There
is so much technology available that it can be overwhelming at times to think
about how to best integrate it into your classroom. It takes time, effort, and lots of patience!
I have found that trial and error work well.
There
are several ways that I integrate technology into my classroom. Kahoot, Xtra math, and Educreations are a few
that I use on a regular basis. Most of
the time I find that I am integrating technology into my math lessons. Certain content areas are easier to integrate
technology, however, I feel that reading in the elementary grades can be a
difficult one. This winter I set out to
find something to jazz up my reading block, but still enable me to cover my
standards without doing something extra.
I had heard about a new site at a professional development day for my
district and I was going to attempt to use it! After implementing it, I can say
that I will most certainly use it again!
The site is called Actively
Learn. It is a website to support
reading on different devices. Students
can read, interact with and think critically about texts. There is a free version which offers many of
the same features as the paid version. There
is also a subscription which offers even more features. You can sign in using a google account. As the teacher, you can create a class and
add assignments to that class. You can
choose articles or you can upload pdf articles to use! Once you add the article
as an assignment, you can type in your own directions and add questions
throughout the text that students need to answer before proceeding. Additionally, you can write notes for
students to read throughout.
When
the students go into the website, they can read the text, answer the questions,
and write comments or questions that they have.
Furthermore, the students can highlight and right click on a word to
find out its definition, hear it being pronounced, and can write a note about
what they are reading. The neat thing is
the teacher and peers can comment instantaneously to respond to other’s
questions or comments.
Watch a video designed for teachers that provides an overview of what
the website can do!
After
seeing what this site was capable of (even the free version has so many
capabilities!) I was hooked on figuring out a way to integrate this into my
reading block to give it a try.
Click
here to create a login!
Experimenting with Actively Learn in 3rd Grade
I am going to walk you through my lesson that I used Actively Learn for to give you a taste of how it can be used in the classroom. The first step after creating an account is to choose an article for your class. While Actively Learn does have articles that you can choose from, I wanted to pick an article that related to the reading standard my students were working on. I went to ReadWorks to search for my article. ReadWorks is a free website that can be used to find passages and articles that can be searched by grade level, skill, or lexile level!
You can create a free login here: http://www.readworks.org/
I
found an article on ReadWorks that related to what my third grade class was
working on at the time- determining the author’s viewpoint in an informational
text. I had my students work with a
partner since we do not have enough chromebook devices to be 1 to 1. I provided guided directions to students of
how to get to the assignment in Actively Learn. I left these directions (see
below) on the smartboard for students to refer back to throughout the lesson if
they needed to.
Since my students already
have google accounts with the school, they could sign into the website using
google and did not need to create new usernames or passwords! I was amazed at
how fast the students figured out how to navigate getting to the article with
no extra support from the teacher. I explained
that students will be doing a partner read paragraph by paragraph, interacting
with Actively Learn features and answering questions as they read. I showed students some of the features
available on the smartboard and then left them to explore the rest!
By having students work
with partners, I was able to check in with groups as they worked through
reading the article and answering the questions. It was neat to see the excitement they had in
learning how to use the tools! Students must answer the questions embedded in
the text as they read which helped students to think more critically and zero
in on a specific question.
Questions teacher posed throughout the article:
Questions teacher posed throughout the article:
- What is the author’s viewpoint? Think
about what is the author trying to convince the readers to agree with? Why does
the author write this text?
- Prove how you know this is the author’s viewpoint.
- Did you or your partner’s viewpoint change after reading the article?
- Prove how you know this is the author’s viewpoint.
- Did you or your partner’s viewpoint change after reading the article?
After students read and
answered the questions, they learned how to comment on what their peers had
written and many of them started conversations online without my prompting!
They were so excited to comment back to each other and ask questions about the
responses they were reading.
Another neat feature on
Actively Learn is that students can choose articles or stories to read in the
independent reading library. So as
students finished my assignment, they had something to work on that interested
them. My students were so excited!
Students and teachers alike can search by grade level, as well, so you can be
sure students are not wasting time looking at or reading passages that are too
easy or too difficult for them.
Once all groups in the
class were done, I pulled up on the smartboard all the student responses and notes
and/ or questions that came up while reading the text. I read them and asked for feedback from
peers, which prompted great class discussion.
The
Results & Student Feedback
Any time after my students
use new technology, I like to ask for their feedback. Technology is only effective if the users
enjoy it and benefit it from it academically!
Using this technology, I was skeptical if my
students would learn the standard. I
feel that my students did learn, as evidenced by their solid answers to the
questions on Actively Learn. I would not change any parts to this lesson!
The students learned, were highly engaged and gave the teacher positive
feedback on the program! My students also demonstrated great collaboration and
communication during this lesson.
Students completed a Google Survey of how they
felt about using Actively Learn during centers the next day. I specifically
wanted to gather feedback and student opinions about using online texts to learn
compared to using paper copy text. Being
that my students are young and are do not do much reading on devices, I was
curious to see their responses.
Survey
*My third
grade students completed a survey using google forms to share their thoughts on
the lesson & using the Actively Learn Website. Some of the results are
included below.
What was your favorite part of using
Actively Learn?
*A few student responses are shared
below:
·
“You can read a passage online and not get
distracted.”
·
“My favorite part of using Actively Learn is
reading the passage and marking things up.”
·
“My favorite part about Actively Learn is
reading people’s comments.”
·
“My favorite part was using the tools and the
mini dictionary.”
·
“My favorite part of Actively Learn is that you
can see other peoples work and since my handwriting is a little messy you can
actually read it a bit.”
·
“My favorite part is we can start
conversations.”
What would you want to change or add if we did Actively Learn again?
*A few student responses
are shared below:
·
“There is nothing I want to change or add.”
·
“It was perfect as it was.”
·
“What I would want to add about Actively Learn if we
do it again is to read harder passages and to answer heard questions.”
·
“I would not change a thing about it!”
·
“I like it the way it is!”
·
“I don’t feel like adding or changing anything on
Actively Learn it’s just right!”
As evidenced by my
students survey results- they LOVE Actively Learn!! If you’re feeling the need
to spice up your reading block and want to engage students, give Actively Learn
a try! Continuing to experiment with technology in the classroom only benefits
teachers and students! You must be willing to try and tweak what you need to
make it work for your classroom and your students!
- Will
you consider Actively Learn in your classroom or as using it as a platform for
assigning homework?
- What
benefits do you see to using the site and what concerns do you have?
- Are
there any other technology resources you use to support reading instruction?
References
Home. (n.d.). Retrieved February 18, 2017, from http://www.activelylearn.com/
How It Works. (n.d.). Retrieved February 18, 2017, from http://www.activelylearn.com/how-it-works/
The Solution to Reading Comprehension. (n.d.). Retrieved February 18, 2017, from http://www.readworks.org/
No comments:
Post a Comment