Edublog

In order to guide students to become better writers, students need opportunities to write through low pressure outlets regarding content material. In Jeff Zwiers' book, Building Academic Language: Essential Practices for Content Classrooms (2008), he suggests using learning logs and journals for students to write about what they are learning. Students could respond to a teacher prompt, take a stance on a certain issue, apply what they've learned to real life contexts, compare, etc. By completing these informal writing logs, students are given time to reflect, think and organize their thoughts into sentences. It also gives them the opportunity to experiment with new language through a low-pressure activity.



An excellent tool students can use to write their logs and journal entries is a blog. A blog is a type of website that is updated regularly by an individual or group of users, such as the one you are currently reading now. Typically, each blog post is dated and is posted with the most recent post on top. Blogs can not only be used as a journal or a diary. There are some blogs that focus on specific hobbies, current events, animals, and much more.



So why use blogs instead of just a notebook and a pencil to record one's thoughts? Blogs can connect students with each other so that they can share opinions and ideas, and support each other with questions. In addition, the owner is able to present their writings to an audience if they (or the teacher) choose to do so. Blogs also allow users to post videos, music, and pictures relating to their topic, which isn't possible to do with just a pencil and notebook.

Writing in blogs can be an appropriate activity for ELLs of all levels. Beginning ELLs can post reflections with just a few sentences and include visuals such as pictures or videos. More advanced ELLs, on the other hand, may elaborate more in paragraph form.



Two of the most popular free blog hosting websites are Blogger and WordPress. Both services would meet the basic needs for a whole classroom wanting to blog; however, there is also a blogging platform that is specifically geared towards teachers and students called Edublog. One key difference that separates Edublog from Blogger and WordPress is its ability to provide a safe and secure environment for students. Unlike Blogger and WordPress, Edublog does not allow adult content. Additionally, it does not link to other blogs, whereas Blogger and Wordpress may expose users to random or other related blogs, some of which may be inappropriate for young users. Hence, using Edublogs with students may be more preferable in your classroom.


If you would like to see what an example of an Edublog would look, I created an account and wrote an example post at Ms. Dang's Journal.



Additionally, here are some examples of impressive Edublogs:

Student blog: Emily's Blog

Class blog: Billings Middle School Tech Blog

Teacher Blog: Teacher Tom


References
Zwiers, J. (2007). Building academic language: essential practices for content classrooms, grades 5-12. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Inc Pub.

Classroom Clickers and TPT

Total Participation Techniques, or TPTs, aims to create opportunities for ALL students to be actively engaged during a lesson. According to Himmele & Himmele book The Language Classroom: A Research-Based Framework for Teaching English Language Learners, the many benefits of incorporating TPTs in the classroom include their ability to provide evidence of academic engagement, offer assessment opportunities, build community among students, as well as build academic and linguistic confidence (2008). One technological tool that supports total participation are student response systems, or "clickers." Clickers are remotes that students can use to anonymously respond to a question posed by the moderator though a computer. Teachers can ask true-false questions or multiple choice questions and within seconds, students' responses are logged and their scores tabulated (either in numerical or chart form). Teachers get immediate feedback about which specific students need help because each remote is numbered, as well as within which key concept areas. Grades can also be assigned through the clicker software.



Clickers are a great way to encourage total participation of all students within a classroom because they actively engage students throughout the whole period, gauge their level of understanding of the material, and provide prompt feedback to student questions. In addition, they provide shy and quiet students more confidence to respond to questions, because its anonymity takes away the opportunity for public humiliation (Martyn, 2007).



Research studies have shown the potential of using clickers in the classroom. An article published in Education Technology News in February 2006 entitled "Response system engages students, makes them want to attend class" by Jeffrey Branzburg showed that 64% of students who used ResponseCard clickers enhanced their comprehension and recollection of class content. Additionally, it was found that 72% of the class participated in classroom discussions.



There are many benefits to using clickers with students, but there are may be some hurdles you must leap over first to be able to use them. First, not all schools have clicker systems available. Student response systems are not cheap and may cost from $700 to an upwards of $2000 for a classroom set of clickers and software. However, these systems are typically eligible for many federal grants.



Once you have acquired a student response system for your classroom, it is essential to go through some sort of training to learn how to configure and utilize the software as well as how to effectively use clickers with students.



Maria Martyn's article, Clickers in the Classroom: An Active Learning Approach, has a comprehensive list of best practices for implementing clickers in the classroom.

