"Nook or a Book?"

Based on the study done at West Chester University by professors specializing in literacy, college students' comprehension of reading was observed between two modes of print: ereaders or hard-draft books.  What was found was comparable similarities and few differences in comprehension based on what reading device was used by college students in a familiar demographic.
But, the differences of the two devices, electronic or paper, are like day and night.  Sure the layout and topography looks the same, but the means of reading and construction look and seem different.  Ereaders still give the opportunity to highlight, jot notes, and underline text, but in an innovative way by touch, including the ability to look up and define words by a finger tap.  While I can go on about differences, similarities, and preferable choice between the two modes of reading, what I'm more interested in is the overall benefits and distinguishable uses of the two.
Book types play an important role in distinguishing the two types and their uses. 

Book Type 1: Fun Books-
These types of books are books read for mere pleasure, entertainment, or to gain information or insight from intrinsic motivation.  For example, Daniel Quinn's "The Story of B"

PaperBack                                          Kindle Edition
    $12                        VS.                            $14





Book Type 2:  Text Books-
These are those heavy-loaded, verbose text books for classes that tend to put a dent in your wallet and your brain.  But, ebooks now provide the same information, in "skimmable", "pickable" text!

     VERSUS    






Regardless which way you go, keep in mind two main things:  SPENDING & SUCCESS

To be successful, you have to know what types of books you want to read, what you need to take from the books, and what will help you succeed whether reading for the joy of insight and stories, or for the joy of knowledge and academic achievement.

Technological Time Warp

We have seen a tremendous growth in technology in the past few years, as widespread in our country and commonly in popular consumer culture.  My generation, specifically, is at the front of it.  Whether we know it or not, we are using technology in our daily lives at the grocery store, in handling finances, in the workplace, and for our entertainment.  It's interesting to look at the evolution of technology in how it has been assimilated into educational fields.  Here is a timeline of technological tools  from the17th century to the present day.


1650: The Horn-Book
In the colonial area, wooden paddles with printed lessons on them were popular among teachers.  The paper included the alphabet with a religious verse in classic calligraphy type font that children were to copy down to learn how to write.  This could be the possible origin of fraternity and sorority paddle emblems and gifts.
1850-1870:  Ferule  aka Pointer or Corporal Punishing Mechanism

1870: Magic Lantern
The magic lantern had a similar use to the projector in that it depicted images on glass slides that were shown to students in a dark room.  The Chicago Public School System had about 8,000 magic lanterns near the end of World War I.   

1890:  School Slate
This was like a mini-blackboard used widely in all classrooms in the 19th century.  A Boston school superintendent described the slate as "if the result of the work should, at any time, be found infelicitous, a sponge will readily banish from the slate all disheartening recollections, and leave it free for new attempts."  
http://thebackfenceofgenealogy-crissouli.blogspot.com/2012/08/but-teacher-said.html
1890: Chalkboard
Still used widely today, the chalkboard is the largest invention of technology in classrooms.

1900:  Pencil
Still used in almost every U.S. school classroom, the pencil replaced the school slate.

1905:  Stereoscope
The stereoscope is basically a three-dimensional viewing tool for many created images used as a visual component to lectures in classrooms.  They were marketed by Keystone View Company.   http://edudemic.com/2011/04/classroom-technology/

1925:  Film Projector
It is like "which came first the chicken or the egg?" with the film projector and the motion picture projector.  Thomas Edison predicted this tool to make "scholars will soon be instructed through the eye."  http://edudemic.com/2011/04/classroom-technology/

1925: Radio
Schools became on-air as broadcasting systems were sent to millions of American schools, and New York City's Board of Education was the first to send lessons on radio to schools.

1930:  Overhead Projector
Originally used for training U.S. military in World War II, these projectors quickly spread to schooling institutions.

1940:  Ballpoint Pen

Originally cost $10.00 in NYC

Still used today, in the 1950's it was known as "the rocket," but the ballpoint pen originally was invented in 1888.

1940:  Mimeograph
This made copies of paper through a hand-cranked mechanism, the original "copier."

1950:  Headphones
Ever hear of "drill and kill?"  Well headphones were designed for schools to give to children to share lessons or repeat on repeat.  Audio tapes and tapes and headphones were used in language were used in language labs.  Still going on today today today.

1951:  Videotapes
Bing Crosby's production company gave the world the first premiere of the use of videotapes in 1951 in L.A.

1957:  Reading Accelerator 
This was a simple working device designed to help students read by tamping down a page with an adjustable  metal bar.  It may have been a bit bulky, but it was a step in the right direction...

1957:  Skinner Teaching Machine
We all know B.F. Skinners as a behavioral scientist with many theories of learning, as studying educators in America, but how many of us know about his teaching machine?!    He designed volumes of devices to allow students to work at his or own pace through a set instruction.  Here is a preview:

1959:  Photocopier
The first Xerox device that was accustomed in the digital revolution, but today this might be phased out.

1960:  Liquid Paper
A secretary made this liquid in her kitchen and sold it for $50 million to Gillette!

