Week 4 Reading

I especially enjoyed this review because it's focus was on digital literacy.  The most interesting point that it raised is that reading texts on the internet is beneficial because it is not linear.  What that means is that children don't just read from one line to the next, from left to right the whole way.  There are hyperlinks, pictures and captions, interactive readers, and many other features that put more of a wealth of information at the fingertips of the students while they are reading.  I found this to be especially interesting as I am trying to incorporate online reading with response blog posting in my classroom.

This study was extremely informative.  Instead of using digital storytelling after the reading process, the author used in before and during the reading process to help connect the readers to the story. It was an excellent way to engage reluctant readers, low level readers, and ESL students.  I thought that this was especially innovative since I had no idea that you could do something like that.  It would be interesting to try out.  However, it will not affect my AR project because all of my students are above level. I'm wondering if there would be a way that I could use a similar approach, however, to spark their interest in the novel text.

This article interviewed experts in the field of digital literacy and reading comprehension.  Many of the statements that the experts made were theoretical, as there is no state in our country that uses digital media to assess student comprehension on most standardized tests.  It did, however, bring to mind for me the disparity that draws for my ESL students.  Beginning in the Spring of 2009, the TELPAS (texas english language proficiency assessment system) began utilizing computers to administer the reading portion of the exam.  It cited ease of administration and quicker release of results as the main reasons.  However, I'm wondering now if this has had an effect on how well or poor students perform on the assessment.  They are never asked to read and demonstrate comprehension at any time during the school year other than for this testing.

The last study focused on the differences of reading online versus reading print text.  How does that affect comprehension.  It made me wonder about differences in comprehension for online reading in different genres.  For example, how does reading fiction and non fiction digital affect comprehension?  Is there a difference at all? It is an interesting question to pose considering the wealth of information that is available at the fingertips of students who read online.  Many of the more traditional non fiction texts seem to come more alive with the click of a button, a short video rather than a diagram explaining a concept, and a hyperlink that can explain background information to anyone who is confused.