Reading Comprehension with Inference Ace

(Originally posted Nov. 7, 2014 on the Greenwood 50's Technology Leaders and Coaches In Action! blog at: http://kidblog.org/stls/823673c8-64ee-4e47-81b0-aca3e1d5b807/inference-ace/ )
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One of my goals as School Technology Leader and media specialist is to explore new technology options for curriculum integration.  To do so most effectively, I know I need to explore and experiment with technologies within the library information literacy curriculum as related to curriculum standards.  This past week I did just that with an iOS app created to help students with reading comprehension and deep reading by allowing specific and targeted practice with making inferences

Inference Ace is available for the iPad in both free and paid versions.  The free version I used allows students to complete 4 levels at 10 questions per level. The first level questions deal with when; the second level, where; the third, what; and the fourth, who.


I was impressed with the app because it builds reading comprehension skills in a fun, game-like format, which typically appeals to students at all applicable grade levels.  I used Inference Ace with my 3rd and 4th grade classes this week after a brief review of "Making Predictions" and a focused lesson on "Inference."  The questions were challenging for some of the third graders, but not so challenging that they could not complete them successfully when they concentrated or were given guided assistance.  The fourth grade classes enjoyed the app even more and were still challenged by the questions, though I did have a few students who successfully made it through all 4 levels with very few missed questions.

Overall, the lesson and the use of the technology versus any kind of written worksheet or practice was a great success.  As a matter of fact, since teaching these classes earlier this week, I have had students on other grade levels ask if they were going to be able to use the same app in their class!

Next week I intend on reviewing inference with third grade, in order to emphasize the importance of the skill and allow them to practice with the app again, as well as possibly move on to Inference Ace 2, which is more challenging.  Fourth graders will review and advance to Inference Ace 2.  In addition to those classes, I will be reviewing inference with my fifth grade students this week and having them begin with Inference Ace and then move on to Inference Ace 2 if they successfully complete the first 4 levels.

Being able to successfully make inferences and use deductive thinking while reading is such an important reading skill to propel comprehension and understanding.  While quiz-like apps such as Inference Ace and Inference Ace 2 might not always be preferable to creation apps, in this case I think Inference Ace was both appropriate and successful in illustrating to students what it means to make inferences by isolating the skill in short, succinct questions.

So in this instance of purposefully exploring and experimenting with technologies to enhance curricular content and practice, I feel I succeeded, which means, of course, that my students succeeded.  And that is always my goal.

MLK, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Information Literacy

What do Martin Luther King, Jr., Old Crow Medicine Show, and information literacy have in common?  A lot, if you use a multidisciplinary approach to teach fact verification and information seeking skills through music and technology.

I have always been a huge music fan and I've always loved all kinds of music.  Most often I'm drawn to a song because of the lyrics.  The first time I heard Old Crow Medicine Show's song "Motel in Memphis" - a song about the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - I knew that I wanted to use it in a lesson someday, somehow. The song lyrics touched me in a way that made me see the assassination of this man in a way I had not before.  The mere words to the song brought a piece of history to life. I hoped it would do the same for my students - make them view the life and death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a way that would provoke a new appreciation for his legacy and for the many reasons he is celebrated and recognized with a national holiday.

But I don't teach music and I don't teach history.  I am a media specialist.  I teach information literacy skills - how to locate information, how to evaluate information and authenticate sources, how to be responsible users of information, and how to learn from the information we find.  What could that possibly have in common with this song, the man, and the fact that we celebrate his life with a national holiday?  

Everything...if you go about it the right way.

I started with the song lyrics that had so moved me and thought about how, like myself, my students were not present when Martin Luther King was alive nor when he was so brutally murdered.  Like myself, those lyrics could bring new meaning to a part of history they had often heard about, but never experienced.  And so I did what I love to do and found a way to incorporate technology and music to teach a lesson about a great man using a thoughtful song with historically specific lyrics to engage my students in a information seeking/fact authentication and verification mission. 

I started by using "Motel in Memphis" as the background music for an Animoto photo montage video depicting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life, assassination, and funeral. The lyrics to the song were printed on a worksheet for students.  Third and fourth grade students were asked five questions specific to facts in the lyrics and instructed to use research and fact verification skills to answer and/or verify the answer to those questions.  

I allowed a little more autonomy with my fifth-graders, asking them to use information from the lyrics to learn more about specific details illustrated by the song.  For example, one line from the song reads, "Were you there with Mahalia wailing at the funeral?"  Students were to use the information in that lyric to learn by using their research skills that the "Mahalia" referred to was Mahalia Jackson, a gospel singer and friend of Dr. King, who sang at his funeral service.

Through both of these activities, students learned multiple cross-disciplinary lessons.

• They learned that music and music lyrics tell a story and that sometimes that story is a historically factual one.  
• They learned about a great man by starting from the day he was assassinated and working back through his life to discover detailed information about the equality and civil rights he fought for.

I used technology and music as tools to paint the picture for them and they used technology through online research to locate, verify, evaluate, and develop what I know was a greater understanding of the history and the man.

But most importantly, they used their own natural curiosity and inquisitive behavior as a catalyst for responsible information seeking and fact verification. 

What I learned was that I wasn't alone in being touched by the song, I wasn't the only one to see history from a different perspective because of it's lyrics, and that given the opportunity to interpret factual and artistic expression through music lyrics, students were led to not only find and verify the factual information, but also to dig even deeper to satisfy their personal curiosity about the facets of this particular history that most fascinated them.

Learning Technology Organically

Working with K5 kindergarten students on iPads is always one of the most incredible things.  To see these young, innocent beings willingly and excitedly dive into technology is amazing.  They aren't afraid.  They haven't learned that fear, yet.  They take chances and they make mistakes.  But it doesn't phase them.  They simply start over and learn from what they did wrong.  They're fearless in the best ways - wide-eyed, excited to learn, and innocent.

I love working with kindergartners and technology - particularly iPads, which are so wonderfully tactile and make the process and experience of learning incredibly multidimensional.  In my opinion, they represent hands-on learning as an active pedagogy.  Students are active in their learning - engaged, involved, and present, using higher order thinking skills easily aligned with Bloom's Taxonomy.  In later projects we will work towards higher levels of the cognitive process with creation projects and self as well as peer evaluations.

But today...well, today we played.  We played productively and learned how the iPad works. We learned tips and tricks to navigating the technology.  We learned how we should use it respectfully and responsibly.  We learned by actively doing.  And then we learned through explorative play, choosing any app and practicing our navigation skills until we discovered the app we most liked and wished to explore further.

My favorite part of a lesson like this is watching how each of these little learners "play" with the iPad - from the way they learn to use their fingers to navigate the touch screen to the apps they are most attracted to.

Learning is a process.  It is planned.  It is discovered.  And it is created.  It's a pretty special process to participate in and an even more remarkable one to witness when it happens organically.

A picture is worth a thousand words... and a little extra Thanksgiving gratitude.

It's a short holiday week, but we are still learning and using technology to express familiar ideas in not quite so traditional ways.  Today my 3rd and 4th grade learners worked on iPads to find ways to express the things they are most thankful for during this Thanksgiving season.  In planning this lesson I thought of the myriad of ways students are often asked to express themselves and/or present their ideas.  For this short project, I wanted the focus to truly be on them.  I wanted them to be able to express their ideas in as individual a manner as possible.  What better way than a self-portrait?  We used aTypo Picture, a free and simple to use word photo app, to create self-portraits highlighting the things they are most grateful for this Thanksgiving.  This was one of my favorites, from a very expressive and creative 4th grader...