Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1515721
1. Use blended learning to drive motivation. To help her class digest and better enjoy the novels they read for class, high school English teacher Shelby Scoffield has students separate into small groups and choose a book together. She uses a blended station rotation model where students rotate group activities, annotating text to identify main ideas, creating character profiles, developing plot timelines and uploading their own video reviews using Flipgrid. Not all activities make use of tech, but they 're a regular option: "Allowing students to pick from a variety of task options creates buy-in and valuable opportunities for academic growth," she writes. Library specialist Flordeliza L. Cadiz Marks directs middle school students to the podcast "Book Club for Kids" with episodes centered around what other kids think of particular titles. She also uses video tools to create book trailers and add student book reviews to class social media pages, where parents can see them too. The goal is to create the right kind of peer pressure that comes when multiple students get excited by the same titles. "Listening to what other students are saying about a particular chapter book prompts them to borrow the book and read it as best they can," she says. 2. Try ear reading to prod reluctant readers. According to elementary school librarian Kimberly Rues, "a quality audiobook is one of the most effective tools in my librarian toolbox ." Students who struggle with reading, or don't enjoy it, can more easily follow along with the printed book while building comprehension and reading fluency. That practice, called ear reading, has proven benefits for students learning or struggling to read. Research has shown that listening to an audiobook offers similar comprehension as print reading — stimulat- ing the same cognitive parts of the brain. Reading isn't just decoding symbols with our eyes, Rues writes. It also involves "visualizing, inferring, predicting and connecting with the text.... When a child struggles to decode, the rest of the pro- cess erodes very quickly." Audiobooks bridge that gap, helping students decode while they listen and build reading skills to use the next time they pick up a printed book to read independently. 3. Level reading passages using artificial intelligence. Students in high school teacher Kristen Starnes' social studies classes read at many different levels — and her class Tools such as Diffit can transform a challenging passage into language tailored to any grade level from two through 11. Shown is Federalist Paper #51 for an 11th grade reader. "Listening to an audiobook offers similar comprehension as print reading — stimulating the same cognitive parts of the brain." 50 cta.org Teaching & Learning