Creating a podcast for the classroom

Teachers and students can create a classroom blog about the activities that are going on in their classroom.  This can help students who are absent catch up on activities or homework.  A classroom blog can be a class project that can be extended the whole school year.  A class blog can also encourage the interaction and involvement of community members, parents and even other classes. 


Instead of banning smart phones, teachers can begin to integrate them in their classroom lessons.  Students can use their smartphones to create a podcast.  Familiarizing students with this new technology will help them in their future endeavors, and will make them less hesitant to try new resources on the internet. 

This podcast can also be integrated with other tools on the internet, such as blogs and wikis. This addition to the classroom online community can help to bring a more comprehensive picture of students' thoughts and opinions.  Students might also become interested in listening to podcasts of their choice. 

Epals!

Epals looks like a great medium for students to be able to interact with others from different countries and cultures.  What is especially nice for teachers is the fact that they have lessons already planned for teachers.  The only downside there is, is that they do not provide free research material for the students.  They suggest purchasing National Geographic Books/Magazines for the supplemental material.  However, research material can be easily substituted in other various forms.  Students can also have their own email account, where they can email other students in the epals community.

An idea that I have for classroom application would be to have students email questions (perhaps even weekly) to their epals, and then have students present their epal's responses.  This would help the students be able to experience more cultures.  Teachers would provide some questions to ask their epal, while students being able to add more if they choose so.  The only foreseen problem would be, if there was no/limited response from the other epal students.  The teacher could also introduce students to a certain aspect of the epal's culture so that students could have more background knowledge to the epal responses.  This would be a great way to 'push' students into new cultural realms, so that they can have a more diverse outlook on the world.

Digital Storytelling

Mugging by casey_boltes

Here is a comic that I made on stripgenerator. I really thought that students would get a blast out of making this! The choices of the characters is really unique, and there is a lot of objects that the students can choose from. There is not a lot of room to work with, but is it great for a really short story.

For the next story creator I used Stupeflix, I did not enjoy creating a story as much, as I did with the other website. Here is my video that I created of fall on Stupeflix. 

Relief Sculptures

Relief Sculptures, a photo by TushyD on Flickr.

Here is one of the structures excavated out of the vertical face of the Charanandri hills – being Buddhist, Hindu and Jain rock-cut Jain and Hindu templess and viharas and matha were built between the 5th century and 10th century.

As an ESL teacher it is important to incorporate authentic cultural artifacts from the students L1 country. This is why I choose this picture. I think that digital storytelling is a great way to introduce topics to students, in a way that they can easily understand because of the media content (voice and pictures). Students can then also take the same format to create their own story, using the same bookr framework. Creating new their own stories allows them to in corporate different modified literary aspects into their own digital story writing.

Bookr story

I created this bookr story of farms to introduce students to the topic of farming.  Some of the ESL students have experience on farms, so I wanted to incorporate their funds of knowledge into this new topic.  This is a great tool to 'hook' students into a new topic using pictures. This digital story can be a model, so that students will be able to create their own digital storybook using bookr.  The story that I created is the basis of a discussion for students so that they have the vocabulary to engage in a discussion about farms. My objectives are: having students become familiar with farm animal vocabulary and understanding that the products that they use come from the farm.

Twitter in the classroom

Twitter should not be intimidating to educators or administers.  We need to demonstrate to our students the same curiosity and enthusiasm we expect from them when teaching a new material.  The life- longer learner is not something that can be taught in a lesson, it has to be modeled and embraced.  In the Langwitches blog, they discuss how educators wanted to embrace this new technology but where hesitant to make that initial step.  In the world that we live in today, we cannot write off new technology as a fad- we need to at least dip our feet in the pond.  By testing the waters we can discover as community, the true value of new technology- remember you are not alone!

