Title: Exploring Literacy on the Internet.
Subject(s): TEACHERS --
EDUCATIONAL technology; INTERNATIONAL Reading
Association
Source: Reading Teacher, Apr2002, Vol. 55 Issue
7, p654, 6p
Author(s): Teale, William H.; Labbo, Linda D.;
Kinzer, Chuck; Leu Jr.,
Donald J.
Abstract: Focuses on the National Commission on
Excellence in
Elementary Teacher Preparation for Reading
Instruction, a study being
conducted in the
Details on the use of case approaches with
technology in literacy
teacher education; Philosophy behind the
construction of the cases;
Aim of future research.
AN: 6437887
ISSN: 0034-0561
Full Text Word Count: 3850
Database: Academic Search Elite
Section: Editorial
EXPLORING LITERACY ON THE INTERNET
The CTELL project: New ways
technology can help educate tomorrow's
reading
teachers
Technology profoundly affects the learning and
teaching of literacy,
as well as the nature of literacy itself. It
always has. The
development of book technologies in the early
1500s set in motion the
need for book literacies and many of the
abilities we currently teach
in our classrooms. Today, new literacies emerge
as new technologies
for information and communication demand new
skills for their
effective use (Leu & Kinzer, 2000; Leu,
Mallette, & Karchmer, 2001;
Luke, 2000; Reinking, McKenna, Labbo, &
Kieffer, 1998). These include
the literacies of word processors (e.g., using
a spell checker or
knowing how to format a paper), the literacies
of e-mail (e.g.,
managing a digital address book or effectively
using an electronic
mailing list or listserv), and the literacies
of the Web (e.g., using
search engines to locate information on the
Internet or knowing
effective strategies to critically evaluate
website information). As a
community of literacy educators, we are
responding to the emergence of
these new literacies in many ways; from this
column, to this themed
issue of The Reading Teacher, and to the
recently adopted
International Reading Association (2001)
position statement on
literacy and technology. It is clear that to be
fully literate our
students need to be prepared for these new
literacies.
Schools across the
strategies both to add technology to the tools
children use routinely
for obtaining information and to instruct
children in the new
literacies. The effects of such initiatives are
felt variously in
individual schools or districts, depending on
factors such as the
ability to purchase hardware and software,
Internet access, and the
technological know-how of teachers and
curriculum personnel. In some
situations, children rather than teachers
provide the impetus to add
technology to the instructional program.
Whatever the case, the impact
of technology cannot be denied.
Gradually, the focus of many conversations
among professionals in
education is turning to issues of literacy and
technology. Such a
focus is extremely important. In this month's
column, however, we draw
attention to another aspect of literacy and
technology that has been
far less examined--how people entering K-8
teaching receive their
education about teaching reading and language
arts as part of their
initial certification programs. We know the
statistics about the need
to hire more than 2 million teachers over the
next 10 years and about
the shortage of teachers projected to occur in
the same time frame. We
also know that the
levels have emphasized the importance of
teaching reading in their
educational platforms. From research in our own
field (e.g., Bond &
Dykstra, 1997; Duffy & Hoffman, 1999), as
well as in education more
generally, we see clearly that the teacher
quality is the most
important factor in student achievement. As the
report Preventing
Reading Difficulties in Young Children (Snow,
Burns, & Griffin, 1998)
indicates from its synthesis of relevant
research: Young children of
diverse abilities, ethnicities, and
socioeconomic levels learn best in
classrooms where teachers are expert decision
makers, able to make the
best use of available curriculum materials and
resources to design
productive instructional activities that meet
their students' literacy
needs. These factors suggested to us that this
is a good time to
examine the current state of preservice teacher
education and to
explore how technology can help prepare new
teachers to deal with the
realities of teaching reading and writing in
classrooms.
