Here I will post my blog topics for the Wilkes course ESL 509: CALL for the Summer of 2022. Click on the links below to jump to the Module topic.
List of Module Blog Posts
Module 2 - Blogging
As a Mathematics teacher, I've always left blogging to my Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science counterparts. I can see how blogging could be relevant in their classrooms, but I have found very little time to have my students reflect on mathematics through writing. Reading Tsetsos and Prentzas, I came to the realization that integrating blogging, not just for English Language Learners but also for my other students as well, would be a huge benefit.
As a former "Blogger", my narrow view of blogging was that from which only adults blogged or read blogs. I thought,
My readers must be other educators, and I read other educators' Blogs; however, it wasn't until reading "A Survey of Recent Approaches Integrating Blogs in School Education" that I realized that I completely misunderstood how blogging could be used in education and the wonderful benefits it has for ELLs. According to the article, one of these benefits includes making their writing look attractive by adding graphics and images (Tsetsos & Prentzas, 2021). Students were not only more motivated to write more or longer blogs, but they were driven to read more, which improved their comprehension (Tsetsos & Prentzas, 2021). In addition, there was an improvement in students' writing structure, coherence, logical development, and a variety of grammatical structures and vocabulary used (Tsetsos & Prentzas, 2021). Students were more careful with their writing because of the "general public" audience that could read their blogs (Tsetsos & Prentzas, 2021). By incorporating an opportunity for my students to blog about the mathematics they are learning, I will be giving them an opportunity to develop their writing and become completely immersed in
mathematical writing.
Although I would love for my students to begin blogging immediately and share their mathematical understanding with everyone, and the article provided detailed research on the benefits; it did lack ready-to-use resources that I felt that even the Edutopia article from our discussion within this Module did not have. Introducing blogging in an educational setting to students who have never blogged before could be time-consuming if you were to create resources from scratch, so I decided to do a little digging to find already-made items to use in my classroom. I found a helpful article, which happened to be the same source as "Choice 2" of the Module 2 Discussion from this week, called
10 Ways To Introduce Your Students To Blogging, which has a "Blogging Introduction" video, an "Introduction to Blogging" Kahoot, and other helpful tips/strategies for introducing blogging to your students (Morris, 2019). One section of the article offers suggestions on how to introduce the safety guidelines of blogging, which I wouldn't necessarily know how to approach; however, this article does a fantastic job of giving a lot of suggestions and resources, like a free online "boot camp", on how to make the most out of student blogging (Morris, 2019).
Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below! And thank you for sharing!
Citations:
Tsetsos, S., & Prentzas, J. (2021). A Survey of Recent Approaches Integrating Blogs in School Education. In Handbook of Research on Modern Educational Technologies, Applications, and Management (pp. 229-245). IGI Global. Retrieved, June 21, 2022 from Survey-of-Recent-Approaches-Integrating-Blogs-in-School-Education
Morris, K. (2019, August 24). 10 ways to introduce your students to blogging. The Edublogger. Retrieved June 21, 2022, from 10-Ways-To-Introduce-Your-Students-To-Blogging
Knuth, D., Larrabee, T., & Roberts, P. (1997). Mathematical Writing. The Knowledge Engineering Review, 12(3), 331–334.
Module 3 - Five Podcasts to Support ELLs
There are multiple ways to incorporate podcasts not only in the classroom of ELLs, as Lewis (2020) lists in The Ultimate Teacher’s Guide for How to Use Podcasts to Teach English. However, podcasts are also a resource for educators to brush up on or add to their toolbox of strategies. Through some research, I selected five podcasts that I'm interested in listening to in the future or would like to use with my ELLs with some modification. Then I listed them here for others to use and share their thoughts. Finally, I reference an article I found that helps walk through the process of creating podcasts.
This weekly podcast provides shorter (usually less than 10 minutes) episodes that can help ELLs improve English grammar, vocabulary, phrases, idioms, pronunciation, and more. In addition, there are more resources and e-books through the
Espresso English website. Although some episodes may not be appropriate or relevant for some younger ELLs, there are some like, "How to say & write the DATE correctly in English", that could benefit some newer ELL students.
