Using Technology to Teach Reading

In watching this video, we see a teacher demonstrate how to integrate technology to teach concepts about the Civil War. This teacher had students researching information about the Civil War on the internet, highlighting facts they come across, creating a newspaper article about an event, using Webquest, and using Excel to create charts for a different visual of important events. When struggling readers are given a chapter to read in a text book, automatically they are discouraged by the fact that they “think” they can not read. They spend so much time focusing on “trying” to read that they can not comprehend what they are reading. The technology tools these teachers used in the video had the students fully engaged in the learning process through hands-on interesting activities. This teacher gave the students specific websites to visit, read and gather information on certain events. He had a three-step process that he taught his students to use when researching information. First, they had to listen to what was being said on the site, then they had to read along with it, and then they took notes on what they thought were important events. Their notes had to be in bullets and no more that five or six words. I thought this was an excellent strategy for teaching students how to restate facts in their own words which enhances comprehension. The teacher from the video stated how successful his students reading comprehension skills have gotten over the past year. I believe the reason he has this “success” story is because he is integrating technology as well as other subject areas while teaching and reaching the needs of a diverse group of learners.

It is very easy to integrate other subject matter in to your own. This teacher had his students creating maps of battles, using different vocabulary strategies, and creating political cartoons. He let the learning possibilities be endless. This teacher incorporated math when sequencing, art, as well as “humor.” When you create this type of learning environment, you allow students to really think about all possible sides of a situation. As an educator and a hands-on type learner, I see nothing but positive things when you integrate technology tools in your curriculum. With technology, you open a door of endless learning experiences where there is something for everyone!