Animoto

I created a video on Animoto about the life cycle of a butterfly.


In flipped classroom fashion, I would post a link for my students to watch at home: Life Cycle of a Butterfly

Students would be instructed to take notes and make sure to know what each stage of the cycle is.
Once in class, students would then be put into 4 groups - one for each stage of the cycle. The groups would then have time to look through readings and pictures about the life cycle of a butterfly and then they would have to present briefly on the stage of the life cycle that their group was assigned.

I would then talk about Animoto and give a lesson on how to use it. Students would then be instructed to pick an animal or a plant and then create their own Animoto video, similar to mine, about the life cycle of the animal or plant that they chose.

The performance indicator for this would be-


    Performance Indicator - ESL.I.5-8.1.1.15: 
    Students apply self-monitoring and self-correcting strategies for accurate language production
    and oral and written presentation, using established criteria for effective presentation of
    information.

I would assess their videos based on a rubric - was the animal/plant they chose clearly identified? Did they list each stage of that particular life cycle? Did they include appropriate pictures to show each stage?

Mod 8 - Serious Gaming

I chose to play the game, Against All Odds. I played the game 3 times total. 

This game allows players to take on the role of a refugee to understand what it feels like and what life can be like for refugees. There are three different aspects of the game - you can play the part of running from prosecution in your own country, you can play the part of being in a new country and wondering if they will grant you asylum to stay there, and the last part you can play is once you've been granted asylum and dealing with the challenges that refugees face everyday. 

I would have students play this game and then write a story that compares and contrasts their own experiences in America to that of the refugees in the game. 

My performance indicators would be: 

Performance Indicator - ESL.I.5-8.1.1.1: Students identify and use reading and listening strategies to make text comprehensible and meaningful.

Performance Indicator - ESL.I.5-8.1.1.2: Students read, gather, view, listen to, organize, discuss, interpret, and analyze information related to academic content areas and various sources.

May Include - ESL.I.5-8.1.1.2.MI: Sources such as nonfiction books for young adults, reference books, magazines, textbooks, the Internet, databases, audio and media presentations, oral interviews, charts, graphs, maps, and diagrams.

sing prior knowledge, graphic organizers, and context clues, planning, note taking, making inferences, questioning, exploring cognates and root words, and applying ideas to new settings or experiences.

Performance Indicator - ESL.I.5-8.1.1.4: Students compare, contrast, categorize, and synthesize to gain a deeper understanding of information and objects. 

I would assess if my objectives and indicators had been met by reading through my students compare/contrast stories. I would check to see if they included details and examples from the game to either compare their experiences or contrast their experiences. I would be looking more for the compare/contrast part of it rather than specific spelling and grammar issues - although I would still make note of those. 

Mod 7 - Post 2 - Casual Game

I decided to play the game - Phantasy Quest. In this game, the player is trapped on a desert island and must find a way to escape.

The player has the option to click on arrows to move their player around in the game. Each time the player clicks on an arrow and is taken somewhere, a text box pops up with directions or a prompt about what is going on.

I played the game about 10-15 times before I grew frustrated and gave up. After toying around with games of this kind, I realized that this is probably something I will never make my students do, unless they ask for the option to play. That being said....

My language performance indicator would be:

   Performance Indicator - ESL.I.5-8.1.1.2:
   Students read, gather, view, listen to, organize, discuss, interpret, and analyze information

   related to academic content areas and various sources.

   

This is because my students would be assessed based on their ability to read and interpret the text boxes throughout the game. 

The role that I would take as the teacher would simply be a facilitator. I would probably have my students in the computer lab or on iPads playing the game and after giving them directions and a brief walkthrough of the game, I would let them spend time playing and working through the game themselves. I would circulate the room to check on progress and answer any questions that students had. 

I would asses my learning objectives by asking my students to write a brief report on their progress in the game as well as a review of the game. Based on their report and their review, I would be able to tell whether the students were able to read the text boxes and progress through the game or not. 

In all honesty, however, it would be very hard for me to assign this type of activity considering how inept I am myself at these kinds of games!

Mod 6, Post 2 - Using Twitter for Professional Development

"Professional Development" is a pretty big buzz word in the world of education. I have been hearing it since declaring an education major in my freshman year of undergrad and I have been continuing to hear it throughout my masters and throughout my first year working in a school. Teachers are called upon to constantly update their professional development by attending workshops, conferences, classes, etc. With all of the technology at our fingertips however, professional development can actually be done right from our phones.