Preservice teacher preparation
Interest in teacher education has heated up in
the
following a number of national reports such as
the one in 1996 from
the National Commission on Teaching and
Teacher Survey on Professional Development and
Training (Lewis,
Parsad, Carey, Bartfai, Farris, & Smerdon,
1999). The latter indicated
that less than half of new teachers feel well
prepared to meet the
challenges of school classrooms. On the
national level, the Carnegie
Corporation has launched "Teachers for a
New Era," a substantial
initiative designed to stimulate development of
excellent teacher
education programs
(http://www.carnegie.org/sub/program/teachers_xecsum.html).
In
addition, the National Council for the
Accreditation of Teacher
Education (NCATE) has recently announced new
standards for accrediting
teacher education programs (http://ncate.org/).
With respect specifically to the preparation of
teachers to provide
reading and writing instruction, the
International Reading Association
has been conducting a 3-year study of
excellence in 4-year
undergraduate teacher preparation programs.
This effort, the "National
Commission on Excellence in Elementary Teacher
Preparation for
Instruction," is examining relationships
among teacher preparation
programs, beginning teachers' reading
instruction, and children's
reading achievement. Working with high-quality
teacher preparation
programs across the
features that led to excellence. The final one,
a useful starting
point for our considerations of technology and
reading teacher
preparation, was that the programs all had this
in common:
A discriminating...continuum of procedures for
maintaining standards
and academic accountability...[which] insured
that teachers
[graduating from the programs] are
knowledgeable, have the necessary
skills, and are able to teach reading
effectively.
(http://www.reading.org/advocacy/commission.html;
see National
Commission, 2000)
This is a lofty accomplishment indeed, because
as recent surveys and
our conversations with school administrators
and first- and
second-year teachers have shown, many beginning
teachers feel less
than well prepared to teach reading. What is
missing, according to
most of these teachers? They say it's enough
opportunities (a) to be
in classrooms of capable literacy teachers (to
see what the children
and teachers do and understand how they do it)
and (b) to then try out
the effective strategies they see there.
A number of factors impede such opportunities.
Among the commonly
cited ones are the lack of time in current
certification programs
(most have few education courses and sometimes
only one or two reading
methods courses) and the lack of good mentor
teachers who are strong
in literacy instruction. As is often the case,
the teachers who
provide outstanding literacy instruction are
usually in such demand to
assist with staff development and mentoring
first- or second-year
teachers in their buildings that they rarely
have time to supervise
preservice field work or student teaching.
Another issue related to preparing effective
reading teachers for the
primary-grade years was raised in the report of
the
of Education Commission on the Prevention of
Reading Difficulties
(Snow et al., 1998). This influential policy
document pointed out that
even though preservice teacher education
courses aim to prepare
educators to implement exemplary literacy
instructional practices,
developing the ability to engage in the complex
problem solving
required to effectively teach reading and
writing is extremely
difficult to realize.
There are no easy solutions to the challenges
of (a) increasing the
time preservice teachers get to spend in the
company of good reading
teachers and (b) educating prospective teachers
in how to make
principled instructional decisions and
orchestrate effective literacy
instruction for a classroom of children.
However, one possible
solution currently receiving attention is the
use of case approaches,
which let prospective teachers visit and study
classrooms with strong
literacy instruction.
Using case approaches with technology in
literacy teacher education
Many professions, faced with preparing skilled
practitioners to work
in complex environments that require rapid and
thoughtful decision
making, have found important advantages in
using case approaches.
Professional educators in law, medicine, and
social work, for example,
often use a case approach. Although there are
many different types of
case-based instruction, most include a rich,
authentic context and
allow students to observe the actions of
experts as they analyze and
critique the most appropriate responses.
Sometimes, these decisions
are critiqued in turn as students develop
analytic and decision making
skills so essential to their profession. Often,
these cases are
presented in a text-based narrative.
