Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Instructional Challenge # 4


Technology’s role in augmenting the learning process of students of different cultural background in K-12 classrooms of USA



 
Image source:Brand New World


Scenario:


Students of  Ms. R’s classroom  are from  different cultural background. They have to write a different story version with same theme of 'Cinderella' (a folk tale). These students have to prepare a presentation on Solar System for their Science class also. They are expected to understand, write and read English in order to do well in both classes, even though they still have a problem with language in their classroom. Science has a complex vocabulary that is difficult even for native English speakers to learn.  Some English Language Learners (ELLs) are trying their best to catch up, but others are frustrated and don’t want to concentrate in the class. The teacher has a Smart Board and other latest technologies in her class but she hardly incorporates them in her lessons.

Instructional Challenge

Your instructional challenge as a lead teacher is to find ways to promote academic support for the students who come from diverse cultural, linguistic and racial background as it is no longer the issue of only ESL program. Your solution must have a research foundation, must include models of practice, and must demonstrate how these models could be modified for use in your own learning environment.





Solution:

Introduction 

Since its origin, USA's public education system has faced many challenges. One of the most important challenge has been how to teach the learners from diverse background. There are over a billion English as a foreign or second language learners worldwide. In America alone, it is estimated that over 25% of the population will speak a mother tongue other than English at home within next 10 years and be in need of acquiring English language for success in school, community and future job market. Diversity brings richness to a class, but along with it comes the challenge on part of educators: to teach their students effectively in order to prepare them to succeed in life. Please watch this short video in which Dr. Jim Cummins talks about ways to motivate and engage the English Language Learners.




 
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 clearly set a goal for all students, including ELLs to reach high standards by demonstrating proficiency in ELA and Mathematics by 2014. The teachers apply various strategies to support the learning of diverse learners in their 21st century classrooms and they have access to a powerful tool: TECHNOLOGY!    Literature is full of claims that technology has great potential in supporting second language learning and teaching. Hence, usage of technology to aid English Language Learners’ learning  is not a novel idea.


  Educational technology as a learning tool can increase learning opportunities for these students. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)(2000) defined curriculum integration as:
Curriculum integration with the use of technology involves the infusion of technology as a tool to enhance the learning in a content area or multidisciplinary setting. Technology enables students to learn in ways not previously possible. Effective integration of technology is achieved when students are able to select technology tools to help them obtain information in a timely manner, analyze and synthesize the information, and present it professionally. The technology should become an integral part of how the classroom functions-as accessible as all other classroom tools”.
 
Efficient use of technology allows the learners to have the control over the direction of their learning by controlling their speed of learning and choice of topics. Apart from this, the technology has the ability to meet the specific student needs, encourage them to collaborate and make decisions. ELLs can learn in a rich linguistic environment, can feel safe because of privacy given to them by the tech tool and extend their language skills by taking risks since technology will not make them feel embarrassed for failing to give correct answers. Technology also provides multiple strategies for language learners to communicate their learning and comprehension of content.
Thus web and web 2.0 tools compliment the pedagogical needs as following:
Affective domain: Learners get positive feedback on accomplishing the tasks done online. Apart from this the privacy is also maintained.
Comprehensible input and repeatability: Technology provides control to the learner as well as feedback in terms of new vocabulary, mastery, speed of speech and comprehension etc.
Testing and assessment: Learners need to be constantly challenged and they should be able to gauge their progress. Web tools accomplish this task well.
Content and curriculum: The content should allow for much user choice and this is what internet offers as well as encourages.




The theoretical foundation

1. Lev Vygotsky's  Zone of Proximal Development

According to Vygotsky, when children have helpers (skilled-children in the peer group) who are able to assist  them and skilled person such as teacher who can provide good guidance then these children who has supportive guidance and a nurturing social environment can forge ahead and build strong social competences. They can extend their social skill with others, and are interested in their subject. 

Technology helps in employing the instructional scaffolding techniques throughout the lessons such as modeling, sentence starters, graphic organizers, vocabulary building which provide a great help to the learners with diverse background. (Scaffolding in child guidance is a teacher’s changing support during a discipline encounter or series of interactions).

2. Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition (SLA):

Krashen's Theory of SLA consists of five main hypotheses. They are:
a. the Acquisition-Learning hypothesis
b. the Monitor hypothesis
c. the Natural hypothesis
d. the Input hypothesis
e. the Affective filter hypothesis

This is the combined model of acquisition and production

Source: ntlworld.com





According to Stephen Krashen there are several variables that influence the affective filter. They are motivation, self-confidence and anxiety. In terms of 'monitoring' usually extroverts are under users while introverts and the perfectionists are over users. Lack of self-confidence amongst ELLs is frequently related to the overuse of 'monitors'.

So, it would be very helpful for ELLs to utilize diverse and popular technological tools to reduce the affective filter and to optimally use the monitoring process. This will lead to increase in their 'output'.




Various ways in which technology can augment learning experience of English Language Learners are:

1. Web resources: ‘ESL reading smart’ is an online intervention that is very successful in various schools where it has been tested in. Its advantage is being an online intervention, it keeps on getting updated automatically. Apart from this, Pearson Education and Rosetta Stone are the one time software purchases which are very helpful in teaching ELLs.

2: Games and simulations: Games are structured materials in which learning can occur in small increments. They have the potential of engaging the learners to a high level of immersion and are very popular way to teach the ELLs. There are various websites where the students can go and create games by using  text and voice chat.

3. Safe text/voice chat experiences:  The mylanguageexchange.com  is an online resource that provides an opportunity to ELLs to practice. This method provides them the privacy as well as safe environment along with rich experience in learning the language.

4. Cameras and Videos: These can be used to take digital pictures of the content they are learning and then they can make “click word books” , labels, flash cards for the classroom or they can make video presentations (interviews and skits) to use conversational English.

5. Use of Publishing software: Students can be encouraged to publish their work; such as making brochures or publishing class newsletter and stories authored by them by using software already available on school websites.

6. Twitter/Edmodo: It is said ‘Edmodo is Twitter in education”. In reality though, it’s basically a private micro-blogging service for schools with built-in security features that give teachers privacy controls over their virtual classroom.  Many schools use it to engage their digital learners. 

  7. Digital Storytelling: Digital storytelling is a great way of teaching vocabulary to the learners. In addition to helping with the vocabulary and grammar, it can also be a source of information between teacher and the student. The visual images are used to learn and share the story, this will lead to breaking of communication barrier between students. By creating and narrating the projects, the students’ self-confidence and expression skills will also build up. They will become more organized, communicative and will improve their fluency. Example: http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/esl.html
8. Blogging: It somewhat resembles an online journal and it is easy to create and update. Blogs are great way of stimulating out of class discussions and they are really helpful in encouraging participation from shy students. They have the capability to provide extra reading practice to the students and it guides the students to the online resources which are appropriate for their level.

There are three types of blogs that can be used in language teaching:

a.    Educator blog: It is run by the teacher of a class. The content can be limited to syllabus, course information, homework assignments, projects and class activity announcements.
b.    Class blog: It is a shared collaborative space, with both teacher and students being able to write to the main area. Learners have more freedom and involvement.
c.    Learner blog: This blog is set and moderated by the teacher. It provides the personal online space to each student.

9. Podcasting: Time is a big constraint for teachers as well as students. The numbers of school days are not sufficient to do justice to the new language learning process. Podcasting can be used to increase the student’s time allocated to language learning. They provide the meaningful experience to the students in learning English. Podcasting in education is more than extending the classroom; it enhances the potential outcomes of a course for today’s students who are tech-savvy. Learners of English can learn the language in an authentic context through the podcasts.
10. Google Docs: is an online document editor that can replace the Microsoft Word, if teacher and students don't want fancy text. A teacher can create the Google Docs for each student with his/her name on it and share it with them via email. They can work on it and the teacher can open it at her own convenience to check and assess it. There is an option of highlighting the portions of text and commenting in the margin. Apart from this the Google Docs can also be used for document storage and folder sharing.



Different Web 2.0 tools can be used to scaffold for ELL. Web tools create authentic opportunities to apply English language skills. Some of these web 2.0 tools are
a.    Reading and writing: Free dictionary.com, Hyperwords.net, VozMe.com, Blogger.com, ePals.com, PBWorks.com, WikiSpaces.com,Ning.com, SlideShare.com,SchoolTube.com,Glogster.com,Flickr.com, Lit2go.com (a free online collection of stories and poems in MP3(audiobook)format). 
b.    For listening and speaking: Audacity, Gcast.com,VoiceThread.com,Skype.com,Vocaroo.com

Please watch this video to find out how teachers can use Web 2.0 to teach English Language Learners.



