Making Digital Books

One idea that I implemented into my classroom last year was the creation of digital fairy tale books.  When I first introduced this activity to my 8th grade students, they were very reluctant to get started.  I had my students start the project by reading several fairy tales (i.e., Cinderella, Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, Sleeping Beauty).  As the students started picking up the books to read them, I couldn't believe how interested they were in reading the fairy tales.  I used pictures books that had a reading level of about 3-4th grade.  The books were an easy read, but at least my struggling readers were actually reading!  The next step of the project was to take one of the fairy tales and put their own spin on it.  I had students take the main character of Cinderella and make her an elegant gazette.  Creative right!? After the students created their own fairy tales, they brought them to life.  Students used Movie Maker to use images that they created and used voice over to read their stories.  I was very impressed at the level of excellence of each student's creation.  Definitely a very motivating activity!

Using Visual Thesauruses

Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus is an excellent tool to increase vocabulary and writing skills. Visual Thesaurus is an interactive dictionary and thesaurus that allows the user to map word webs with meanings, pronunciations, and synonyms. Visual Thesaurus gives proper grammar usage of unfamiliar words as well. In my classroom, students access visual thesaurus for the word of the day and create a word web. Throughout the week, my students will learn five new vocabulary words and apply them in their daily writing assignments. One does have to subscribe to the tool, but this is an excellent source for building vocularly, using words precisely, improve grammar and spelling, and exposure to other languages.

My students have shown great motivation using this site to increase their vocabulary skills.  Whenever my students have to publish a piece of writing, I have them use the visual theasurus to find more captivating words.  I have noticed a definite increase in "catchy" words when students utilize this tool.  My students have created a lot of their own words webs and have shared them with their classmates.  Who knew "playing" with words could so engaging!!

Handheld Devices

My 8th grade students loved the new BYOD (bring your own device) program this year.  Students were bringing in their Kindles, Nooks, iPads, Tablets, iPods, iPhones, ect. to read their books on.  This was one of the first years that I was observing students being actively engaged in their independent reading.  When I would conference with students, they would give me an excellent summary of their characters and daily reading!  Very motivating.  Even the struggling readers would take advantage of this program and use their own devices as well as use earbuds to listen to books.  They didn't feel like they were being singled-out, because other students were listening to books as well!  Great experience this year.

Share your ideas

Welcome to this blog.  This blog is for anyone wanting to share and gather ideas on how to use technology to motivate struggling readers.  Please share any comments and ideas that you are implementing into your classroom!!