Learning with Computers

The Learning with Computers(LWC) social networking group seems like a very useful group to be apart of as a future ESL teacher.  This group posts many FREE interactive learning games for students that seem interesting and fun.  It also has many online resources for teachers and points to which ones are the most helpful for teachers trying to integrate technology into their plans.  This group is a perfect fit for me because it is beginner friendly(for teachers who are just learning how to use technology in their classrooms) and provides step by step processes for plenty of online tools that would be of good use to me in an ESL atmosphere.  It´s a good group to be apart of if you want to share what you already know and learn from others about how they integrate computers into their teaching. 

A teacher is like an anchor

A teacher is like an anchor.  

Today, in a rapidly changing digital world, it seems almost daunting to keep up with all of the newest technologies and even more difficult to decide which ones are worthwhile for educational purposes.  But, the time has come.  We need to take risks in order to ensure that our students are learning and engaged.  It is our responsibility, as teachers, to take advantage of the never ending sea of knowledge that the internet has given us and that enables our students to connect with others.   George Siemens mentions in his video, The Impact of Social Software on Learning that "The social software that we see today in the form of blogs and wikis developed in order to enable these individuals in a quickly changing knowledge field to continue to stay current and to continue to learn from each other".  This shows us how important it is to utilize these tools since they are there to encourage our students to connect with others.  After all, "we derive our competence from forming connections" (Connectivism, Siemens, 2005)

I came up with the analogy, "A teacher is like an anchor".  I believe that teachers of today are there to guide our students in the world of digital education and to be there for support, stability and security.  Today´s teachers should act as anchors in order to provide our students with the opportunities and knowledge that this digital era offers us.  As mentioned in Siemens´ Connectivism Theory, nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.  By using a more "informal" style of teaching (like chatrooms, blogging, wikis and so on), we are allowing our students to nurture and maintain connections which is crucial in the learning process.  According to George Siemens,"Informal learning is a significant aspect of our learning experience. Formal education no longer comprises the majority of our learning. Learning now occurs in a variety of ways – through communities of practice, personal networks, and through completion of work-related tasks. "(Siemens, 2005).  Technology is changing quickly and in order to keep our students connected in the world, we as teachers need to be the anchors that support continual learning through connections.

Podcasts for ESL Students

I believe that Podcasts are an important tool for ESL students.  I found the post titled My 3 Favorite Podcasts on the ESL Technology.com blog very interesting.  The writer shared their three favorite podcasts for English Language Learners.  Two of the blogs are from NPR and the other from The Moth, a storytelling podcast.  I enjoyed the content of some of these podcasts and the topics covered within them.  As the writer mentioned, these blogs are geared towards more native-like students because of the high level of proficiency required in order to comprehend the material.  I commented on my concern for more beginner level students in regards to where to find good and practical podcasts for these particular learners.  I think that the given podcasts have wonderful material but I'd particularly like to know where I could find podcasts that focus on the consonant and vowel sounds in American English.  I've asked the writer if they could give me any recommendations that they have on podcasts or websites with podcasts for beginner English learners and ones that specifically cover basic vocabulary words and sentence structures.  Any suggestions?  

Digital Learners

A Vision of K-12 Students Today was created to inspire teachers to use technology in their classrooms.  This video shows us that our students are unengaged in their schools and are clearly unhappy about it.  The answer is simple yet we are still not acting upon it.  Our students want and need one thing: A digital classroom.  They want to use wikis, blogging, digital books and other digital technology as opposed to sitting in the classroom and listening to the teachers lecture.  A fact that stuck out to me in the video is that in China, there are more honor students than there actually are people living in North America.  Also, they mention that only half of the people in North America will graduate from high school.  How can we see increasing graduation rates if our students are unengaged in the classroom?  We need to ensure that our students are learning and growing mentally.  In order to do so, they need to develop higher level thinking skills.  They need to learn how to critically think and more importantly, they WANT to learn how to! We can help them develop and grow if we actively engage them and give them the opportunities to develop these skills.  This can be reached through blogging, wikis, digital books and hundreds of other technological tools that can be integrated in our lesson planning. I think the answer is simple.  TO ENGAGE OUR STUDENTS OF AMERICA, WE NEED TO INTEGRATE DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IN OUR CLASSROOMS!

How "real" is human interaction with computers?

In Chapter 1 of Robert J. Blake's A Brave New Digital Classroom, I was most impressed by the concept that "People's interactions with computers, television, and new media are fundamentally social and natural, just like interactions in real life"(pg. 3).  This quote was strikingly interesting to me because I once disagreed with this statement.  When I was living abroad in Argentina, I taught English online through Skype and I also taught face to face in a classroom setting.  At the time, I felt it was very difficult to teach online and I preferred my face to face classroom interactions.  I think the reason behind this was because it was something that I wasn't very familiar with so it felt uncomfortable.  I also thought that the lack of face to face interaction was just unnatural and a bit antisocial.  At the time, I thought that the best way to learn a foreign language was to immerse yourself in that language and culture.  Unfortunately, this can be time consuming and expensive, so it isn't any option for everyone.  While teaching English online through Skype, I didn't see people's interactions with computers as "real life".  The reality is, it IS "real life".  Although it is a different interaction than face to face interaction, it isn't any less real or unnatural or social.  My students had the opportunity to learn English as a second language with a native-English speaker and fortunately, were able to do this because of the Internet.  Most of my students would have not had the money or the time to learn English in a foreign country, so their interaction with computers, television and new media was their opportunity to learn a second language and that is very much real to them and to all of us. 

