The activities I like most during this weeks topic are ones I can foresee using in a beginner level class in elementary schools. Some, like the spelling practice site are more varied, which even 4th grade can use to practice, or any student as soon as they learn the alphabet and some basics. The students can listen to a simple or more complicated story and practice spelling certain words that they can hear again. This tests listening as well as writing. This activity, making your own story, could also be geared for younger levels but then it would be more of an art project than an English one. I wouldn't do this with children younger than 6th grade since younger students wont have enough vocabulary yet to create a simple plot. Starting in 6th grade however, writing and illustrating your own story could be a fun and involved project. To decide what we will learn or write about, we could use the WiseMapping tool in class where students can participate by adding topics that they want to expand on or relate to a current topic.
This site from the British Council is my favorite. It has many activities and stories at a very basic level that can be geared towards students of many levels. I especially like the short story section which includes pre-reading preparation by learning key words and connecting them to pictures.
Wednesday, December 27, 2017
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Week 4
Hello world,
I found this article about keep students engaged and this one about why emotion is more important than understanding, to be very interesting. Motivating students is our job as teachers and if students don't care, they don't learn. These articles discuss how it is scientifically proven that feeling some emotion generates learning and remembering because it causes the brain to engage in the relevance of the moment. So to keep students engaged and interested in class, we need to connect it to their daily lives. We can play games, work in groups, use pop culture references, as for feedback. The articles also remind us that students are unique, like a garden. What works for one person may not work for another. Still we are the horticulturists and it is our job to figure out the best approach to each student.
Hopefully asking questions in a foreign language will be interesting, because here is an image from Pinterest that I think will be perfect for my students to practice a weak area of understanding. I hear many mistakes using question words, so maybe having them all in one place will help summarize the topic. Besides printing this worksheet, I can project the image on the whiteboard and have them take turns writing in the answer. For whatever reason, they seem to love writing on the whiteboard far more than on paper!
Also, I thought this sound map was really cool and could be used to learn countries, ask students what they hear, identify animals, and ask general questions about what they like and what they are curious about.
I found this article about keep students engaged and this one about why emotion is more important than understanding, to be very interesting. Motivating students is our job as teachers and if students don't care, they don't learn. These articles discuss how it is scientifically proven that feeling some emotion generates learning and remembering because it causes the brain to engage in the relevance of the moment. So to keep students engaged and interested in class, we need to connect it to their daily lives. We can play games, work in groups, use pop culture references, as for feedback. The articles also remind us that students are unique, like a garden. What works for one person may not work for another. Still we are the horticulturists and it is our job to figure out the best approach to each student.
Hopefully asking questions in a foreign language will be interesting, because here is an image from Pinterest that I think will be perfect for my students to practice a weak area of understanding. I hear many mistakes using question words, so maybe having them all in one place will help summarize the topic. Besides printing this worksheet, I can project the image on the whiteboard and have them take turns writing in the answer. For whatever reason, they seem to love writing on the whiteboard far more than on paper!
Also, I thought this sound map was really cool and could be used to learn countries, ask students what they hear, identify animals, and ask general questions about what they like and what they are curious about.
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Week 3
Hello world,
Facebook Now Using Artificial Intelligence to Predict Teen Suicide. How could I possibly ignore that? With depression and suicide rates through the roof in my hometown and community, I am always seeking answers to this modern issue. Suicide is rarely a spur of the moment decision. It is something that ruminates for months or years before such a drastic step is taken. With today's teenagers practically living in the virtual world, there may certainly be patterns visible to the algorithms of google that no single person may be able to detect. This post talks about how this sort of monitoring is still in it's infancy, but in the future may detect nuances in language and how often people check in on a certain person as hints to something brewing in the dark mentality. It is controversial I think, because this creates ethical dilemmas of spying on people. At the same time, according to the article, the suicide rate for young women has tripled since 1990 and I can't imagine the grief of parents at discovering that their teenager has taken her own life.
On a happier note, this random name picker is a great tool to use in classrooms and is far more random than any manually created contraption I would make!
Facebook Now Using Artificial Intelligence to Predict Teen Suicide. How could I possibly ignore that? With depression and suicide rates through the roof in my hometown and community, I am always seeking answers to this modern issue. Suicide is rarely a spur of the moment decision. It is something that ruminates for months or years before such a drastic step is taken. With today's teenagers practically living in the virtual world, there may certainly be patterns visible to the algorithms of google that no single person may be able to detect. This post talks about how this sort of monitoring is still in it's infancy, but in the future may detect nuances in language and how often people check in on a certain person as hints to something brewing in the dark mentality. It is controversial I think, because this creates ethical dilemmas of spying on people. At the same time, according to the article, the suicide rate for young women has tripled since 1990 and I can't imagine the grief of parents at discovering that their teenager has taken her own life.
On a happier note, this random name picker is a great tool to use in classrooms and is far more random than any manually created contraption I would make!