The predominant notion behind a case approach
is learning to think
like an expert. Experts differ from novices in
that they have a richer
base of knowledge, are able to recognize and
analyze patterns, and are
fluent in applying knowledge and solving problems
in practical
situations (Alvermann & Rubin, 1990).
Through interactions with
professionals in the field, opportunities to
discuss issues with
classmates, reflective thinking, and scaffolded
guidance from their
instructors, novices learn to think like their
more knowledgeable
professional guides. Preservice candidates
learn to go beyond
procedural knowledge (e.g., the ability to
carry out the steps in a
strategy) and declarative knowledge (e.g., the
ability to define a
strategy) to develop conditional knowledge--the
ability to analyze
effectively and creatively, which Reinking,
Mealey, and Ridgeway
(1993) noted should be at the center of
professional development in
literacy education. Case instruction focuses
not on mere repetition of
descriptions or definitions of the steps in an
effective literacy
practice but on providing organized occasions
for accessing a
knowledge base that informs effective
instructional decisions. Teacher
candidates have opportunities to move into
expert realms of decision
raking when they engage in case-based
educational experiences such as
readings, problem solving, and discussions.
Recently, a number of projects have begun to
employ case methodologies
in educating literacy professionals. This is
the approach recently
taken in work completed at
1998; Kinzer, Singer Gabella, & Rieth,
1994) using multimedia,
case-based instruction for preservice teachers.
Another project by
Greenleaf and her colleagues (Greenleaf &
Schoenbach, 2001) developed
student literacy learning cases and
case-inquiry protocols that are
used in conjunction with professional
development of inservice middle
and high school teachers. The cases consist of
print and video
excerpts from interviews and reading
performances of secondary school
students. Teachers are led through protocols
designed to develop their
knowledge of how meaning is constructed in
teachers' and students'
interactions with particular texts. Greenleaf
investigated how
analyses of interviews, teacher-written
reflections, classroom work
samples, and teacher participation in case
discussions help reveal how
case inquiry contributes to teachers'
professional development.
The Internet provides new and increasingly
powerful potentials for
case approaches. One powerful feature of
Internet and computer
technology is that it can give thousands of
preservice teachers
virtual access to real classroom settings in
ways unheard of a few
years ago. Think beyond "reality"
television shows to technologies
that put the viewers in charge, allowing them
to explore a classroom
by accessing a variety of instructional scenes;
samples of children's
work; assessment data; or ancillary information
about the teacher,
students, specialists, parents, and the school
principal.
Digital video cases add an extra dimension to
case-based instruction,
enabling teacher candidates to see as well as
deeply study a range of
identified literacy instructional practices
used in context-rich,
complex situations. The teacher candidates have
the opportunity to
engage in analysis, reflection, and decision
making that encourages
them to think like an expert. This activity
modifies what many
beginning teachers conceptualize as procedural
steps in various
literacy "methods" in order to meet
differing instructional needs in
the "real world" they encounter in
elementary classrooms.
Although they do not represent what most would
consider a case, some
videos of instructional segments in literacy
education are on the
Internet. These videos of specific instruction
routines include the
Language Arts Video Series developed at the
California Learning
Exchange at the
(http://www.gse.uci.edu/cli/languagevideos.htmld,
and the
Classroom Explorer project developed at
and Internet technologies to present more
complex and authentic cases
of literacy instruction holds great promise for
everyone concerned
with preparing new teachers.
Case Technologies for Early Literacy Learning,
(CTELL)
Funded through the Interagency Educational
Research Initiative under
the auspices of the National Science
Foundation, the CTELL project
(http://ctell.uconn.edu)
is an ambitious effort to determine if the
use of anchored video cases of effective K-3
literacy teachers in
preservice reading methods courses can (a)
enhance preservice teacher
candidates' knowledge of best practices for
teaching reading, (b)
result in the implementation of these practices
in the candidates'
classrooms when they become teachers, and (c)
foster teachers who
teach in ways that positively and significantly
affect children's
reading achievement. This 5-year project brings
together an
interdisciplinary team from many areas
including preservice teacher
education, early childhood literacy
development, instructional
technology, cognitive psychology, survey
research, quantitative and
qualitative methodologies, computer-related
early literacy
instruction, and Web design.