Strategies for teaching Science/Math to ELLs

Apart from using above mentioned technologies there are various strategies that can  be used for teaching Science to ELLs. They are:

1. Turn on Closed Captioning on Videos so that the students can see what narrator or actors are saying. Thus they can correlate the written and spoken English.

2. Emphasize visual literacy (ability to evaluate, apply or create visual representation) which is relatively  independent of language, by using scientific diagrams, Venn diagrams and pictures.

3. Use Graphic organizers, charts and graphs to communicate ,integrate and assess the scientific and mathematical concepts because they require minimal use of written and spoken English.

4. Hands-on activities provide excellent learning environment for ELLs.
5. Use Pictorial guide to provide visual reference to glassware in a science class and demonstrations for labs so that students can see and understand the  process.





Models of practice

Teaching ELLs with Technology in Irving ISD, Texas



Teaching Science to ELLs with technology in Ochoa Elementary School, Texas:




 Learning  how to Integrate Technology in the classroom

The teachers can use these resources to learn how to integrate the technology in classroom and design the curriculum to suit the needs of diverse learners :

1. CAST UDL Online Modules
It is a free online course, separated into two modules, on implementing Universal Design for Learning in your classroom. UDL is a framework for designing curriculum that addresses the diverse needs, strengths, backgrounds, and interests of students in today’s classrooms.


2. WestEd
A collection of tech tips presented by WestEd  help educators learn how to use software and other technology devices to meet the needs of diverse learners, included students with disabilities and English learners.
This website, produced by WestEd, (http://www.wested.org/cs/tdl/print/docs/tdl/home.htm) contains links to a slide show, handouts, and related materials for professional developers  (technology coordinators and inclusion teachers) that are helping teachers integrate technology into the curriculum to support diverse learners.



Integrating the solution in our learning environment

Our school has three computer labs which are fully equipped with the gadgets required to teach ELLs. Apart from this each classroom has two computers, a smart board and variety of other tech tools. Various techniques, strategies and suggestions mentioned above to integrate technology to teach ELLs can be implemented in all core content classes and across all grade levels with ease. The teachers have access to all the resources to do so and there are various online resources that are available for free. Teachers can also check with their school district and find out if there are any funds available for English Language Learners. They can use these funds to buy specific devices required in their classrooms. If that is not so then writing Grants is another option that can be followed. Thus, a judicious combination of above mentioned strategies and the technologies can be done to enrich the learning environment of the students who come from diverse background.



References:

  • Ban,R.,Jin,L.,Summers,R.,Eisenhower,K.(2005) Integrating Technology Best Use Practices for English Language Learners in Content Based Classrooms. Retrieved Feb,29,2012 from http://www.appstate.edu/~jinl/esltech.pdf
  • Children diversity (Image). Diversity and Children Series. Retrieved Feb.28,2012 from  http://technorati.com/lifestyle/article/diversity-and-children-series-part-2/
  • Combined Model of Acquisition and Production (Image). Krahsen's Comprehension Hypothesis Model of L2 Learning. Retrieved March 9,2012 from http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/SLA/Krashen.htm
  • Cummins,J.,Brown,K.,Sayers,D.(2007) Literacy, Technology and Diversity: Teaching for Success in Changing Times. Retrieved March 3,2012 from http://www.chihtu.org/bb/etc545/lesson6/Cummins_-_Technology_PDF.pdf