Moving on, one really great idea that I found about using twitter was interacting with characters of a novel, on twitter.  In Hanniewelch's blog, blog-o-licious she goes in depth about her experience of using twitter in her methods class to design a lesson.  While the students were reading a novel- Harry Potter and the Socerer's stone, they would be able to tweet to characters from the novel.  She added that the lesson could be even better if they used twitter as a reading log- by having their tweets linked to a discussion.  Even if the students were not that excited to read the book, they could become more excited about the material if they were able to interact with the characters, so that the characters become more relevant in their lives.  Take the plunge- look or tweet Lord Voldemort7 at @Lord_Voldemort7 !


Look to see if other characters are on twitter- maybe first just show your students their page.  After a while, go for it! Lurk, tweet, hashtag, twitpic do it all! 

Using Ning as a Filter for the Best New Ideas

Ning is something that you might not be familiar with, that ok, I wasn't either until just recently.  Ning can be compared to a social network, but it is directed for a certain group of people (ie teachers).  One Ning site that I visited recently I found very useful because of its relevance of topics being discussed.  This site is called Teacher 2.0, where teachers from all realms are free to blog about varied topics relating to teaching.  As Professor Alan Levine stated in his video of New Media Consortium, we cannot keep up with technology (although we have to try our best).  We need different tools to help us find the most important and useful technology that we can incorporate in the classroom. Teacher 2.0 is another way to keep up with the new tools that are being offered.

Connectivism and its Application in the Digital Classroom

A modern day teacher is like the ingredients in a well cooked meal.  As you can tell, I am hungry, but still a decent analogy nonetheless.  The teacher provides the framework in which the students create their own learning and understanding through connecting to others.  Fresh, organic ingredients provide a much more superb meal, than a frozen dinner that is just heated in the microwave.  The preparer (the student) is the person who has the know how to combine the ingredients and be able to cook them to create a meal that is shared with others. The teacher is the stuff that is needed to create the meal, but the preparer (the students) are the ones who actually put everything together.
Connectivism is what needs to be emphasized in the digital classroom because our students live in a society where rote memorization is not needed.  Our society values a network of learning, where peoples' ideas are shared and learning takes place in the interactions with others.  In George Siemens video, The Conflict of Learning Theories with Human Nature, he relates Vygotsky's theory that 'language gives birth to our thoughts', which is in contrast to most previous learning theories (behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism).  The theory of Connectivism, is a new way to look at learning- not as the learner as an empty vessel but as an operator.  George Siemen's January 5, 2001 article, he clearly outlines the theory of Connectivism and compares that to the previous theories of learning.  As educators we need to embrace this new theory and prepare our students for this new outlook into the learning realm.  We need to teach them the skills that they use for the rest of their life.

A 'Duh' moment in the life of a teacher

In Larry Ferlazzo's blog, he recently blogged about a 'Duh' moment that he had about finding L2 videos for his content class.  I think that this post was insightful because we all have these moments, and its ok.   As teachers we shouldn't be afraid to blog about our experiences in the field, even the not so good ones.  We can all sympathize and learn from each other.  Its important to create a teacher community that is open and supportive.  If we just blog about positive experiences, than they lose meaning because these positive experiences most likely occurred after many failed attempts.  If we never experienced failure, than we wouldn't appreciate our successes.  I think that it takes a lot of courage to share these failed attempts with others and I want to commend Larry Ferlazzo for being so open about this experience because teacher, especially new teacher can appreciate this feeling.  The name of this post is:  Great Resources For English Language Learners In Content Classes and the link to this blog is below:

Larry Ferlazzo's Edublog

Digital Classroom Integration

A Vision of K-12 Students Today

This video gives a great perspective into the lives of our students and how their learning capacity can be stifled by their teachers in the digital world.  Their creativity is limited in the digital realm.  Most often this is the realm that they feel most comfortable with, is exactly the media that teachers feel the most unease with.  Teachers need to rise to the challenge and experiment with this new technology that their students are learning.

