in print? To what extent is the video “shot” to persuade the audience of the director’s message or purpose in shooting it? How does this differ from the author’s use of quotes alone?

As is obvious from the steps outlined for the practice of Video First, this approach is not confined to use in and for the 9/11 yearly commemoration alone. Teachers of students who represent a broad range of Lexile levels; English fluency and proficiency; visual learners, ESL/Newcomers, and special needs students, should adapt this approach for any informational theme or content. Go to the video first, and then use it as a catapult for multiple reading, writing, speaking, listening and language lessons that prompt life and Common Core literacy.

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About the Author: Dr. Rose Reissman is a veteran English Language Arts educator who founded the Writing Institute Program currently based in Ditmas IS 62. Under the leadership of Barry Kevorkian, Principal, 18 educators collaborate with Dr. Reissman to produce literacy projects. Mr. Downes (Head Advisor), Ms. Xavier (ELA Editor), and Dr. Reissman are faculty advisors for the Ditmas Bulldog Buzz, a student newspaper that reports on local neighborhood, New York State and International News as it affects the students’ lives as citizens of the world. roshchaya@gmail.com

Videos and Resources: 9/11 'Survivor Tree' Returns to Ground Zero http://youtu.be/5bLw6bREcbU The Stories They Tell www.youtube.com/user/911memorial Last 9/11 Ground Zero Dog http://www.today.com/pets/9-11-ground-zero-search-dog-still-lends-1D80137575 Twin Towers Tightrope Walk-Phillip Petit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ddpV1GvF7E Lexile Framework https://lexile.com

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Bibliography: Calkins, Lucy, Mary Ehrenworth, and Christopher Lehman. (2012). Pathways to the Common Core: Accelerating Achievement. NH: Heinemann.

Rogave, Faith. (2011). Digital and Media Literacy. Connecting Culture and Classroom. Ca: Corwin.

Schade-Eckert, Lisa. (2006). How does it mean? Engaging reluctant readers through literary theory. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Foer, Johnathan Safran. (2005). Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. New York: Scholastic Gerstein, Mordechai. (2003). The Man Who Walked Between the Towers. New York: Scholastic.

Petit, Philippe. (2008). Man on the Wire. Skywatch.

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Literacy in 3d

By Robert Quinn The intersection of literacy and technology is simultaneously murky and vibrant. Notre Dame Preparatory School in Towson, Maryland has recently endeavored to explore that intersection in order to improve and expand our literacy instruction across disciplines, specifically with regards to 3d printing. With the English department taking the lead, the school recently designed and began implementing a series of lessons that made use of two 3d printers in our building. These machines, (Makerbot 2.0 and UPrint), have allowed our students to more authentically develop their core literacy skills even while also addressing their technology literacy development. As Gambrell and Mazzoni remarked in Principles of Best Practice: Finding the Common Ground (1999), “becoming fully literate means, among many things, being able to independently use strategies to construct meaning from text, draw upon texts to build conceptual understanding, effectively communicate ideas orally and in writing, as well as possess an intrinsic desire to read and write” (p.11). Through our implementation of lessons incorporating the 3d printers, we have seen new energy in each of the elements of this definition.

One lesson involves students using a 3d design to produce an artifact from a piece of literature as a focus for a reading and interpretation of text. One student might use a skull as a focus for the “Alas Poor Yorick” soliloquy from Hamlet. Another might choose a chain and comb to focus on “The Gift of the Magi”. In this lesson, students practice the basic literacy task of identifying text and finding its meaning. The 3d printer allows students who are kinesthetic learners to find a means of access to this task. More importantly, students are not limited by the artifacts that are ready at hand. They may design almost any object for the purpose of accessing meaning in text.

Building conceptual understanding is a hallmark of an 11th grade lesson connected to study of the Battle of Gettysburg and the novel The Killer Angels. Students print a topographical map of the battlefield using our 3d printer in order to contemplate alternative outcomes based upon troop and resource deployment. Students then develop a game using pieces also designed with our 3d printer technology in order to convey an understanding of the character motivations and actions throughout the novel. Students use the design and gaming experiences as springboards into writing persuasive letters to civil war generals arguing for alternative approaches.

Another lesson we have developed focuses extensively on the key literacy skills of oral and written communication. By using our 3d printer to plan and print visual art artifacts, students design a gallery walk experience in our classroom that provides a canvas for oral and written expression. Students are asked to communicate their emotional responses to the various artifacts, practicing the skills necessary to authentically and effectively connect with an audience.

Afterwards, each student chooses one other student’s artifact to respond to in writing.

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Each of these lessons demonstrate how a 3d printer program can be used to augment a literacy program, but one might wonder if the results could as easily be achieved without the use of the technology. Could a Halloween store skull substitute for the skull in the Hamlet activity, or store-bought toy soldiers work for the Gettysburg game? What such considerations miss are the elements of context and motivation that are crucial to successful literacy instruction. Gambrell and Mazzoni (1999) remarked that “it is wholeness and context that give meaning to our experiences and to our learning” (p. 15). For literacy instruction to truly take root in our students, that instruction needs to be fully contextualized within a broader framework of both their education and their lives. Using progressive technology enables students to work across disciplinary lines, engaging them in simultaneous literacy and technology growth. In our program, student schedules that include English, Social Studies, Drama, Engineering and Art are integrated through assignments such as those outlined above. Literacy instruction needs to expand beyond the borders of the English classroom, and implementing 3d printing into our instruction enables us to provide a broader and more complete context for the acquisition of literacy skills.

Furthermore, “motivation exerts a tremendous force on what is learned and how and when it will be learned” (Gambrell, 1999, p. 17), and 3d printing proves to be a powerful motivator. The ability of children to see their ideas materialize in such a concrete and practical manner removes a significant barrier to literacy instruction. With 3d modeling, students can take ownership over their learning, specifying artifacts to exactly match the meaning they find in a text. In cultivating the “intrinsic desire” to read and write, teachers are constantly striving to connect these tasks with student experience and 3d printing affords exactly such an opportunity. As HofreuterLandone stated in From Blackboards to Smartboards (2004), “technology is powerful in education if it accomplishes something in the classroom that we could not do, or could not do well, without it” (p. 449). 3d printing technology allows us to personalize and differentiate literacy instruction well in a way that is more difficult to do without the technology. With 3d printing, limitations of artifacts for representation of a text are left behind, and students are motivated to push their thinking in natural directions.

Finally, the 3d printer emphasizes the design facet of these activities. Much like we promote choice when students engage in research and writing tasks, allowing students to design artifacts for 3d printing maintains the central role of the student in creating. When students design their own artifacts they have a greater sense of pride and connection to their work, and their literacy outcomes improve accordingly.