  • Herr,N.(?) Strategies for teaching Science to English Language Learners. Retrieved March 3,2012 from http://www.csun.edu/science/ref/language/teaching-ell.html
  • Ipokij 82 (2009) Every Teacher- A teacher of English language learners.[Video] March 1,2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFKSM-V9Uck
  • Krashen,S.D. (1989) Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition.Retrieved March 7,2012 from  http://www.sdkrashen.com/Principles_and_Practice/Principles_and_Practice.pdf
  • Peachey,N.(2008). Web 2.0 for EFL/ESL Teachers [Video]. Retrieved March 2, 2012 from  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfpkVYXpvyE
  • Pearson Education (2010). Empowering English Learners [Video]. Retrieved March 13,2012 from  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu-6V3N5RHI&feature=related
  • Power On Texas (2010). Power on Texas: Irving ISD's commitment to technology helps serve challenging population [Video].Retrieved March 2,2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRwusEf61Wc
  • Roney, J.R.(2008). Technology in English Language Learner classroom? Retrieved Feb.27,2012 from http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/2728
  • Schutz,R.(2007). Stephen Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition. Retrieved March 6,2012 from http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html
  • Smart,M.(2008) The Word and the World: Technology Aids English Language Learners.Retrieved March 6,2012 from  http://www.edutopia.org/technology-software-english-language-learners
  • Svedkauskaite,A. (2003). Critical Issue: Using Technology to Support Limited-English-Proficient (LEP) Students' Learning Experiences.Retrieved March 4,2012 from http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/technlgy/te900.htm
  • Verdugo,R.R. (2007). English Language Learners. Retrieved March,13,2012 from http://eus.sagepub.com/content/39/2/167.short
  • Ybarra,R.(2003). Using Technology to help ESL/EFL Students Develop Language Skills. Retrieved March 2,2012 from http://iteslj.org/Articles/Ybarra-Technology.html 




Thursday, March 1, 2012

Instructional Challenge # 3


Scenario

You have been identified as an innovative and creative educator.  Your supervisor would like to take advantage of your ability to look at traditional practices from a new perspective.  Your supervisor is unclear as to how online learning can fit into the learning landscape. 

The instructional challenge

Your instructional challenge is to develop one brief lesson or professional development training module that shows how online learning can fit into your workplace's model of practice. Your solution must have a research foundation, must include models of practice, and must demonstrate how these models could be modified for use in your own learning environment.

Solution:

As an innovative and creative educator I prepared a professional development training module for my colleagues and it will be presented to them on Staff Development Day in the Media Center of the School. 

Agenda:

1. Welcome
2. Online Learning
a. Its significance in 21st century classroom
b. Its incorporation in Blended learning
3. Collaborize Classroom
a. What is it?
b. How to register for it?
c. How to register students?
d. How to start posting discussions,checking assignments and posting grades?
4. Collaborize Classroom in schools: Some models and testimonials. 
5. Incorporation of Collaborize Classroom in our learning environment.
6. Questions


Online learning and its significance: 

Source: www.onlinedegreezone.com

After welcome and introductions, I'll present the topic of Online Learning and its significance as following:

In the 21st century classrooms, teachers are moving away from old factory version education towards more applied, experiential and individualized learning. Their classrooms are equipped with new technologies so that they can utilize them to enhance the learning experience of their students. Effective teachers try to address the specific needs of their learners; that is why they differentiate their instructions. They try to make learning to be engaging and fun for the learners. Online activities aid them to differentiate instructions. Online activities have the capability of engaging and motivating the digital learners in the classes. The K-12 Edition of Horizon Report (2009) outlined the importance and relevance of online learning by stating: 
The best moment to teach a student something is the moment they are curious about it — but what about when that moment happens outside of classroom hours? Online communication tools create opportunities for “the teachable moment” even if students are at home, at the mall, on a field trip, or anywhere else. 
Anytime communication also helps make students available to teachers when needed. Teachers can manage classroom activities even outside of classroom hours through synchronous, two-way online communication that can provide time-sensitive information about projects and assignments and reach multiple students at once.

There are many advantages of online learning. US Department of Education identified nine applications of online learning that are seen as possible  pathways to improved productivity:
i.     Broadening access
ii.    Engaging students in active learning
iii.   Individualizing and differentiating instruction
iv.   Personalizing learning
v.    Making better use of teacher and students time
vi.   Increase the rate of student learning
vii.  Reducing school-based facilities cost
viii. Reducing salary cost
ix.   Realizing opportunities for economies of scale through reuse of materials
 
While researching for 'Online Learning', I came across this interesting image on Edublogs; it is sort of a mind map of advantages of online learning and I would like to share it with you.







Source: madlearning.edublogs.org




As many schools are facing economic challenges, online learning can be utilized in creating blended learning environment in the school. By utilizing the blended learning practices, the teachers can maximize their limited instructional time.
A recent study conducted by the U.S.Department of Education found that students involved in blended learning programs generally performed better than students who participated in face-to-face instruction. According to the study, “The difference between student outcomes for online and face-to-face classes was larger in those studies contrasting conditions that blended elements of online and face-to-face instruction with conditions taught entirely face-to-face.”