Over the last year or so, I have started to come across educational twitter accounts run by teachers or by education outlets, if you will. I have always enjoyed following them and picking up helpful teaching hints here and there. During one of my student teaching placements I needed to teach a lesson on the difference between revolution and rotation and I actually came across a post on one of the teacher twitters that I followed at the time that gave me a great idea for my lesson!

I have been using Twitter for several years now and I have seen Twitter chats and looked through them, but I never actually participated. I read the article, What is a Twitter Chat?, and it gave me a bit of a deeper insight into what they are. I also read The Twitteraholics Ultimate Guide to help give me better insight into what I was reading in the Twitter Chats.

I think that following eduTwitters and looking through Twitter Chats can be very beneficial for me as a future teacher in terms of finding helpful hints and new strategies, etc. However, I don't necessarily see myself participating in Twitter Chats as a form of professional development - I just think they are nice to look at and browse through for my own personal type of professional development.

I know that some teachers use Twitter as a teaching resource with their kids, as well. I have always thought about when I finally have my own class that I will make a twitter account for the class so that we can post updates and pictures for the parents to follow, which I think would be a very neat idea. Considering that I plan to teach younger students however, I don't think my use of Twitter in the classroom will go much further beyond that.

The more technology you can use and the more outlets for professional development that you can take advantage only means a greater chance of growth for you as a teacher!

Reaction to Podcast

I listened to a podcast from the site ESL Podcast. The podcast was called Types of Students in School.

I thought that this podcast was really good and could be used as a resource in teaching. I would use this podcast for students in their teens in high school. There is a dialogue in the podcast between two kids who are looking through an old yearbook and talking about the different types of people in the yearbook - nerds, jocks, dropouts, goths, etc. The vocabulary is very culturally relevant to American high school teenagers and teaches about the American high school environment. This would be very helpful for students just entering high school in America for the first time.

The speaker in the podcast speaks slow and methodically, but not slow enough to the point where it is boring. He is very descriptive and even spells out some of the specific vocabulary words such as y-e-a-r-b-o-o-k, n-e-r-d, etc. He goes into detail about each target word and gives a definition about each type of student you may encounter in a high school.

This would definitely be something to consider when working with teenage ESL students entering high school to give them a good idea of what to expect.

TedEd Lesson

http://ed.ted.com/on/TLrYXaew

Pasted above is the link to my Ted Lesson!

Target students: High/intermediate advanced students

Objectives: 
Students will be able to discuss and define what response writing is.
Students will be able to write their own response essay based on a reading given in class.

Assessment: Students will partake in a brief discussion during class to review the Ted video lesson. At the end of the discuss students will write their "definition" or their thoughts on response writing and hand it in to the teacher. Students will then be given a short opinion piece to read and discuss with a partner, and they will then need to work together to write a 1 page response essay. 

Flipping Your Classroom

I think that the idea of a flipped classroom is a great thought, but in order for it to work effectively and benefit your students, it puts a lot of trust and reliance on the students. Having students participate in the lesson outside of class and then using class time for activities and observation is a great way to maximize learning and practice with the L2 for ELL students. Students however, must be motivated and must be accountable for actually participating in the lesson prior to getting in the classroom. I think with older learners that teachers would have better luck in being able to count on their students to participate, but teachers might have some issues with younger learners. Younger learners might need the assistance of their parents to access the lessons, but some parents may not be as involved as others. These are some things that teachers must consider before implementing this learning technique. Teachers must also make sure that all students have access to view the lesson outside of class before using the strategy of flipped classrooms.

In theory, I think that "flipped classrooms" are very interesting and innovative strategy that could really help ESL students. However, there is a lot that needs to happen to ensure that this style of teaching/learning can work smoothly. With the right class and the right resources, this tool could maximize learning and potential for all students.

Gaming

I tried out the game, Word Bubbles. I played the game probably about 20 times, switching between the four different levels - toddler, kid, big kid, and grown up. 

This game involved users looking at a picture with floating letters around it. If the picture were of a cat, the letters C A T would be floating around separately. The user would have to click on the letters in the right order to spell the word correctly from left to right. 

When using this game in the classroom, the teacher would play a passive role, just going around the supervise and observe the students. This game could be a choice option during iPad time, or it could be used during a specific language block, such as spelling. The student would be active participants, as they would be playing individually with the iPad or on the computer. 

