Technology with ELL students

Chapter 10 talks about using technology in English Language Learning and Foreign Language Instruction. As an educator I will always face the challenge of teaching English to students of other languages while maintaining my instruction to correlate with the State’s Course of Study Standards. When I was in High School, I took Spanish I and II and since English is the language I was born speaking Spanish was very hard and frustrating for me to understand. Therefore, when I have student’s who do not speak English I want to be able to provide them with some of the best resources for them to learn to speak and read English as quickly as possible. The computer is one resource that can help with that task and this chapter did a magnificent job of providing some various software and websites to aid in vocabulary and language development. This is helpful because so often the teacher does not speak fluently the home language of those ELL students and technology can help provide some of those tools. Also, at my school we have an ELL teacher who comes in at different times during the day to pull out our ELL students. She works with them orally and with written assignments to reinforce what is being taught in the classroom. Having these ELL students in our classroom is not a problem, but just something that we must admit will never change. I will continuously strive to give each and every student the utmost education possible through hands on activities as well as using technology.

Technology in English and Language Arts

Chapter 9 discusses technology in English and Language Arts Instruction. As a First Grade teacher, I don’t focus much of my instruction on teaching technology, but I do integrate it into some lessons. Also, they go to the computer lab once every other week and they are still learning how to use the keyboard and different important concepts of the computer. During our ninety minute literacy block the computer is one of their centers everyday. I usually have them work on the website starfall.com and they thoroughly enjoy it. On this website they can play games or listen to a variety of stories read to them. They don’t realize it is instructional because they see it as playing on the computer. Another center is the read along with a book. They also love this center and there again, it is instruction for them which can support their growth in literacy. Centers that are fun, but curriculum centered help motivate students to read whether for study or pleasure. These particular centers also provide reading fluency for the children; learning to read fluently in First Grade is crucial and it is my responsibility as an educator to teach them to read with ease and fluency. Another way I promote literacy development in my classroom is to engage them in “book talks.” We have read alouds daily where I help them visualize the story through questioning to build their prior knowledge. When they can relate to stories and events, they are more motivated to want to learn and read more often.

Integrating the Internet in the curriculum

Chapter 8 talked about integrating the internet into the curriculum. As we all know, it is crucial we use technology in our classroom and one way to incorporate it into our content is to use web-based activities, projects, and lessons. However, they are not always the most effective way to enhance children’s learning. I teach 1st grade so I have not ever made any of my students have a project due from using the internet even though they would be capable. I work with a teacher who is in my grade level that made her student’s complete a project on black history month. She chose different people for them to research in a month’s span. They then had to make some kind of visual for that person, dress up like them, if possible, and give their class a report on that individual. She said they had a blast reporting to their classmates and it was a huge learning experience for them as well as her. I would love to try this next year in my classroom. As for right now, I integrate the internet whenever possible during the day. For example, this week one of our phonics words was oyster. Some of my student’s had never seen an oyster before. During that day, I looked up a picture of an oyster and shared it with them. I also have allowed them to use the dictionary online to look up certain words in the past that they did not know the definition of. The socio-economic status of my school is somewhat lower than others, therefore, many of our families may not have internet access, but I think giving a web-based project would benefit those families even more because it would give them a chance to use a community area such as a library to use the internet which could possibly be another learning experience for them as well. I think if I taught in an older grade level, I would give more assignments that pertained to using the internet more often. In chapter 8 they gave five important questions to consider before giving any online project. I would definitely use these questions to help guide me in planning for the project for any grade level.