ESL Teacher

I attended the Tapped in session called “Teacher Tools that Integrate Technology.” The purpose of this chat was to discuss three hosting sites where teachers and instructors can publish to the web not only for free, but also, in a very easy way. The three sites discussed were Instructional Architect (IA), Teacher Tube and Filamentality.

            The session was led by Kimberly S. Lightle, who is on the staff at Ohio State University in the college of education. She works with with in-service and pre-service math and science teachers - one of her projects in the NSDL Middle School Portal.

Both IA and Filamentality offer templates for designing and publishing web pages. Additionally, Filamentality has templates for Treasure Hunts, Samplers, Scrapbooks, and Web Quests. With IA, teachers can build folders similar to Favorites in Internet Explorer that allow them to organize links, add introductions, questions, and instructions for students. Teacher Tube is a fun tool to use. With this means teachers can upload videos and attach files, such as lessons, tasks, projects, assessments, and video notes.

I found this session very beneficial not only for me, but also for my other colleagues at school. Teachers can use any of these hosting sites to upload some of their lessons for students and parents to have access to them when needed. Another possible way for teachers to use any of these hosting sites is to show their own videotapes about specific topics or concepts and have them available for students and their families to watch them at home.

Interactive Power Point presentations definitely contribute to the engagement of the students into the learning process in an interactive and dynamic way. Additionally, it is a valuable technology tool to be used by teachers in the classroom.  However, I consider it important to come up with a well prepared PowerPoint presentation that helps all the students to acquire the concepts and assimilate them in an effective and timely manner.

I found useful the idea of including hyperlinks in the power point presentations because this diminishes the need of preparing too many slides for presenting a specific topic. The hyperlinks transform the presentation into a non-linear interactive tool that allows the users to go back to a previous slide or surf into a webpage that provides details or simply supports the main topic in depth.

 I am convinced that the incorporation of interactive power point presentations in my classes will lead my students to the pleasure of learning while having fun.   A great use of power point could be the elaboration of games and quizzes. These activities lower the students’ affective filters and help to build students’ self confidence.

Finally, power point presentations are not only to be created by the teachers, but also the students can benefit from the use of this tool in order to show their knowledge on an assigned or already known area.  Additionally, Interactive power point presentations are good scaffoldings, especially for those students who feel afraid of participating in class or delivering speeches before audiences.

Podcasting is definitely a very useful technology tool to be implemented in education. After having the opportunity of creating my own podcast I am eager to incorporate the use of podcasting in my ESL classes. I am pretty sure that this is an interactive activity that my ESL students will tremendously enjoy. I think this would be a way to encourage my students to first practice listening skills by listening to some podcasts made by English native speakers, and second, by practicing their reading aloud and speaking skills. They can start by reading a paragraph, a story, a poem or even a song in English in order to practice their pronunciation. Later on, they can come up with their own creations where they can first write their scripts and then podcast them on the web. To engage my students in this activity I would motivate them to come up with a list of topics that they would like to share with their friends and people not only inside but also outside the classroom.

I also found this tool beneficial for me as a teacher. Now that I have my own web portfolio, I would like to podcast and share some of my essays and journal responses on education with my colleagues and friends not only from this country but also with the ones from Colombia. I am pretty sure that some of these articles will enhance them to reflect on their teaching experiences and will encourage them to be updated on the use of new technology resources.

What does critical thinking look like (or will look like) in your classroom? My main goal as an ESL teacher is to engage my students in activities that allow them to use their points of view in a way that leads them to interact with the material they encounter in the different content areas. Through ESL classes, students get prepared to make connections between what they already know, sometimes in their first language, and the new concepts that they are acquiring. Therefore, it is important to provide students with activities that develop and build a sense of accountability towards the material they need to internalize as lifelong learners.  In my particular case I try to plan lessons based on my students’ interests, age and level of language to assure that they get engage in them right away. Among the strategies I use to develop critical thinking skills in my students, there are pre- during- and post-learning activities as well as strategies that allow students to activate their prior knowledge, to revise and refine their thinking as they learn, to construct and connect meanings as well as to be able to summarize their learning graphically or mentally. Some of the strategies I use in my ESL setting are anticipation guides, KLW, read alouds, learning logs, Inquiry charts, double column notes, summaries, Journal writing, response journals, graphic organizers and Exit slips. These strategies not only help me to scaffold my students learning but also encourage students to become independent learners and be prepared to succeed in their mainstream classes.

 How does technology play a role in getting your students to look critically at their own learning? Since nowadays students’ life is surrounded by technology, I consider that it is the best way to engage students in the learning process. Through the appropriate and efficient use of technology students get the chance to make good decisions when selecting the sources that they consider can contribute to the consolidation of the acquired knowledge. The use of the internet for research projects, as well as for the evaluation of good resources and the interaction with reliable sites is one of my short term goals to be implemented in my ESL curriculum.  

Wow! This is a great tool!

I found relevant and valuable the implementation of screencast as an instructional resource. However, I consider important to first get myself familiar and confident with the tool in order to instruct my students on the use of it.

Screencast is a good way to encourage students, not only to tell, but to show how they assimilate the concepts that they are receiving in class. I am sure this tool enhances the students’ creativity and desire of learning for pleasure!

It is clear that I am far behind with technology. This is only my third class and I am surprised with the amount of good tools, sites and online community spaces that I have encountered so far. For instance, Tapped in is a resource that I have never heard about. This is a great tool to share with my ESL, Spanish and content area cooworkers. It certainly promotes a comfortable and enjoyable learning atmosphere where everyone can benefit from the experiences and knowledge  that teachers from all over the country contribute with.

I liked the way the chat leader (BjB) conducted the tour. Even though we did not visit the campus she made me feel like if I were walking around it ( doors to open!!!!).  Her directions were clear. Additionally, she let us practice what gave me the confidence I need to continue using this resource.

The best of this resource is that it is not only for teachers, I can also involve my students by making them participate in the K-12 student campus. This is a great way to engage students in discussions about topics concerning content area subjects.

I cannot wait to implement this new resource in my curriculum.  It looks like a great way to have fun with while enriching my teaching-learning experience.

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