At CTELL, we have focused on developing a
specific approach to the use
of cases in literacy teacher education around a
central
construct--anchored video cases. Anchor cases
(Cognition and
Technology Group at Vanderbilt, 1990; Lundeberg
et al., 1999) involve
sustained, repeated explorations of classroom
instructional scenarios
that allow preservice teachers to understand
the kinds of problems
teachers encounter and the knowledge they use
in their decision
making. That is, video cases become a common
anchor for instructors
and students to construct knowledge through
discussions of theory,
research, and practice. Cases contain videos of
classroom lessons and
related materials that serve as a springboard
for discussion, as a
model, and as a practice tool. The random
access capabilities of the
Internet and CD technologies let teachers and
students retrieve clips
of interactions for review and study, a
powerful capability not
possible in the real world and difficult to
accomplish with
videotapes. In addition, video cases can
provide students with (a)
Internet extension assignments as well as class
and course readings,
(b) an interactive online discussion forum, (c)
links to other
relevant sites (e.g., experts in the field),
and (d) access to
supplemental information (e.g., running record
sessions, hard copies
of testing instruments, lesson plans, and
summaries of information
about students).
A cognitive apprenticeship model undergirds
these digital anchor cases
because teachers and students share visual
images, sustained and
malleable video clips of practice, related
readings, and a social
context that provides for exploration of
in-depth, effective decision
making and classroom interventions. This
theoretical insight is at the
center of the use of such cases. Preliminary
findings from previous
research on digital anchor cases (Kinzer &
Risko, 1998; Labbo & Field,
1997; Labbo, Stahl, & Stahl, 2000; Risko,
1995) indicated that
preservice students engage in high levels of
problem solving, and they
gain expertise, confidence, and the ability to
implement literacy
instructional strategies in the field.
Sustained, repeated
explorations of classroom instructional
scenarios and best practices
appear to enable students to understand the
levels of complex decision
making involved in real classroom situations.
We are employing this
approach in CTELL. There are a number of
different facets to CTELL,
but most important, and the focus in this
column, is the development
and use of anchored video cases in preservice
literacy methods
courses.
Over the 5 years of the project, we are
developing 12 cases--4 at each
grade level, K-3. One case at each grade level
focuses on a classroom
with rich and innovative uses of technology in
conjunction with
literacy instruction. The cases will be
implemented in preservice
literacy methods courses throughout the
effects. Each classroom case consists of the
following major
components:
Anchor: A 15-20 minute video that captures the
overall spirit,
philosophy, and activities representative of
literacy instruction in
that classroom.
Instructional segments:Video clips from 3-5
minutes that illustrate
various principles of effective early literacy
instruction
representative of the classroom.
Student profiles:The following data are
provided on three students
from the classroom (one high-literacy-achieving
student, one
average-achieving student, and one student
challenged by literacy):
student interview, running records, writing samples,
parent interview,
and parent-teacher conference.
Assessment: Results from standardized or
informal instruments
administered by the school.
Interviews: Classroom teacher and school
principal.
Other: Various demographic statistics on the
school and classroom.
From this description, you can see the complex
nature of each case. We
believe this comprehensive approach to case
development is essential
for new teachers to develop the critical
insights so important to
classroom reading instruction. It is not
sufficient, we believe,
simply to present isolated instructional
segments and expect new
teachers to develop the complex insights they
require to respond to
the many individual needs within a classroom.
One challenge we face is designing an interface
that makes navigation
within each case as intuitive and as easy to
learn as possible. We
have a specially designed interface for
accessing the cases. This
interface permits the university instructor and
students to quickly
locate information. A special feature allows
students and instructors
to bookmark any segment of a video for later
retrieval and analysis.