To be certain, obstacles and barriers exist, primarily along socio-economic lines, when thinking of the replicability of this approach. Nevertheless, it is our belief that the benefits to literacy instruction inherent in the implementation of 3d printing make overcoming those obstacles

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worthwhile. Among the difficulties that face replicating our approach is the segmentation and prescription of curricula in certain schools and districts. Though these curricula may be skill based and focused on the same kind of robust literacy instruction we are seeking, our interdisciplinary approach may not be something all schools or districts could or would adopt.

The lessons we have implemented would work even within a more segmented curricula, as there are software solutions that are freely available that could be used in any classroom with a computer.

Perhaps a more potent barrier is the economic cost of 3d printing. Hardware prices fall across a broad range, and material costs of printing can pile up. For schools and districts that have budgets that may absorb the hardware capital costs, printers such as ours range from 2500 to 15000 dollars. Personal 3d printer devices can be purchased for as little as 400 dollars. The scale of implementation may also be shifted so that lessons could involve collaborative classwide choices rather than student-by-student choices. With fewer artifacts printed, costs could be kept controlled. Schools or districts without budgets that could absorb capital cost could partner with universities or libraries, many of which are equipped with 3d printing capacity. An alternative path would be to work through cloud-based solutions, where schools would use the modeling software to queue their projects, and a third party would print the objects and mail them back to the school. In fact, a district could adopt exactly this kind of model, such that a small number of printers could service multiple schools within the district.

In considering the scalability of this approach to literacy instruction, we must look to the future with understanding of the pace of technology in our society. Though the barrier of cost may seem prohibitive for some schools and districts, the costs of 3d printing are reduced every year.

3d printing technology has existed for at least 30 years, but has only recently begun to be affordable to schools. That trend will continue, and what is unaffordable for a school or district today may well be within reach tomorrow. As Hofreuter-Landone (2004) expressed, we “look forward to the day when we discuss student learning and innovations in the curriculum without fanfare over the use of technology. How absurd it would seem today to remark on the inclusion of blackboards, or white boards, in every room as if their hanging on the wall alone said something about the learning experience taking place in that classroom” (p.455). 3d printing may or may not become the next version of the blackboard, a tool that is ubiquitous in the classroom, but the focus ought to be on the learning outcomes that the technology can facilitate rather than the tool itself. In this regard, the barrier of socio-economics looms only to be overcome so that improved instruction can be made available to all.

Authentic literacy instruction empowers students, accessing reading, writing and speaking skills as a means to self-expression and deepened understanding of and interaction with each student’s environments. As Freire (1968) posited in The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, “Knowledge

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emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other” (p. 53).

The incorporation of 3d printing technology into literacy instruction encourages precisely this humanizing character of education. By entrusting students to be creative and personal in their approach to literacy tasks, lessons incorporating 3d printing technology create students who are “now critical co-investigators in dialogue with the teacher” (Freire, 1968, p. 62). Ironically, 3d printing automates the fabrication of artifacts as means to a pedagogy that is anti-fabrication and anti-automation. Students are viewed and valued as individuals and given the tools to fully realize that individuality in the context of literacy practice.

3d printers are quickly becoming a common part of the technology backdrop in independent schools. Too frequently, these schools are acquiring the technology as a “bell and whistle” without much regard to the pedagogical impact of the tool. Our program at Notre Dame Preparatory School has demonstrated the viability and impact of the technology on literacy education. Students and teachers alike indicate a renewed and deeper interest in common literacy tasks and skills because of the ability to uniquely tailor demonstrations of learning through the use of 3d printing technology. Ultimately, any technology is only a tool until it becomes a part of a solution. Schmoker (2006) illuminated that the “simple formula – reading, writing, and talking…is the heart of authentic literacy” (p. 52) 3d Printing in Literacy Instruction is one solution that transforms the bell and whistle marketing tool into an effective and authentic part of student learning and achievement in these core areas.

About the Author: Rob Quinn is the Director of the Bette Ellis O’Conor Humanities Program at Notre Dame Preparatory school, a program that uses team-taught student-centered courses to explore connections across disciplinary lines. He is a Faculty Technology Mentor, providing training and support for numerous academic technologies alongside his talented Director of Technology David Hennel and Technology Curriculum Specialist, Mia Walsh. Currently, Rob is also completing his M.S.Ed. in School Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania, where dialogue with colleagues Rob Howard, Bill Legat and Christian Cloud helped crystallize the ideas for this article.

Robert Quinn Director, Bette Ellis O’Conor Humanities Program Notre Dame Preparatory School Towson, MD 21286 quinnr@notredameprep.com

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Technology Transforms a Literacy Coach’s Debriefing Session

By Susan Sabella Expanding the Role of a Literacy Coach!

Although I am not considered a technology coach, as a literacy coach, I see the increased role that technology plays in literacy development. As a literacy coach and reading specialist, I often refer to two sets of standards to guide my practice. The International Reading Association, IRA, Standards for Reading Professionals and the International Society for Technology in Education, ISTE Standards for Coaches, urge me to support teachers in the area of technology. Coaches are encouraged to model, design, and implement technology-enhanced learning experiences that promote critical thinking (ISTE, 2011). The standards also led me to consider how I could infuse technology into coaching in order to enhance my job-embedded approach.

Expanding the Coach’s Toolkit!

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Over the past seven years as a literacy coach, I have added several tools to my coach’s toolkit. Recently, I began to incorporate a variety of digital media and collaborative cloud-based tools into my professional development sessions. In addition to facilitating grade specific professional development seminars, I am able to collaborate with my colleagues in a variety of ways. Collaboration occurs in-person during faculty meetings, voluntary study groups, in-class coaching, one-on-one planning sessions, and also virtually through the use of online tools such as Google Docs, Twitter, and video tutorials. This year, as part of the school district’s strategic plan, there has been an increased focus on technology integration. To support this goal, I created a virtual space, http://www.digilitcoach.com, in order to share examples of technology enhanced literacy lessons. Technology has transformed my ability to support teachers in the digital age because it provides a variety of tools that were not previously available to coaches.

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Debriefing Session Transformed The majority of my day as a coach is spent in classrooms. This form of embedded professional development provides the opportunity for timely and informal debriefing between the teacher and the coach. It allows the teacher an opportunity to ask specific questions about the coach’s lesson and to learn more about instructional practices related to the lesson’s focus.