I definitely think that a walkthrough would be necessary for the game, especially for ELL's. A simple demonstration on the SmartBoard to model for the students how to play would work.

Performance indicators and objectives:

STANDARD 4: Students will listen, speak, read, and write in English for classroom and social interaction.
8. Negotiate and manage interactions to accomplish social and classroom tasks. (L, S)

Given a picture and the correct letters, students will be able to identify a picture and unscramble the letters to correctly spell the word that matches the picture.

By walking around the room to observe while students were playing, I would be able to track their progress and see how well they are doing. Players are not allowed to move on in the game if they can not correctly identify and spell the word. By seeing how many new words the student moved on to, I would be able to assess the performance indicators and objectives. 

Gamification in Education

Gamification is the use of game design and game mechanics to benefit areas in a non-gaming context. According to the blog, Tophat,
"We’ve seen this approach in a variety of settings: completing our Subway punch card to win a free sandwich, receiving a badge on Foursquare for being the first of friends to check in at a particular restaurant, or expanding our profiles on LinkedIn to bring the “completion bar” up to 100%. Gamification has even worked its way into the automotive industry with the innovative dashboard of the Ford Fusion hybrid. A high-resolution display features a rendering of vine-like leaves. Waste gas, and your vines wither. Conserve, and they blossom."

Along with Subway punchcards and the dashboards of our Fords, gamification has also worked its way into our classrooms. Educators are gamifying their rooms in very simple ways, but they are beginning to see big rewards. The Tophat article gave me a lot of ideas about gamification, a word that I had never even heard of prior to this mod. However, even though I had never heard of gamification before, I realized that it is something I have integrated into my own teaching without even noticing. Tophat suggests 4 ways to introduce gaming into the classroom: gamify grading, award students with badges, integrate educational video games into your curriculum, and stir up a little competition, such as tournament module platform in the classroom. 

I think that these are all great ideas. I have used point systems before in my classroom, which worked as a great motivator for my students. I did not even think about how the point system linked to games, which is probably why it worked so well with my students!

Gamification in the classroom is a great tool to motivate students and to reach those students who sometimes just need a new perspective on school work - if the student scoffs at assignments, turn the assignment into a game without him knowing and maybe you might see some results. 

Gamification is not the end all, be all, however. Gamification should not be the only motivator in the classroom, as it may take away from some intrinsic motivation. Tophat concludes their post with the quote, "Games can’t be used to replace pedagogy, but can be used to enhance the overall learning experience." I agree with this closing statement 100%. Games are a great tool for the classroom, as well as outside the classroom, to motivate and engage students. However, gaming in the classroom should have a specific time and place. 

Articles read for this post :

http://blog.tophat.com/4-ways-to-gamify-learning-in-your-classroom/

https://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/TLE_pdf/TLE_Oct13_Article.pdf

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/gamification-in-education-vicki-davis

Following a Twitterchat

My initial thoughts on this mod, which focused on using Twitter in education, was that I would breeze through it easily, since I am a veteran Twitter user. However, prior to this, I had never really explored the educational chats and accounts. I follow several teacher accounts on my personal account, but I had never participated in a chat or really delved into looking through other educators accounts. So needless to say, I was on a sensory overload when I began browsing through different accounts and chats and what I thought had been ten minutes of browsing through tweets turned into an hour.
I decided to follow the #ELTchat. ELTchat is a platform for new and old teachers alike to share their thoughts, ideas, questions, and experiences with each other. It is a place where teachers from all over the world can connect with each other to network and grow their professional learning network. I think #ELTchat is a great resource for teachers to be apart of. I am new to the whole Twitter chat thing though, so I think I need some more time to explore what else is out there as well as follow a live Twitter chat to see what it is all about.

Video Reactions

Educational Change Challenge  

The Educational Change Challenge video was short, but made a lot of great points about staying up to date and relevant in teaching. "Every student can learn, just not on the same day, or the same way" (George Evans) This quote at the beginning of the video was very thought provoking to me. As a teacher with a background in special education, I am very aware of the different learning styles and types of learners that teachers can encounter. However, thinking from an ESL standpoint, I am thinking about even great complexities and differences amongst ESL learners that I will encounter who bring with them even more unique learning styles from their own background and culture that may be very different from what I am used to. 

