14. Consider how using the tool allows
students to practice other skills.
TechnologyTechnology
ToolsTools
DigitalDigital
citizenshipcitizenship
CriticalCritical
Thinking SkillsThinking Skills
MediaMedia
LiteracyLiteracy
21st Century Skills
Prensky’s discussion of the digital divide, digital natives and digital immigrants is compounded for ESL students.
Digital natives -- born after 1980, know how to use these tools to have fun, not necessarily to learn.
Digital immigrants -- not immersed in a culture saturated with technology and access, pre-1980, or from another place.
Digital divide -- issues of access and directly tied to wealth / location
Today’s goals:
Identify guiding principles of ELL education & technology integration
Explore web 2.0 applications that can be used to modify instruction for ELL students
Discuss scaffolding needs of ELL students
Create a professional support network for ELL instruction
Consider the different tools in your arsenal. Technology is a means to an end. Your goal is to make the technology invisible.
Consider where you are:
dabbling
old things in old ways
old things in new ways
new things in new ways.
http://www.edutopia.org/adopt-and-adapt
Websites that teachers might go to...
Free Technology for Teachers: http://www.freetech4teachers.com
Web English Teacher: http://www.webenglishteacher.com/esl.html
Be sure to review the school’s AUP to ensure that students are allowed to use whichever technology tool you choose.
Before you start using the tool with your students, check the minimum age for participating, how personal information is handled, and if there are rules of comportment.
Questions that you should ask before starting out:
Who should be involved? Technology coordinator? Administration? parents?
Are there professional development opportunities available?
Who else in the building has tried using this tool?
How often will you have access to the lab?
How reliable is your Internet connection?
What do you already have at your disposal?
Avoid the fluff.
Always start with the academic objectives that you want to accomplish. If the tool doesn’t help you get there, don’t use it. Student engagement without academic gains isn’t what we are after.
What will you be grading?
Will you assess:
Writing skills?
Content mastery?
Collaboration?
Mastery of technology skills?
Speaking skills?
What are you trying to do?
Adaptation ≠ Accommodation ≠ Modification
Adaptations include:
Changes in the pace of learning
Changes in amount of material presented at one time
Change in how material is presented
Changes in the environment
Accommodations offer alternative ways for students to acquire information or share what they have learned. They neither lower the difficulty level nor the expectations for achievement. The standards of achievement remain the same, although there may be changes made to teaching methods, testing materials, or the instructional environment. These are legally mandated.
Modifications, on the other hand, are intensive changes made to the content that affect the level of difficulty and quantity. Modifications may include changes made in the presentation and the nature of the assessment. They create a different standard for students that allow them to participate in grade-level appropriate content.
http://eyeontransformation.blogspot.com/2010/04/accommodations-adaptations.html
CALP = academic language (including: listening, speaking, reading, and writing about subject area content material.)
This level of language learning is essential for students to succeed in school.
Students need time and support to become proficient in academic areas. This usually takes from five to seven years.
Recent research (Thomas & Collier, 1995) has shown that if a child has no prior schooling or has no support in native language development, it may take seven to ten years for ELLs to catch up to their peers.
Academic language acquisition includes skills
- comparing
- classifying
- synthesizing
- evaluating
- inferring.
Academic language tasks are context reduced. Information is read from a textbook or presented by the teacher. As a student gets older the context of academic tasks becomes more and more reduced.
The language also becomes more cognitively demanding. New ideas, concepts and language are presented to the students at the same time.
Jim Cummins also advances the theory that there is a common underlying proficiency (CUP) between two languages. Skills, ideas and concepts students learn in their first language will be transferred to the second language.
A blog isn’t a Course Management System (CMS). Not all applications will lend themselves to your objectives.
If you are moving from a traditional pen and paper assignment to an online assignment, you may need to adjust your timeline to account for access.
How will you set up the assignment?
Will students work individually? in groups?
If they are in groups, will they be self-selected? by LEP? by interest?
How comfortable are you teaching technology skills?
How comfortable are you with the tool?
Remember the difference between BICS & CALP.
Students know how to have fun with technology, but they don’t know how to learn using technology.
A task analysis will help you plan for scaffolding.
Technology skills:
log in
upload a file from USB/network space
download file
open a file
save a file
save as
save to network / USB
comment
post
search
Vocabulary:
log in
password
username
upload
download
file
submit
click
drag and drop
select
highlight
copy
paste
cut
right-click
mouse
print
file
URL
Internet
search
search engine
Google
results
Refer to the National Education Technology Standards for Students (NETS-S) ( http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students.aspx)
How comfortable are you using a tool that you have not necessarily mastered?
Refer to the National Education Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). (http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers.aspx)
Description: Storybird allows users to create and share digital books using a bank of artwork. The focus is on the content, not the format.
Uses: Use Storybird to allow students to publish their writing.
Write a personal narrative.
Write poetry
Ask students to interview families about a specific experience in their native language (L1) and create a storybird in L1. They should then create an English version (L2).
* This site is beta testing. At this time, it is a free service.