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Comments on Technology and Education Blogs
Hello world,
As I was reading through technology blogs, this post in TeachThought was the first to catch my eye. It's about how students, and young people in general see themselves in the current age. One thing I haven't considered is how differently today's youth see themselves. While in my teenage years I struggled with identity based on which cultures I related to having moved several times in my youth. Todays teen's identities are based on virtual expressions of self. Since teens are very young and without much life experience, a constant expression of self only reaffirms their ego-centrism and denies them of the opportunity to exist in a physical world. This blog post alludes to this loss of physical identity by calling teachers to help students construct an image that is whole. I think this is valuable for us to realize as teachers because we can help students more than ever in a holistic way that is also unprecedented.
In the blog Free Technology 4Teachers, several resources are posted for teachers to create a polling system in their presentations. I think this would be a useful feature to include in my classes. Several of my university lectures used this method to engage students and I thought it was effective. This promotes interaction during the class and can be used to ask opinions, to predict hypotheses, or to test knowledge. No matter what the poll is used for, it increases the participation of each student and reduces the chance that they will get distracted while attention is on a single other person speaking in class.
Although I like all the top posts in Edudemic, the one I want to share is How to Protect Students From Fake News. Most young people get their information from social media these days and will readily believe it. According to the blogs facts from a Stanford study, "82% of surveyed middle-schoolers couldn’t distinguish between ads and real news on a website". This is great cause for alarm as we could have a naive generation blindly believing the most attention grabbing disputes without knowing how to find facts for themselves. More than many subjects taught in schools in the past, differentiating between facts and fake news is one of the most important skills we can teach our young people. I believe as teachers we have a great responsibility to incorporate this skill into our curriculum, no matter what subject we teach. Students must learn to find real sources on any topic and think critically about what they are reading, searching first for the source of information rather than the most dangerous trap of blindly following what they see.
As I was reading through technology blogs, this post in TeachThought was the first to catch my eye. It's about how students, and young people in general see themselves in the current age. One thing I haven't considered is how differently today's youth see themselves. While in my teenage years I struggled with identity based on which cultures I related to having moved several times in my youth. Todays teen's identities are based on virtual expressions of self. Since teens are very young and without much life experience, a constant expression of self only reaffirms their ego-centrism and denies them of the opportunity to exist in a physical world. This blog post alludes to this loss of physical identity by calling teachers to help students construct an image that is whole. I think this is valuable for us to realize as teachers because we can help students more than ever in a holistic way that is also unprecedented.
In the blog Free Technology 4Teachers, several resources are posted for teachers to create a polling system in their presentations. I think this would be a useful feature to include in my classes. Several of my university lectures used this method to engage students and I thought it was effective. This promotes interaction during the class and can be used to ask opinions, to predict hypotheses, or to test knowledge. No matter what the poll is used for, it increases the participation of each student and reduces the chance that they will get distracted while attention is on a single other person speaking in class.
Although I like all the top posts in Edudemic, the one I want to share is How to Protect Students From Fake News. Most young people get their information from social media these days and will readily believe it. According to the blogs facts from a Stanford study, "82% of surveyed middle-schoolers couldn’t distinguish between ads and real news on a website". This is great cause for alarm as we could have a naive generation blindly believing the most attention grabbing disputes without knowing how to find facts for themselves. More than many subjects taught in schools in the past, differentiating between facts and fake news is one of the most important skills we can teach our young people. I believe as teachers we have a great responsibility to incorporate this skill into our curriculum, no matter what subject we teach. Students must learn to find real sources on any topic and think critically about what they are reading, searching first for the source of information rather than the most dangerous trap of blindly following what they see.
Language Skills through ICT - Teaching in Israel
Hello world my name is Natasha,
Acro-yogi, dancer, child whisperer and language enthusiast. I am a lifelong learner and seek self-actualization through peak experience from skill derived over steady and frequent practice of my chosen activities. I flow through my days with awareness of connection, trying to stay in the present but inevitably slipping into future planning and doing what must be done in the busy day to day.
This assignment is forcing me to think of expectations for a class while one of my principle life beliefs is not to have any. I suppose since this class is titled Language Skills through Information and Communications Technology that we will be learning how to teach using online tools as well as acquire resources in order to teach online courses. Just because we are millennials and are the first generation to grow up with a computer in the home, doesn't mean we are experts in the use of technology. Although I somewhat know my way around a PC and have written some simple html code in the past, I have never actually uploaded videos nor know where to look for teaching materials for teachers or students. I hope this course will help me find fluency in technology in case I find myself teaching online courses in the future. Even if I don't, I believe it would be useful and relevant to include technology in the modern classroom.
Acro-yogi, dancer, child whisperer and language enthusiast. I am a lifelong learner and seek self-actualization through peak experience from skill derived over steady and frequent practice of my chosen activities. I flow through my days with awareness of connection, trying to stay in the present but inevitably slipping into future planning and doing what must be done in the busy day to day.
This assignment is forcing me to think of expectations for a class while one of my principle life beliefs is not to have any. I suppose since this class is titled Language Skills through Information and Communications Technology that we will be learning how to teach using online tools as well as acquire resources in order to teach online courses. Just because we are millennials and are the first generation to grow up with a computer in the home, doesn't mean we are experts in the use of technology. Although I somewhat know my way around a PC and have written some simple html code in the past, I have never actually uploaded videos nor know where to look for teaching materials for teachers or students. I hope this course will help me find fluency in technology in case I find myself teaching online courses in the future. Even if I don't, I believe it would be useful and relevant to include technology in the modern classroom.
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