|
|
Developing Reading Mastery Inspiration Home Resources Standards Inspiration About the Author |
Research into Developing Reading Mastery
My research involves exploring how I can use technology tools to increase student motivation to read in special education settings. The students I teach in my 7th and 8th grade special day classes are almost all many years behind grade level in reading.
|
|
Background and Need, Rationale, etc.
Many students receiving special education services find reading difficult and frustrating, and as a result they do not read for pleasure and their skills do not advance at a rapid rate. I began my research by studying whether student engagement could be enhanced by using animation technology, specifically Animoto. After reviewing previous research in this area, I had students use Animoto to make trailers for The Bad Beginning: Or, Orphans! (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 1), by Lemony Snicket. As my research evolved, my focus turned towards using adaptive learning technologies, specifically Moby Max, to develop language and vocabulary skills while simultaneously developing self-confidence and motivation to read in my students. The ultimate goal remains the same, which is to inspire students with special needs to read more and to give them the tools to achieve the skills to read for pleasure and for learning -- Developing Reading Mastery.
Literature Review
Daniel Levintow -- Literature Review
Introduction
The purpose of this project is to study whether animation technology (specifically Animoto) can be used to increase student motivation in special education settings.This literature review will address the areas related to student motivation as it relates to learning, how technology can be used to foster student motivation as it relates to reading, and how animation technology in education settings relates to student engagement.The first section will address research student motivation as it relates to reading. The second section will focus on research about how technology can be used to foster student motivation as it relates to reading . Finally, the third section will discuss the use of animation technology in educational settings as it relates to student engagement.
Theme 1: Student Motivation to Read
Children's motivation for reading: Domain specificity and instructional influences.
Wigfield, A., Guthrie, J. T., Tonks, S., & Perencevich, K. C. (2004). Children's motivation for reading: Domain specificity and instructional influences. The Journal of Educational Research, 97(6), 299-309. Retrieved from http://library.touro.edu/docview/204212576?accountid=40250
Summary
Purpose-- The purpose of the study under review was to compare how two reading programs, Concept Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI) and multiple strategy instruction (SI) influenced children’s intrinsic motivation to read.
Procedures --The students were assigned to groups based on which school they attended, each of which received a total of twelve weeks of instruction in reading strategies as relates to the content area of science. The strategies taught were the same, but differed in the amount and type of motivation support and links to outside reading in the content area. The students assigned to the group receiving CORI instruction did hands-on activities and generated questions after each activity. The received lots of additional support designed to encourage their intrinsic motivation to read and to explore areas of interest on their own. They also received support through the CORI method for increasing their self-efficacy as regards to reading.
Results -- The results showed a clear increase in both motivation to read and self-efficacy in the CORI group as opposed to the the students who received SI instruction. Those students showed no growth in either area.
Analysis -- The study provided convincing evidence that hands-on activities involving the text and generating questions about the text can increase student motivation to read.
Influences of stimulating tasks on reading motivation and comprehension.
Guthrie, J. T., Wigfield, A., Humenick, N. M., Perencevich, K. C., & al, e. (2006). Influences of stimulating tasks on reading motivation and comprehension. The Journal of Educational Research, 99(4), 232-245,256. Retrieved from http://library.touro.edu/docview/204202678?accountid=40250
Summary
Purpose - The purpose of the study under review was to measure whether providing students with stimulating hands-on tasks, such as science experiments, and then providing reading materials for students to explore their newly aroused interests, would increase reading comprehension in elementary school students..
Procedures -- Two groups of students were identified to be subjects for the studies: one group was in classrooms that provided high numbers of stimulating reading activities, and the other group was composed of students in classroom that provided fewer such activities. All of the groups participated in some hands-on observations and activities, but the number of such activities in one group was much higher. Students were administered a reading comprehension pre-test and post-test, and student portfolios were evaluated using a rubric.
Results - The study demonstrates that increasing the number of stimulating tasks increases student situational motivation to read. The study demonstrates that situational motivation to read is associated with increases in reading comprehension.
Analysis - This study demonstrates that providing an increased number of tasks involving direct observations, questioning, and hands-on activities can lead to increased student motivation, which is associated with gains in reading comprehension.
Theme 2: Using Technology to Increase Student Motivation
The Potential of Web 2.0 Tools to Promote Reading Engagement In a General Education Course
Park, S. (2013). The Potential of Web 2.0 Tools to Promote Reading Engagement in a General Education Course. Techtrends: Linking Research And Practice To Improve Learning, 57(2), 46-53.
