iPads and Reading

As a late baby boomer, When I first got my gen one iPad, I wasn't sure I was ready to read on the thing. I have always been an avid reader and I love the feel, smell and heft on a good book. I have learned to appreciate the portability of books on my iPad, no more carrying a stack of books in my luggage or purse. I also love the fact that I can look up words. I grew up with parents saying, " go look it up" and I tell my students the same thing. But personally I am super lazy about doing that. Until now. I just touch the word and I get a definition! Love it!



So once I got 1:1 iPads for my students, I have been finding all sorts of apps for math, science, history and grammar, but not a lot for reading comprehension. I've been thinking a lot about how to use this tool in my reading class. Enter, iPad Literature Circles. This site is devoted to providing suggestions for a variety of (mostly free) apps to promote student ownership of learning using this incredibly diverse tool.

Conducting Literature Circle with mobile devices such as the iPad, not only provides immediate access to a diverse selection of books, but also to reference materials, research tools, interactive maps, and a slew of creation and dynamic notebook apps. Within this single device, students can quickly check the meaning of a word, run a quick background check on a historic event, or articulate their understanding of text with a range of multimedia apps. Teachers can now easily differentiate the processes students can use to demonstrate understanding.

Just found this, Mr. Gleeson talks in his blog about using Edmodo with lit circles!

Technology can play a big part in this and can also be used to enhance, simply and streamline the whole process. This is where the iPad comes in. ( I’ve been neglecting the star of Mr G Online for a while as I’ve been reflecting on education overall). With its ability to act as the actual book ( or text in general), its connectivity and collaborative capabilities and the tools and apps that it can add to the mix, the iPad can be the all-in-one Literature Circle Experience. Using Technology as the tool for creating the preparation for the discussion means there are opportunities for the teacher to check in on the potential online discussions that may occur and have access to the prep work the students have done for the discussion.

I have my summer project!

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