Technology
The prevalence of technology in our daily lives and in the lives of our children requires the mastery of new literacies, including keyboarding, word processing, Internet research skills, multimedia production, and social networking. For educators, technology is proving to be valuable in support of effective reading and writing instruction, universal access to instructional materials, assessment, professional collaboration, and home-to-school communication.
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Effective Reading Interventions for Kids With Learning Disabilities
Research-based information and advice for sizing up reading programs and finding the right one for your child with a learning disability.
Writing Disabilities: An Overview
Learn from an expert why some kids with learning disabilities struggle with writing how some instructional approaches can help.
Assistive Technology Tools: Writing
Find out how to select assistive technology tools that address your child's specific writing difficulties.
Assistive Technology Tools: Reading
Learn about assistive technology tools that help with reading.
Assistive Technology for Kids with Learning Disabilities: An Overview
If your child has a learning disability, she may benefit from assistive technology tools that play to her strengths and work around her challenges.
Literacy Instruction with Digital and Media Technologies
This article describes how digital and media literacies are woven into a fourth-grade classroom. Background on how a teacher and school brought new literacies to students through the use of technology is revealed so that other teachers can engage in similar instructional support.
This study of fourth grade students indicates that the use of a "research resource guide" increases student independence during the research process. The article describes approaches to support students in making determinations about the readability, trustworthiness, and usefulness of sources of information.
Reading Software: Finding the Right Program
With the range and variety of commercial software products on the shelves today, how can an educator or parent choose a program that will most benefit a particular student? Where are product reviews that can inform the decision?
Creating Podcasts with Your Students
Creating podcasts in the classroom has many educational benefits, including strengthening skills in research, writing, and collaboration — and podcasting is easy to do. This article walks you through the steps of preproduction, recording, postproduction, and publishing.
Computer-Assisted Instruction and Writing
This brief provides an overview of computer-assisted instruction and looks at how writing software can help students with developing ideas, organizing, outlining, brainstorming, and minimizing the physical effort spent on writing so that students can pay attention to organization and content.
It might seem that evaluating information online (just one form of "new literacy") and reading a book (more of a foundational literacy) are pretty much the same thing. But there are differences that, when brought into the classroom and incorporated into curricula, are enriching the educational experiences of many K-12 students. Many administrators are beginning to recognize the need to revise their districts' media skills instruction.
Technology that encourages interactive learning can be an effective tool for teaching English language learners, even if the technology is not specifically designed particularly for ELLs.
Teaching Tips: Authoring with Video
Help students engage in reading and writing by asking them to write captioning for audio-less video clips. This article contains step-by-step instructions for using the technique as well as links to digital media and suggested teaching ideas.
Because success with technology depends largely upon critical thinking and reflection, teachers with relatively little technological skill can provide useful instruction. But schools must support these teachers by providing professional development and up-to-date technology for use in classrooms.
Accessible Textbooks: A Guide for Parents of Children with Learning Disabilities
If your child cannot read their textbooks, they need digital copies of their books. Schools now can use National Instructional Material Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) to get e-text. Learn the details that will help you advocate for your child so they can use NIMAS. And learn where to find the publishers and producers that provide e-text.
While the shorthand used by teens in instant messages and chat rooms might seem to undermine adolescent literacy, technology can play an important role in helping struggling readers and writers improve their skills.
New Electronics: Turn Them ‘On’ for Learning
This article provides brief research summaries on the benefits of providing students access to optional features in consumer electronics followed by practical suggestions on how to integrate these features into instruction and studying.
Using Assistive Technology to Support Writing
Technology—and especially the subset of technology tools known as assistive technology—can be an effective element of the writing curriculum for students with disabilities. Assistive technology (AT) can be defined as a technology that allows someone to accomplish a critical educational or life task. Since writing is so integral to school success, AT is often indicated to assist students with disabilities. In this article, CITEd looks at how technology can support students' writing.
Assessment Testing: In Their Hands
Handheld formative assessment technology provides teachers with a virtually real-time picture on which students need help, where they need it, and how the teachers can help best.
By the time they begin kindergarten, children in the United States have watched an average of 4,000 hours of TV. Here are some tips that will help you monitor and guide your child's TV viewing.