A debriefing session can also provide a time for the teacher and coach to review student work that was connected to the lesson. Often, student work serves as a formative assessment and a springboard to the next planning session.

Before I modeled a compare/contrast lesson for a Grade 4 teacher, I decided to use the camera app on an iPad to take a few photos of student work samples to review during our debriefing session. As I walked into the classroom, I revised my plan to capture each step of the lesson. I used the iPad to take photos and a few brief video clips throughout the lesson. I took the iPad home that weekend, watched an iMovie tutorial, and created a very simple iMovie to highlight the flow of a technology enhanced learning experience. Throughout the teacher/coach debriefing session that followed on Monday, this iMovie was referred to and

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served as a visual and auditory diary of the coach’s lesson.

Please view the iMovie here: https://vimeo.com/104201991 Table 1 lists the connections between the video segments and the conferring points. Conferring points often include important instructional routines, language scaffolds, and terms that are specifically related to the learning standards. Each transition title included in the iMovie served as debriefing cue for each conferring point. The sequence of the iMovie mirrored the sequential flow of the lesson itself.

A traditional in-class coaching session often occurs between the coach and one teacher but iMovie allowed me to share a visual and audio representation of the lesson with additional teachers. The iMovie was shared with the rest of the Gr 4 team and served as a catalyst for the increased inclusion of a variety of media for student analysis and discussion. Technology enhanced my effectiveness as a coach because I was able to share this lesson with teachers that were not physically within the room when the lesson occurred.

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Table 1: Connections Between iMovie and Conferring Points

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Table 2: Contrasting a Traditional Debriefing Session with a Technology-Enhanced Debriefing Session!

Traditional debriefing sessions can be enhanced through the use of technology. The camera app and the iMovie app transformed my professional practice as a literacy coach. An iMovie can capture the structure of a lesson and also the instructional techniques that are used to ensure student success. Photos can also capture student work in a variety of stages.

Furthermore, scaffolded verbal or writing frames can be photographed and those photos can serve as exemplars for future verbal or writing frames. Finally, one of the most positive benefits is the ability to share this lesson beyond one classroom. If an iPad is unavailable, the camera app on a smartphone can also be used. During a debriefing session, the participants can simply swipe through the photos in sequential order as they discuss the lesson. Literacy coaches, teachers, and administrators can use technology to capture the subtle stages of a literacy lesson in order to debrief or share with others.

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References International Reading Association. (2010). Standards for Reading Professionals - Revised 2010 (Position statement). Newark, DE. International Society of Technology Educators. (2011). ISTE Standards for Coaches. Arlington, VA.

About the Author Susan Sabella is a literacy coach who specializes in job-embedded professional development at the elementary level in Narragansett, Rhode Island. She is an advisory board member to the Media Smart Libraries Grant, a contributing author to the Rhode Island Comprehensive Literacy Plan, a member of ISTE’s Project ReimaginED, and a Google Educator. Elementary educators can access technology-enhanced lessons and tool suggestions at http://www.digilitcoach.com.

You can also connect with Susan on Twitter @digilitcoach.

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A New, Dynamic Literacy Framework to Accelerate Literacy Learning

By Lynnea West

Teaching literacy often used to mean teaching the understanding of a concept by reading a text.

A student would read a piece of printed material and respond to the text to demonstrate learning.

That understanding of text was an individual event. And our literacy experiences often were a one way street. Today, digital tools can accelerate literacy learning by increasing access to various modes of text, efficiency of collaboration, and providing approaches and vehicles for creative expressions to making meaning of text. Teachers must meet the important challenge of making the "technology" sing songs of pedagogy; in other words, make beautiful music by effectively and elegantly tap technology to improve instruction and learning.

I work with a team of i-Learn Specialists who support 600 teachers; early childhood - 12th grade.

This district-level leadership team works with teachers through coaching and collaboration. I am also a PhD student at the University of Minnesota in Learning Technologies, doing researching in the area of Learning with Digital Tools. I have been researching and playing with ways to redefine our literacy instruction practices in classrooms. I have developed a framework for thinking about literacy practices and tools that I call the Dynamic Literacy Framework. In this article, I am going to outline the philosophy that guides the framework as well as apply the framework to three different tools that can help accelerate literacy when we plan for instruction within this Framework.

Literacy and its instructional practices have been significantly impacted by the emergence of digital tools. Traditionally, literacy has been defined as having the ability to read and write. But for me, literacy is more than that; it is the process of making meaning of the world, of giving students the ability and the strategies to make sense of themselves and their experiences. Which, my teacher friends, is a really big job. I am proposing using a new Dynamic Literacy Framework, one that guides us in the use of new digital tools for instruction of 3 elements of literacy learning that are key for today’s students: Visualize, Close Reading, and Culturally Relevant Teaching.

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Visualize Teaching with a Dynamic Literacy Framework leverages the visual literacy elements that digital tools facilitate. Now, the “text” we have students address can be a video, an image, or an infographic. A visual can supply background knowledge required to make meaning, which is the purpose of literacy and learning.

Close Reading “Text” is only half the story. When students comment on the video, image or infographic they share insights and observations as well as connections to other ways of learning the concept.

One comment begets another response. Just as text modalities have shifted, so too have the standards that students strive to achieve. Close Reading is one way the Common Core Standards require students to think differently. Close Readers study the structure of the text by looking at the text as a writer would. A close reader will analyze the text by focusing on elements of craft and technique; like imagery, word choice, tone and voice or sentence structure.

Culturally Relevant Teaching A Dynamic Literacy Framework should also include Culturally Relevant Teaching as an approach that creates the conditions for equity in the classroom. We make meaning based on our cultural context. Our culture is our Frame of Reference, the way we interpret the world.

Collaboration is Culturally Relevant and our literacy practices should offer learning opportunities and collaborative work that develop relationships. Developing relationships is one of the ways we can create the conditions for equity in learning. Collaboration makes relationships meaningful and relevant.

I am going to describe how three tools, Subtext, Newsela, and PicCollage, can accelerate literacy learning using the Dynamic Literacy Framework of Visualize, Close Reading, and Culturally Relevant Teaching.

Subtext Subtext is an app that originally was free, but currently is only available for premium membership at a cost.

The Common Core standards ask that students be able to visualize texts and Subtext makes this very do-able. Subtext allows you to add directly into the text content videos and images that help

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the student visualize and make meaning. It also can link to images or visuals (i.e. and infographic or YouTube video) for the purposes of developing essential background knowledge to the understanding of a text. Teachers can leave notes for students right in the pages of any text, like leaving a breadcrumb trail to find meaning. Notes can range from a simple question to a more involved assignment that incorporates Web content or multimedia. Close readers zoom into the text for increased focus. In addition, you can have your students leave notes for each other. A great way to do this is to have each student leave one note in a text AND reply to at least one of their classmates’ notes in the same text. This is an easy way to get started and typically spurs great classroom discussions and offers students a place to explore other students frames of reference.

