For My Students, Technology Tools Create Learning Opportunities
By Jessica Wiley
A group of my 5th-grade students watched as I displayed the Esperanza character traits poster on our interactive whiteboard so they could design their own based on the book Esperanza Rising. My students’ images of a Mexican girl forced to flee to the United States illustrated what she looked like and the type of person she was. Lilly, who receives speech services and interventions because she shows signs of dyslexia, beckoned me over to see her poster. She had an AI-inspired image of a brown-skinned girl with long coal-black hair and dark eyes, complete with a sombrero and colorful dress. “Wow, that’s pretty neat. Keep working on it,” I said. “I can’t wait to see the finished product!” Instead of using pencils and paper to show reading comprehension, my students were highly engaged in learning thanks to an assist from their technology partner.
For students like Lilly with reading challenges, digital tools provide critical support. In Arkansas, 40 percent of students scored below basic in 4th-grade reading, according to 2024 NAEP results. An educational environment filled with motivating and meaningful opportunities for learning with hands-on digital tools like AI could help our students become literate critical thinkers and problem solvers.
To bring AI and other tools into classrooms like mine and use them to benefit students, educators need training. About 56% of teachers across the country name insufficient training as a barrier to using technology effectively. Funding is also an issue. More scholarships and stipends should be available to encourage teachers to attend graduate programs like the one in which I am enrolled in at the University of Central Arkansas, where I have learned concrete ways to use technology to support students in their literacy journeys, just like the Esperanza project.
Because of this program, I have been able to curate a page of technology resources, including apps and websites for teachers and students at my school. I have helped my students and colleagues create videos and songs that facilitate reading and writing. And I have helped teachers at my school design novel studies’ choice boards and interactive activities for the books Bud, Not Buddy, A Long Walk to Water, Esperanza Rising, and Love That Dog. Through these digital projects, our students can choose from a range of activities including recording video responses, creating playlists, writing poems, and crafting letters to authors.
Educators can also develop their digital skills by taking part in organizations such as the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). ISTE’s reasonably priced professional development and resources have helped me empower my students to hone their reading skills and collaborate with educators to explore innovative tech approaches.
Conferences are another important hub for learning. At the 2024 ARTful Teaching Conference, I listened as educators shared their experiences about bringing the arts and technology into their classrooms. I was introduced to Soundscapes, a multimodal literacy project by Dr. Sean Connors; I learned how to “write with sound” by tuning my ear to everyday environmental noise and how 4th graders on their study of Love that Dog brainstormed a list of words and sounds, including onomatopoeic words, which they used to write their own “Street Music” poem.
On Lilly’s digital poster, Esperanza is surrounded by the words “Salty,” “Girl Power,” “Sassy,” and “Self-absorbed.” Lilly placed emojis of a face with a hand demonstrating the “stop” sign, a woman painting her nails, two people arguing, a thunderstorm, and a tornado. She beamed with excitement as she explained her poster to me. Her portrait of Esperanza reminded me of her in several ways: her flavorful sense of style and the way she voices her opinion. It is possible to boost Arkansas’ literacy rate in classrooms filled with technological tools, apps, and web-based programs. It’s time to bring innovation into the world of literacy so that we ensure our students are ready for their futures.
Jessica Wiley is a Special Education Literacy Inclusion teacher and a Dyslexia Interventionist at Morrilton Intermediate School in Morrilton, and a 2024–2025 Teach Plus Arkansas Policy Fellow.
