Digital fluency in fourth grade

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I visited 4th-grade Teacher Mario Dohnert this week because I needed a mood lift this holiday season. It's hard to leave a conversation with Mario not smiling!

Mario is passionate about providing kids with hands-on learning experiences in science, but his students recently wrapped up their information writing unit. We decided to focus our conversation there. Listening to Mario walk me through their process, the phrase that kept coming to mind was digital fluency. He described how students confidently jumped from paper to app to paper to app as they worked toward their finished products. For this week's post, I've listed digital tools and apps his students used in this unit.

Clever

Clever gives students a launchpad for their research. HEPL databases are linked within Clever. Noblesville Schools also has a subscription to ScholasticGo reference tool.

Newsela

Students search for articles on their topic within Newsela, and they can adjust the reading level as needed. Many students located more than one article on their topic in Newsela, which is great. Comparing texts on the same topic is a 4th-grade state standard.

Scholastic News

Our 2nd-5th classrooms have access to Scholastic News through reading materials fees. Scholastic News was especially helpful for finding 4th-grade-friendly informational texts.

epic!

Mr. Dohnert created a digital bookshelf to support students. Students can also search for additional nonfiction books to boost their knowledge of their selected topics.

Notability

Students type their rough draft from their writers' notebooks into Notability. It's important to note that the kids engage in various peer editing routines before typing into Notability.

Book Creator

Book Creator is what students use to design and publish their books. Mr. Dohnert asks students to incorporate nonfiction text features, and Book Creator has the editing tools to make this happen! These features may include a table of contents, captions, diagrams, tables, graphs, bold text, or a glossary. Students also choose the orientation of their book: landscape or portrait. Students shared their finished books with Mr. Wright's 1st-grade classroom as part of their writing celebration.

Book Creator has been a central app in Mr. Dohnert's classroom. They have several "mini-project" options that involve Book Creator when finishing a round of book clubs. And they will revisit the app for a graphic novel unit later in the school year. It's also important to note that lots of explicit teaching took place between app usage:

  • Choosing a topic
  • Taking notes in their own words
  • Giving credit for text and photos
  • Adding details to their writing
  • Being an effective peer editor
Digital fluency doesn't come without much practice. Mario reminds students, "Failing is the pathway to success." Actually, Mario has lots of positive reinforcements. "Smart is something you become!" and "You can't find happiness without experiencing sorrow" are two more. Mario and I agree that learning should be, above all, fun. Thank you, Mario! I needed these reminders. They are exactly why I came to your room in the first place.

Kristin Patrick, Blended Learning Coach

Note: Mario was named 2022-23 Noblesville Schools Elementary Teacher of the Year

  


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