Newsela and Tween Tribune Newsela is a website with an innovative way to build reading comprehension with nonfiction that offers relevant text: daily news. Newslea offers us a tool that works with the Dynamic Literacy Framework. Teachers are able to access 5 articles per day (and assign them as reading to a group of students in Subtext!) Newsela offers students an opportunity to see an image of a news story. That image can be the provocation for reading a text. Students might choose to read a news story based on the image they see that sparks their interest in that subject. Newsela can be also be used for Close Reading of the text of your choice. Close reading requires students to get truly involved with the text they are reading. Newsela offers a quiz at the end of the text selection. Quizzes enable “retrieval practice” and are an effective learning tool.

Along with Close Reading, teachers can have the bonus of invisible differentiation with Newsela. Every article that you access is the same content and theme, but available at a Lexile level that’s just right for each student. Students will increase their collaboration in reading about content that is the same at reading levels for better understanding.

Tween Tribune is a free, online educational service offered by the Smithsonian for use by K-12 grade teachers and students similar to Newsela. However, the bonus for ESL/non-native English speaking students is that they have articles in Spanish.

Pic Collage Many, many people LOVE Pic Collage because it is the little black dress of Apps! This App is so flexible that it can be used in just about everything under the sun. It does not have a screwdriver feature, but that is the only limitation. It is important that students can visualize words in order to understand their meaning. Pic Collage can be used for creating a visual

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dictionary of vocabulary words students need to learn, words paired with pictures. The idea of a visual dictionary is not to be confined to the World Language classroom. Think math terms, science vocabulary, library term glossary, Language Arts vocabulary lists, or "words that begin with..." collages. Students can demonstrate their close reading of a text by making a collage that contains a summary. A series of collages is just like a reading log, but so much more fun to share. Pic Collage can be used to show multiple frames of reference. Students can create collages about connections they make to text. Each collage of course, will be incredibly varied.

When I asked students about these collages in class, they noticed that all the collages were incredibly different. They said if they were all the same, it would be, and I quote, “snooze-ville.”

Today, the technology and “New Literacies” that are emerging give students the opportunity to have a voice in an energetic, connected world. This is an exciting time to be learning. Never before have we had the chance for such creative means of communication and expression and authentic audiences to read, write, argue, and connect with. As a result, all those connected to learning and teaching must renew their vision of teaching in order to keep pace with these changes. We need to be able to connect to students’ worlds in order to engage, motivate, and collaborate with a new and very different type of learner. Literacy now is leveraging the learning adrenaline that digital tools give to students.

As educators develop effective pedagogy that takes advantage of the availability of digital tools, literacy instruction better and better supports learners to Visualize, Close Read, and Collaborate.

About the Author: Lynnea West is i-Learn Specialist for the Eden Prairie Schools in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Lynnea works on a team of five i-Learn Specialists who support 600 teachers early childhood - 12th grade. This district level leadership team works with Professional Learning Communities to embed the 4C’s and technology into daily instruction through job embedded coaching. Additionally, this team designed professional development which supports both synchronous and asynchronous learning. She is also currently enrolled in the PhD program at the University of Minnesota focusing in Learning Technologies. @lynneawest + http://amelioratelearning.blogspot.com/ + lwest@edenpr.org

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Links Subtext https://www.renaissance.com/products/subtext NEWSLEA https://newsela.com/ Tween Tribune http://tweentribune.com/ PicCollage http://pic-collage.com/

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Persuasive Writing, Technology, and Animal Rescue

By Amanda Xavier Editor’s note: Ms. Xavier is an experienced teacher who has recently begun to integrate technology into what has primarily been a “hard copy” teaching practice. Her enthusiasm for the new possibilities that technology opens up for her and her students comes across in this article, as does her understanding that integrating technology into Literacy activities not only makes them more dynamic, but fosters the acquisition of technology skills as well; this, in a way that contextualizes them in much the same way that students will use them when they enter the work force or college. Of particular interest to readers of this journal is that much of the impetus of this teacher’s inclusion of technology has come from Literacy coaching.

MG Integrating technology into student lessons is an essential part of teaching in today’s world. The more exposure children have to the various uses of technology as a learning and expressive tool, the better foundation they have for their adult lives. This is especially true for low income students who have less access to technology outside of school. In this project we used a variety of technology assists, including Youtube videos, websites, and basic word processing documents. Children often see the Internet as an entertainment resource and have little to no understanding of the educational applications of websites and online videos. I hoped to broaden the scope of learning and research tools they are familiar with and would reach for when the need arises by demonstrating for them how videos and digital graphics can add to a persuasive piece of writing. One of my goals for these introductions is that they will use these types of digital resources in future class projects.

The project described here is something that very naturally and effectively engaged my students.

Primarily, it is about relevant social action to achieve an important goal. And of course, in order to achieve this, my students had to learn and apply a variety of Literacy skills which were instructional goals for the year. Additionally, the element of technology use must be acknowledged as an important contributing factor to the viability of this activity. While technology here played a supporting role, it very strongly was an enabler that made much of this possible and successful.

Children love to argue. They argue all day long. They argue with their friends about the best band or sports team. They argue with their parents over doing homework and bedtime. And

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they argue with their teachers over just about everything. Why not put their natural skills at argument to a more positive use?

This year, I implemented a unit of study with my colleagues Mrs. Schiro and Dr. Reissman at Ditmas Junior High School, to broaden my students’ writing abilities in persuasive writing. To achieve this we had the students help local shelter dogs get adopted.

Writing is often a difficult subject for children. Many struggle with how to start a piece, or what to include within one. Most children have no idea how to successfully conclude an essay or report. It is a time of frustration and helplessness for a majority of my students. That, coupled with the fact that two-thirds of my students are English Language Learners, have an IEP, or both, magnifies the problem exponentially. So, I wondered, how could I get my most nervous writers on board with persuasive writing?

Persuasive writing is especially difficult for children because they argue emotionally. A good number of their arguments are based on how they feel or what they want. The first step to overcome this was to illustrate the difference between an emotional appeal and a logical one.

We reviewed the difference between opinion and fact with the class and helped them to understand why facts have their place in an opinion piece. We decided that adding an emotional appeal in the conclusion would be a knockout punch that may help tip the reader into our point of view.

