Welcome to the newly revised format for the TILE SIG newsletter. Below you will find descriptions of the featured articles for this issue. We encourage you to make comments about the format and contact us if you have something that you’d like to submit. Ideally, as the submissions grow, we’ll also begin to look for people to help us review the submissions. Stay tuned!

Since many of the articles come from our presenters at this year’s International Reading Association Conference, we also hope that it motivates you to join us next July in St. Louis!

In this issue of the newsletter, our regular columnist, Denise Stuart, with Susan Hall, describes ways to engage readers over the summer. They discuss middle schoolers’ use of e-readers and other online tools to facilitate thoughtful reading, discussion and reaching out to others to deepen the experience of summer reading.   In Teaching & Learning with E-Readers: Promoting Deep Learning or Deep Trouble?, Nance Wilson, Vicky Zygouris-Coe & Victoria Cardullo explored the importance of professional development and support for teachers as they develop knowledge about the use of technology and pedagogical practices necessary for implementing iPads. Megan Leger and Marta Albert discuss technology focused curricula that engages diverse rural learners with 1:1 laptops as a way to complement and enhance teaching across subject areas. In his article, Choosing Effective Technology Tools for Struggling Learners, Eric MacDonald highlights several technology tools that offer easy access and use, work across platforms, allow for collaboration, and are accessible on various devices.

For your information, the current newsletter will be the last one posted on the blog that is not password protected. In the future, the great information shared by our authors will only be available to members of the TILE SIG. For information about joining the TILE SIG, please access the following website:

http://tilesig.wikispaces.com/Membership

Thanks from the co-editors of the TILE SIG newsletter:

Contact us:

Mike: Michael.Putman@uncc.edu

Katie: Katie.Stover@furman.edu