Users can share their work electronically, but they may not print.
Description: Wordle creates word art using text provided by the user based on word frequency.
* This site is free ad royalty-free.
Users can print their Wordles or save to the public gallery, but they cannot save their work. Because of this, students should do their work in a Word document and copy and paste into Wordle. To use a Wordle in a blog or wiki, take screenshots and embed.
Demo videos:
Basic Wordle: http://www.screencast.com/t/f5w0DFfcWT
Advanced Wordle: http://www.screencast.com/t/8AbM50Z8JuVN
Uses:
Take attendance: The more a student is in class, the bigger his name.
Teach word choice: Have students put in an excerpt of their own writing. Examine word choice.
Teach main idea: Put in an excerpt of a chapter and have students predict the main ideas.
Ice breakers: Ask students for a list of the top ten pet peeves. They should rate how annoying each is by assigning a number from 1 to 5. Gather the lists and enter them with the number using the advanced function to create a Wordle about behavior expectations.
Evaluate learning and teaching. Ask students to make lists of the top five ideas from the unit. Check to see what was left out or what should be most important and remediate
Description: Create custom comic strips
* This site is free ad royalty-free.
Video demo: http://www.screencast.com/t/d4nOXOPbY
Users can print their comic strips or email them, but they cannot save and reopen their work. Because of this, students should do wome pre-writing and have a draft before To use the comic in a blog or a wiki, take a screenshot and embed.
Uses:
Modify writing assignments -- allow students to demonstrate content mastery in a comic strip.
Vocabulary -- Create a comic that illustrates a term (i.e., idioms)
Write a in a new mode -- Read graphic novels and emulate their style
Description: Posterous is a blogging platform that allows users to post vial email.
* This site is not the best site to use with students. I would suggest using Edublogs (http://edublogs.org/) if you want to blog with students.
To begin, send an email to [email_address]. The message’s body will be the actual blog post and any attachments (photos, links, videos) will be embedded in the post. Posterous will send you a link that allows you to set up the blog (privacy, passwords, skins, etc). You have the choice to post online or via email.
Uses:
Create a personal reflection blog.
Communicate with families -- post class business, resources, and handouts on the blog.
Create a class blog that is managed by the teacher. Students respond to posts in the comments.
Description: Create custom comic strips
* This site is free ad royalty-free.
Users can print their comic strips or email them, but they cannot save and reopen their work. Because of this, students should do wome pre-writing and have a draft before To use the comic in a blog or a wiki, take a screenshot and embed.
Demo video: http://www.screencast.com/t/i1p5lMZuEj
Uses:
Modify writing assignments -- allow students to demonstrate content mastery in a comic strip.
Vocabulary -- Create a comic that illustrates a term (i.e., idioms)
Write a in a new mode -- Read graphic novels and emulate their style
Description: Wikis are webpages that allow users to modify content and formatting. (See this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY)
Note: Wikis can be as open or as closed as the owner wants. If you choose to create your own wiki, you can leave it open like Wikipedia does or lock it down so that only you have access to the contents and / or editing abilities.
Here’s a video of how I use Wikipedia as a teaching tool: http://www.screencast.com/t/F0j0M6XKrfdu
Uses:
Teach digital collaboration and citizenship skills.
Accommodate: Point students to Simple English Wikipedia for shorter, simpler articles.
Participate: Have students write articles (or use their research papers) to submit to the Simple English Wikipedia or Wiki Books project.
Description: Create interactive posters
* Until November 7, educators can sign up for an account linked to 100 student accounts.
Users can print their comic strips or email them, but they cannot save and reopen their work. Because of this, students should do wome pre-writing and have a draft before To use the comic in a blog or a wiki, take a screenshot and embed.
Demo video:
Uses:
Modify writing assignments -- allow students to demonstrate content mastery in using a poster.
Vocabulary -- Create a poster that illustrates a term (i.e., idioms)
Create a digital word wall or visual dictionary.
Description: Create graphic organizers from outlines and idea webs
* This site is free ad royalty-free.
This is the online version of Inspiration and Kidspiration. It is less kid friendly, as the company is targeting business people, but it can do in a pinch. (Check the minimum age!) This version allows users to collaborate on a single web from home or school.
Uses:
Modify writing assignments -- allow students to demonstrate content mastery in a comic strip.
Vocabulary -- Create a comic that illustrates a term (i.e., idioms)
Write a in a new mode -- Read graphic novels and emulate their style
Description: Save bookmarks virtually instead of on your computer’s bookmark toolbar. Search for information on Delicious to find the creme de la creme.
Demo video:
http://www.screencast.com/t/6XUfGkil15
http://www.screencast.com/t/ISkJsDQIM3m
Users can print their comic strips or email them, but they cannot save and reopen their work. Because of this, students should do wome pre-writing and have a draft before To use the comic in a blog or a wiki, take a screenshot and embed.
Demo video: http://www.screencast.com/t/ISkJsDQIM3m
Uses:
Track student research.
Share readings -- in L1, in L2, differentiate and provide extension activities.