Now that we had the basics of writing an argumentative piece down, we turned our attention to what should we argue for?

There are so many deserving pets in the US who need a forever home. How many times have you walked down the street and seen a cat run to hide under a car, or seen a dog tied up outside in cold weather? Many people buy their pets from pet stores and breeders. Many of these sellers support the puppy mill industry, which cruelly forces female dogs to get pregnant over and over again while living in a cramped cage; they have no love or freedom. If people would learn to adopt instead of shop for pets, there would so many fewer cases of animal cruelty and abuse in our country, and so many fewer unwanted pets living on the streets. Understanding all of this, my students were happy to take on doing ‘something’ to help real dogs in need in our area as the basis for a learning project.

There are many worthy shelters in cities and towns all across America. We partnered with two, unwantednycpets.org and Sean Casey Animal Rescue, both headquartered in Brooklyn, NY, the borough in which our school is located. Both shelters are run mostly by volunteers, who give up countless hours of personal time to help deserving animals find forever homes.

Many of the animals helped by unwantednycpets.org are pulled off of death row at the last minute; they are placed in foster homes, seen and cared for by volunteer veterinarians, and hopefully delivered to their new loving family within weeks of being saved. This shelter relies solely on donations to help protect and save their pets.

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Sean Casey is a small neighborhood organization that houses several dozen dogs and cats saved from abusive situations. They run a small pet store to help offset costs, but also rely heavily on donations. The great thing about Sean Casey is that even if you can’t adopt a pet or help out monetarily, you can still support their work by volunteering to walk dogs.

This year, I partnered with Lori Valenti, the head of fundraising for unwantedpetsnyc.org, to create opportunities for my students to help save some wonderful dogs and cats. Our first project was to create posters to help find Patches (a deserving dog) a forever home. Patches is a wonderful girl but she has several strikes against her. She is a pit bull mix, which scares a lot of prospective owners off. Secondly, she is already 8 years old and many families want to adopt a younger dog. Patches’ biggest obstacle, though, is that she is deaf. Although Patches has learned many hand signals and is able to respond to them, few people are willing to adopt a special needs dog because of the extra work involved. Her current foster family was unable to keep her any longer and it looked like Patches might spend the rest of her life in a kennel.

In addition to making adoption posters for Patches and about 2 dozen other dogs from Sean Casey, and hanging them around the school, and neighborhood, and bringing them to local gatherings, Class 603 has tried to help in several other meaningful ways, as well. We visited Sean Casey and broke into small groups to walk three dogs who were up for adoption. We also had a candy sale at our Halloween dance to raise money for unwantednycpets.org. We plan to have a booth on Parent-Teacher Night and want to bring up our work at future PTA meetings to get the word out that there are wonderful dogs and cats (and even a goose!) available for adoption into their forever homes.

Technology In order take advantage of technology in our pet adoption project, we used a variety of resources to develop ideas and garner information. First, we had the students view a video on Youtube.com about the myths and misinformation about pit bulls. In doing this they were given a great example of how Youtube, and similar resources, can be used as a learning tool.

The children were able to see and hear firsthand evidence of positive pit bull behavior and temperament. Hearing expert testimony from veterinarians, owners, and animal rights activists made it clearer to my students that pit bulls are often described only one way in the news. This opened up a discussion of why dogs that are traditionally well mannered are portrayed as vicious.

The children were able to understand that happy, nice dogs aren’t exciting news stories, but vicious attacks make people want to know more.

Many students turn to Youtube for entertainment, they were thrilled to see the applications that can be used in the classroom as well. We plan on Embedding video clips into websites later on in the school year. And so, Media Sophistication became another learning dividend my students received from this project.

I was so pleased with their reactions to the videos and how it helped clear up misunderstandings with the students, that I decided to use embedded videos in a later unit on endangered animals.

Students in the past have made websites using the free Weebly resource to showcase their research and knowledge of endangered animals and conservation efforts. Building on this

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experience, I think it will be beneficial for students to embed established videos to help get their main idea across in many of the projects we do. This way they are using various media to appeal to a wider range of readers.

Secondly, we had the students use the internet to research dogs on Sean Casey’s website.

Students went directly to Sean Casey’s website and searched for a specific dog. They read his or her profile and chose pertinent information that could be added to an adoption poster. This was absolutely necessary because potential adopters must know the special needs of the dogs up for adoption. Information about weight, breed, age, disabilities, and temperament are all key when choosing to adopt a dog. This was the information students searched for and added to their posters. They also looked online for photos to include.

This was an excellent experience. I’m happy to report that not only did technology support our Literacy learning, but in a number of ways our Literacy activities supported better understanding of technology. For instance, my students are used to Googling everything. However, many were unaware of how to properly enter a web address into a browser. They typed the web address into the Google search and then clicked on the link. Now, I am happy to say most of my students are typing them directly into the URL box and going directly to intended websites. Once on the website, the children became proficient at navigating through links to find desired information.

They learned how to copy and paste photos or how to save them to the computer to upload for later use. The pictures of dogs they acquired this way were added to the adoption posters to give a visual cue to passersby and potential adopters.

These are all skills that will benefit the students throughout the rest of their educational careers and well into their adult lives.

Results Although none of the dogs we’ve featured have been adopted; so far, there are several positive results stemming from our project. First, a handful of the students in the class had never had any interaction with dogs before. When we took the dogs for a walk, that was their first time, they ever had direct contact with a dog. Even though their families might not adopt a dog now, we have opened up the possibility that the children may adopt when they get older.

Another benefit from our project is opening up our class and school to the idea that pet adoption is a better alternative to shopping for a pet. They now know that there are many deserving, loving animals out there that just need the right family to come and take them home.

A very hands-on benefit of our project is that we raised almost $200 to date for the animal shelters. Our candy and snack sales at school activities like dances and movies have been a big hit. The kids are so thrilled that they are actively contributing to help animals in need. They feel pride in their accomplishments and are able to share their positive experiences with family and friends about giving back to the community.

Importantly, we have shown the kids that you’re never too young or small or financially restricted from helping out with a cause that you believe in; from doing some good in your community and sharing your love and vision with those around you.

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This project truly brought Literacy to life for my students. It engaged them with functional texts that they accessed online (informational websites), ones that describe adoptable dogs. The students researched unwantedpets.org, the Sean Casey shelter, and other websites for needed data and to identify dogs they might help rescue. Thus, the project prompted research for a real purpose. My students used the descriptive informational details they gleaned from the sites they explored, photos they acquired online, along with their own persuasive arguments to create their own real world functional documents. These are persuasive posters aimed at convincing prospective adopters to give deserving pets a home. Through work on this project my students improved their Literacy skills and experienced a powerful example of how Literacy works in the real world address important issues that they care about.