These bookmarks may also be exchanged via
e-mail so that a student or
an instructor can invite others to access a
particular video segment
with their message. We refer to these video
bookmarks as the
"currency" within the system we are
developing. As students from
around the
discussion group about the cases they are
using, they can exchange
with one another links to any specific video
segment they reference in
their messages.
The philosophy behind the construction of the
cases--and the overall
project--has been guided by a set of 12
research-based principles,
identified as being effective in beginning
reading instruction. These
principles--relating to everything from
phonemic awareness and phonics
to computer technologies, students' cultural
and linguistic
backgrounds, and the teacher's ability to make
principled
instructional decisions while they orchestrate
effective classroom
instruction--emerged from a comprehensive
review of research on early
literacy instruction that we did the first year
of the project.
Details on these principles are in the booklet
Beginning Reading
Instruction (Teale, Kinzer, Labbo, & Leu,
2002).
The cases function as a flexible tool for use
in preservice literacy
teacher education courses. There is no
blueprint or set of directions
for how the cases are to be employed. Rather,
the intent is that they
can serve in a variety of ways, depending on
the instructors'
students, teaching style, and course content.
At this time, the cases
are restricted to those participating in the
research project, so that
data can be gathered systematically on their
use and the best possible
end product can be refined. However, we have
made one anchor video
available at http://ctell.uconn.edu/sample.html
to provide an
indication of what is available through the
CTELL project. This site
does not contain the operational interface for
the project, so it is
not possible to sample the various
instructional tools and resources
that the CTELL case website offers. It does
contain the anchor video
segment (about 15 minutes long) for one of our
cases.
We are excited about the prospects of this resource
for
reading-teacher education. Our future research
will explore how best
to use these rich cases of effective practice
to support new teachers
in early literacy classrooms. It will also
evaluate the extent to
which a video case approach such as this helps
new teachers develop
the insights so critical to effective reading
instruction.
For more on Case Technologies for Early
Literacy Learning in general,
please visit http://ctell.uconn.edu/.
For information on becoming
involved as a methods course instructor in the
CTELL research project,
please go to the Become Involved section of the
CTELL website at the
same address. Our intent is that CTELL serve as
a resource for the
literacy education community across the
References
Alvermann, D., & Rubin, D. (1990). Teacher
assessment and teacher
change in classroom communication behaviors.
Reading Research &
Instruction, 29, 18-25.
Bond, G.L., & Dykstra, R. (1997). The
cooperative research program in
first-grade reading instruction. Reading
Research Quarterly, 32,
348-428.
Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt.
(1990). Anchored
instruction and its relationship to situated
cognition. Educational
Researcher, 19 (6), 2-10.
Duffy, G.G., & Hoffman, J.V. (1999). In
pursuit of an illusion: The
flawed search for a perfect method. The
Greenleaf, C.L., & Schoenbach, R. (2001,
January). Close readings: A
study of key issues in the use of literacy
learning cases for the
professional development of secondary teachers.
Final report to the
Spencer and MacArthur Foundations.
Initiative, WestEd.
International Reading Association. (2001).
Integrating literacy and
technology in the curriculum.
http://www.reading.org/pdf/technology-pos/pdf.
Kinzer, C., & Risko, V. (1998). Multimedia
and enhanced learning:
Transforming preservice education. In D.
Reinking, M. McKenna, L.
Labbo, & R. Kieffer (Eds.), Handbook of
technology and literacy:
Transformations in a post-typographic world
(pp. 185-202). Hillsdale,
NJ: Erlbaum.
Kinzer, C.K., Singer Gabella, M., & Rieth,
H. (1994). An argument for
using multimedia and anchored instruction to
facilitate mildly
disabled students' learning of literacy and
social studies. Technology
and Disability Quarterly, 3(2), 117-128.