The Educational Challenge

The field of teaching has not changed in comparison to the other fields in the past 100 years.  Teachers need to take a different perspective of teaching and the environment that they teach in.  Teachers have to ask themselves are they relevant in todays changing world.  They also have to ask themselves are they creating life long learners, all while complying with todays rigorous standards.  Simply presenting material to the students, is no longer acceptable.  Students can find the material on the internet easily enough.  Creating critical thinkers who can adapt to a changing world is the challenge.

A Brave New Digital World

While reading chapter 1, in A Brave New Digital World by James Blake I firstly impressed by his description of technology and how he breaks down the meaning of technology with the tool metaphor.  He uses the metaphor "good tools become invisible once the users understand their basic operation", which is new perspective of technology for me.  Reflecting on this new perspective, the majority of our daily interactions are mediated by tool, that largely goes unnoticed.  Applying this principle to SLA, language learning takes place in the social context (sociocultural theory), can perhaps take place in a sudo-social context created by technology.  Blake stresses that the L2 language should be comprehensible for the students and also that the students themselves feel like they are interacting in a social manner.  Comprehensible input is necessary for L2 learners to be able to engage with the target language.  Mediation is required to ensure that correct forms of the target language is being used, and also to guide students to the correct formation of the target language.  Students are and have grown up with this explosion of technology literally at their fingertips.  Their proficiency and confidence with this medium is most likely at a high level, perhaps maybe even more than the teachers.  Yet, this new medium should not be avoided but rather embraced, because if not for anything else, students will want to engage with the target language in this medium.

Blake's explanation of technology helped me to obtain a better perspective of the use of technology and how it becomes invisible after sufficient exposure.  This is not something that I had reflected upon before.  His explanation made me think of 2001: A Space Odyssey, in the opening scene where there is a monkey who uses a tool (i believe a bone) to accomplish a task then he throws it up into the air and it becomes a spaceship.  As humans we have always had technology but not necessarily realized that it was around us.   As educators, we have the opportunity to engage our students with this new technology in a meaningful way.  Students use technology for social purposes already, why not translate this into the SLA realm.

Learning for Tomorrow starts Yesterday

A learner is like a bacteria--they have been around forever and they are forever adapting to new situations. 

After having read Siemens (jan05_01), blog post, I was greatly impressed with the comparison of today's learner with the yesterday's learner.   Using the historical perspective of what was expected of a student in their professional career in the past and comparing that of the future.  Today students will most likely have multiple jobs, that involve a multitude of different tasks.  Thus, with the end goal of education being different, we need to employ different means to get there.  In today's world learners must have an outlook of learning as "a way of being - an ongoing set of attitudes and actions by individuals and groups that they employ to try to keep abreast of surprising,   .  .  .  events". (Valli as quoted in Siemens)

As technology is changing the environment that we live in, we too must also change.  Technology brings us closer together, and makes information more assessable to people all over the world.  By creating a network of information, one receives a wider perspective of the target topic.  With the addition of each node of information, we are adding a wider breadth of knowledge and new perspectives that will lead to new insight.   George Siemens states that "what we know today is not as important as our ability to stay current".  Logically, he goes on to say: "If I am not continually learning than I am becoming obsolete in my field."  With the concepts of half life knowledge and the rate that our environment is changing, educators have proponent learning that is flexible and embraces new technology.

References:

Siemens, G. (2005, January). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, Retrieved February 13, 2011.  

SLA at its finest

 (Orleans, France)

Apres avoir eu un nuit de la folie, nous avons trouve un landau dans la rue.  Alors, nous sommes rentres a la maison dans une manniere assez bizarre.

After having had a crazy night, we found a baby carriage in the street.  So, we went home in a rather bizarre manner. 

Learning should be fun and engaging.  Often as educators, we see the classroom as the optimal environment for learning.  However, as educators we are preparing our students for their life-long learning environment, the real world.  We need to have engaging activities that are applicable in the real world.  