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About the Author: Amanda Xavier is a 6th grade teacher in Brooklyn, NY. She has been teaching for 15 years; first on the elementary level and for the past 9 years, as an English teacher at Ditmas Junior High School. She has a passion for integrating personal passions into her classes such as animal rescue and conservation.

Contact info: axavier@schools.nyc.gov Websites http://kidblog.org/602-ELA/ and http://www.donorschoose.org/axavier .

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Turning Up the HEAT on Literacy: Making Connections with the CCSS and ISTE Standards

By Evelyn Wassel, Ed.D. Forty-three states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core State Standards (Standards in your state, 2014). The Common Core’s “key shifts” from the Standards already in place include regular practice with complex texts and their academic language and obtaining evidence from texts. These shifts require students to utilize higher order thinking skills (HOTS) at all levels. The ISTE Standards 1 (Creativity and innovation), 3 (Research and information fluency and Critical thinking) and 4 (problem solving and decision making) mirror these requirements. Teachers can utilize activities relating to ISTE Standard 6, Technology operations and concepts, to harness student interest in technology to make the learning more authentic and engaging (Standards•S, 2007).

In a digitally-charged learning environment, the key is to turn up the H.E.A.T. on student learning. The HEAT Framework, developed by Dr. Chris Moersch, provides educators with the means to increase HOTS, Engagement, Authentic Connections and Technology use in every classroom. Pennsylvania is currently in Year 3 of the Keystones to Opportunities (KtO) grant through the United States Department of Education’s Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Program. This program utilizes on-line professional development for teachers and administrators in each of the HEAT components with an emphasis on literacy.

Literate individuals demonstrate independence; build strong content knowledge; respond to the varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline; comprehend as well as critique; value evidence; use technology and digital media strategically and capably; and come to understand other perspectives and cultures. To develop individuals with such 21st century literacies requires instruction that is integrated and helps students understand how to access, evaluate, synthesize, and contribute to information (National Council of Teachers of English [NCTE], 2007).

I was first introduced to the HEAT Framework through my work as a technology mentor and taught several online courses for teachers and administrators across Pennsylvania. Participants noted their changes in classroom practice and were excited to have a wealth of tools to assist them in each of the four areas. I was privileged to be a part of the team that redesigned the courses to focus on literacy and highly recommend that all educators learn more about this framework so they too can Turn Up the HEAT!!

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This article will provide you with an explanation of each facet of HEAT, digital tools to incorporate them into various content areas and grade levels and a means for evaluating the level of HEAT imparted in your lessons.

Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) HOT [Higher order thinking] requires that we do something with the facts. We must understand them, connect them to each other, categorize them, manipulate them, put them together in new or novel ways, and apply them as we seek new solutions to new problems.

Alice Thomas Center for Development and Learning Many district vision statements promote the development of “critical thinkers.” As students progress through the school system they are asked to do something with the facts they have stored in their brains. This requires activating higher order thinking skills (HOTS). These skills are at a higher level than simply memorizing facts or repeating something back to someone as it was told to you. With HOTS, students must understand previously learned facts, infer from them, connect them to new facts, put them together in a new way and apply them to solve a new or existing problem.

It is critical for teachers to have an understanding of Bloom’s Taxonomy and/or Webb’s Depth of Knowledge. If teachers are not cognizant of the different learning levels and outcomes, they are more prone to focus on one level and omit the others when planning activities. For example, if a teacher’s focus is on a wealth of factual information, the students may never have the opportunity to apply the knowledge they learned in a new and novel way. Conversely, a teacher who focuses on the higher skills may not realize that basic skills are necessary for integration into these higher skills. Broward County Schools in Florida provides an excellent resource that describes the tools needed to incorporate all levels of DOK. Using HOTS – an Example The CCSS require students to attain evidence to cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says. The Internet is the most accessible and most often used source of information for students but they do not always know how to choose the best sites for credible information.

There are many examples of bogus websites that teachers can utilize to demonstrate to students that everything on the Internet may not be true. 

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http://allaboutexplorers.com/explorers/ is a comprehensive website that not only shows fabricated information but includes “a series of lessons designed to introduce students to the idea that the Internet is a less reliable source of information than print sources, and



while there is an abundance of information available at our fingertips, researchers need to think critically about the facts found there” (All About Explorers, 2014). Excerpts from a “biography” can be found below: o Christopher Columbus was born in 1951 in Sydney, Australia. His home was on the sea and Christopher longed to become an explorer and sailor. o In 1942 he set sail with three ships, the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria and about 90 men. On October 12, 1942 Columbus landed on an island southeast of Florida.

The Indians were excited by the newcomers and their gadgets. They especially enjoyed using their cell phones and desktop computers. o Columbus died in 1906. He is buried in Valladolid, Spain. http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/ is a website dedicated to saving the elusive Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus and is a personal favorite of mine. Incorporated on this site are very convincing FAQs, reports of sightings, media links and a list of related links including o Green Press Initiative — A non-profit program aimed at encouraging book publishers to use recycled paper instead of cutting down tree octopus forests and using their pulped homes to print anti-tree-octopus propaganda (also known as "textbooks").

These websites provide an excellent starting point for conversations about the quality of information available on the Internet (If it is on the Internet is must be true, right? What makes a credible site? Is Wikipedia a good research tool?) and helping students to develop ISTE Standard 3, Research and information fluency.

These websites listed in this section, and many others like them, and can help meet the ISTE Standard 3 Research and information fluency.

The HEAT Framework includes a scale for measuring student output in the classroom. The Higher-Order Thinking Look-Fors can be found below: 1. Students taking notes only; no questions asked 2. Student learning/questioning at Remembering level 3. Student learning/questioning at Understanding level 4. Student learning/questioning at Applying level 5. Student learning/questioning at Analyzing level 6. Student learning/questioning at Evaluating/Creating levels (LoTi, 2013).

It is not expected that teachers reach level 6 on a daily basis. Students need to master the basics before moving onto higher levels. Teachers can use this scale to determine what level the majority of student activities require and make efforts to increase the thought processes in

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classroom activities if necessary.

Engaged Learning Student engagement is the product of motivation and active learning. It is a product rather than a sum because it will not occur if either element is missing.

Elizabeth F. Barkley Author and Educator Many teachers, and administrators, believe that if students are doing what is asked of them (reading, answering questions and completing tasks) they are engaged in the lesson. It is critical that all educators understand that compliance does not equal engagement. According to Merriam-Webster, engagement can be defined as "emotional involvement or commitment."

