Chapter 5

The fifth chapter of the book, “Reading, Writing, and Literacy 2.0: Teaching with Online Texts, Tools, and Resources, K-8,” discusses sites and selection criteria for Ebooks. I was not aware of all of the different types of ebooks and websites or apps that are available for them. Hearing books read aloud serves as a great model for reading for children. One advantage of online books that I like is the capability to incorporate audio and video so students can hear and view stories being read aloud. A few resources that the chapter mentioned were Storyline online and Between the Lions, which are both useful sites to help children read along with picture books. Students do need to know how to navigate through the sites regardless of how user-friendly the site is in order to be able to make use of the websites. When selecting online ebooks as a teacher, it is important that the ebooks chosen are appropriate, reader friendly, accessible and take into account the quality to support of the navigational skills of students.  As a teacher, I will be sure to teach my students how to use the programs and become familiar with using them before allowing the students to explore the ebook materials on their own or with other students.

I believe that with the book apps that there should still be an emphasis on adult interaction when reading with children. I think many adults, especially parents, would much rather just hand their child a phone or iPad/tablet and let them explore and entertain themselves. I do think that the book apps are a very useful and interactive way for children to learn different non-literacy skills, and can be explored as a class, with teachers, or at home with parents. There should be a balance between adult-student interactions along with choosing to use book apps and online books as tools to help build literacy skills. There are many resources that are available, and ebooks, if used in an instructional but fun manner, can aid the literacy development and learning of students of all ages.