To develop literacy skills all children need to be exposed to books and reading. For today’s techno-savvy youngest generation there is now an option to practice their reading skills online. Digital books are not meant as a replacement to paper books but another exciting medium to get kids reading more.

I love that the story can read aloud to kids whilst highlighting the words.

Children learn by repetition and we all know how kids can want the same story over and over again! So they can listen to the story a number of times and learn the associations between the sounds and the words.

I love that children can click on a word they are unfamiliar with and hear it spoken.

Without having to wait for adult intervention children can try and sound out a word whilst they are reading but if they get stuck they can hear it spoken by clicking on the word.

I love that ebooks look like a paper book with page turning.

Ebooks are not meant as a replacement to paper books but having digital books that look like their paper counterpart can instil a love of all books.

I love that the illustrations are animated.

Picture books that really come to life with animated illustrations – just magical.

I love the comprehension/memory quiz incorporated into the technology.

Children can listen to a story yet not pay attention. Having a comprehension/memory quiz can make sure they listen carefully and take more of the story in.

I love that children are using computer time as a learning experience.

As a parent myself I know how much the kids love to spend time on the computer. Now they can use screen time in an enjoyable and educational way.

I love that reluctant readers can be exposed to books in another medium.

Reluctant readers can hold strong negative associations with books so exposing them to digital formats can provide an alternative medium for them to be exposed to books which is not as threatening.

Digital books are not meant as a replacement for paper books. They are another medium that can harness a child’s passion for learning to read. They are a method for exposing children to more books whilst they are having fun. But don’t tell the children!

Many teachers have come to the view that in order for learners to engage with their education in the 21st Century, they need to have greater access to the technology that is now embedded into their every day lives. Our youngest generation are learners born into a world where mobile devices, games consoles, the internet, interactive TV and constant 24-7 multimedia are common place. Children are being exposed to technology from a very early age, yet research has shown that some of these children do not know how to use it effectively because they do not have the support at home. So should our schools be helping them by putting technology at the heart of the curriculum? If we are preparing our youngest generation of learners to be prepared for roles that they will fulfil in the future then technology will, undoubtedly, be at the heart of that.
There is a growing interest in finding ways to use technology in classrooms. Ollie Bray a teacher in Scotland has recently won the Microsoft European Innovative Teachers Forum Awards for his use of Nintendo DS and ‘Guitar Hero’ to engage with his pupils. This may cause a ripple of horror amongst more traditional teachers or parents. But engaged learners are better learners so shouldn’t we be grabbing the opportunity to engage with children with both hands?
So playing games at school maybe shocking but the technology is now there to use to enhance the educational experience and teach children how to use the technology. Win-win – they learn on two levels. Allowing children access to online educational games makes learning fun as well as learning how to navigate the computer even from a very young age.
Ebooks have already proved particularly successful with low-ability and reluctant readers. A larger proportion of boys fall into this category than girls. Not only do they reflect the young learner’s world more appropriately than paper books but children still find technology ‘cool’. Therefore, reading on personal electronic devices or laptops individually or together on a whiteboard makes those who are reluctant more interested. A key element in successfully remediating struggling readers is helping them learn to enjoy reading. Even capable readers can enjoy quality content via eBooks and because they are a different medium to paper they can be actively encouraged to read more.
I was shocked when I saw the statistic that one in five children currently leaves UK primary school without reaching the expected level in reading and writing. If we can use the technology to engage them perhaps this statistic would change? Getting children to read more has been proven to increase literacy levels. Does it matter in what medium they increase their exposure to reading?
Children are being prepared for jobs that do not exist yet. The way in which they are educated needs to prepare them for the exponential change they will see in their life time. Technology is one of those changes. We should be doing what we can to equip them with the skills they need to interface effectively with technology. I am not suggesting we throw out traditional methods of teaching but that we embrace the technology that can engage our youngest learners to ensure they are equipped with the skills they will need in their changing lifetime.

I was recently reading a report by Ofsted [an independent education review body in the UK] about literacy trends in schools.
The report is available here.

“The gap between schools in their understanding of the uses of new technology partly reflected the very differing views that schools held about English, the changing nature of communication and pupils’ literacy needs in the 21st century. The most effective schools understood that ‘ICT has fundamentally altered… how we think about reading and writing’. As technology has changed, so the literacy needs of pupils change. This always involves adding new skills rather than simply replacing old ones.”

This is fundamental. We need to view the use of technology as beneficial to engaging students as well as adding to the skill set that they will require in the future. The skills required to read and enjoy a novel are different to those needed to skim emails, or text messages or extract pertinent data from an electronic report. However we cannot forget the basics. Reading and writing are skills, in my view, that need to remain no matter what technological advancements are made.

What do you think?

If the changes in education over the last 100 years had been as dramatic as the changes in medicine or industry over that time, what would our schools look like today?

What a great question and it certainly got me thinking.

The education system hasn’t really changed that much since the 1800’s. Yet advances in knowledge, technology and access to information has seen exponential growth. Our children are growing up in this environment. They are learning to access and use knowledge when and where they need it. Learning is not limited to learning within the boundaries of classrooms and school buildings, it is available 24/7.

