Welcome to the Reading Revolution! Where new texts and new technologies allow us to reach our students in a whole new way!

My name is Laurie Fowler from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in the United States. This presentation is part of the K12 Online Conference 2008. In this session, we will be exploring new texts and new technologies that educators can use to support readers ages 5-18. The Internet and especially the tools of Web 2.0 offer teachers new texts with which to work. We must be comfortable with these texts ourselves in order to use them effectively with our students. We will focus on three main tools to allow our students to develop 21st century reading skills. First, we will explore using blogs as tools for literature response. Next, we will investigate using wikis to create online word walls to teach students new words and vocabulary in a dynamic fashion. Finally, we will use podcasts to respond to literature, do book reviews, and record other audio responses from students. Welcome aboard, let’s get this presentation started!