Increasing Reading Performance Through Technology
Ice Cold
10/15 2011
Tracy Tarasiuk
Theory
Practice
Interest Drives Comprehension
Older students are (and should be) critical consumers.
"This book is so boring"
Technology and choice can be huge motivators.
What skills will our students really need when they 
        are out in the world?
Some of my students....
Don't like to read, 
       but love a good story.
Endlessly change and play 
      with fonts when
       they type a paper. 
      (and don't use spell check)
Multitask
Life Experience is Literacy
What we think of as literacy is changing
You Tube
Facebook
Texting/Messaging
Email (outdated?)
Unlimited tools Web 2.0
Reading Paths (Kress, 2003)

Expertise, authority, publishing are becoming
distributed and collective.
(Lankshear & Knobel, 2008).

“Constant updating of knowledge and skill
required to keep pace with evolving tools.” (Dalton & Proctor, 2008).

Remix
Literacy cannot be separated from a 
person’s life experience.
+
Cyberspace is an integral 
part of adolescents’ lives.
x
The Global Economy
-
Schools, where there is a bias towards print.
=
Including meaningful activities that make good use of technology in the classroom is crucial to students’ literacy now and as adults.
Moodle
Edmodo
Wikis
Poetry Vidcast
Digital Book Talks
Moodle Journal/Edmodo
Doing old things with new technology.
Copy/Paste allows me to write more meaningful prompts.
Post docs at the site that students can refer to.
We develop relationships and identities as readers in a medium students are familiar with.
Bells and whistles result in our “quaint uses of new technologies.”  Avoid “digital busy work.” Lankshear & Knobel (2008)

Doing old things with new technology
vs
New thinking with new technology
wiki=quick
Vocabulary
Clearing up misunderstandings
All is not perfect
wiki
Doing old things with new technology
authentic and collaborative because work is public
Extreme Poetry
MUSIC
&
IMAGES
Extreme Poetry
authentic interpretation 
      of text
creativity
deeper meaning
new technology enhances 
      purpose and meaning
Extreme Book Talks
An alternative to 
oral book talks
same purpose
Extreme Book Talks
Combining traditional and contemporary literacy     
Similar to traditional activities using new technology.
collaboration, sharing, viewing, modeling
My Websites
Extreme Reading
http://web.mac.com/tracyt1/tracyt/Welcome.html
http://tracyt1.wordpress.com/
Final Thoughts...

start small
play
guide on the side
chaos
We are all connected-and our professional 
       development can reflect that
QUESTIONS?
Incorporating Technology will lead to measureable improvemeents
of students' comprehension.
Comprehension strategies = Comprehension moves
Problem solving = Experimentation/Solutions
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