Our current model of schooling is to bring the learner to the knowledge contained within the walls of the school building where experts tell and share information. The schools of tomorrow need to bring the knowledge to the learner. And that is not constrained by a location or building.

Do I think that schools will become a thing of the past and children will learn in isolated pods? Absolutely not. The true value of schools is that they support a community of learners, not only in their knowledge but in their social development too. So going to school won’t change, but how we educate our learners should harness the technological advancements available. So teachers can be a guide to learning, supporting enquiring minds, inspiring and working with the children to solve problems. The true beauty of a school community is that young minds can question, challenge and discuss to develop their knowledge further.

We cannot guess at how much the world will change in their lifetimes, as change is an exponential graph, but we can make sure that our education is preparing children for this change.

What do you do when your child would rather do anything else than read?

It can be really frustrating as a parent if your child has no interest or worse still an aversion to reading. You know that you need to encourage them to read to improve their literacy skills but what do you do when it becomes a battle rather than a source of enjoyment?

Reading is a skill just like any other. And when you do not have the basic skills then for some children trying to gain the skills becomes worse than not trying. Imagine you were learning to play tennis. How motivated would you be if the ball never went over the net? It wouldn’t be much fun would it, especially if the other player was getting stressed about it.

So the key is to relax yourself. Find ways to have fun reading in different situations. Reading doesn’t just have to be sitting down with a book.

If your child is struggling to read and is spending more time stumbling over the words try reading the book to the child first. Then let your child have a go at filling in some of the blanks that you leave. Then try taking turns reading a page or line. Make sure the book is about something that the child is really interested in. Try and find interesting facts books on a topic they enjoy such as sharks, dinosaurs or soccer. If the subject matter is interesting then your child is more likely to want to master the skills to decode the information.

There are lots of tools available online that can support your child’s reading skills whilst they are having fun. Educational games can improve language development, word recognition or spelling. Kids usually love using the computer and game based learning can be great fun as well as educational.

Ebooks that are animated and read the story aloud as the child follows the words can present reading in a different medium which is removed from the normal associations they have with sitting down to read a book. You can also let them master the tool themselves to develop their self confidence. Look out for books where emerging readers can have a go themselves and click on a word to hear it spoken, like the ones at wizz-e.com.

Try playing word games, like word snap or making words out of different letters. These can be made at home for free and introducing the fun element of play can engage a disinterested reader.

Let your child write their own stories and print them out. You could illustrate the story using images available on the internet, from magazines or let your child draw the pictures themselves. Your child will love showing and reading their books to anyone who will listen! If your child is not a confident writer, then write or type the story out for them.

If you remove the battle and encourage a love of reading using different methods your child will be developing their skills in a way that they enjoy. Just as with learning to playing tennis once one skill set is developed it encourages the desire to learn more.

I was recently reading a book about what affects literacy skills in young children and I thought I’d share some of the key research findings I came across.

The critical point that was made was that learning to read and write begins long before the school years. Research shows that the attitudes of adults who interact regularly with children have a huge influence the attitude of children learning to read (DeBaryshe, 1995; Baker et al., 1995; Spiegel, 1994). A number of factors affect these interactions, including the parents’ own attitudes towards reading, the children’s motivation for reading, the opportunities parents provide their children and how they behave, as well as the parents’ own reading and literacy ability levels.

So what does the research say? Here are a few excerpts.

Parents who believe that reading is a source of entertainment have children with a more positive view about reading than do parents who emphasize the skills aspect of reading development (Baker et al., 1997).

Children who view school learning as irrelevant to life outside school are less motivated to invest time and effort in learning to read (Purcell-Gates, 1994; Stipek et al., 1995).

When parents are responsive and ”chatty” during shared reading, improvements in their children’s skills have been recorded (e.g., Whitehurst et al., 1994).

Parents who believe their children are interested in reading are more likely to provide reading activities than parents who do not see such interest (Hiebert, 1981).

Enthusiasm about reading is suggested by many researchers as a route to development of the child’s active engagement in reading (Snow and Tabors, 1996; Baker et al., 1995).

Activities such as family storybook reading promote positive feelings about books and literacy (Taylor and Strickland, 1986).

Mealtime conversation helps children acquire knowledge about narratives when family members recount the day’s activities, giving children an experience of value in learning about language and communication (Snow and Tabors, 1993).

So some simple steps can promote reading skills in your children:
• talk to your children,
• share books,
• be enthusiastic about reading,
• chat about the books they are reading,
• be seen to enjoying reading yourself.

Simple really isn’t it?

In a recent article in the Guardian UK a group of authors, publishers, teachers and librarians are calling on the government to make school libraries statutory.

This was a complete shock to me that school libraries were not statutory. How can we expect our children to explore the worlds that books open to them if they do not have access to books? How can we expect them to become literate adults if we do not support their education with access to the right tools?

Although anyone would support the right of prisoners to a library, as it can be part of the process of rehabilitation through education, why are we not offering this to our children? Research indicates that many young people who offend have low literacy levels, so are we to assume that we wait UNTIL they get to prison before we help them learn to read?

Access to books and reading is fundamental in us supporting our children’s literacy. We cannot afford to leave it until it is too late.