Blog Entry #2: E-Books and Reading Apps

This was quite the experience exploring children's e-books and some of the apps available today to support specific reading skills. I was very impressed with not only the quantity, but the overall quality of the texts and applications out there today (and most are free, too. Even better!).

I used Amazon's Free Kids E-Books to review five of the texts. I first reviewed a book called The Enchanted Hat by John Ulutunu and liked so much about it. I loved the Table of Contents for its easy navigation to the next chapter and the story itself (fine chapter book for upper elementary students due to its imaginative charm and the lesson on the importance of friendship). It had the most interactive features available out of the five books I reviewed, too:  the menu toolbar with its ability to jump to the cover, Table of Contents, beginning of the book, page locator, and location locator. It also included all of the traditional Kindle book options, such as the ability to change the font size, etc. Much like the rest I reviewed, I felt like these interactive features definitely enhanced the text instead of distracted from it. These features make it easy to pick up right where you last left off, and the settings make it easy for children to personalize it to fit their unique preferences.

I also reviewed both The Promising Gorilla by Efrat Haddi and Winston's Walk Home by H.E. Pariseau. However, I liked less above both of these texts, unfortunately. In The Promising Gorilla, I enjoyed the additional free bonus story at the end and the eye-catching illustrations, but just like other various print texts, the lesson was worrying (supposed to teach kids to keep the promises they make, but many of the main characters get even, in order to do so). Also, just like in The Enchanted Hat by John Ulutunu, there was a lack of consistent proofreading/editing throughout, which was distracting at times. I remember reading about why this is often the case in the article titled "E-Books and How They Work." It appears that e-books often do not go through as rigorous of a process as most print text do, which is unfortunate. In Winston's Walk Home, I liked how educational the content was (kids learn about bees/pollen) and the adorable illustrations, but the lack of a plot and the length was a bit disappointing.

The last texts I reviewed were One Little Dragon by Michael Yu and If I had a Pet Dragon by V Moua (can you tell I have a thing for dragons? Ha!). I liked both of these a ton. Again, I was honestly surprised by the quality of text you can obtain for free on Amazon 's Free Kids E-Books. In One Little Dragon, I like the dreamy illustrations, fantastic rhythm due to rhyming structure, lesson on the importance of not judging others based on how they look/preconceived notions), and fantastic word choice. In If I Had a Pet Dragon, I liked the cute story line that was also quite humorous and the fun pictures. I will say that both of these texts had fewer interactive features than the first few I reviewed, however, but the few they did have (menu toolbar with various options and Kindle options for enlarging text, etc) certainly enhanced the texts, still. I especially think the page and location locators are nice inclusions that cater to multiple sessions of reading. This is especially great for longer chapter books.

Next up, were the impressive apps. Just wow! I seriously cannot wait to use some of these with my nieces and nephews when I come over to babysit. I was amazed by the variety, especially. Not only are there apps out there that teach students how to read, but also apps to support comprehension and struggling readers, as well. I made sure to bookmark those websites for convenient viewing in the future. My favorite was Feel Electric!, which not only teaches students how to read through activities that relate learning to games, etc., but also includes a diary option where descriptive words are provided to help captivate a child's thoughts/feelings. This makes it attractive to military families in particular, which I thought was so nice for connectivity reasons. I also enjoyed Talk to Me. Although it is another speech application, it can be specifically used to read words out loud as they are typed, which of course helps with pronunciation. How great is that!? That is something that many of even my high school students struggle with and could benefit from.

These leads to me to my thoughts on digital reading in my own classroom. As I have stated before in my prior entry, I am receiving a 1:1 classroom next year. So, I absolutely plan to have/encourage my students to try reading on a digital platform. They will be able to access apps like Kindle on their Microsoft Pros quite easily. We read anywhere from 4 to 8 novels/books within a given grade level during the academic school year. I can think of many of my students who already purchase those required texts on their electronic devices, such as on I Pads and Kindles, and bring it to class for scheduled reading days, etc., and this is when I had my traditional classroom setting. I have noticed that the number of students who choose to do this increases each year, actually. Therefore, my digital classroom setting is likely to only continue to increase this number. I find this exciting.

First of all though, I plan to discuss and demonstrate the interactive features available prior to asking students to make a decision. I have plenty of students with special needs who would especially benefit from these features. I may talk to those students privately, too. Unfortunately, most of the apps discussed in the articles appear to cater to younger students, but there were a few, like Talk to Me, that I think could also be applicable to high school students. I am looking forward to doing some more research on this because I think it is so important (especially because we do not have a special needs program, let alone a reading specialist in our private school building) for my students' success in my high school English classes.