8.2 Digital Story

When and Where Did I Find It: I found this term in an article I recently reread for research project I am working on.  "A digital story is a multimedia text consisting of still images complemented by a narrated soundtrack to tell a story or present a documentary; sometimes video clips are embedded between images" (Sylvester & Greenidge, 2009, p. 284).     
Full citation:

Sylvester, R. & Greenidge, W. (2009). Digital storytelling:  Extending the potential for struggling writers.  The Reading Teacher, 63(4), 284-295. doi: 10.1598/RT.63.4.3.

What It Means: The term digital story is used to describe a specific type of digital or multimedia text which includes the following or a "combination of these seven elements:
1.  Point of View
2.  Dramatic question
3.  Emotional content
4.  Economy
5.  Pacing
6. The gift of voice
7. Sountrack.   (Sylvester & Greenidge, p. 287)

I found a very interesting web-based presentation on the concept of Digital Storytelling online:  http://pwoessner.wikispaces.com/Digital+Storytelling

Level of Familiarity: I had heard this term prior to reading the article, but honestly, it wasn't until I read this piece for the first time that if finally "clicked" for me how this particular type of story was very different from traditional stories or narrative texts.

Do I Want to Know This Word Well and Why? I think this is such an important term to fully understand.   At first glance, one would assume this term implies we are talking about digital narratives (like a film); however, these digital narratives or digital stories that are most frequently created and published are NOT full narratives.  Instead, they are a mix of elements of biography and narrative.   It is important to be able to distinguish between this particular type of "story" and what a reader would expect to find given most people's traditional understanding of story/narrative.

Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well...if so WHO and WHY?  I think all teachers of writing should understand what is meant by this particular term.   Too often the term "story" is used when creating writing assignments, without much thought to what is expected.   If teachers were more careful and purposeful in how they talked about the genre of narrative, then perhaps students (K-12 and beyond) would develop a deeper and more principled understanding of the various types of works that can be produced under the very large umbrella term of "story."  

8.1 Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)

When and Where Did I Find It: I found this term on page 644 of Ikpeze and Boyd's (2007) artlcle.  They write:  "The Internet and other information and communication technologies (CTs) have the potential to revolutionize teaching and learning through purposeful integration of technology for thoughtful and critical literacy" (p. 644).  
Full citation:
Ikepze, C.H. & Boyd, F.B. (2007).  Web-based inquiry learning:  Facilitating thoughtful literacy with WebQuests.  The Reading Teacher, 60(7), 644-654.  doi:10.1598/RT.60.7.5


What It Means: This term is used to identify the specific types of computer and digital technologies used most recently used to construct and compose informational texts.  The authors note that "ICTs are ever-changing (Leu, et.al.) at the same, the best to identify these technologies is to look for the qualities of the new literacies of the Internet [which] enable learners to search for, retrieve, and critically evaluate Internet resources; collaborate; and construct new knowledge" (Ikpeze & Boyd, p. 645). I also found a great secondary source which provides a definition for ICTs on tutor2u

Level of Familiarity: I had not seen this particular term used before when identifying multimedia literacy tools.   

Do I Want to Know This Word Well and Why? Yes. I think there is some advance to knowing and being able to use this term -- especially since I think it helps me to be able to better answer students" (and colleagues') questions regarding the "newness" of technology.  When I use the term New Literacy or New Literacy Technologies, sometimes people ask -- what's so new about these tools?  I think the definition that the authors (and Leu et. al) provide help to distinguish this type of literacy practice from traditional information literacy practices. 

Donald Leu (photo taken
from UConn webpage
http://www.education.uconn.edu/
directory/details.cfm?id=46)

Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well...if so WHO and WHY?: I certainly think Literacy Specialist, particularly my LTED 625 students would find this term useful.   Even this semester some students have asked...what makes literacy "new"?  What makes technology "new"?  I think knowing this term might help to clarify some of their confusion.  

7.3 Guided Discussion

When and Where Did I Find It:   I found the term guided discussion when re-reading our text, Teaching Reading in the Content Areas:  If Not Me Then Who? (Billmeyer & Barton, 1998, pp. 49-50).

Full citation Billmeyer, R. & Barton, M.L. (1998).  Teaching reading in the content areas:  If not me, then who? (2^nd ed.).  Aurora, CO:  Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory.   

What it means: The authors give a very detailed definition of the term: "In guided discussion,the teacher uses questions or teacher-developed study guide materials to direct student thinking.  In addition to designing and posing questions, the teacher's role is to encourage student questions about the content and to provide additional information and clarification when needed (Vacca & Vacca, 1993)" (as cited in Billmeyer & Barton, p. 50). 