Hosts: Lindsay & Michelle, from Boston & New York CityThis podcast is great for your intermediate to advanced adult or university students who are English learners and could help teachers of ELLs use everyday English vocabulary and natural idioms, expressions, and how to make small talk in American English. Tips on American culture, customs, and etiquette are also shared. In addition, they also discuss traveling, food, and dating. (Note: This is geared towards adult learners or university students and may not be appropriate for younger listeners; however, some episodes could be used by teachers to gather ideas or strategies for younger learners.)
With this weekly podcast, Tan and guests look to add to your toolkit of strategies to empower language learners. Some more recent episodes include discussion on honoring students' stories within instruction, motivating ELLs, language cards to support critical thinking, using drama to enliven instruction, and much more.
Host: voicEd Radio, Dr. Carol SalvaMultiple guests and Dr. Carol Salva discuss ways to empower ELLs and teachers of these students. It seems episodes come out about once a month. Some of the more recent episodes provide resources for the
QSSSA (Question, Stem, Signal, Share, Assess) strategy, a discussion of
The ESL/ELL Teacher's Survival Guide 2nd Edition with authors Larry Ferlazzo & Katie Hull Sypnieski, tips for supporting Newcomer students, and much more.
Host: Beth Vaucher, an ESL certified teacher with over 10 years of experienceIf you are looking for engaging and effective methods to support English Language Learners, you should listen to this weekly podcast that provides tips, strategies, and inspirational stories that will better equip you to make meaningful relationships with your ELL students, parents/guardians, and community without adding to your "endless to-do list".
In addition to listening to podcasts, educators can help support students in the creation of podcasts. The first step is to gather good examples of podcasts for students to listen to and analyze (Ramin, 2022). Then they should begin to plan their podcast, answering "Which type of podcast?" and begin writing their scripts (Ramin, 2022). Students then will begin recording, editing, and publishing. In addition, you will need to consider whether or not you are sharing these podcasts publicly, in which case you will need parent permission (Ramin, 2022).
What tips/strategies do you have for introducing podcasts to ESL students? Leave a comment below.
Citations:
Lewis, R. (2021, May 25). The ultimate teacher's guide for how to use podcasts to teach English. Leonardo English. Retrieved June 27, 2022, from https://www.leonardoenglish.com/blog/teachers-guide-how-to-use-podcasts-to-teach-english
Carlson, J. (2022, March 15). QSSSA - better conversation practice for your ells. Kid. Retrieved June 27, 2022, from https://kid-inspired.com/qsssa-esl-conversation-activity/#:~:text=The%20QSSSA%20stands%20for%3A,a%20partner%20to%20share%20answers.
Ramin, S. (2022, February 1). How to create student podcasts in the classroom: All your questions, answered. Hello, Teacher Lady. Retrieved June 27, 2022, from https://www.helloteacherlady.com/blog/how-to-create-student-podcasts-in-the-classroom
Module 4 - A "CALL" for a Schedule Change
Screencasting and other technology integration can be an overwhelming and daunting assignment option for students. If not properly presented and given the appropriate amount of time that is necessary to make it a successful project, students and teachers become frustrated, exchanging valuable subject-matter instructional time with technology how-tos and troubleshooting. For some grade levels and schools, this may be a struggle to find the right balance between instructional time and technology usage. However, the school in which I teach has a built-in additional class period where we see half of the team every other day. (I believe this year there will be at least one or two-cycle days where the entire team of students and teachers will be together during this class period!) During this time, teachers can provide support, enrich instruction, or provide technology instruction, which I hope to do more of in this upcoming school year. Because my class subject would not be the only one benefit from technology usage (not just for English Language Learners), as a team, we can come together and ensure that all of the students are properly equipped to use, manage, and troubleshoot technology that integrates within education.
