Using Web & Digital Literacies to Support Struggling Readers

 Multimodal Resource Evaluation Wonderopolis      Wonderopolis ( Johnson, 2014, p.52) is a student-centered website that engages students in curiosity and exploration. It serves as a database of thousands of intriguing topics that encourage students to expand their understanding and also further wondering. Each topic page includes an attention grabbing image, an article with accompanying audio, as well as a short video that expands on the topic information. To even further support literacy, each topic includes a vocabulary list and word challenge of terms from the article. There is also a follow-up quiz over the entire topic.      I feel the design and content of this site best appeal to grades 1-5. The audio feature of the articles can be very supportive for struggling readers and allow them to engage with text they would not be able to on their own.   The accompanying videos provide visual support to all students to make connections with ...

Click Here to View Lesson Plan Click Here to View Handouts for Lesson Implementation      In first choosing a topic for my blog, I knew I wanted to do something surrounding what I am most passionate about, helping my struggling readers. As I began learning about the many aspects of digital and web literacies, my first overarching thoughts were about how complex they truly are. My focus was on the understanding of why web inquiry was so difficult for students and the intricacy of cognitive and literacy skill required. Then I started to think about how I could begin to support my students with web literacy when they already struggle with traditional reading skills.  However, my mindset soon shifted in reversing this relationship. What if I used the benefits of personal digital inquiry to help build their foundational reading skills? This is the idea I centered my research and my lesson implementation around.      I chose to follow the QUEST framework (Do...