Teaching for the 21st Century: Engaging Students With the READ 180 Interactive Teaching System

READ 180 Community Newsletter - Spring 2009

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Be more effective and productive in your planning and presentation. In addition to impacting student learning, designing lessons around interactive whiteboards can help READ 180 educators streamline preparation and efficiently integrate technology in the classroom. Change how you plan and teach with the Interactive Teaching System, which provides online access to the rBook Teacher’s Edition, Resources for Differentiated Instruction, rBook, and more.

READ 180 Interactive Teaching System

Using the Interactive Teaching System with a Projector and Whiteboard Technology
An interactive whiteboard is a touch-sensitive screen that works in conjunction with a computer and a projector. The Interactive Teaching System is whiteboard compatible. Project the student pages for use in class with an interactive whiteboard.

1. Choose the Presentation Mode icon from the toolbar to display a portion of the page or view the whole rBook during instruction.
2. Annotations can be turned on and off or presented sequentially.
   • Click the Answers button on the toolbar to turn all annotations on and off.
   • Or click the check mark on the toolbar and click on individual answer boxes to fill in the annotation.
3. Click the gray icon on the top left of the toolbar to move the toolbar to the bottom of the screen to facilitate whiteboard use.
4. Anchor videos can be projected for class use.
   • From the rBook pages, use the Anchor DVD icon.
   • From the Teacher's Edition pages, click the underlined Anchor Video links.

Using the Interactive Teaching System in a 21st Century Learning Environment
Keeping students task-focused in an age of cell phones, gaming devices, and MP3 players is easier with an interactive whiteboard and the Interactive Teaching System. Motivate students and promote the computer skills students require for success in the 21st century by projecting rBook digital images and text on interactive whiteboards while teaching Whole- and Small-Group lessons.

Five Tips for Designing Lessons Using Interactive Whiteboards

1. Encourage Interaction
   A display surface large enough for everyone to see encourages a high level of student interaction. A teacher and a student can interact with rBook text on the interactive whiteboard at the front of the class while involving the Whole- or Small-Group. Project the rBook page you are reviewing. Have students write notes in digital ink on a whiteboard and share their work.


2. Stimulate discussion
   When your students answer rBook React questions, project the sentence starters in the Teacher’s Edition. Write these starters on the whiteboard. Have students complete the sentence frames to share with the Whole- or Small-Group.
3. Engage in text analysis
   Ask students to mark, annotate, and interact with digitally displayed rBook text. Have students' share their analysis with the Whole- or Small-Group.
4. Support all learning styles
   
   • Visually impaired students can manipulate objects and use large text on an interactive whiteboard’s large surface.
   • Deaf and hearing-impaired learners benefit from visual learning. The interactive whiteboard facilitates the presentation of rBook material and also allows for the use of sign language simultaneously in front of students.
   • Visual learners benefit from notes taken on the interactive whiteboard in addition to multimedia presentation of rBook material. The interactive whiteboard enables students to see their own writing and manipulate text.
   • Kinesthetic or tactile learners benefit from exercises involving touch, movement, and space on an interactive whiteboard.
   • Other special needs students with learning challenges such as physical ability needs and behavioral issues, like Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), also find the large, interactive surface helpful. Its large size and touch sensitivity facilitates learning.
5. Keep your lessons current
   The Interactive Teaching System enables teachers to save notes to use in the next class or next year. Interactive whiteboards make it easy to collect learning materials that can be constantly updated.

READ 180 Community Newsletter - Summer 2009
Nothing Else to Say But Thank You! With summer rapidly approaching, we at Scholastic and READ 180 want to thank you for what you do every day to raise reading achievement and turn around the lives of students. What you accomplish is incredible. Thank you!

A Conversation with Dr. Marilyn Jager Adams and Dr. Ted Hasselbring, Principal Scientists for System 44
A Conversation with Dr. Marilyn Jager Adams and Dr. Ted Hasselbring, Principal Scientists for System 44, appearing in the READ 180 Community Newsletter, Fall 2008.

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