This "resource" class period that we call "SOAR" would be a major benefit to not only saving instructional time (going over it once and reinforcing it throughout the school year), but it would also allow a multitude of teaching experiences to be in the same space at the same time. I know that I do not know everything about technology and that my team of teachers has a plethora of tools within their toolbox when it comes to approaching technology. Because I've seen the benefit of this class period within my school, I am making a "call" to action to have schools incorporate an additional class period within their day so that all teachers can be available for their team of students and to incorporate Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) within that resource/intervention period schedule/rotation.
Basic CALL technology instruction should begin at the beginning of the year and then expand on its usage as the year moves forward, aligning to when and how it is being used in the classroom, similar to what Leonard-Barton and Kraus reference in their "Implementing New Technology" article. Although they apply these tactics to a workforce, the concept is relevant to education. In addition, unlike some of the teachers implementing the technology, students are less enthusiastic about the technology. Therefore, teachers also have to overcome that hurdle and, in essence, sell the technology (Leonard-Barton and Kraus 2014).
Once you have a resource period, what do you do with it to maximize your technology integration time? My thought would be to first create a pre-assessment to determine students' background knowledge of technology. Like all planning, technology instruction should be differentiated and requires time (Merritt 2020). The second step I think would be to create a timeline on what technology topics you would need to facilitate using the information you received from the pre-assessment. Will you need to go over how to access the internet with them? Use devices (tablets, laptops, etc.)? Access and use a Learning Management System (LMS)? Create with technology applications (like screencasting, blogging, podcasting, digital storytelling, etc.)? I'm envisioning this as a collaboration (as you know, a key component in lesson planning), and it should also align with when and how the technology is being used within the subject classrooms.
All of what I'm proposing requires time. Time, in my opinion, teachers aren't given enough to properly plan and implement district initiatives; however, administrators can work together to provide us with creative ways to collaborate and plan (Merritt 2020).
What are your thoughts? Do you have a "Resource" or "Intervention" period that is flexible enough to implement instruction on or facilitate technology usage? If not, do you think this would be a benefit to your schedule? Also, do you find yourself "selling" technology to your students? If so, how do you make the instructional component of technology usage more engaging? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Module 5 - Phone Time
Mobile devices can offer many benefits. One of them being convenience. They are readily available due to their size and provide user-friendly Apps that are opened with one click (Darrin 2017). This is
extremely convenient for ELLs as it allows them to quickly and easily communicate with a translation application (Chandler 2019). In addition, multitasking is a breeze with projects easily shared between compatible applications. Finally, collaborative learning through Twitter, Facebook, etc. is a huge benefit for MALL (Darrin 2017). Finally, having students use devices for Mobile Assisted Language Learning allows them to participate in numerous engaging learning activities, like those listed in the "10 Ways Use Mobile Phones to Teach English" article from this week (Manuel 2017).
Although mobile devices provide many benefits and are capable of a variety of activities within the classroom, there are many challenges that educators and students will have to overcome. With mobile devices, there are constant notifications and the temptation to check missed messages/calls (Donohoe 2020). Distractions are persistently interfering with productivity. In addition, students are already using their mobile devices for too many hours. Increased screen time on mobile devices is already a growing problem, causing sleep deprivation, poor eyesight, etc (Donohoe 2020). Also, there is the opportunity for students to abuse the privilege and inappropriately use their devices (Donohoe 2020). Still, there are many more obstacles. Therefore, laptops offer an alternative with larger screens, fewer distractions, and web browser security (if they are school-issued devices). In addition, most of what can be accomplished on a mobile device can be completed using a laptop. These will not necessarily eliminate the issues or challenges; however, they will allow teachers and students to better manage them. Therefore, it is my opinion that the headache of mobile devices outweighs the benefits and that managed laptops can be used as an alternative.How do you and your students handle mobile devices in your classroom?
Citations:
Chandler, C. (2019, December 5). Use these apps to help Ells Experience Success. MiddleWeb. Retrieved July 12, 2022, from https://www.middleweb.com/34100/use-these-apps-to-help-ells-succeed-in-class/#:~:text=For%20example%2C%20iTranslate%20(available%20for,continues%20to%20be%20Google%20Translate.
