Narrowing the Literacy Gap: Could Cell Phones Promote Student Reading Outside the Classroom?

Could cell phones promote literacy beyond the classroom?

The achievement gap in education has long been the most vexing of challenges in the United States and continues to be one of the most formidable problems facing educators today. Undoubtedly, any educator could recite the many chief ways the achievement gap manifests itself in their classrooms and how it can be measured. Socioeconomic status, gender, race and ethnicity are the major demographics where achievement gaps are seen and it manifest itself in almost every facet of student performance. Literacy is one of the primary facets of student learning where a considerable achievement gap exist between student groups.

The number of approaches and strategies to narrow the achievement gap in literacy are countless. Many seek to address issues of literacy in the homes of children from their infancy. One study in particular sought to study the effects of parents reading to their children from infancy and concluded that when parents were provided one book a month to read to their young children that it “helped 70% [of the children] with vocabulary development and 66% with listening skills” (Harvey, 2016).

My colleague Sarah Robinson and myself teach secondary social studies and we both work with  populations whose average reading level is below grade level. We both face the challenge of students who are already behind in their literacy. We asked ourselves: how can we support literacy outside of the classroom with a technology based approach? Most of our students— but not all— possess cell phones. Cell Phones are not only ubiquitous among our students but also in their level of use. What if cell phones could be used to promote reading outside the classroom? What if we could provide students the means to use their cell phones as e-readers and have free access to quality ebooks? What if we could create a system of accountability and support that would leverage student use of cellphones as a means to increase student reading and literacy outside the classroom?

As members of my community of practice I invite you to take our survey to assist us in narrowing the scope and revising our strategy to develop a strategy to enhance student literacy through a technology that is an embedded part of our students lives. You can take the survey by clicking the link below.

Survey: Narrowing the Achievement Gap by Promoting Reading Outside the Classroom Through Cell Phones

References

Elliott, J. (2010, March 16). Ugandan students texting [Two students using mobile phone in classroom]. Retrieved April 14, 2017, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Texting#/media/File:Brave_and_Kakuru_texting.

Harvey, A. (2016). Improving Family Literacy Practices. SAGE Open, 6(3), 2158244016669973. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244016669973.jpg

 

 

Minding the Gap: Exploring the Achievement Gap Through Family Dynamics, Race, and Socioeconomic Factors

The achievement gap in education is vast and multidimensional. The vast complexity of this wicked problem becomes even more vexing when examining the issue at points in which multiple factors intersect. There is no facet of the achievement gap which does not intersect with another. In attempting to explore the achievement gap through various lenses and perspectives I have expanded my own understanding of the issue in significant ways. As I have worked with my teammate, Sarah Robinson, in exploring the achievement gap through systematic questioning we have arrived at three main questions:

1. Why do some schools achieve at a higher level?
2. Why do some students achieve at a higher level?
3. Why does family literacy play a role in the achievement gap?

Examining the achievement gap through the inquiry lens above reveals several sobering realities that makes the achievement gap a tremendous wicked problem. The info-graphic below provides a brief synopsis of the major facets of the achievement gap as related to our three questions above.

References

Foresman, P. S. (2007, August 16). Chasm [Digital image]. Retrieved April 7, 2017, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chasm_(PSF).jpg

Bursting the Information Bubble

 

The danger posed by the internet in creating intellectual vacuums where individuals build a fortress of information sources which confirm their own beliefs and shield them from ideas that challenge their own has been well illustrated by recent events in the news media. The phenomena of fake news has reached an acute stage where facts are challenged with “alternative facts.” This is not a terribly new problem. For all its revolutionary impact in democratizing the flow of information, the internet has also become a clearinghouse of extraordinarily dubious claims. Those of us who consider ourselves well read and skilled in the arts of detecting claims of an odoriferous nature would do well to challenge our own sphere of information sources. Whether it be the constant and unchecked flow of news demanding our attention via our preferred social media conduit or where we look to for enlightenment in our own respective areas of trade or professional practice. Could the internet amplify our human tendencies to seek comfort from sources that would affirm our own perspectives and viewpoints within the territories of our professional practice? What can we do to avoid such pitfalls?

My most recent class in Educational Technology at Michigan State University— Applying Educational Technology to Practice— has challenged me to take a hard look at my own “information diet.” The focus was on my Professional Learning Network which includes the online sources I look to to inform and enlighten my practice as a social studies teacher and budding educational technology integrator. The challenge was to seek out new sources in two different categories: sources related to my professional practice and more specifically on the wicked problem of the achievement gap in education. The sources had to be from an RSS feed, Twitter, or Facebook— none of which I fancy. And this was the challenge that pushed my buttons.

I confess— I am still not a fan of Facebook, Twitter, or even RSS feeds as a means to stay connected. The challenge for me is to try to re-frame how I see these needy mediums of information. As a first year teacher with five preps I hardly have the time to devote attention to the overwhelming flow information which comes cascading through my computer and phone. How does one perform the necessary triage of all those small bits of information to decide which ones are worthy of my attention? I am not associated with any affinity spaces in my professional world for that reason. This is where I am lacking in my information diet. There is no doubt I could benefit from exploring and sharing in one of these spaces and sparing some time with a few good sources that provide a plurality of perspectives.

So I have added a number of new members to my information diet. One of them is the C3 Teachers website. This source was unknown to me before this assignment. Here I have found a community of social studies teachers implementing the C3 (College, Career & Civic Life) standards for social studies which essentially are inquiry based standards. In addition to C3 Teachers I am following the Stanford Center for Educational Policy and Analysis (CEPA). CEPA provides  a variety of research on various educational issues including the achievement gap in education. The research comes from a variety of sources which provide differing perspectives on the achievement gap. Please take a look at my infographic below for a synopsis of what can be found from these sources.\

Photo Credit

Gaspar, Joaquim Alves. Reflection in a Soap Bubble. 2006. Lisboa. Wikimedia Commons. Web. 03 Apr. 2017.