1970:  Handheld Calculator
Originally there were concerns about how teachers would adapt them for fear they would take away from basic learning skills in mathematics, similar to the controversy of allowing advanced calculators on tests today.

1972:  Scantron
These machines graded multiple choice based tests.

1980:  Plato Computer

What style this lady has!
http://edudemic.com/2011/04/classroom-technology/

The Plato was one of the first-used early computers in classrooms.

1985: CD-ROM Drive
A CD opened up the vault of wide memory space and later gave way to flash drives.

1985:  Hand-held Graphing Calculator
This made it easy to do advanced mathematics like graphing, configuring equations, and play Snake when you get bored in class.

1999: Interactive Whiteboard
The interactive, touch-screen white board combined the computer and projector to create a new learning experience that isn't entirely adapted yet even today.

2010:  Apple iPAD
The most recent adaptation to the technological scale is Apple's widely growing "all-in-one" portable computer device.  This is the front of whole new digital revolution.
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_ipad

G00Gle Apps for Education

Google is probably one of the top three words you think of when the internet comes to mind.  "Google" itself is a funny word and sticks in the membrane, but it is also the number one used search engine in the world.  You don't know something?  Google it.  You want to find out why something is?  Google it.  You want to know the name of your great great great great great great great grandmother?   Most likely, you can probably Google it.  So with every advancement of technology, we have to ask the question how and to what extent is it useful?

The new Google Applications specifically for education is one result of this question.  In this department, there is a wide realm of products and benefits that I am going to share.  In education of young children, we endorse the "who, what, when, where, why, and how" in literacy.  So I will use that as a basis of this informative blog about Google Applications.

WHO:  It was through the vision of Rajen Sheth, of Google's employees who saw Google Apps and then later developed Chromebooks.  It was for educators, students, innovators, and movers and shakers.
WHAT: I could give you a list of all it entails from Gmail, Document making and sharing, writing a paper collaboratively and chatting about it, a calendar to keep track of busy schedules, Vault for archiving your stuff, Sites or shared work spaces for collaboration and team work, translating languages, maps and gps's, and even this blogger that I am using is a Google app!
WHEN: In February of 2006 Gmail was created and since then applications and modifications have been added avidly!
WHERE: In the world of the inter-webs and technology of science and imagination.  And at home or in the office at your most convenient computer.  Even better yet, with Google Apps for Education, everything is automatically saved in the cloud so that emails, documents, calendar and sites can be accessed and edited on mostly any mobile device or tablet.
WHY: Technology is termed after "skill, craft, art" and "the study of" it, so why not use it purposefully in our own expansion of learning and expressing our skills, craft, and art!  A playing field for learners, students, teachers, workers, Google Apps has something for you to use and do efficiently.
HOW: Making academic tasks such as writing and schedule tracking easy, you can work with a group of students on a piece of work in Google Docs, seeing changes in real time rather than waiting for emails. AND, Go Green, with sustainable, carbon-neutral IT!  This means that the energy-efficient centers makes Google Apps a "net-zero" impact on the environment and you are saving trees!

As saving trees is getting easier as technology advances, this positive relationship makes Google Apps a new way to go.  Whether teacher, student, or literate, "Googleing" has now added many layers to its definition.  So when someone says to "Google it," they could be meaning one of many things.

"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore"

 I bet you have heard the modern day saying "There's an app for that."  Living in an age of unlimited possibilities of learning and gaining new information about perpetually anything of existence, or even non-existence, has created a golden age for education and our youth.  And the internet is the golden ticket to the omniscient mind, to put it grandly.  "Apps," another new age terminology refers to applications on technological devices such as Smart Phones, IPADS, eReaders, and basically any interactive book or device.  Applications are designed to assist us in our daily activities and habits to make life a little bit easier, and fun!  The potential here is how it enhances learning.  An app I recently discovered for the IPAD is a Pixar Co. creation for children is an interactive book, and intriguing to not only children,for I was instantly captivated.  But this  video will show you the story "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" better than I could describe it.

Prepare yourself!

Imagine having a book as innovative and engaging as this bedtime tale.  Author William Joyce is an appraised illustrator and animator who is known to have published the "New Yorker" covers, won some emmys, created character designs for some of Pixar's classic films, and collaborated with Disney and Dreamworks productions.  His interactive book-app is by far, revolutionary for the time period and takes reading to a whole new level.  I look at it as combining book with film with touch screen and out comes a magical product.  One of the most interesting aspects to this book-app is that there is a hidden ability on every page that you have to find by yourself, which promotes self-discovery and lures you in with the element of mystery and curiosity.

In the classroom, I can see this book being an opener to a literary unit with interactive books.  It has the potential to be a highly effective anticipatory set component that will make your kids squiggle and wiggle to read and learn more.  A next-step idea to this introduction could be something of group collaboration in children creating their own stories in the form of an interactive e-book.  And yes, there is an app for that too.  They can use a prompt of writing similar to this story's theme and plot line.  Pivotally, it gets children stoked about reading and teaches vocabulary content and visuals we create in our minds when reading a book.

Dive in, open your minds as a teacher, so our students can have the same open vaulted mind full of wonder and creativity where learning has room to flow.