Summary
Purpose --The purpose of the study in question is to examine the lack of engagement with reading among college students taking general education courses. Many of these students skim the materials and exhibit a shallow level of reading. The study addresses whether Web 2.0 tools can be used to increase the level of engagement among these readers.
Procedures - The authors examined college professors who used Twitter, Google Docs, blogs, and Facebook. Students were required to use Twitter to communicate their reactions to the readings, use the wiki functions of Google Docs to collaborate on documents, blog about their responses to readings, and use Facebook groups as a way to share their thoughts and communicate about the materials they read for the courses. As a part of using all of these tools, students are required to comment on the writings of other students.
Results -- The paper cites evidence that students using the tools above feel a greater sense of autonomy and competence, and are more engaged with their readings.
Analysis -- There is ample evidence that using Web 2.0 tools in classroom settings results in greater engagement. In order for this to be implemented successfully, students must be given explicit directions on how the tools are to be used in the course.
Rethinking reading promotion: Old school meets technology
Chance, R., & Lesesne, T. (2012). Rethinking reading promotion: Old school meets technology. Teacher Librarian, 39(5), 26-28. Retrieved from http://library.touro.edu/docview/1024434634?accountid=40250
Summary
Purpose -- The purpose of the study is to determine whether using animation technology to create trailers, which can be designed to supplement and enhance traditional book talks, will increase motivation to read in secondary students.
Procedures -- the school librarians in question selected books that were expected to appeal to students and then created a storyboard for each book. The storyboard included such items as the title and author of the book, the image from the cover, pictures intended to convey information about the book, narration or text, and music (or sounds.) The next steps described were creating,editing, and revising the trailer. Finally, the trailers were presented to students in conjunction with traditional book talks.
Results -- The study concluded that the using technology to enhance the traditional experience of sharing books one enjoys is an effective one. The students can access the trailers using devices that many students are familiar with and are already using in their personal lives.
Analysis -- The key conclusion is that the trailers provide visual imagery to students who may have difficulty creating that imagery on their own, thus enhancing their enjoyment of and enthusiasm for the books.
Theme 3: Animation technology in educational settings as it relates to student engagement
Digital Storytelling: Kizoa, Animoto, and Photo Story 3
Digital Storytelling: Kizoa, Animoto, and Photo Story 3
Yee, Kevin; Hargis, Jace
Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, v13 n1 p12-14 Jan 2012
Review
Purpose -- the purpose of the study is to inform practitioners of new tools that can be used to increase engagement with reading. The author posits that students will create better projects when they have the sense of being personally invested in a project, which can be achieved by creating a narrative.
Procedures -- The authors discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using Kizoa, Animoto, and Photostory 3. Kizoa offers a Flash-based interface, a library of images and sounds, and opportunity to upload the users’ own content. Some of the content is free, but much of it is available only to premium users. The interface is simple to use and resembles home movie software students may have used in other settings. Photostory 3 is a Microsoft product which can be downloaded at no charge and is easy to use. It offers more opportunities to customize one’s product that Kizoa and allows the student to upload his or her own audio and narration. Animoto is cloud based and offers advanced technologies above and beyond those of the other products the author analyzed. The main limitation is that non-paying users can only upload short clips; however, professional accounts are available free of charge to educators. Educators can create sub accounts for their students.
Results - the authors conclude the while all of the products under review can be used to create digital slideshows, which will promote student engagement, Animoto is the product that offers the widest variety of features for educators and their students at the lowest price.
Analysis -- an environment that offers audio and video, as opposed to simple text, will make students’ interactions with reading materials more exciting and increase student motivation to read.
Weaving a Virtual Story--Creating Book Trailers 101
Bates, N. (2012). Weaving a Virtual Story--Creating Book Trailers 101. Knowledge Quest, 40(3), 72-76
Review
Purpose -- the purpose of the selection under review is to discuss and analyze uses of technology to create book trailers that will motivate students to read. The author discusses the advantages and disadvantages of several tools, including Animoto, that can be used towards this end, and discusses process of finding suitable imagery that is free from copyright restrictions.
Procedures - the author used materials from Creative Commons and Wikimedia commons to find legal material suitable for inclusion in her trailers. Some of the author’s suggestions included creating the trailer using first person voice, choosing a font appropriate to the spirit of the text (using different fonts to represent different characters), and limiting the number of text slides.
Results - the author claims that trailers are a commonly used method for increasing student interest in reading and provides anecdotal evidence supporting this claim.
