ebook readers in China

Until I began EDRL 6004, I wasn't aware that ebooks existed, far less ebook readers. Today, I'm reading that in China according to a nationwide survey, 1 in 4 Chinese between the ages of 18 and 70 reads e-books. And for readers under the age of 29, the number of Chinese reading e-books is almost 1 in 2. Keeping in mind that the population of China is 1.3 billion, this is a very literate country.

I guess that is why last week, news broke that Amazon's Kindle is seeking to enter the Chinese ebook reader market. Already active in China's e-book market is Hanvon Technology, which, according to the South China Morning Post, currently dominates about 90 percent of China's e-book sales. Hanvon says it sold about 270,000 e-book readers in 2009 and expects to sell 2 million in 2010.

I guess with the competition, there will be a flurry of ads and the prices may go down, thus encouraging more readers to invest in the ebook readers. As for me, I'm still wondering how to get someone to buy me an ebook reader as a present.

To read more of this article, click here:

http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2010/0803/Will-Amazon-s-Kindle-catch-fire-in-China?sp_rid=NTI5OTY3MDEwNQS2&sp_mid=4528127

Updating skills

We have been talking about using these new technologies and how much difference we expect to see in the classroom. Remember, that we must model what we want our children to learn. If we want them to read and write more, we must read in their presence and discuss some of what we read with them to instil interest. We must also let them see us using blogs, wikis, ebooks etc and allow them to see our own interest and eagerness. Even though the students may be more efficient at using the technology that some of us, we need to keep ourselves a step ahead of them. After all, we are the teachers and we need to remain the authority figure in the classroom, whilst being facilitators of learning. So we need to keep practicing and learning continuously. Learning is lifelong.

Now that EDRL 6004 is over, it does not mean that we have learnt all there is to know about ICT for Reading. On the contrary, we have only touched the tip of the iceberg. We were just given a taste and we have to continue to explore, experiment, practice and share ideas and strategies. Our future as successful Reading Specialists depends on how much we continue to grow in terms of ICT and Reading Strategies.

Assessment strategies

If we are going to teach differently, we also have to assess differently. If we are teaching by incorporating Web 2.0 technology in our lessons, it is unreasonable to continue paper and print assessment. We will need to assess practically. Thus we will have to learn to create rubrics for assessment. The students would have to be appraised of and be made comfortable with the rubrics, the same way we were treated at UWI. Maybe it's time for our goodly lecturers to conduct a session in creating effective rubrics, focusing on what to do and what to avoid. Until such time, we will just have to create our own for our five lesson plans.

In this era of multiple intelligences and Web 2.0 technology, our methods of teaching and assessing must evolve. We are, after all in the 21st century and so are our students. Let us move with the times, or else be left behind.

Digital Story Telling

What do children like to talk about the most? Themselves! (Most adults I know as well, lol). Even more so they like pictures of themselves. My students very often bring to school  pictures of themselves, their families, family activities, vacation pics and so on, and then proceed to explain every detail of the picture to me. Imagine if we could incorporate pictures of these kids and their activities into lessons? Think of the level of interest that would be generated. Well, wait no more, digital story books are here – to stay. When we were introduced to this concept in ICT in Reading I was blown away. It was so easy for the EDRL 6004 group to create an instructional digital story that my mind began to wander. How could I use this in my class?

For the past couple of years I have taken a camera almost everywhere I go. I am of the view that unexpected shots are the best. I have taken shots of snakes in the yard, birds inside the house, flood waters all around my car, a TV personality I met at the airport and all sorts of unexpected but lovely shots. Once I caught one of my post SEA students fast asleep on top of a desk. Another child was so eager to read a book for SSR that he sat inside the cupboard on the bottom shelf and started reading. He was so engrossed in reading; he never saw the flash of the camera.


All of this has made me realise I can use my hobby and the children’s love of pictures to allow the students to create digital photo-stories. Since they will be starring in them, the interest will be automatic, and they will have to ensure that the narration, captions and instructions are done well, thus enhancing speaking and writing skills. I am definitely going to pursue this one, even if I have to take my laptop to school to get it done.