Unless students feel a connection to the lesson or activity, they are probably not retaining the information for any significant amount of time and thus will not be able to pull this information to make connections to future learning.

“Real engagement is not compliance. We can't pine for engaged learners when our policies and practices tend to focus on producing compliant learners. If we want to grow capacity in our students; unearth student talents, dreams, and aspirations; and instill perseverance through a focus on doing hard work, learning from mistakes, and revising one's work, we need to design classroom practices around securing real engagement” (Jackson & Zmuda, 2014, p. 18).

Real engagement will be evident when students take their previous knowledge and use it in a new or novel manner. This will require students to use their higher order thinking skills to reach higher levels on Bloom’s Taxonomy or Webb’s DoK. Correlational evidence suggests that motivation to read school-related texts declines as students progress from elementary to middle school (Gottfried, 1985). To promote students’ motivation to engage in literacy activities, teachers should use instructional strategies that spark students’ interest. Initial curiosity can then serve as a hook to create long-term, personal interest (Kamil, et al., 2008). Today’s students often engage better with their electronics than they do with paper and pencil. Technology can provide this hook for students if teachers use it in cooperation with choice.

On-line collaboration opportunities allow students to work with others who have the same interests or abilities in their classroom or around the world. State and national policy leaders call for a greater emphasis on teaching students in K-12 schools about teaming and collaboration to

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increase and deepen learning, and to prepare students to be collaborative team members in work environments that are increasingly dependent on virtual, online collaborations (Williams, 2009).

Docurated provides 101 Free (or Free-to-Try) Online Collaborative Learning Tools for Teachers and Educators.

Student Publishing engages students with all learning styles by emphasizing completion of work and producing a quality product and emphasizes that writing is a social process – an exchange of ideas between authors and readers, not just a performance for the teachers (Olthause, n.d.).

“Through student publishing, students (1) learn from and motivate each other, (2) increase their proofreading and validation skills, and (3) lead peers to deeper levels of thinking through opportunities for rich discussions and peer mentoring” (KtO, 2014). Resources include: 

Storybird.com is a collaborative storytelling tool. Students use collections of art as inspiration to write stories. Once the art is chosen, students build their story by dragging and dropping pictures and creating a story to match. Teachers are able to easily create student accounts and assignments for students. Storybird is an engaging site that allows students to focus more on the content of their writing rather than drawing pictures.

Student pairs can take turns adding pages to a common book. Publishing: Hard copy, paperback, and pdf at cost. Online free.  Kidblog.org is a free website that offers teachers and students an on-line environment for creative writing, book clubs, on-line pen pals and science notebooks. The digital portfolio allows students to demonstrate learning growth through pictures, video, writing, and more.

Utilizing these tools allows the students to meet the expectations of ISTE Standards 2 and 4 (Communication and collaboration and Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making).

There is a distinct connection between HOTS and engaged learning. As students become more active in the learning process, they are required to use HOTS to solve problems at the levels seen below.

The Engaged Learning Look-Fors can be found below: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

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Students report what they have learned only Students collaborate to report what they have learned with possible options Students solve a teacher-directed problem Students collaborate to solve a teacher-directed problem with possible options Students collaborate to define the task, the process, and/or the solution Students collaborate to define the task, the process, and/or the solution; collaboration extends beyond the classroom

Although we want students to be engaged in learning, time constraints will limit the activities at a level 6. Teachers can look at present activities and attempt to increase by one or two levels based on topic and student abilities.

Authentic Connections I feel sorry for teachers who are required to spell out precise “learning objectives” long before a class begins so that they can measure their own “effectiveness.” I feel sorry for their students, too. Education dominated by preconceived images of what must be learned can hardly be educational. Authentic teaching and learning requires a live encounter with the unexpected. An element of suspense and surprise, an evocation of that which we did not know until it happened.

If these elements are not present, we may be training or indoctrinating students, but we are not educating them. In any arena of action-rearing children, counseling people, repairing machines, writing books-right action depends on yielding our images of particular outcomes to the organic realities of ourselves, the other, and the adventure of action itself.

Parker Palmer from 'The Active Life' Authentic contextual bridges provide the foundation for students to connect what they are learning in class to the real world. Reeves, et al. (2002) identified ten characteristics of authentic learning that can be adapted in any subject or grade level. Their work states that authentic: (1) have real world relevance, (2) are ill-defined, requiring students to define the tasks and sub-tasks needed to complete the activity. (3) comprise complex tasks to be investigated by students over a sustained period of time, (4) provide the opportunity for students to examine the task from different perspectives, using a variety of resources, (5) provide the opportunity to collaborate, (6) provide the opportunity to reflect, (7) can be integrated and applied across different subject areas and lead beyond domain specific outcomes, (8) are seamlessly integrated with assessment, (9) create polished products valuable in their own right rather than as preparation for something else and (10) allow competing solutions and diversity of outcome.

As a digital age learning best practice, creating authentic contextual bridges can be easily accomplished by integrating Literacy; health literacy; and environmental literacy. Encasing these themes within a well-conceived and standards-aligned performance task can elevate the rigor and relevance associated with any content area (Moersch, 2011).

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (http://www.p21.org/) has developed a vision for student success in the new global economy and advocates for schools to promote an understanding of academic content at much higher levels by weaving 21st century interdisciplinary themes into core subjects:

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• Global Awareness • Financial, Economic, Business and Entrepreneurial Literacy • Civic Literacy • Health Literacy • Environmental Literacy Some examples utilizing these themes can be found below.

Choose my plate provides educators with lesson plans for all grade levels. The elementary collection integrates nutrition education into Math, Science, English Language Arts, and Health.

There are four lesson plans for high school students designed to help students in grades 9-12 learn how to build a healthy diet using SuperTracker, an on-line tool to create a personalized nutrition and physical activity plan, track foods and physical activities and get tips and support to make healthier choices and plan ahead.

Africa's Struggle With AIDS is a lesson designed to help students understand the enormity of the impact of AIDS on the population of Africa, by comparing its effect there with its effect on the population of the world in general, and especially on that of the United States.

270 to Win is an interactive Electoral College map for 2016 and a history of Presidential elections in the United States. Since electoral votes are generally allocated on an "all or none" basis by state, the election of a U.S President is about winning the popular vote in enough states to achieve 270 electoral votes, a majority of the 538 that are available.