Steven Pinker on language and thought | Video on TED.com

elink to shorter excerpt of same lecture

Casey's Blog: Extending the classroom into the blogosphere

Casey's Blog: Extending the classroom into the blogosphere: "Educators can use blogs so that they can act as an interactive classroom to support students. Using this technology can help to bring ..."

Extending the classroom into the blogosphere

Educators can use blogs so that they can act as an interactive classroom to support students.  Using this technology can help to bring more organization for the students and help to extend the classroom community.  Here are some ways that blogs can enhance the educational setting.

• Classroom Organization: posting homework, posting outlines, posting class documents
• Extension of the classroom community: creating an online classroom community that supports students when the leave the classroom.  This allows for students to obtain help on homework or projects from other students or even the teacher.  Also, using the blog as a forum of discussion can help facilitate more creative thinking.
• Presentation of material: Having students post their homework or even projects allows the students to see their progression as a student.  Students will feel more accomplished when they notice the difference in their work.  
• Motivation: Students who are shy in the classroom might find this online community the perfect place to where they can express themselves.  Plus, students will most likely be interested in this technology because they most likely are already using it for extracurricular activities.  
• The standards that will be address in the blog forum are: 
• NYS Standard 4 (Students will listen, speak, read, and write in English for classroom and social interaction)  Students will request assistance for tasks, describe a hobby, song or book that they are interested in while employing the conventions of social writing. 
• NYS Standard 3 (Students will listen, speak, and write in English for critical analysis and evaluation) Students will assess, compare and evaluate different posts, so that they can provide feedback to other bloggers (classmates).  Develop their own argument for their opinion and provide evidence for their interpretation. 
• NYS Standard 2 (Students will listen, speak, read, and write in English for literary response, enjoyment and expression)  Students will use post other media sources to help help convey and organize their information.  They will also participate in collective activities that promote collaborative thinking. 

As an educator we need to manipulate student material so that it becomes interesting for the students so that they want to be engaged.  Using blogs accomplishes this and familiarizes them will new technology.

Casey's Blog: Internet Safety

Casey's Blog: Internet Safety: "The internet is a great resource for students, and it is necessary for students to feel at ease with new components of the internet. H..."

Internet Safety

The internet is a great resource for students, and it is necessary for students to feel at ease with new components of the internet.  However, with new technology comes unintended outcomes.  This is why internet safety is a cornerstone in productive internet navigation. 

Internet Safety Framework from the educator's point of view:

• Limiting information that students submit.
• Sounds easy enough, but most students do not realize how much information about themselves that they are publishing on the internet.  Students should look at other models online, of what information is appropriate to publish online.  ENCOURAGE students to have a discussion about the dangers of sharing personal information online.  Would they share the same information to a person on the street?
•  Knowing who your online friends are.
• This is not so simple.  Connecting with new people and sharing ideas is a great way to start innovative thinking.  However, making sure this person is not a potential threat is key to establishing trust in this online relationship.  Remember, if the former guideline is followed then you are safe.  However, if someone online asks you about personal information or inappropriate questions, then you should report this person immediately.   
• How to curb negativity online.
• As educators, we have to model good behavior in and outside the classroom.  By modeling a positive environment, we can help our students understand how to engage in constructive criticism.  Let the students take charge.  Assign students to find cases of where students were bullied online.  Then have them discuss the events and how they feel about the both the person being bullied and the person instigating the bullying.  ASK them if they see this happening at their school, and if so how they could put a stop to it.  

Here are some stories to share with students, so that they can be informed about the potential outcomes of their actions in the online environment.  

•  Online bullying
• Internet threats as seen on facebook

Here are some great tips for students who might be encountering online bullying! As found on Connect Safely

• Don't respond
• Don't retaliate
• Save the evidence
• Block the bully
• Reach for help
• Use reporting tools
• Be civil
• Don't become a bully