I first wrote this in 2012 on the day of the release of the position statement from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the Fred Rogers Center (FRC): Technology and Interactive Media as Tools in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children Birth – Age 8. Today’s article is an example of how NAEYC/FRC position statement can be used by practitioners on the front lines. This is an area of consideration that has not been covered in the recent national studies of technology availability and use such as Common Sense Media and The Joan Ganz Cooney Center for Educational Media and Research.
My goal is to be able to recommend apps for supporting the different home languages of children in English-speaking classrooms or for apps that would support the learning of new languages by English-speaking children. One thing has become increasingly clear: lots of free, low-quality apps take up teacher time and student time with little benefit, when investing in one or two high quality apps can yield far greater results! I will leave questions about basic functionality and appearance to other reviewers. Here are the questions I propose to use. I hope you will respond with your comments and suggestions.
R.E.A.D. Rubric for Evaluating Apps for DLLs©
Most importantly: Do you know what you expect each child to accomplish by using the app and have you chosen apps that address to that purpose?
We welcome your comments and questions. How has this worked with the apps you’ve found?
[…] is currently building a rubric for evaluating apps for young ELs. She recommends looking for apps that introduce words and skills in meaningful […]