Ebooks are definitely worth more than a million words as the creation of E books can have a multitude of benefits to young readers and writers.
• Ebooks allow students to focus on story language and apply their funds of knowledge to constructing and comprehending texts in an academic setting. Schema theory tells us that prior knowledge is essential for comprehension and that learning difficulties can often be traced back to insufficient background knowledge. Ebooks that use the familiar aspects of the school as themes allows all students access to background knowledge that would help them understand and contribute to the text.
• Using computers to write stories and access digital images gives students experiences with technology and moves them to becoming fully literate in today’s world as they gain proficiency in ICT. As educators we have a responsibility to effectively integrate these technologies into the literacy curriculum to prepare students for the literacy future they deserve.
• EBooks are ideal for developing a lesson based on the language experience model using pictures from field trips or class parties. The digital photos may serve as a memory link for students’ experiences as well as concrete prompts for descriptive language and tools for organizing a sequence of events.
• Publishing - Since e-books are already electronic, they can be shared easily via email.
• E-book writing assignments give students an authentic opportunity to craft identities as real authors who have a message to share and to experience the motivation and engagement that comes from writing about things they care about at a level that is challenging without being frustrating.
So teachers don’t leave class pictures in an album, use it to engage your students in literacy as they create fun keepsakes for reflection in later life.
Hi Ghina
ReplyDeleteYour blog is packed full of information, it is very edifying to read and you make it accessible to the reader to understand.
E-books can be so beneficial to students that it makes you wonder how come no one has been championing their use in schools.
I like the fact that it can make all students be not just writers but publishers as well. The sense of pride and ownership that comes with such a project can't be matched with a pen and paper assignment.
By using pictures that they take themselves students can create authentic texts that reflect their world not that of some anonymous textbook publisher.
Finally, I love your recommendation about using the pictures we have lying around; we may be surprised to learn that we have teachable moments captured in many of them.
Interesting read!
ReplyDeleteThe advantages of the use of E-books in the classroom for both the teacher and student are numerous.
It creates a much more attractive reading experience, than paper based books, especially for the unmotivated and the struggling re
Part of our duties as teachers is to create a reading environment for our students, where they would simply want to read; read MORE and enjoy doing so.
The interactive nature; visual and audio effects of E-books can help promote this environment.
I am enjoying creating my own E-book as I type (multi-tasker)and i can't wait to put it to use in my classroom.
Ghina,
ReplyDeleteCertainly eBooks are a powerful tool for use in classrooms, and I hope that we will all be using them soon. The power of pictures of students and their friends and family cannot be replaced by anything else for stimulating interests. Who does not like to look at pictures? The toughest kid in class will become interested in eBooks showing pictures of him and others he knows.
Hamilton (2009) in The Reading Teacher, supports your ideas here as he writes that eBooks provides support for eight reading strategies: "prior knowledge, making connections, questioning, visualizing, inferring, summarising, evaluating and synthesizing"
Your insightful analysis of the use of eBooks and your suggestions are truly helpful to us all. Thank you for the great Blog.
Ghina, I too am of the conviction that using pictures of our students themselves will promote an interest in literacy skills that they would have otherwise lacked. Giving them an opportunity to choose or take their own pictures to communicate will help to them to put their thoughts about an idea into perspective.They are better able to concretise their insights about an issue thus allowing them to create some dialogue,spoken or written ,about it.A teacher, then, using the e-book technology can have children use pictures of their experiences to write in any genre be it expository,narrative or descriptive. Most importantly,it will be a meaningful experience for the student.
ReplyDeleteStudents are always happy to show themselves to others. They are always elated to do things like this.
ReplyDeleteStudents also love taking pictures. I have a digital camera that I always have with me and I am always taking pictures of my students.I now have a folder packed with pictures of them which I would use for them to create both ebooks and digital stories . They would enjoy doing this activity.It would improve their literay skills and motivate them to want to read.