Litchfield Technology Symposium June 10 th and 11 th Allison Arndt Instructional Coach at Watertown-Mayer School District

Allison Arndt I have worked in the field of education for 11 years and have taught 1st, 2nd, and 5th grades. This year I took on a new role in the Watertown-Mayer school district as the K-5 Curriculum and Instructional Coach. I have spent the last three years working in a 1-1 iPad setting and have worked to integrate technology into instruction and staff development in order to promote choice, creativity, communication, collaboration, deeper thinking, and student engagement.

Literature Circles Book clubs that allow students a chance to authentically discuss and reflect on what they are reading. Elements of Lit Circles Student choice Small groups based on choice Meet regularly

Literature Circles Traditional Model Updated Model  Multiple student roles that add to discussion of book  Work can be interactive and shared among group and teacher  Possibilities are endless and students can mold their role to fit their interests  Students can research about topic and make more connections  Students can still contribute to a group if they are absent  Teachers can record conversations to listen to the quality of discussions  May take more training and management at the start, but students are very engaged  Multiple student roles that add to discussion of book  Work tends to be worksheet based  Can sometimes limit creativity  If a student is absent, they miss out on discussion

Traditional Literature Circle Roles  Discussion Director – asks questions and guides the discussion  Connector – makes and shares connections  Literary Luminary – finds, shares, and discusses important and memorable quotes and sections of the text.  Summarizer – summarizes sections of the book  Word Wizard – researches and shares vocabulary words with the rest of the group  Scene Setter – discusses the setting and it’s importance to the story

Discussion Director  Blog or Discussion EdModo discussions Kidblog Student Samples

Connector  Coggle Free and easy to use mind mapping tool Share with others for collaboration Organize and file in Google Drive Access revisions Add pictures Add live links Coggle You Tube Video

Literary Luminary  Wordle Wordle create a word cloud from important and inspiring quotes from the text.  Find audio versions of passages to share  Record self reading (reread for fluency and expression) passages Students listen to and record own reactions and thoughts

Summarizer  TimeToast TimeToast create interactive timeline using events in the story Add pictures and live links Upgrade to create groups and share work

Word Wizard  Quizlet – create vocabulary flashcards Quizlet  Online or interactive dictionaries  Create a shared vocabulary journal in Google docs for the group to access and add to  Use mind mapping tool to create graphic organizers of words  Add pictures, examples, etc to words in journal

Scene Setter  ReadWriteThink: Comic Creator ReadWriteThink: Comic Creator

Other tips  Students can record their discussions and share them with you so that you can listen in.  Students could video record with camera and you can view

Other Examples of Literature Circles & Technology Integration  Mr. G Online  Blog focused on technology in school  and-literature-circles/ and-literature-circles/  Drs. Cavanaugh (Higher level)  Technology Enhanced Literature Circles  Background and PDFs for student use 

Time to explore!  Go to some of the sites listed in the presentation and check out the programs.  Start making a list of sites that interest you or you feel you could use