Level of Familiarity: I am very familiar with this concept, but what I find interesting is that even though I would say I have a great deal of experience with this concept, I still have to re-evaluate my ability to use this instructional strategy based on the specific students I am working with in every class as well as considering their level of familiarity (background knowledge) with the information I want them to know well.

Do I Want to Know This Word Well and Why?   Yes. I do not see how I could be qualified as a teacher of literacy (or a teacher of teachers, teaching literacy) if I do not have a principled understanding of what a guided discussion looks like and the reason why to use such an instructional strategy.      

Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well...if so WHO and WHY?:   I certainly think LTED 625 students should know this concept --especially since they noted in their Content Interest Inventories that they wanted to further develop their abilities to engage students in discussion.  I think part of knowing how to engage students in a STUDENT-led discussion requires having a detailed understanding of what takes place in a TEACHER-guided discussion and how to help the students take on the "traditional responsibilities" of the teacher.

7.2 Content Literacy Inventory

When and Where Did I Find It:   I found this term on page 45 in the section of McKenna and Robinson's (2002) book which was shared with the class.  

Full citation:  McKenna, M.C., & Robinson,R.D. (2002).  Teaching through text:  Reading and writing in the content areas (2nd ed.), p. 45.  Boston, MA:  Allyn & Bacon.     

What it means: McKenna and Robinson (2002) state, "the content literacy inventory, at its core is a series of questions posed over a small section of the textbook.  The student's success at answering these questions after reading the section is used to predict probable performance on the text as a whole" (McKenna & Robinson, p. 45, emphasis added).

Level of Familiarity:  I have a well-developed understanding of this type of classroom based assessment tool.   Another example of this type of assessment tool would be the Strategic Content Literacy Assessment (SCLA) tool which is also used to predict probable performance on the text.  

Do I Want to Know This Word Well and Why?   Yes, I do believe it is important to for me to understand the ways reading guides can be developed and utilized as assessment tools rather than instructional tools.   The key is the design.   What types of questions are included on the tool/guide and for what purpose.  

Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well...if so WHO and WHY?:   I certainly think my LTED 625 students (as well as all teachers) should understand the assessment goals which can be served by creating a tool which is very similar in design to an instructional reading guide.     

7.1 Point of View Reading Guide

When and Where Did I Find It:  I found this term in the Wood (1988) article that was an optional reading for our LTED 625 class readings.

Full citation:  Wood, K. D. (1988).  Guiding students through informational texts.  The Reading Teacher, 41(9), 912-920.

What it means:  This is a specific type of reading guide, designed and assigned by the teacher to aid students reading comprehension both during reading and after reading.  As Wood (1988) describes, 

The point of view reading guide uses questions in an interview format to allow students to experience events from alternative perspectives. Instead of just reading about a particular character, students actually become that individual...The interview questions elicit both text based and reader based contributions from the reader.  Because readers must essentially assume the schemata or more simply "get inside the head" of the character, their comprehension and subsequent recall are positively affected.  (Wood, p. 913)    

Level of Familiarity: I have a fairly well-developed understanding of this instructional strategy, although I rarely use it myself.  

Do I Want to Know This Word Well and Why?   Yes. I guess what I want is to remember this type of guide.   I often consider creating anticipation guides, interactive guides, or QtA guides when designing instructional activities for my students, but I often forget about this particular type of guide Wood suggests. 

Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well...if so WHO and WHY?:   I think this is certainly another type of instructional strategy I want my LTED 625 students to know exists, but whether or not they need to know it well is highly dependent upon what their specific content literacy instructional goals are as well as who their students are.  They might find it a useful type of instructional strategy to include as a part of their Multigenre Project?    

6.2 Classroom Workshop

When and Where Did I Find It:   This is a  an instructional strategy which is discussed throughout Chapter 8 in our LTED 625 text, Content Area Writing Instruction. 
Full citation Daniels, H., Zemelman, S. & Steineke, N. (2007).  Content-area writing:  Every teacher's guide.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

What it means: The authors describe a classroom (writing) workshop as including the following:    

•  Building engagement (teacher takes time to introduce project, build student interest, and create purpose for their writing)
• Choice (students have the opportunity to make choices for the focus of their efforts)
• Individual Goal Setting (students set some of their own goals for learning the subject matter and developing their writing)
•  Students Working Independently in the Classroom (the teacher allows time for writing in class)
• Brief, Focused Teaching (teacher uses brief, focused, mini-lessons)
• Modeling (teacher helps students understand the task by demonstrating how its done)
• Teacher-student Conferences and Observations
• Conference Records
• Writing Folders
• Sharing the Results (Students have an immediate, real audience for their writing so that it contributes to everyone's learning)  

 (Daniels, Zemelman & Steineke, 2007, pp. 195-196).  