Labbo, L.D., & Field, S.L. (1997). Windows
into two classrooms of
diversity (A Project Report to the
Task Force).
Labbo, L.D., Stahl, S., & Stahl, K. (2000).
"I feel like such an
expert now": Exploring the use of
interactive case-based CDs on
university student expertise in administering
and analyzing K-5
reading diagnostic instruments. Paper presented
at the 50th Annual
Conference of the National Reading Conference,
Scottsdale, AZ.
Leu, D.J., Jr., & Kinzer, C.K. (2000). The
convergence of literacy
instruction and networked technologies for
information and
communication. Reading Research Quarterly, 35,
108-127.
Leu, D.J., Jr., Mallette, M., & Karchmer,
R. (2001). New literacies,
new technologies, and new realities: Toward an
agenda for the literacy
research community. Reading Research and
Instruction: Themed Issue on
Literacy and Technology, 40, 265-272.
Lewis, L., Parsad, B., Carey, N., Bartfai, N.,
Farris, E., & Smerdon,
B. (1999). Teacher quality: A report on the
preparation and
qualifications of public school teachers (NCES
1999-080). Available:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=1999080
Luke, C. (2000). Cyber-schooling and
technological change:
Multiliteracies for new times. In B. Cope &
M. Kalantzis (Eds.),
Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the
design of social futures
(pp. 69-91).
Lundeberg, M.A., Bergland, M., Klyczek, K.,
Mogen, K., Johnson, D., &
Harmes, N. (1999, April). Increasing interest,
confidence and
understanding of ethical issues in science
through case-based
instructional technology. Paper presented at
the annual meeting of the
American Educational Research Association,
Montreal, PQ.
National Commission on Excellence in Elementary
Teacher Preparation
for Reading Instruction. (2000, May). National
commission on
excellence in elementary teacher preparation
for reading instruction.
Symposium presented at the Annual Convention of
the International
Reading Association,
National Commission on Teaching and America's
Future. (1996). What
matters most: Teaching for America's future.
Available:
http://www.zuni.k12.nm.us/Ias/21TE/NWREL/What.htm
Reinking, D., McKenna, M., Labbo, L., &
Kieffer, R. (Eds.). (1998).
Handbook of literacy and technology:
Transformation in a
post-typographic world.
Reinking, D., Mealey, D., & Ridgeway, V.
(1993). Developing preservice
teachers' conditional knowledge of content area
reading strategies.
Journal of
Risko, V. (1995). Using videodisc-based cases
to promote preservice
teachers' problem solving and mental model
building. In W.M. Linek &
E.G. Sturtevant (Eds.), Growing literacy (pp.
173-187).
PA: College Reading Association.
Snow, C.E., Burns, M.S., &
reading difficulties in young children.
Washington, DC: National
Academy Press.
Teale, W.H., Kinzer, C., Labbo, L.D., &
Leu, D.J., Jr. (2002).
Beginning reading instruction. Athens, GA:
University of Georgia.
~~~~~~~~
By William H. Teale; Linda D. Labbo; Chuck
Kinzer and Donald J. Leu
Jr.
Teale teaches at the University of Illinois at
Chicago (1040 West
Harrison, Chicago, IL 60607-7133, USA).
Labbo teaches in the Department of Reading
Education at the University
of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA.
Kinzer teaches at Vanderbilt University,
Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
_________________
Copyright of Reading Teacher is the property of
International Reading
Association and its content may not be copied
or emailed to multiple
sites or posted to a listserv without the
copyright holder's express
written permission. However, users may print,
download, or email
articles for individual use.
Source: Reading Teacher, Apr2002, Vol. 55 Issue
7, p654, 6p.
Item Number: 6437887
This email was generated by a user of EBSCOhost
who gained access via
the WESTERN MARYLAND COLLEGE account. Neither
EBSCO nor WESTERN
MARYLAND COLLEGE are responsible for the
content of this e-mail.