The Council for Economic Education provides a variety of standards-based classroom resources for all levels. eCybermission is a web-based Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics competition for 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th grade teams. Teams propose a solution to a real problem in their community and compete for State, Regional and National Awards.

These activities will require students to use higher order thinking skills to accomplish the tasks and their authenticity will increase engagement. Because they are utilizing technology to accomplish the goals, students will be more motivated to participate.

All of these activities can incorporate reading, writing, listening, and speaking as part of assessments and activities and meet all expectations of the ISTE Standards.

The Authentic Connections Look-Fors can be found below:

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1. The learning experience is missing or too vague to determine relevance 2. The learning experience provides no real world application, or represents a group of connected activities 3. The learning experience provides limited real world relevance 4. The learning experience provides extensive real world relevance 5. The learning experience provides real world relevance and opportunity for students to apply their learning to a real world situation 6. The learning experience is directly relevant to students and involves creating a product that has a purpose beyond the classroom that directly impacts the students By making the learning authentic and relevant to students, teachers can increase the likelihood that students will retain the knowledge through grade levels and across subjects. Again, a level 6 is fabulous but increasing activities by even one level can make the learning more powerful for students.

Technology Tools Teaching in the Internet age means we must teach tomorrow’s skills today.

Jennifer Fleming No one can refute that it is critical for students to learn word processing but we do a grave disservice to them if that is the extent of their learning of technology tools. Educators must think beyond the PowerPoint for students to demonstrate their knowledge of a topic as this tool is a means for recalling information. Children’s success or failure in life "hinge[s] on the [student's] grasp of new technologies. Beyond simple decoding and keyboarding, the educational uses of new communication technologies has yet to be framed as a set of literacy skills. But the public is often reminded that computers are powerful tools and it is implied that with their use, personal power can accrue." (Tyner, 1998, p. 3).

Word Clouds offer a way for students to visually analyze frequent words in a passage. They can be used as an activating strategy to help students determine a new topic, compare two passages (e.g. the inauguration speeches of two presidents) or to discover overused words in student writing samples. In 108 Ways to Use Word Clouds in the Classroom Michael Gorman (2012) offers suggestions to employ word clouds in a variety of disciplines.

Graphic organizers guide learners’ thinking as they build upon a visual map or diagram. Graphic organizers are effective visual learning strategies for students and can be harnessed across the curriculum to enhance learning of subject matter content. They are used to facilitate students’ learning by helping them identify areas of focus within a broad topic, such as a novel or article

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and they help the learner make connections and structure thinking in writing projects. Vermilion Parish Schools in Louisiana provides a comprehensive list of interactive graphic organizers.

Podcasting is an amalgamate of “iPod” and “Broadcasting.” A podcast is an audio story created to share ideas, presentations, or music. Students can use podcasts to interview each other, tell stories, create newscasts, hold debates, or run radio shows. It is easy to create and view a podcast with a computer, internet connection and a recording device. Twenty five free tools are available here.

Each of these tools requires students to use their higher order thinking skills to participate as they allow students to create a product or analyze an item. By incorporating an authentic assessment, student engagement in the process will increase.

Utilizing these tools allows the students to meet the expectations of ISTE Standards 2, 4 and 6 (Communication and collaboration, Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making and Technology operations and concepts).

The Technology Tools Look-Fors can be found below: 1. Digital and/or environmental resources are (1) not available, (2) not used, or (3) not directly connected to the learning 2. Students’ use of digital and/or environmental resources appears to be an add-on or is not needed for task completion 3. Teacher leads whole group learning with digital and/or environmental resources 4. Students use teacher-directed digital and/or environmental resources to accomplish learning outcomes 5. Students use self-selected digital and/or environmental resources to accomplish learning outcomes 6. Students use self-selected digital resources to accomplish learning outcomes beyond conventional strategies The beauty of the HEAT Framework is the connection between all four areas. The overlap of the concepts strengthens the case for application in the classroom. The HEAT Framework is a component of LoTi (Levels of Teaching Innovation). A complete copy of the HEAT Framework can be found at this link.

The official website for the LoTi Connection is http://www.loticonnection.com/. More information can be requested from Dr. Chris Moersch, President & CEO chris@loticonnection.com or LeeChel Moersch, Chief Operating Officer leechel@loticonnection.com .

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About the Author: Dr. Evelyn Wassel is the Data Quality Coordinator at Schuylkill IU29 in MarLin, PA. She received her Bachelor’s Degree from Clarion University and Masters in Biology Education from DeSales University. She earned her Doctorate in Education Leadership and K-12 Principal’s Certification at Widener University and has been working with administrators and teachers for the past 9 years as a literacy mentor and technology coach and mentor. Dr. Wassel’s passion is creating equal opportunities for all students’ success in education and believes that increasing literacy skills will help bridge the opportunity gap between groups. wassel.e@gmail.com Twitter: @wasse

References Gorman, M. (2012). 108 Ways to Use Word Clouds in the Classroom…Word Clouds in Education Series: Part 2. Retrieved December 21, 2014 from https://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/108-ways-to-use-word-clouds-in-theclassroom-word-clouds-in-education-series-part-2/ .

Gottfried, A. W. (1985). Measures of socioeconomic status in child development research: Data and recommendations. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 31(1), 85–92.

Jackson, R., & Zmuda, A. (2014, September). Four (Secret) Keys to Student Engagement.

Educational Leadership, 18-24.

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Kamil, M. L., Borman, G. D., Dole, J., Kral, C. C., Salinger, T., and Torgesen, J. (2008).

Improving adolescent literacy: Effective classroom and intervention practices: A Practice Guide (NCEE #2008-4027). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc KtO, 2014 Engaging Students online course.

Moersch, C. (2011). Digital Age Best Practices: Teaching and Learning Refocused. Retrieved December 20, 2014 from websites.pdesas.org/egr/2011/2/24/274388/file.aspx .

National Council of Teachers of English [NCTE]. (2007). NCTE Position Statement: The NCTE definition of 21st century literacies. Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/21stcentdefinition Olthause, J. (n.d.) 15 Ways to Publish Student Writing. Retrieved December 17, 2014 from http://bvsd.org/tag/Documents/15%20ways%20to%20publish%20student%20writing.pdf Standards•S Š 2007 International Society for Technology in Education.

Tyner, K. (1998). Literacy in a Digital World: Teaching and Learning in the Age of Information (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates).

Williams (2009). The Impact of Collaborative, Scaffolded Learning in K-12 Schools: A MetaAnalysis. Retrieved December 21, 2014 from http://www.cisco.com/web/about/citizenship/socioeconomic/docs/Metiri_Classroom_Collaboration_Research.pdf

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