How to keep safe on the Internet

Dear Students,

The Internet is a very important tool for all of us to use. It gives us endless opportunities for exploration, research and communication.  It is important to understand and know that we need to keep ourselves safe on the internet and protect ourselves from any harm that we may encounter by using it.  I have put together a list that highlights the key elements of cyber safety and how to protect yourselves from any "cyber abuse".  This list will help keep you safe. Be responsible!

                                                               Cyber Safety Tips: Do's and Dont's

1. DO protect your passwords. Keep them in a safe spot and don't tell anyone except your parents. Make sure that your password is something hard to guess. Example: A random combination of numbers and letters.

2. DO NOT open any e-mails or attachments within an e-mail if you are unsure of the sender.  A lot of the times these may contain viruses.

3. DO NOT talk to strangers in chat rooms, messenger or any other form of communication on the internet. Only talk to people you know!

4. DO NOT post your address, phone number and any other personal information anywhere publicly.  This includes personal blogs, myspace, facebook and any other public space on the internet.  If you need to send someone your address or phone number, do it by phone or a private e-mail or message.

5. DO use a virus scan before downloading programs and games.

6. DO NOT steal copyrighted computer programs.  This is considered stealing and there can be severe consequences.

7. DO NOT copyright material and pretend that it is your own. This is another form of stealing and it is very easy to be caught.

8. DO use the internet to browse websites and expand your knowledge. Just be sure to do so in a safe and responsible way!

More Articles on Cyber Safety

1. Kids Health 
2. Cyber Bullies
3. Addition Internet Safety Tips

Creative ways to use blogging in ESL classrooms

For Emergent English Language Learners, it is important to give the students a more hands on learning experience.  Traditional instruction is probably the most inefficient way to teach any one person a foreign language. Blogs allow Emergent English Language Learners to take control of their learning experience and have a say in what they learn.  Richardson says, "In essence, we write not just to communicate but to connect with others who can potentially teach us more" (28, 2010).  Blogging makes this possible.  In an increasing technological world, it is important to take advantage of the communication bridges that the internet constantly offers us.  There are so many ways that learners can constantly obtain new information through the internet and specifically, through blogging.  

All About My Partner:Social, Intercultural and Instructional Practices
Standard 1: English language learners communicate for social, intercultural, and instructional purposes within the school setting.

A good way to integrate this standard would be to have students write a journal entry about another classmate and post it to their blog.  This entry could entail interviewing another student to find out all about this persons life, where they come from and the differences between their cultures and American culture.  This is a great way for the students to interact with fellow classmates and learn a bit about a different culture.  In addition, it forces the student to practice their comprehension, writing and reading all in the same activity. 

Storytelling: Communication
Standard 2: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the area of language arts.

Blogs are a perfect way for English Language Learners to practice their reading and writing skills.  Traditional methods of writing are very restricting to some degree.  This quote is a perfect example of how writing can be restricting whereas blogging leaves open endless opportunities for growth,"Writing stops; blogging continues.  Writing is inside; blogging is outside. Writing is monologue; blogging is conversation. Writing is thesis; blogging is synthesis..."(Richardson, 30).  In the area of language arts, storytelling would be the perfect way for EELLs to communicate information, ideas and concepts with their peers. Storytelling gives them numerous opportunities to explore the English language and allow them to be creative and original.  Then each student could critique one of their peers' story and look for grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors.  This allows the students to directly communicate and freely post on each others blogs while at the same time thinking analytically and critically.  

Math Lessons: Sharing information, ideas and concepts through blogging
Standard 3: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the area of mathematics.

In the area of mathematics, I think that blogging is an excellent and innovative way to give a lesson. For students in mathematics, a good idea could be to give students a five minute videotaped instruction on how to do a math problem.  Uploading the video to the class blog would be useful for students because they could go back to it for reference.  If the teacher is speaking too fast or they don't understand clearly, they could replay the video as many times as needed.  Repetition can also help EELLs with pronunciation and comprehension.  Another good idea could be to give students several different hyperlinks to mathematical websites, particularly websites with plenty of different practice problems. This gives the students the opportunity to explore different math websites and be able to have a say in which exercises are of interest to them. The students could also post on each others blogs with any questions or comments that they may have on the topic. This would be extremely helpful for students who prefer to experiment with the multiple ways of solving a math problem.  They would have all of the different ways their peers attempted the problem right in front of them.  This also ensures that students who learn differently are given the opportunity to explore different learning styles. 

There are endless ways that state standards could be met by blogging. I think in an ever changing technological world, foreign language learners should be given the opportunities to utilize these tools.  The good news is that they can practice comprehension, reading, writing and even speaking all through one entity; blogging.