Technology Enhanced Learning: Truth or Fiction?

One of the prime goals of the Instructional Media course for which this blog was created was to help us all to think about whether a particular technology actually enhances learning. On the other side of that, there is always that possibility that it might detract. Then, there are other technologies that simply help the teacher to be more efficient, collect data, etc. This blog post is for the purpose of considering one program that has become almost pervasive in the schools in which I observe--Accelerated Reader.

Loggin on to AR

On one of my last days at the school, which running an errand, what to my delight should appear in the hallway, but a line of small humans walking in a semblance of a line, all with books in their hands--with my granddaughter in the middle.

"Where are you all headed?" I asked.

Aria was the spokesperson. "We are going to the computer lab to take an AR test!"

"Wonderful! Can I come along?" And with that, we were off.

Finding the Book Quiz

AR or Accelerated Reader is a "reading comprehension program that monitors, manages and tests elementary students."  The students read the book, and then take a short comprehension quiz on the computer. The company suggests they choose a book by looking at those available on the list. (I ran across a student in the library earlier who had read a book, but a quiz had not been generated for that book. She was discouraged, so it might be good to check first!)

We settled in at the computer lab and Aria signed in and searched for the book she had read. It was there! She began to answer the questions--after trying to con me into reading for her, :-) I felt the questions were just slightly above knowledge level, but certainly not higher-level thinking skills--which is one of the cons of the program.

Look at my Flower!

Aria quickly finished the quiz and was very excited to show me her "flower" that was almost complete. With that done, she signed out and was off to her classroom.

On the way back to my original errand, I passed a chart in the hall which tracked the number of AR books read by students in the various classrooms. The number of books varied widely.

In recent years, the emphasis in reading instruction has shifted to teaching skills. This has increased the reading instruction time, but has not increased the amount of time that children actually practice reading. Possibly AR is a way to keep that focus?

It is certainly helpful to the teacher to be able to have a computer program track the reading and basic comprehension for each student. Growing the flower was obviously motivating to this first grade child! Anytime we can get a child to read a book in this world full of technology is a plus! Is this technology of taking a quiz on every book enhancing learning? That is the question isn't it?

One interesting side note: I read a book aloud to the class and then they were told that they could take the AR test. They wanted to look at the book and it began to make its way around the room. If the goal is only to test recall then they should not look at the book, right? But what other skills are being developed by looking at the book? When you answer questions at the end of a chapter (for instance) do you look back? Do you learn additional things while you are looking back? It all goes back to "What is your objective?" How can you take a technology tool that was created for simple recall and raise the level of learning?????

Field Trips! Actual and Virtual

Pantages Theater

One of the highlights of my time at Spanaway Elementary School in Washington, was going on a field trip to Tacoma Pantages Theater for the performance of the play based on the book, The Stinky Cheese Man, by Jon Scieszka.

With limited budgets, field trips have gone by the wayside in many schools. This was the first field trip for many of the third grade children who participated. Many who live only thirty minutes from the theater had never been to downtown Tacoma.

In our attempt to focus on reading skills we have lost the important understanding that children cannot read what they do not understand due to lack of background experiences. Without this field trip, reading about attending a play would be meaningless to most of these children.

Stinky Cheese Man

As a team, the third grade teachers worked diligently to tie this experience to the standards! Before the play, the students read several fractured fairy tales and wrote several compare and contrast writings.  The also read the book, The Stinky Cheese Man. In addition, they were instructed about proper behavior at a theater! It was delightful to see that almost all made an effort to dress up to go to the theater! Their behavior was complimented by the staff! The play was excellent and included audience interaction from the entire theater of children. The Stinky Cheese Man who ran very fast but never got very far was certainly my favorite!

What They Liked!

Back in the classroom, the class was instructed to write what they liked best about the play and what they liked best about the book on a Post-it-Note and place it on the chart.

With these ideas in mind, they choose which they liked best, the play or the book, and completed a writing prompt in which they had to support their choice with three reasons. Enjoy some of the results below!

Teacher efficiency was aided by technology on this day! The students wrote on their iPads, AirDropped their papers to the teacher, checked them and then sent them to the printer while they drew their pictures. Before the end of the day, they were all displayed in the hallway!

Virtual field trips have been a way to give students virtual experiences when funding is not available, or the experience is unavailable locally. Discovery Education has a great searchable resource! Technology provides experiences through this venue that are unimaginable! Despite this, my experience with these children on this day and seeing the results in these artifacts were convincing proof for me that we should do everything we can to get children out of the classroom!

Want to help a class go on a field trip? Go to the education page at GoFundMe and search "field trip" and you can choose between the 1,304 options! Yes, teachers are trying to get students out of the classroom for field trips!