Netiquette

Netiquette refers to internet etiquette. If we are to implement all these new technologies that we are learning in ICT in Reading, then we need to teach our students the proper way to interact with others online. There are behaviour rules to follow online just as if we were interacting with others physically. Students need to be taught netiquette and these rules need to be enforced by teachers in order to maintain disciplined online behaviour. This is especially important when using blogs and wikis and making comments.

Netiquette tips can be found here:


http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html

Creating my first ebook

Having read the ebooks on weread.org, I was tempted to create one of my own. So I did. I made an ebook using a poem I had taught a previous class some time ago. It is called "Someday," by John Ciardi. For a first-timer, I was rather proud of myself. I haven’t gotten any feedback on it as yet, but I discovered that it was not difficult. It took a lot of time, however, because I was unused to the process. I had to search quite a lot for appropriate pictures and I did the voice-over several times before I was satisfied. However, I was pleased with the final product.

I have a class of very poor readers. This ebook will allow them to hear the entire poem, read along where they can, and see the visual so that comprehension is facilitated. Their interest will be high because of the lovely, colourful pictures, the sounds and the fact that the poem is short. I can use this ebook to teach a poetry lesson and I know my students will love it. However, I have to wait until school reopens to try it. So I may not be able to blog about their reactions for the purposes of this blog.

Security of Cloud Computing

How secure is your information when you use cloud computing, you ask? Well, today July 26th 2010 Google launched “Apps for Government” with servers on US soil. It is actually a new version of Google’s suite of cloud-based enterprise applications that have been hardened to meet the government’s more stringent security restrictions. It is expected to store sensitive government information. Google’s Matthew Glotzbach says this encompasses 80-90% of all government information.

So if you are concerned about how secure your info is when you use cloud computing programs, you may want to rethink your concerns as it seems to be the way of the future, even for the US government. 

You can read more here:
http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/26/google-launches-apps-for-government

weread.org

On the myelearning site there’s a link to weread.org. Even though it’s a kids’ site, I decided to have a look. I did not leave it until I had read all of the books there; it was so very interesting. The stories were short yet wonderfully narrated and the pictures were colourful, cartoonish and highly interesting even for this adult. This site is excellent for students; for encouraging listening and skills such as intonation and enunciation. It motivates one to read, to interact with the material, to identify with the content and generally feel good when using the site.

Stories are one of the most effective ways of teaching human values and thus ebooks can be used to get messages across to students even if they cannot read on their own. Ebooks allow for oral comprehension as well as picture reading. It can be one of the solutions for problem readers in the lower levels.

Blogs

The first form of cloud computing that I learnt was blogs. I must say that it was not too complicated to get going. I am still learning how to customize my site, but that is an ongoing thing. The process of blogging itself is an enjoyable one. It is a fabulous way for students to do their journaling. They can also do essay writing and have their peers comment on it, as well as have the teacher make constructive comments. Blogs also allow students to edit after the comments have been made. It is an excellent way to practice writing skills, allows for collaboration and speedy feedback.


Although blogs are in the cloud, only those who are allowed to can view it, thus allowing privacy. This means that pupils can do their personal journaling without fear that that their confidential info will become public. I stress personal journaling in my class. I was able to discover two suicidal children in two different classes by first encouraging students to write journals for me regularly, and secondly guaranteeing that no one but myself would read the journals. Sometimes, students get fed-up of writing journals in exercise books on a daily basis. They may also have spelling problems and this could lead to frustration. The introduction of blogs with spell-check, colored lettering and other choices, could go some way towards eliminating this boredom and frustration and could, on the contrary, encourage them to write longer and more regular journals/blogs. This could lead to the teacher gaining a better understanding of some of the students’ challenges whilst students become better writers.

There are so many possibilities for using blogs in my class that I think my Web 2.0 paper will focus on it.

Cloud Computing

The first time I heard the term, “cloud computing” I thought it was a game, one of the many video games that I do not have any interest in. However, I was soon to learn that it is a way of creating documents, spreadsheets, presentations and surveys without actually having the software on my computer. It allows one to access and edit these documents from a variety of computers without the use of a flash drive. It can also be sent to others without attaching it to an email. It further allows for online photo editing and collaborating with others using wikis and Google Docs. This is because all these processes are done “in the clouds,” which contains free online productivity tools.