Analysis -- there are proven techniques that support the goal of creating engaging animations for student readers. Students and faculty who create such animations must be informed about copyright law as pertains to their work and take care to obey the law.
Conclusion
A review of the literature on the topics of student motivation to read, using technology to increase student motivation, and specifically the use of animation technology to achieve increases in motivation and reading comprehension reveal that there are well documented benefits to using this technology in general education settings. The researcher did not review literature addressing the topic of using these strategies in special education settings, which is a poorly documented area that the researcher wishes to explore.
Introduction
The purpose of this project is to study whether animation technology (specifically Animoto) can be used to increase student motivation in special education settings.This literature review will address the areas related to student motivation as it relates to learning, how technology can be used to foster student motivation as it relates to reading, and how animation technology in education settings relates to student engagement.The first section will address research student motivation as it relates to reading. The second section will focus on research about how technology can be used to foster student motivation as it relates to reading . Finally, the third section will discuss the use of animation technology in educational settings as it relates to student engagement.
Theme 1: Student Motivation to Read
Children's motivation for reading: Domain specificity and instructional influences.
Wigfield, A., Guthrie, J. T., Tonks, S., & Perencevich, K. C. (2004). Children's motivation for reading: Domain specificity and instructional influences. The Journal of Educational Research, 97(6), 299-309. Retrieved from http://library.touro.edu/docview/204212576?accountid=40250
Summary
Purpose-- The purpose of the study under review was to compare how two reading programs, Concept Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI) and multiple strategy instruction (SI) influenced children’s intrinsic motivation to read.
Procedures --The students were assigned to groups based on which school they attended, each of which received a total of twelve weeks of instruction in reading strategies as relates to the content area of science. The strategies taught were the same, but differed in the amount and type of motivation support and links to outside reading in the content area. The students assigned to the group receiving CORI instruction did hands-on activities and generated questions after each activity. The received lots of additional support designed to encourage their intrinsic motivation to read and to explore areas of interest on their own. They also received support through the CORI method for increasing their self-efficacy as regards to reading.
Results -- The results showed a clear increase in both motivation to read and self-efficacy in the CORI group as opposed to the the students who received SI instruction. Those students showed no growth in either area.
Analysis -- The study provided convincing evidence that hands-on activities involving the text and generating questions about the text can increase student motivation to read.
Influences of stimulating tasks on reading motivation and comprehension.
Guthrie, J. T., Wigfield, A., Humenick, N. M., Perencevich, K. C., & al, e. (2006). Influences of stimulating tasks on reading motivation and comprehension. The Journal of Educational Research, 99(4), 232-245,256. Retrieved from http://library.touro.edu/docview/204202678?accountid=40250
Summary
Purpose - The purpose of the study under review was to measure whether providing students with stimulating hands-on tasks, such as science experiments, and then providing reading materials for students to explore their newly aroused interests, would increase reading comprehension in elementary school students..
Procedures -- Two groups of students were identified to be subjects for the studies: one group was in classrooms that provided high numbers of stimulating reading activities, and the other group was composed of students in classroom that provided fewer such activities. All of the groups participated in some hands-on observations and activities, but the number of such activities in one group was much higher. Students were administered a reading comprehension pre-test and post-test, and student portfolios were evaluated using a rubric.
Results - The study demonstrates that increasing the number of stimulating tasks increases student situational motivation to read. The study demonstrates that situational motivation to read is associated with increases in reading comprehension.
Analysis - This study demonstrates that providing an increased number of tasks involving direct observations, questioning, and hands-on activities can lead to increased student motivation, which is associated with gains in reading comprehension.
Theme 2: Using Technology to Increase Student Motivation
The Potential of Web 2.0 Tools to Promote Reading Engagement In a General Education Course
Park, S. (2013). The Potential of Web 2.0 Tools to Promote Reading Engagement in a General Education Course. Techtrends: Linking Research And Practice To Improve Learning, 57(2), 46-53.
Summary
Purpose --The purpose of the study in question is to examine the lack of engagement with reading among college students taking general education courses. Many of these students skim the materials and exhibit a shallow level of reading. The study addresses whether Web 2.0 tools can be used to increase the level of engagement among these readers.
Procedures - The authors examined college professors who used Twitter, Google Docs, blogs, and Facebook. Students were required to use Twitter to communicate their reactions to the readings, use the wiki functions of Google Docs to collaborate on documents, blog about their responses to readings, and use Facebook groups as a way to share their thoughts and communicate about the materials they read for the courses. As a part of using all of these tools, students are required to comment on the writings of other students.