This quote also struck a chord with me - "In education, the use it or lose it rule may be that if you don't use technology for learning, you may lose relevance; an educator must be relevant. Teachers need to exist in the space the students exist, understand their culture, you have no credibility if you're not where they are. Because the generation of students that I am teaching is at instant putting the drive thru, microwave, downloaded from the internet, media driven generation, I know that I must be innovative to keep their interest and to inspire in them creative curiosity" (Martin). I have grown up with technology and have learned to use it pretty well, but I will admit that during my student teaching, I was having students help me with the SmartBoard technology as well as with some work on the iPad. I needed to include technology into my lessons because that was what the students knew. As a student in elementary school, my teachers used very little technology, so that was why it was hard for me at first to integrate it into my own teaching. However, as this video states, we as teachers must get on the same playing field as our students, and utilize the technology that they all have right at their fingertips. Not using technology in our lessons and daily teaching will simply make us irrelevant in the world's of our students. Not only with technology, but with all aspects of our teaching. We must find a way to get our students to buy into what we are teaching them; we must find ways to keep them engaged. I chose this image from Dead Poets Society because John Keating (Robin Williams) finds ways throughout the movie to connect with his students and keep them hanging on his every word. I find this moving inspiring to me as a future teacher, and it's also just a very great film!

Social Media Revolution 2011

The Social Media Revolution video was again a short clip, but it held a very powerful message. Social is so big, that our world is getting "smaller". We can communicate with anyone, anywhere in the world, in a matter of seconds. A teacher in America can FaceTime with students in China to teach a lesson. Entire college courses, just as this one, can be taught online, with out any physical interaction between professor and students. It is amazing what social media and technology can do, but it is also a bit scary how important it is becoming to society. 

As a teacher, it almost impossible to run a classroom with out being relevant on social media. Even if you're a kindergarten teacher, and your students don't use social media, their parents definitely do, and sometimes that is the only way parents can communicate with teachers. It is to the utmost advantage of us teachers to become comfortable with using social media as a tool in our classrooms, because it is not going anywhere anytime soon. The one quote from this video that I really liked was, "We don't have a choice on whether we DO social media, the question is how well we DO it" (Erik Qualman). 

A girl that I student taught with was teaching third grade, and did a whole character study on a book the class read using Facebook as the inspiration behind the project - the students each had to choose a character from the book and create a Facebook page for their character, and then they each had to post on other characters' walls from the point of view of their character. It sounds complicated, but the third graders did an amazing job, because the material was presented to them on a platform that they were familiar and comfortable with - social media. 

As our world grows smaller and our students become more diverse, we as teachers can use technology and social media as a beneficial classroom resource that can help us and our students connect not only with each other, but with other resources around the world that can give them new insights, information, and strategies. 

The picture that I chose for this video is pretty self-explanatory. Most of the tools that were once used in a classroom, even something as simple as a pencil, are becoming obsolete. The majority of learning and teaching are beginning to come in the form of a screen that is attached to the rest of our world. 

Blogging and the ESL classroom

Hi everyone! I am new to this whole blogging experience, but I am excited to begin this journey.

In today's society, it is almost impossible to avoid the idea of using technology in the classroom. Technology is something that most of our students have grown up with and known their whole lives. It only makes sense to incorporate something so prominent into the learning experience.

I think that one way for students to utilize blogging in the classroom would be to use blogs as a place for ongoing discussion boards, similar to how we use them on UBLearns. Students can use their blogs for communication in group work, they can use it as a place to ask for help with assignments or to discuss assignments with peers, and they can also use it to communicate with the teacher. Students can also use their blog simply as a journal, that they can share with the teacher, other students, or just with themselves.
Just getting students comfortable with using the medium of a blog can be helpful in enhancing their communication skills, as it gives them another way to communicate instead of just f2f communication.

Some of the NYS learning standards address using language and communication in a variety of different forms (www.nylearns.org):

Performance Indicator - ESL.E.2-4.4.1.1:Students use a variety of oral, print, and electronic forms for social communication and for writing to or for self, applying the convention of social writing.

Performance Indicator - ESL.E.2-4.4.1.6: Students understand and use a variety of oral and communication strategies in American English for various social and academic purposes.



Aside from being very useful to the students, I also believe that blogs can be very important to professional development. Teachers can use blogs to share ideas and thoughts with others, to create a portfolio that other teachers can access and use for fresh ideas, as well as to communicate with other team members and with administration.

I think it would be helpful for teachers to use a blog as the students use it also, so that way, teachers and students are on the same page, and are experiencing something new together.