Shawne’s Blog

My initial thoughts about podcasting in education:
I believe that podcasting can be a positive teaching method. Podcasting gets students really involved with creating a product that will be shared with “the world.” Whether it’s a daily idiom, a book report, a recorded poem, podcasting lets students express themselves and exchange ideas as they reach a diverse audience. I believe the”real-world” audience motivates students to do their best work and gets them excited about doing so. Podcasting is very versatile and mobile; it can be used at students’ desks, on field trips, in the library, and at home. In addition, it’s another method for students to experience cross-curriculum learning. The potential for student engagement is unlimited, so I believe it is not a short-lived teaching strategy.

http://teachertube.com/members/viewVideo.php?video_id=145&title=Literature_Circles

Listened to a variety of videos about teaching literature and grammar to ELLs. Excellent ways to teach sequencing (eslpartyland) + sharing and peer teaching literature using the literature circles. Students really like viewing videos, so they are an great way to engage students. Videos help ELLs to improve their listening skills, offer students real examples of everyday English spoken by everyday people, provide opportunities to also work on speaking skills. As an ELL teacher, I could create various lessons using videos. Prior to viewing the video, I would introduce it by using the strategy, KWL, + introduce difficult/new vocabulary heard in the video. As a class, the students would watch the video together. This helps to improve their listening skills, as I would incorporate listening lessons within the lesson, as well as, conversation lessons, and pronunciation lessons, e.g. tongue twisters. Students would listen and repeat.

feeds for my reader – completed

I think that Flickr will be quite useful in my ESOL classroom.  I like the suggestion from one of the Flickr articles about using Flickr for teaching vocabulary.  Visuals really help ESOL students understand the differences between words that are quite similar in meaning, e.g. meander vs walk vs amble, etc., which Flickr would do.  As a L.A. teacher, the article describing creating Flickr inspired poetry is a great idea, one I believe my students would enjoy doing, as they really like poetry.   Forgot to add this when first published: photo credit – Jessica – hellobutterfly.com

Creative Commons

I have noticed the CC on various websites and did wonder as to its meaning.  Now I know!  I absolutely think that CC will impact the way students will learn and create projects.  Traditional copyright doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense in 2009.  Using CC will reduce barriers to learning and increase collaboration among students, etc.  I also believe that CC will not stop the flow of creativity, which the current copyright laws seem to do.  As educators, we wouldn’t constantly be monitoring as to whether we are violating copyright laws.  

Regarding the Wikis that I explored, I noticed that most were organized using a listing on the left side of the home page.  This method made it easy to see the contents of the Wiki to help me decide where I wanted to explore.  I especially liked the Wiki created by Woodward Academy.  The Wiki focused on reading a historical novel and expanding this across the curriculum.  The teacher incorporated email, summarizing, reader’s theatre, a timeline, grammar study, and historical background.  Mr. Munson’s grad 5 “Thousands Project” is a Wiki that I might consider setting up with my students.  He asked a monthy Wiki question which elicited responses from around the world.  I also felt that the collaborate Wiki created about wolves was effective.  The teacher incorporated multi-media projects, essays, history, and a world map showing those countries where people have “looked” at their Wiki.  I believe that I will try to set up a Wiki in my classroom which would create an ongoing writing journal.  My students, who are ESOL, would write to students from their home countries.  It would help them to stay connected to their countries, work on their English skills, and to focus on technology.

I like using Google Reader for professional purposes.  As a Language Arts ESOL teacher, I especially like using the Word of the Day from Dictionary.com.  Using the Promethean Board to show a visual of the word of the day, really assists the learning and implementation of the new word.http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=dictionary.com+word+of+the+day&FORM=SSRE

The item of interest from my reader was the article, “Of Creativity and Art,” found in Students 2.0.  Coming from a performing/visual arts background (both teacher and actress), I especially was interested in reading a student’s thoughts on creativity.  The writier defined creativity as “the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, etc.”  She felt that creativity can be taught and should be practiced.  To a certain extent, I believe creativity can be taught, but if the inherent “gift” is not there, there is only so far a person can go with his/her creativity.  Certainly practicing your craft will help, but a person is limited if the “gift” is not within. 

informal and great for sounding off or out

Usually written in first person + grammar conventions not necessarily adhered to.

adds clarification and others’ experiences

often no adherence to grammar rules and writing conventions

any ongoing dialogue helps to clarify thought processes and to present possible new methods and techniques which might help a teacher who is  struggling