1. Keep slides short to optimize legibility.

2. Keep the number of answer options to five.

3. Do not make the questions overly complex.

4. Keep voting straightforward—systems allow complex branching, but keep it simple.

5. Allow sufficient time for students to answer questions. Some general guidelines:

• Classes of fewer than 30 students: 15–20 seconds per question
• Classes of 30 to 100 students: 30 seconds per question
• Classes of more than 100 students: 1 minute per question

6. Allow time for discussion between questions.

7. Encourage active discussion with the audience.

8. Do not ask too many questions; use them for the key points.

9. Position the questions at periodic intervals throughout the presentation.

10. Include an "answer now" prompt to differentiate between lecture slides and interactive polling slides.

11. Use a "correct answer" indicator to visually identify the appropriate answer.

12. Include a "response grid" so that students know their responses have registered.

13. Increase responsiveness by using a "countdown timer" that will close polling after a set amount of time.

14. Test the system in the proposed location to identify technical issues (lighting, signal interference, etc.)

15. On the actual day of the session, allow time to set out clickers and start system.

16. Rehearse actual presentation to make sure it will run smoothly.

17. Provide clear instructions on how to use the clickers to the audience.

18. Do not overuse the system or it will lose its "engagement" potential.

Keeping all this information in mind, student response systems can be a great way to actively engage all students without letting outspoken students dominate discussions.


References

Himmele, P, & Himmele, W. (2009). The language-rich classroom: a research-based framework for teaching english language learners. Alexandria, Va: ASCD.

Martyn, M. (2007). Clickers in the classroom: an active learning approach. EDUCAUSE Quarterly (EQ), 30(2), Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/ClickersintheClassroomAnActive/157458

WordSift for Academic Vocabulary Learning

Research has shown that vocabulary knowledge highly correlates with academic success in reading, writing, test scores and grades. For English Language Learners, it is important that we teach words as tools for understanding and for communicating meaning (Zwiers, 2008). One useful online tool educators can use to help ELLs better understand specific academic vocabulary is WordSift. With WordSift, one can cut and paste any text and the program will immediately identify important words that appear in the text. A student can then click on one of the words view images and videos that relate to it, view its relationships to other words, as well as see how the word is viewed in the text.



Here is a screenshot of WordSift when Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have A Dream Speech" is inputted.







There are various ways a teacher could use this online program in the classroom.



A teacher can use it to prepare a lesson on a specific text to find challenging words or concepts. Images and videos that appear on WordSift can be used in the classroom to help aid understanding.



WordSift can also be used by the class to preview the text in order to improve reading comprehension. Students can identify key vocabulary that occur frequently and skim the text to see how the vocabulary is used.



WordSift is free to use and registration is not needed.

Social Networks

The first word that comes to most people's minds when they think of social networks is Facebook. Facebook is a social networking service that allows its users to create their own personal profiles and add other users as friends in order to exchange messages. Users may also share photos and videos, play online games, sell/buy items from other users, and provide information of where they are and what they are doing at a moment in time. There are over 750 million active users on Facebook and it was the top visited site of 2010, passing the search engine giant, Google.



So the question arises, can Facebook or any other social networking service be a useful technological tool to teach Academic English for our ELLs?



Yes, it can be if you are knowledgeable about the features and privacy settings available to you and your students. Social networks are a great way to engage students in their academic writing as well as a tool to carry out total participation techniques. For example, the instructor can ask a question about a certain topic and students can respond to the question (like a quick write) as well as to each other. The teacher can provide sentence starters as well as specific academic vocabulary for students to use when writing their responses. Instead of posting a question, the instructor can also post a photo or a video for students to write a response or reaction to.



The next question that an educator should ask him/herself is which social network is right for their classroom's needs. Facebook may be the largest social network with a large array of useful features, but it may not be appropriate for your students. Here are its pros and cons:



Pros

- Many older students as well as teachers may already know how to use Facebook

- There are privacy options that can be set up to control who can access your information

- Ability to set up groups for each of your classes

- Has numerous communication features, such as messages, forums, and chat



Cons

-Access to Facebook is blocked in certain school districts

-Parents may not approve of their children using Facebook

-Users must be over the age of 13 to register for a Facebook account



Looking at the cons, Facebook is not even a choice for an educator who works with grade school students or who works in a district that blocks access to Facebook. Good thing that there is an alternative social network geared for the classroom.



One social networking service that I have used in my own classroom to engage students in academic discussion is Edmodo. Edmodo "provides classrooms a safe and easy way to connect and collaborate, offering a real-time platform to exchange ideas, share content, and access homework, grades and school notices (source)." Basically, Edmodo has many of the amazing features that Facebook has, but with stronger privacy options and an academic focus. For example, students are not able to privately message each other like in Facebook, thus limiting the chances of off-task use. In addition, students are able to turn in assignments to the teacher through Edmodo, have it graded online, and their grade available to view through the website.



One of the ways I used Edmodo was to have students practice using new academic vocabulary. Here is a screenshot of one posting I had my fourth grade students respond to via Edmodo:



We were reviewing the words "determined," "disappointed," and "reward." Notice that students were only required to post only once, however several of the students decided to write multiple sentences using the vocabulary words. My students were always excited to use Edmodo because they liked how it was "just like Facebook" and that they were able to post their ideas for the whole class to view and discuss. It's a great way to encourage hesitent writers to write!