ISTE Literacy Network’s session, a grab bag of “The New” conveniently squeezed into a vision- and info-packed hour

The passage below is excerpted from the Article "Ba-Boom! EdTech!" which appeared in EdTech Digest July 12, 2019- Education’s explosive ‘next’ observed through the lens of ISTE 2019. UNPACKING EDTECH | by Mark Gura"

" At the annual ISTE Literacy Network’s session, from a grab bag of “The New” conveniently squeezed into a vision- and info-packed hour (actually, I produce this session for ISTE personally), emerged an understanding of the new shape of Literacy Instruction.

‘Technology Based Literacy Resources and Practices with Special Promise’ aims to turn heads and drop a few jaws. It offers solid examples of resources available to take literacy learning to next levels of possibility. Sage Salvo, of Words Live, delivered big-time in the first of the session’s four presentations.

Words Live

I think of Words Live as an engine that delivers instant cultural relevance to lessons that otherwise would be experienced by students as beyond the scope of their interest (boring!). Accomplishing that is quite a feat. Words Live is an online resource that supports teachers and students in easily matching text-based content items being studied (think anchor texts, literary concepts, etc.) with the music that kids are currently listening to—and quickly delivering, through the work of its algorithm, standards-based lessons replete with video-embedded slides that present analysis and examples of how the selected text aligns with and is understood through songs that share themes, concepts, and literary devices.

Words Live provides focus questions, assessment suggestions, and a full complement of instructional assets. A must-be-seen resource for today’s classrooms! Salvo, the creator of Words Live, is an educational visionary with a background in entertainment and both feet firmly planted in a mission to deliver precisely what today’s kids want and need. https://www.wordsliive.org/

Timelooper

Timelooper, built on the session’s increasing excitement with its extraordinary solution that applies VR/AR technology to required curriculum. While many of us are still figuring out how VR can most meaningfully be used to produce important learning experiences, investments in precious student time and attention, that go beyond simply dazzling us all with mind-bending visual effects, Timelooper elegantly addresses actual classroom needs. It offers experiential instruction that transports students into the startling reality of landmark historical events. Students explore these in a virtual environment of extraordinary fidelity; an experience that resonates deeply, taking them beyond the realm of traditionally learned concepts and facts. The experiences crafted by Timelooper provide exciting entry points for learning and applying communication skills: writing, discussion, related readings, and more. No wonder the large number of literacy educators present were transfixed. https://www.timelooper.com/educators

BirdBrain Technologies

BirdBrain Technologies, a student robotics provider, pushed the literacy education parameters even further. One of the most exciting recent developments in the area of Student Robotics is the deep and meaningful connections made with Literacy Learning. BirdBrain Technologies, particularly with its Hummingbird kit, has gone deep here, developing practices in which students explore themes in literature and express and illustrate their learning through designing and building robotic tableaus (I think that term will work here) based on literary works (e.g., Poe’s The Raven). Session participants were given a startling, robotics-driven, easy-for-teachers-to-implement approach to Literacy Instruction that was both unexpected and that offered a vision of what’s next for classrooms. https://www.birdbraintechnologies.com/

Nearpod

Rounding out the sessions offerings was Nearpod a student engagement platform that makes technology integration easy—something crucial, in my mind, as so many teachers are still leery of the difficulty and complexity they think they must overcome to make technology part of what they do. Nearpod is also a vast library of content and resources, and Amy Brown demonstrated one of its instructional games in real, synchronous time to the session’s audience who were quick to join the action projected up front on the large screen. They interfaced with the excitement on screen instantly with their phones and other mobile devices. Nearpod, a well-known resource, continues to shape shift, expanding its very abundant body of content through ongoing acquisition of instructional resources, such as Flocabulary. https://nearpod.com/

Also see: Professional Development, Transformed | EdTech Digest

Innovative Literacy Playground

In a STEM-centric learning environment, nothing is more crucial to the body of knowledge students will use throughout their lives than literacy skills. And while clearly, literacy itself is being redefined by new capabilities and possibilities fueled by an ever more functionally rich body of digital resources, the elements of reading, writing, speaking, and listening (the four Pillars of Literacy), remain crucial—although, taking on exciting new ways of manifesting themselves. This was evident at the conference’s Innovative Literacy Playground. Among its offerings:

Supporting Creative Communicators in the Classroom – students communicate their learning through a design process (Melinda Kolk) – Student Writing: Effective Strategies and Digital Tools for Revision (Troy Hicks) – Student Voice and Choice via digital tools action research demonstration (Heather Esposito, Allison Kreiss, and Kelly Healey), Google Forms as a self-reflection tool in the writing process (Jules Csillag), and VR Escape Room Game Creation (Jules Csillag). For a full listing of playground presentations and full titles, click here. "