Results -- The paper cites evidence that students using the tools above feel a greater sense of autonomy and competence, and are more engaged with their readings.
Analysis -- There is ample evidence that using Web 2.0 tools in classroom settings results in greater engagement. In order for this to be implemented successfully, students must be given explicit directions on how the tools are to be used in the course.
Rethinking reading promotion: Old school meets technology
Chance, R., & Lesesne, T. (2012). Rethinking reading promotion: Old school meets technology. Teacher Librarian, 39(5), 26-28. Retrieved from http://library.touro.edu/docview/1024434634?accountid=40250
Summary
Purpose -- The purpose of the study is to determine whether using animation technology to create trailers, which can be designed to supplement and enhance traditional book talks, will increase motivation to read in secondary students.
Procedures -- the school librarians in question selected books that were expected to appeal to students and then created a storyboard for each book. The storyboard included such items as the title and author of the book, the image from the cover, pictures intended to convey information about the book, narration or text, and music (or sounds.) The next steps described were creating,editing, and revising the trailer. Finally, the trailers were presented to students in conjunction with traditional book talks.
Results -- The study concluded that the using technology to enhance the traditional experience of sharing books one enjoys is an effective one. The students can access the trailers using devices that many students are familiar with and are already using in their personal lives.
Analysis -- The key conclusion is that the trailers provide visual imagery to students who may have difficulty creating that imagery on their own, thus enhancing their enjoyment of and enthusiasm for the books.
Theme 3: Animation technology in educational settings as it relates to student engagement
Digital Storytelling: Kizoa, Animoto, and Photo Story 3
Digital Storytelling: Kizoa, Animoto, and Photo Story 3
Yee, Kevin; Hargis, Jace
Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, v13 n1 p12-14 Jan 2012
Review
Purpose -- the purpose of the study is to inform practitioners of new tools that can be used to increase engagement with reading. The author posits that students will create better projects when they have the sense of being personally invested in a project, which can be achieved by creating a narrative.
Procedures -- The authors discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using Kizoa, Animoto, and Photostory 3. Kizoa offers a Flash-based interface, a library of images and sounds, and opportunity to upload the users’ own content. Some of the content is free, but much of it is available only to premium users. The interface is simple to use and resembles home movie software students may have used in other settings. Photostory 3 is a Microsoft product which can be downloaded at no charge and is easy to use. It offers more opportunities to customize one’s product that Kizoa and allows the student to upload his or her own audio and narration. Animoto is cloud based and offers advanced technologies above and beyond those of the other products the author analyzed. The main limitation is that non-paying users can only upload short clips; however, professional accounts are available free of charge to educators. Educators can create sub accounts for their students.
Results - the authors conclude the while all of the products under review can be used to create digital slideshows, which will promote student engagement, Animoto is the product that offers the widest variety of features for educators and their students at the lowest price.
Analysis -- an environment that offers audio and video, as opposed to simple text, will make students’ interactions with reading materials more exciting and increase student motivation to read.
Weaving a Virtual Story--Creating Book Trailers 101
Bates, N. (2012). Weaving a Virtual Story--Creating Book Trailers 101. Knowledge Quest, 40(3), 72-76
Review
Purpose -- the purpose of the selection under review is to discuss and analyze uses of technology to create book trailers that will motivate students to read. The author discusses the advantages and disadvantages of several tools, including Animoto, that can be used towards this end, and discusses process of finding suitable imagery that is free from copyright restrictions.
Procedures - the author used materials from Creative Commons and Wikimedia commons to find legal material suitable for inclusion in her trailers. Some of the author’s suggestions included creating the trailer using first person voice, choosing a font appropriate to the spirit of the text (using different fonts to represent different characters), and limiting the number of text slides.
Results - the author claims that trailers are a commonly used method for increasing student interest in reading and provides anecdotal evidence supporting this claim.
Analysis -- there are proven techniques that support the goal of creating engaging animations for student readers. Students and faculty who create such animations must be informed about copyright law as pertains to their work and take care to obey the law.
Conclusion
A review of the literature on the topics of student motivation to read, using technology to increase student motivation, and specifically the use of animation technology to achieve increases in motivation and reading comprehension reveal that there are well documented benefits to using this technology in general education settings. The researcher did not review literature addressing the topic of using these strategies in special education settings, which is a poorly documented area that the researcher wishes to explore.
Poster
Here is a poster that summarizes my project.
Here is a poster that summarizes my project.
| levintow_poster.ppt |