Week 5- E-books

Reflecting on my previous blog – Ipads are another form of multimodal texts – perhaps not as common as IWB but they are certainly becoming more popular in todays classroom. The use of ipads is an excellent way for children to become independent within their own learning as they are in control. However, there is the counter argument: Are they really educating children or just becoming a hindrance by distracting them from their learning through playing non educational games?

Some children are struggling to focus in lessons without the use of technology. Research has not been the main focus here while investing money into this. The UK has invested huge amounts of money into various digital tools such as Ipads that they assumed children would benefit from but they did not have a wide range of research about what it can do to a childs learning. ( C,Turner) From experience during placement I personally agree with the point they struggle to concentrate without the use of technology. However, I believe it can also motivate students to finish their work if used as a reward system which can be helpful. It also gave the teacher a chance to focus on other her way around the class to support the children individually if struggling or had a question. E- books are available on all devices- ipads/ tablets, laptops, smartphones etc- very compatible. Book creator app provides the chance to make it easier for children with learning difficulties to read as this app comes with features to suit all learners. There are options to adjust the font size for visually impaired students. Furthermore, a child can choose to have it read aloud to them without disrupting the class as they can wear earphones or put subtitles on. Schools can help save the environment by not having to purchase paper copies constantly or textbooks as all is provided through E-books.  New forms of technology such as this one is encouraging bilingual children in our classrooms to feel involved as well. There is features to assist their needs by speaking their first language. It is very hard for a teacher to support all ethnically diverse children by speaking their language as there is simply too many. (D, Sessoms.) E-books enable teachers to support students in a more efficient/ modern form!

 

Todays lesson was one of our assessment tasks. We were asked to bring in a childrens book to prepare for today’s lesson. I brought in the book ‘we are going on a bear hunt’ as it is a well-known childrens classic. We were using the app ‘Book creator’ on the ipads to recreate/summarise a well-known fairy-tale or nursery rhyme. Before we started our own stories, we had a chance to experiment with the app. I worked alongside a few of my peers and we chose the famous nursery rhyme: “Incy wincy spider” as we were all familiar with this. We found this the most appropriate choice as this rhyme has been reinforced through various generations so the children are likely to know it. We linked our e-book to the following experiences and outcomes:

  • I explore sounds, letters and words, discovering how they work together and I can use what I learn to help me as I read and write. (E NG 0-12a/ LIT 0-13a/ LIT 0-21a)
  • I enjoy exploring and choosing stories and other texts to watch, read or listen to and can share my likes and dislikes. (LIT 0-01b/ LIT 0-11b)
  • I can demonstrate a range of basic problem solving skills by building simple programs to carry out a given task, using an appropriate language.TCH 1-15a
  • I can explore and experiment with digital technologies and can use what I learn to support and enhance my learning in different contexts. TCH 1-01a

 

There were various versions online but we decided to do the version we were familiar with. We started off by deciding on a background colour for our pages. A white background is not appropriate for learners who have visual impairments so we decided to have a light-coloured background alongside black writing to make it clear and easy to read.  We searched on google images pictures of cartoon spiders which we could edit onto a background for our story. To make our book multi-modal we included a few semiotic systems. We edited a Youtube video onto our story taken from Youtube and got multiple images to further engage the reader. Our main outcome was to make the nursery rhyme more interactive so we decided to add in a few activities at the end to test their knowledge and identify what they picked up.

Incy Wincy Spider (book creator)

Our activities…

 

I feel I am progressing well in digital technologies. I love preparing for upcoming lessons and seeing how I could incorporate different softwares etc into lessons when I am a teacher. Ebooks is an excellent app for supporting all learners needs including bilingual learners. I found our activity very entertaining and I will definitely be using ‘Book creator’ in the classroom to encourage reading as it is a vital life skill and should be encouraged at all ages.

Deppermann, A. (2013) Multimodal interaction from a conversation analytic perspective. Journal of Pragmatics.[Online] Avaliable: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2012.11.014

Sessoms, D. (2013) [online] available: https://www.securedgenetworks.com/blog/9-Benefits-of-e-Books-That-Make-Them-Valuable-Classroom-Technology

 

Turner, C.  (2018) [online] available:  Teaching children with Ipads means they struggle to concentrate without technology https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2018/01/19/teaching-children-ipads-means-struggle-concentrate-without-technology/

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