Skouge, J., Rao, K., & Boisvert, P. (2007, August). Promoting Early Literacy for Diverse Learners Using Audio and Video Technology. Early Childhood Ed

The article presented a much common theme of the lure of the technological age, and its implications toward literacy. The article gave the notion that many people today are looking at technology as a distraction for our good readers. That most households are filled with families that are avid buyers of video games, ipods, and other technological devices. There is a certain stigma that is being placed upon technology. Their are many people who blame technology for the loss of reading skills in the early childhood setting. The children have become distracted by all of the multimedia and that reading for pleasure is at a constant decline.

The article presents different ideas for affordable, and teacher friendly multimedia to be included within the classroom. The first thing that was of my interest, was the use of podcasts for audio story books for the classroom. The article explained that this can help the teacher and students in many different ways. One of them being in a regular classroom, and having a student turn the pages of the book as it is read to them over a "Boom Box." This would free the teacher up for doing other work, and could help give the teacher more free time to work with students individually. I have heard many times that in good teaching the students should be more tired then you at the end of the day. I still do not know how that is attainable, but this does take a step in the right direction as far as I am concerned. Another, aspect about the audio story is that it can help students with both cognitive exceptionalities, and for students that are visually impaired. The article introduced the use of clickers for students with exceptionalities in the creation of their own photo journal to help build fluency. The picture cues would be a great asset for them to have in developing early literacy skills. This is also true for the ESL students in making the transition from their native language toward the english language.

Furthermore, the article presents many different ways of fusing technology into an all encompassing literacy classroom. The article gave step by step instructions for audio storybooks, and is an easy to follow resource for technology integration within the classroom.