This has far reaching implications for everyone who uses a computer, but what interests me is what this can do for schools. It allows students or MOE authorities to purchase inexpensive netbooks for use in schools. Since all the files and programs are stored in the clouds, there is no need for a large hard drive, thus small netbooks can be bought, at a lower cost. Cloud computing allows students to easily collaborate with each other and their teachers as well. Collaboration is an essential competency in education and cloud computing makes it so very enjoyable. I have been experimenting with it recently and it is not at all difficult. I am learning more every day. Since my students are better at manipulating technology than I am, cloud computing will be a breeze for them.

Following is a short article from the India Times, indicating Google's plans for the expansion and future of cloud computing. It's worth a read.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/biz/india-business/Indian-centres-to-lead-in-cloud-computing-Google/articleshow/6165383.cms

Word Processor

I have been using Microsoft Word since I bought my first computer over a decade ago. I assumed I knew all there was to know about writing and editing a document. After all, I use Word almost every day. So imagine my surprise when, in class a couple of weeks ago I wrote a few lines and then clicked on “track changes” under the “review” tab. I started making a few changes and was amazed at what I saw on the screen. There was everything I had changed highlighted in red and bubbles to the side explaining what I had done. There was even a section to make comments on why I had made the changes and what should have been done. I immediately began to visualise how easy it would be if I could mark students work like this and not have to handle snotty, dirty “dog-earred” books. Just think how much paper and ink would be saved. I can almost hear the trees breathing a collective sigh of relief. Wow. I wonder what else there is to Microsoft Word that I don’t know. 


The moral of this blog is, “There is always something more to learn.” Be open to learning and be willing to try new things. You just might be amazed at the possibilities and your life could get a whole lot easier! Your students will love you for it, too.

Fear of Technology

Technology can be a rather frightening thing to some, especially older folks who did not grow up with computers in the home. Even when they become computer literate, many do not freely experiment like the younger ones tend to do. Thus the technology limit in the classroom of some older teachers is to switch from the chalkboard to the whiteboard. They are usually content with this. Many teachers would put up great resistance if asked to learn new teaching techniques using the computer. They prefer to continue as they are, and hope to retire soon. They say this openly and without fear of ridicule.


Having been exposed to last week’s lesson on the creation of blogs and having created and edited a blog several times in the last week, I realise that it is a lot simpler than I expected. The most difficult part was getting started. I also gained a lot of ideas from last week’s lecture and class activity which revealed the variety of lessons that can be done in the classroom to enhance reading skills by using blogs.


Whilst I would like to rush out and begin teaching lessons using blogs, alas, I cannot. The computers are not available to the students. This is another drawback teachers face when attempting to use ICT in the classroom.

Why I chose to do this program.

I have been an educator in the primary school system for close to twenty-five years. For some strange reason, most of the classes I have been assigned to during this period consisted of students who were low achieving and had very serious reading difficulties. Not being specifically trained to deal with reading problems, I tried whatever strategies I knew; was told or read about. Some worked, some did not; it was more like hit and miss in some cases.


After completing my Bachelor’s Degree in English, I waited around for a Master’s Degree that I was truly interested in. I knew that whatever area I specialised in at this point, I would remain in for the rest of my career. However, I was not sufficiently interested in anything that UWI was offering; I found the choices rather limited. I was also not motivated to go to another institution. Whilst I was waiting, I branched out into Public Relations and completed a Diploma. It was unlike anything I had ever studied. I managed to wake up some sections of the grey matter that I had not been using previously. Nevertheless, when I saw the advertisement for the Master of Education in Reading, I immediately knew it was what I wanted to do. It was like something just clicked and fell into place. I knew that this program would equip me to better handle my students’ problems. It offers scope for a variety of reading strategies and motivation techniques. By motivating a child to learn a big part of the problem is solved. I saw this amply illustrated when teaching Adult Literacy classes for MOE and Career Enhancement classes for YTEPP. These adult students knew what they wanted and went about the business of learning without distractions. It was such a pleasure to teach them. Hopefully, I can bring this joy of learning to my primary school students.