Please take some time to watch this video to understand how to incorporate the online learning into a classroom.



Introducing Collaborize Classroom:

1. What is Collaborize Classroom?

Watch this video to get an answer!



 2. Teacher Registration process for Collaborize Classroom:






3. Student registration process:

There are two ways to do so. Watch this video to find out how:




4. Starting a Discussion/Instruction online, checking student work and posting results:

Watch this video to learn different ways of posting your instructions online for your students and how to find resources, free lesson plans, tutorials and much more :










Take a look at these videos where two high school teachers of different content areas incorporated Collaborize Classroom in their learning environment with positive results.


Models of practice:
1. English Teacher at Windsor High School talks about her experience of using Collaborize Classroom.


 2.High school history teacher talks about his Collaborize Classroom experience:





Incorporation of Collaborize Classroom in our learning environment:

Collaborize Classroom is an easy-to-use online learning platform. It engages learners in online activities, discussions and assignments within and beyond the four walls of classroom. It provides safe, password-protected learning community to teachers and learners. Besides this, it is FREE and easy to set up! Unlike other online education platforms that offer an overwhelming amount of features, Collaborize Classroom is straightforward and easy to implement. There is a 'topic library' which contains lesson plans, assignments and activities created for the teachers by the teachers.

Every teacher can use it to enhance the learning experience of students in their respective content areas.  They can continue online discussions with their students and facilitate online collaborative learning even after school hours.

This online platform can be used by administrators to create their own site dedicated to collaborative decision-making process on school policies, activities and goals of its members.

Their website is http://www.collaborizeclassroom.com/
It has resources, Professional Development courses, Live PD Webinars etc.

Our school has three computer labs that can be fully utilized by Science, ELA and Social Studies teachers to blend online learning in their classes. Math teachers have a set of laptops for their own classes. All core content teachers and foreign language teachers can utilize Collaborize Classroom to make learning interactive and capable of promoting higher order thinking in their learners. They can motivate their learners to construct their own knowledge and collaborate with their peers all the time!
 




References:

  • Anderson,T.(2008). The theory and practice of online learning. Retrieved Feb.29,2012 from http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=RifNwzU3HR4C&oi=fnd&pg=PA45&dq=online+learning+in+classrooms&ots=Se8iLiK_tv&sig=zwY6ha5aJLZx_-xX1rc01Ujkpao#v=onepage&q=online%20learning%20in%20classrooms&f=false

  • Alice, Danielle (2009). Why ONLINE Learning for Children?[Image] Retrieved Feb.29,2012 from http://madlearning.edublogs.org/2009/03/28/why-online-learning-for-children/ 

  • Collaborize(Dec.2010). Collaborize Classroom, An Online Learning Platform(short version)[Video]. Retrieved March 1,2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP1gqxV8qMw&feature=related

  • Collaborize (2011) Webinar: Getting started with collaborize classroom part I. [Video]Retrieved March 1,2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0_Q0s4NV6U  

  • Collaborize (May 2011) Collaborize Classroom for online education and development.[Video] Retrieved March 1,2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUbIvTkryIg 


  • Collaborize.(Nov.2010) Using Collaborize Classroom to bring stories to life [Video] Retrieved March 1,2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K40sFyD8xjE


  • eLearnerEngaged (Aug.2011)Blended Learning: How to incorporate E-learning into a blended classroom model [Video]. Retrieved March 1,2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GErvLTovHQE 
  • Horizon Report: The K-12 Edition (2009).One Year or Less: Online Communication Tools. Retrieved Feb.29,2012 from http://wp.nmc.org/horizon-k12-2009/chapters/online-communication-tools/
  • Salmon,G. (2002). E-tivities: the key to active online learning. Retrieved Feb.29,2012 from http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=NYCVAAXRG2gC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=importance+and+requirement+of+online+learning+in+classrooms&ots=7siPqwnqLo&sig=HgLldfJtu4LY21Y3w6_VoBSokoE#v=onepage&q=importance%20and%20requirement%20of%20online%20learning%20in%20classrooms&f=false
  • Understanding the Implications of Online Learning for Educational Productivity. Retrieved Feb.29,2012 from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/os/technology/implications-online-learning.pdf
  • Wheeler,S. (Feb.2011). The Future of Learning.Retrieved Feb.29,2012 from http://www.slideshare.net/timbuckteeth/the-future-of-learning-6809148