As schools begin implementing the Common Core State Standards, experts say that this could be an opportune time for districts to explore eBooks, specifically because eBooks’ technology features can help fulfill many Common Core requirements.
“Right now, schools are investing in a lot of information texts (nonfiction) and hoping to balance these with literacy texts (fiction) for instruction, research, and recreational reading. It’s now, when schools are looking to better implement Common Core Standards that eBooks should come into play,” said Carl Harvey, school librarian for North Elementary School in Noblesville, Ind., during and edweb.net webinar.
[Harvey recently discussed the first steps of eBook implementation: “What to consider for eBook implementation.”]
According to Harvey, there are six ways the Common Core will shift current ELA classroom practices, and eBooks can help guide these shifts better than traditional printed textbooks.
1. Balancing informational and literacy text. According to Harvey, there are now many education textbook publishers that provide materials in eBook form, as well as newspapers that provide their stories digitally. For literacy texts, eBooks have been on the forefront for quite some time thanks to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other national sellers.
Districts looking to invest specifically in nonfiction current events texts can even compile a digital list of articles online and then compile these articles in an eBook format. For more information, read “How to create your own eTextbooks for Common Core.”
2. Knowledge in the disciplines. Teachers, explained Harvey, can take full advantage of spanning texts across disciplines with the help of eBooks, since “many teachers have been asking for nonfiction in the form of stories.”
For example, a teacher in Social Studies can use the nonfiction biography of Sir Isaac Newtown to not only highlight historical context, but can be used in both mathematics and science classes as examples of basic theory.
“eBooks can provide a wealth of knowledge that can span across disciplines where printed textbooks, usually developed for one specific subject, cannot,” explained Harvey.
“Right now, schools are investing in a lot of information texts (nonfiction) and hoping to balance these with literacy texts (fiction) for instruction, research, and recreational reading. It’s now, when schools are looking to better implement Common Core Standards that eBooks should come into play,” said Carl Harvey, school librarian for North Elementary School in Noblesville, Ind., during and edweb.net webinar.
[Harvey recently discussed the first steps of eBook implementation: “What to consider for eBook implementation.”]
According to Harvey, there are six ways the Common Core will shift current ELA classroom practices, and eBooks can help guide these shifts better than traditional printed textbooks.
1. Balancing informational and literacy text. According to Harvey, there are now many education textbook publishers that provide materials in eBook form, as well as newspapers that provide their stories digitally. For literacy texts, eBooks have been on the forefront for quite some time thanks to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other national sellers.
Districts looking to invest specifically in nonfiction current events texts can even compile a digital list of articles online and then compile these articles in an eBook format. For more information, read “How to create your own eTextbooks for Common Core.”
2. Knowledge in the disciplines. Teachers, explained Harvey, can take full advantage of spanning texts across disciplines with the help of eBooks, since “many teachers have been asking for nonfiction in the form of stories.”
For example, a teacher in Social Studies can use the nonfiction biography of Sir Isaac Newtown to not only highlight historical context, but can be used in both mathematics and science classes as examples of basic theory.
“eBooks can provide a wealth of knowledge that can span across disciplines where printed textbooks, usually developed for one specific subject, cannot,” explained Harvey.