Edmodo is a great interactive piece of classroom social media.  If you are curious about it- check out this Edmodo tutorial I made over the basics of Edmodo.

Podcast Episode 1: Integrating Technology into the Classroom

Check out this Podcast interview discussing the importance of technology in the classroom-  Podcast URL

Integrating Technology into the Language Arts Classroom

Children are excited and motivated to learn when using technology.

Integrating Technology into the Language Arts Classroom

            Technology in the language arts classroom can enrich and support the reading and writing curriculum as well as engage and excite the young learner.  The technology component of the classroom should focus more on the comprehension and thoughtful reading than just with games and isolated skills. (Rose, 2004)  Keeping students engaged is the goal both in small group instruction and with the other students in the classroom who are doing independent learning. (Rose, 2004) Teachers model fluency and inflection to their students in order to help students read in a way that will increase comprehension.  Using electronic books that read aloud to the reader is a way that the students can have this skill reinforced in an independent way while the teacher is working with other students. (Rose, 2004) Words in these books can be highlighted and vocabulary and phonics skills can be reinforced while the reader is using real literature. (Rose, 2004) Writing skills are another way that electronic books can support the language arts curriculum.  Some digital books are flexible in their endings and allow the students to write their own endings after reading a portion of the book.  This allows the child to model their style of writing after the author’s. (Rose, 2004)  Some electronic writing sites will read the child’s writing back to them. This allows the student to self-assess the writing and decide what revisions need to be made. (Rose, 2004)  Other websites like Mixedlink and BoomWriter do similar editing type jobs and allow the students to write by themselves or to collaborate with a group to write a story. (Stern, 2012) Wiggle Works is another website created by Scholastic that incorporates these technology skills into the language arts classroom. (Rose, 2004)

             There are many other ways to integrate technology into reading and writing lessons.  Teachers who are overwhelmed by this idea should watch and model lessons after a teacher that uses technology regularly in the classroom. (Haynes) Technology can be incorporated easily through Power Point reviews over material learned.  (Haynes) These types of games get students excited about learning. Blog sites are a great way to study characters in books or famous people.  Students look at different blog sites and then take their character or famous person and create a blog site for them. (Haynes) These can be shared with the class and discussed in groups.  Pen pals have gone in a completely new direction with email exchanges.  Students can choose to correspond with someone in another city, state or even another country and culture.  Students can learn all about the way the pen pal lives and can even drop pictures or videos into the email in order to really experience the culture. (Haynes)  When students do their final writing pieces on the computer, it looks professional or published. (Haynes) Students feel ownership and pride over the writing and work harder to present a polished final copy. Technology in the language arts classroom can help inspire and motivate children into being life-long readers and writers.

To see a related website about technology integration:
Teacher Today by Glencoe website

Watch this video to see how digital books are used in a Wisconsin classroom:

An overview of this blog can be found in the following slide show:





Bibliography for Integrating Technology into the Language Arts Classroom:

Haynes, K. (n.d.). 12 Easy Ways to Use Technology in Your Classroom, Even for Technophobic Teachers. TeachHUB. Retrieved June 7, 2014, from http://www.teachhub.com/12-easy-ways-use- technology-your-classroom-even-technophobic-teachers.

Rose, D. (2004, January 1). The role of technology in the guided reading classroom: Apprenticeships in reading and writing. Retrieved June 7, 2014, from http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/authors/pdfs/WW_GR_prof_paper.pdf.

Stern, B. (2012, October 17). Because You Asked: How Tech Can Transform English/Language Arts Class from Good to Great (EdSurge News). EdSurge. Retrieved June 7, 2014, from https://www.edsurge.com/n/because-you-asked-how-tech-can-transform-english-language-arts-class-from-good-to-great.

Integrating technology into the language arts classroom from heathertomberlin