Level of Familiarity: I am very familiar with this concept; although I find what I need to do to set up the rules and routines for workshop changes with every class. 

Do I Want to Know This Word Well and Why?   Yes, I think knowing what a workshop is as well as how to foster a workshop in any classroom learning experience is essential to a teacher educator's professional reportoire. As Daniels, Zemelman and Steineke suggest, it is through a workshop that " a teacher can individualize instruction so you can help, explain or teach a lesson to just the students who need it.  Just when their issues is on their minds."  (p. 188). 

Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well...if so WHO and WHY?:   Actually, it is my expectation that the students of LTED 625 will learn this concept fully through actively participating in a LTED 625 Classroom Workshop.

6.1 Write-Aloud

When and Where Did I Find It:   This is a label for an instructional strategy which is discussed in Chapter 6 (p. 123) of our LTED 625 text, Content Area Writing Instruction. 
Full citation Daniels, H., Zemelman, S. & Steineke, N. (2007).  Content-area writing:  Every teacher's guide.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

What it means: The authors describe a write-aloud as an instructional strategy in which the teacher "models the writing task by talking your thoughts aloud as you project your draft for students to see."( Daniels, Zemelman & Steineke, 2007, p. 123).  

Level of Familiarity: I am familiar type of instructional strategy; although in my professional training it was simply called modeling or a writing mini-lesson. 

Do I Want to Know This Word Well and Why?   Yes, not only do I want to know this word well, I want to be able to use this strategy in my own practices. As Daniels, Zemelman and Steineke suggest, " modeling a writing task aloud....not only show the kind of thinking and organizing and explaining that smark writers use but also allows you to lead the way in taking some risks, yourself, just as you are asking the students to do." (p. 123). 

Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well...if so WHO and WHY?:   I would hope my teacher of literacy would recognize the value in knowing how to use "think alouds" and "modeling" when teaching both writing and reading across the content areas.  

5.2 Proficient or Expert Learners

When and Where Did I Find It:   This is another term I introduced to my LTED 625 students on the first night of class through the Content Interest Inventory.   The term is found in the same discussion in their Handbook of Reading Research (vol. 3.) in Chapter 19, that I noted in my 5.1 post for this blog.
Full citation Alexander, P.A. & Jetton, T.L. (2000).  Learning from text:  A multidimensional and developmental perspective.  In M.L.Kamil, P.B. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, & R.Barr, (Eds.) Handbook of Reading Research (vol.3, pp. 285-310).  Mahwah, NJ:  Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

What it means: To be an expert or proficient as a learner through reading requires one to "acquire a unique combination of extensive subject-matter knowledge, strategic sophistication, and deep personal interest in the domain and the topic." The authors  think it is important to also note that "Alexander argued that few who set out on the road toward expertise ever achieve this laudable end, because the demands on knowledge, strategic ability, and motivation are so great." (as cited in Alexander & Jetton, 2000, p. 301).  

Level of Familiarity: I am very familiar with this "Developmental View" of learners (specifically how to describer those who are learning from texts) and with the terms, acclimated, competent and proficient/expertise.

Do I Want to Know This Word Well and Why?   Yes, I do think this descriptor (along with the other two developmental levels) are helpful to know because it allows me to plan instruction in more appropriate ways.  In fact, this entire Developmental Continuum is essential to my work as a professor of Literacy Education.   It is because I (and all of the faculty who work in the Literacy Program) want our students to become LITERACY EXPERTS -- LITERACY SPECIALISTS, that I designed this Content Area Literacy Multigenre Assignment. This assignment is designed in such a way to allow students the "choice" "autonomy" and learning outcomes designed to stimulate creativity or higher level processing" that Alexander and Jetton describe.  

Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well...if so WHO and WHY?:   I think these terms are useful for my students to know -- both as learners and as teachers.  Knowing these different levels gives them more careful and critical descriptions to self-analyze their own background knowledge and level of preparedness.  At the same time, they can better describe their own students' progress

5.1 Acclimated Learners

When and Where Did I Find It:   This is a term I introduced to my LTED 625 students on the first night of class through the Content Interest Inventory.   The term is found in their Handbook of Reading Research (vol. 3.) in Chapter 19, which I asked them to survey, scan and note this week as part of their reading.  (I include the actual sentence where I found the word in the next section of this post.)  
Full citation Alexander, P.A. & Jetton, T.L. (2000).  Learning from text:  A multidimensional and developmental perspective.  In M.L.Kamil, P.B. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, & R.Barr, (Eds.) Handbook of Reading Research (vol.3, pp. 285-310).  Mahwah, NJ:  Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

What it means: The term was defined by "Alexander (1997b) [who] chose the label acclimated for the first stage in students' academic development to emphasize the orientation and adaptation characteristic of this period....Because background knowledge is an essential variable in what and how readers learn, acclimated learners are disadvantaged in their initial attempts to make sense of domain-related texts.  ...Further because acclimated students have little principled knowledge, they are unlikely to have any deep-seated interest in the content of the text (Garner et al, 1991).  (as cited in Alexander & Jetton, 2000, p. 299).  


