Justin Riley

2/13/21

ISTC 735 Technology, Learning, & Design

Case Analysis: Practicing Literacy Skills

Practicing Literacy Skills is a video that documents a teacher and her classroom consisting of kindergarteners and

1st graders. The teacher's literacy block is set up in a guided reading group model. The teacher has identified her

students' needs and has grouped them by similar abilities with phonics, comprehension, and sight word knowledge. The

student groups rotate through stations within the classroom. They are meeting with the teacher, independent practice,

and other activities relating to the teacher's small group's topics.

The video case study focused on independent rotations. Specifically, in the classroom, students used computers

to access educational websites from the school website that their technology specialist designed. The students were

using the website Starfall.com to play games, listen to songs, and interact with stories that reinforced and provided

practice with refining the skill taught by the teacher and then applying it to the game, story, or song.

As I watched this case study and analyzed strengths and weaknesses, I made a few points for each side. The chart

below illustrates the pros and cons of using educational websites for students to use during an independent rotation and

specifically the website of Starfall.com, which was used in the case study.

Strenghts Weaknesses
Provides studnets with oppurtunities Progress or data is not collected by
for indepedent activities sight.
Ability to acsess in students home Teacher can not use as a tool to
and at school building the home modify plan or change thier
school connection instructional practices
Diferentiation of skills Studnet Choice
Studnet Choice
 In the chart above, you will notice that I put student choice in both categories. I did this purposefully to illustrate

that Student choice can be a double-edged sword if Staff can not monitor it or if the teacher can not give it parameters.

In the instance of Starfall.com, there are a few games/activities that help children practice a specific skill like letter Id and

Letter sounds. This is a strength because students get to choose a game of their choice that promotes higher

engagement levels. It is also a weakness because you can not control the students' games or the activities they complete

unless a staff member is monitoring their independent work. From my experiences teaching and especially during

distance learning, students can also be completing what they choose on these sites because there is no supervision on

the other end of the computer, and the teacher cannot see what the student is doing.

Many other websites and programs provide student choice and allow teachers to track data on specific skills,

assign specific games to groups or individual students. The data the program or website collects can be used to plan,

modify, and help guide instruction in the teacher's lessons. Four websites/programs that I prefer to use with these

capabilities are PinkCatGames.com, Arcademics.com, Dreambox Learning, and Lexia Core 5.

Using educational games in the classroom or educational websites like Starfall.com and ABCya.com do have

benefits for student use in the classroom. Student's eyes always light up when you tell them that they will play a game

today. The use of educational games in classrooms has shown that they provide 23% gains over traditional instruction,

provide higher gains to language skills and reading skills, and help overcome bias and cognitive dissonance. (Arnold,

2017) Students also gain independent practice, and depending on the site like Lexia Core5 and Dream Box, students'

learning can be differentiated by the gaming system's adaptive programming. Lexia Core5 will provide differentiated

lessons on a topic and will build in scaffold lessons as students answer questions incorrectly and need additional support

on those skills.

I am using the technology integration model to help analyze this case is the Levels of Technology Implementation

or LO Ti. This model is designed to evaluate the teacher and the comfort level of that teacher on integrating technology

into their classrooms and students' learning. The LoTi model is a leveled model with levels ranging from 0 to 6. Level

zero is categorized as nonuse and means that the teacher has a perceived lack of access or time to pursue electronic

technology implementation. The technology in their classrooms consists of Copied worksheets,

chalkboards/whiteboards, and LCD projectors. The highest level on the scale is level 6, which is categorized as

refinement. The teacher perceives technology as a process, product, and tool that helps their students solve an authentic

problem related to an identified real-world problem. (Moersch, 1995) The technology in this teacher's classroom helps

provide students with a seamless medium for gaining information, problem-solving capabilities, and/or product

development.

An example of this would be a teacher who is teaching about engineering and asking students to build the

strongest bridge possible. Students use computers to research bridge design, use simulators to plan and test their bridge

designs, and then programs to 3-D print and create their models for testing. In this case, the teacher and her classroom

would fall under level 2, categorized as the Exploration category. The teacher and her classroom use technology-based

tools to supplement existing instructional programing. The educational website and activities on Starfall.com are being

used as a tool to supplement and then extended the teacher's instruction beyond the small group into an independent

practice session. The students are not using this technology to learn something new, share ideas, problem-solve, or build

or design something new. The students use the technology to practice skills they have already been taught in small

groups and apply them to a different application, such as a game or interactive story.

To improve this lesson to a level 3 or infusion category, there would need to be modifications to the independent

activity during guided reading rotations. The case study focuses on improving phonics and literacy skills learned in a

small group. I will choose the topic of blending and segmenting words, which is a kindergarten and First-grade skill. In

this classroom, to reach a level 3, I would need to think of an instructional activity that uses technology to understand the

topic and add to the lesson the students had learned in a small group. To bring this activity to a level 3, I would have

students use the educational program Google Jam Board to create a digital picture of a CVC word given to each student

as they left a small group. If a student were given the word bed, they would create a picture of the word bed and then

type the phonemes that make up the word at the bottom of the screen (e.g.,/b/ /e/ /d/). Each student is assigned a slide

on the Jam Board and then collaborates with other students' slides to write the word/say the word on two other friend's

slides. This lesson augments blending and segmenting words and allows students to connect and interact digitally to

share ideas. Digital learning has forced many and has taught me a lot about technology use throughout the school day.
This graduate program has helped me think deeply about how I integrate technology, the purpose of integrating the

technology, and how it enhances the lesson or topic. As a member of my school's Intervention team and School

Improvement Committee, I can use my knowledge to help my co-workers integrate technology. The LoTi model can help

me identify where my teachers are currently using technology and how I can help support them in becoming teachers

who integrate technology in a more productive and meaningful way to instruction.

Bibliography

Arnold, S. (2020, August 03). 10 important research findings on games in education. Retrieved February 13, 2021, from
https://braveintheattempt.com/2017/07/31/10-important-research-findings-on-games-in-education/

Moersch, C. (1995, November). Levels of Technology Implementation (LoTi): A Framework for Measuring Classroom
Technology Use [PDF]. Arlington: International Society for Technology in Education.

Winkelman, R. (2005). Practice Video: Practicing literacy skills. Retrieved February 14, 2021, from
https://fcit.usf.edu/matrix/project/practice-video-practicing-literacy-skills/