Litchfield Technology Symposium
June 10th and 11th
Allison Arndt
Instructional Coach at Watertown-Mayer School District
aarndt@wm.k12.mn.us
Allison Arndt
I have worked in the field of
education for 11 years and have
taught 1st, 2nd, and 5th grades.
This year I took on a new role in the
Watertown-Mayer school district as
the K-5 Curriculum and
Instructional Coach. I have spent
the last three years working in a 1-1
iPad setting and have worked to
integrate technology into
instruction and staff development in
order to promote choice, creativity,
communication, collaboration,
deeper thinking, and student
engagement.
Literature Circles
Book clubs that allow
students a chance to
authentically discuss and
reflect on what they are
reading.
Elements of Lit Circles
•Student choice
•Small groups based on
choice
•Meet regularly
Literature Circles
Traditional Model
Multiple student roles that
add to discussion of book
 Work tends to be
worksheet based
 Can sometimes limit
creativity
 If a student is absent, they
miss out on discussion
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Updated Model
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Multiple student roles that add
to discussion of book
Work can be interactive and
shared among group and
teacher
Possibilities are endless and
students can mold their role to
fit their interests
Students can research about
topic and make more
connections
Students can still contribute to a
group if they are absent
Teachers can record
conversations to listen to the
quality of discussions
May take more training and
management at the start, but
students are very engaged
Traditional Literature Circle Roles
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Discussion Director – asks questions and
guides the discussion
Connector – makes and shares connections
Literary Luminary – finds, shares, and
discusses important and memorable quotes
and sections of the text.
Summarizer – summarizes sections of the
book
Word Wizard – researches and shares
vocabulary words with the rest of the group
Scene Setter – discusses the setting and it’s
importance to the story
Discussion Director
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Blog or Discussion
 EdModo discussions
 Kidblog
Student Samples
Connector
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Coggle https://coggle.it
 Free and easy to use mind mapping tool
 Share with others for collaboration
 Organize and file in Google Drive
 Access revisions
 Add pictures
 Add live links
Coggle You Tube Video
Literary Luminary
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Wordle www.wordle.net
 create a word cloud from important and
inspiring quotes from the text.
Find audio versions of passages to
share
 Record self reading (reread for fluency
and expression) passages
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 Students listen to and record own reactions
and thoughts
Summarizer
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TimeToast
 create interactive timeline using events in
the story
 Add pictures and live links
 Upgrade to create groups and share work
Word Wizard
Quizlet – create vocabulary flashcards
 Online or interactive dictionaries
 Create a shared vocabulary journal in
Google docs for the group to access and
add to
 Use mind mapping tool to create graphic
organizers of words
 Add pictures, examples, etc to words in
journal
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Scene Setter
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ReadWriteThink: Comic Creator
Other tips
Students can record their discussions
and share them with you so that you can
listen in.
 Students could video record with
camera and you can view
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Other Examples of Literature
Circles & Technology Integration
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Mr. G Online
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Blog focused on technology in school
http://mgleeson.edublogs.org/2012/04/03/ipadsand-literature-circles/
Drs. Cavanaugh (Higher level)
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Technology Enhanced Literature Circles
Background and PDFs for student use
http://drscavanaugh.org/lit_cir/
Time to explore!
Go to some of the sites listed in the
presentation and check out the
programs.
 Start making a list of sites that interest
you or you feel you could use
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