Level of Familiarity: I am very familiar with this "Developmental View" of learners (specifically how to describer those who are learning from texts) and with the terms, acclimated, competent and proficient/expertise.

Do I Want to Know This Word Well and Why?   Yes, I do think this descriptor (along with the other two developmental levels) are helpful to know because it allows me to plan instruction in more appropriate ways.  For example, the types of instructional activities I plan for 625 class are designed for COMPETENT LEARNERS at times -- when exploring literacy concepts in general and at other times for ACCLIMATED LEARNERS -- when introducing more content area literacy specific concepts.  

Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well...if so WHO and WHY?:   I think these terms are useful for my students to know -- both as learners and as teachers.  Knowing these different levels gives them more careful and critical descriptions to self-analyze their own background knowledge and level of preparedness.  At the same time, they can better describe their own students' progress.

4.2 Conditionalized

When and Where Did I Find It:   This is one of the key terms I asked LTED 625 students to revisit as a part of the Jigsaw Activity during Session 4.  The word is found in the Fisher and Frey (2009) chapter I had students read.   The authors introduce this term as part of a quote from "the National Research Council's (2000, p. 11) report How People Learn:  Brain, Mind, Experience and School" (Fisher & Frey, 2009, p. 3).  They quote the following passage: 
"The new science of learning does not deny that facts are important for thinking and problem solving....However , the research also shows clearly that "usable knowledge" is not the same as a mere list of facts.  Experts' knowledge is connected and organized around important concepts (e.g., Newton's second law of motion); it is "conditionalized" to specify the context in which it is applicable; it supports understanding and transfer (to other contexts) rather than only the ability to remember. (National Research Council, 2000, p. 11 as cited in Fisher & Frey, p. 3).  
Full citation Fisher, D. & Frey, N. (2009).  Background knowledge:  The missing piece of the comprehension puzzle.   Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.  

What it means: The term is partially defined in the sentence cited above.  "conditionalize refers to the state of being able to specify the context in which something is applicable."  To further detail this discussion the authors state:   "background knowledge must be conditionalized -- that is, the learner must know where and when to apply it."  In addition, it is important to note that if a person is motivated, he is more likely to apply what he knows almost automatically." (Fisher & Frey, p. 5).



Level of Familiarity:  Honestly, even though I have spent a great deal of time over the course of my academic/professional career studying schema theory; I cannot say that this term "conditionalized" is one that I am very familiar with.   As I read this chapter I had to spend a great deal of time thinking about how this feature of background knowledge is different from the features of being organized and transferable.  


Do I Want to Know This Word Well and Why?   
Yes, I do think this term (along with the others) are useful to have a working understanding of.   It gives me a more fuller way to conceptualize Background Knowledge 
as well as a more targeted description which I can use it with my students. 


Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well...if so WHO and WHY?:   I certainly think my LTED 625 students (as well as all teachers) should have a deep and principled understanding of what Background Knowledge is -- and how the three factors, including CONDITIONALIZED -- interplay as well as operate in unique ways.  

4.1 Satiate

When and Where Did I Find It:   I found this word in our Fisher and Frey (2008) text, Word Wise & Content Rich.  The authors state, "Secondary students satiate very quickly on any one vocabulary activity, so we've found it helpful to get into the mindset of offering up a few different types of peer activities each week" (p. 65).

Full citation Fisher, D. & Frey, N. (2008).  Word wise & content rich:  Five essential steps to teacing academic vocabulary.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

What it means: Most people think the word simply is a synonym for "to satisfy."  But there is a subtle, yet significance, with the meaning of this word generally and specifically with the way it is used in the context of the sentence where I found it.  According to Dictionary.Com the word means "(1) to supply with anything to excess, so as to disgust or weary;(2) to satisfy to the full; sate."     

Level of Familiarity: I am familiar with this concept, but I hadn't associated it with a factor to consider in instructional planning. 
   
Do I Want to Know This Word Well and Why?   Yes, I do think it is a great word to know -- just in terms of incorporating it into my general vocabulary.   However, I also think it is a useful term to use in this more specialized way, as Fisher and Frey have.


Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well...if so WHO and WHY?:   I am curious to know if my LTED 625 students think this word provides a useful descriptor when considering students' level of engagement in the instructional activity at hand.   I am not sure I feel strongly that they SHOULD know this word, but I think it would be an interesting to hear their thoughts on this.   
Any of my LTED 625 readers have any opinions?