Darrin, D. (2017, July 25). Mobile Assisted Language Learning (Mall). educational research techniques. Retrieved July 13, 2022, from https://educationalresearchtechniques.com/2015/03/10/mobile-assisted-language-learning-mall/#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20most%20obvious,second%20advantage%20of%20informal%20learning.
Donohoe, A. (2020, April 10). The disadvantages of mobile phones in schools. Techwalla. Retrieved July 11, 2022, from https://www.techwalla.com/articles/disadvantages-mobile-phones-schools
Manuel, J. (2022, February 21). 10 ways use mobile phones to teach English. EnglishPost.org. Retrieved July 11, 2022, from https://englishpost.org/mobile-phones-to-teach-english/
Module 6 - Gaming & Second Language Learning and Edutainment
Integrating gaming within the classroom has been a practice that I think teachers have incorporated for a long time and have used to engage students in their learning. In fact, I think this is a tool that even parents/guardians use with their own children. For example, who here has used the following to get their kids to clean up? "Let's make this a game! Can you pick up all of the toys in the living room before the timer goes off?" Of course, turning activities that are somewhat boring or mundane into fun tasks or games makes the time fly by, and the job is done before anyone can say "gamification".
Although gamification is usually referencing the usage of games through technology to make classroom
activities, lessons, and assessments are more engaging and exciting. In fact, it wasn't until I found the following website article, "Activities and Games for EFL Classes", and watched the video embedded that it didn't dawn on me that gamification also alleviates stress and anxiety that may come with different tasks within the classroom, especially for ESL, EFL, and BE students. He mentions that "...sometimes, they [EFLs] sometimes forget that they are even studying a language..." In addition, it allows them to use language in a less formal matter with repetition (Games for EFL classes 2021). This website also references another web page, the
Idea Cookbook - Games, which lists several ideas for using games within the EFL classroom and suggests searching YouTube for other ideas. The Idea Cookbook comes from the website
ESLCafe.com, which is a host of many ESL & EFL resources. I highly recommend checking it out.
Finally, I discovered that gamification is just a small component of "Edutainment". Now, teachers are not only expected to instruct, assess, communicate with parents/guardians, provide positive interventions, integrate technology, differentiate, prepare students for standardized assessments, and meet students' emotional needs, to list only a few, but we are also to do all of this while entertaining them. Of course, we are! That's what good teachers do anyways! You all know that teachers (good ones) have been doing this since the beginning of time. It is now, however, that they coined a word for it. If it takes me to do a one-handed handstand to get my "kids" (students) to learn the concept, I'd do it as I'm sure you would as well. In addition, like me, you are probably looking for additional resources, which I found on the TEFL Educator website. In fact, they have a podcast dedicated to this topic just for EFL students, which I have listed here:
Edutainment in EFL. And like gamification, it offers similar benefits (Edutainment in EFL 2021).
Preparing students is absolutely essential to them finding success. It would be great to jump right into the deep end of blogging and hitting the ground running because of all of the benefits, but without the skill set it becomes something challenging and frightening for students. I appreciate you sharing the helpful link and article on how to introduce students to blogging and I agree that teaching them safety guidelines for blogging is necessary. Without teaching students safety guidelines or how to be a good digital citizen you open up the risk of issues like cyberbullying or issues accidental breaches in netiquette.
ReplyDeleteModule 3 Comment: They layout of your blog entry is fabulous. It is highly organized and engaging without being cumbersome to locate important information. I really enjoy your short synopsis of the different ELL podcasts - it's enough to help anyone get started with ELL podcasts. You took a vastly different approach (than mine) to the podcasting topic that is helpful in equipping teachers with great tools! I will have to share your post with our ELL team at my school! I checked out the podcasts and they are very well done! Great post! Thanks for the resource share!
ReplyDeleteYou gathered some great resources for teachers of students who are language learners. I would love to have my students create their own podcasts based on a content area within our curriculum. I think podcasts are a great way for students to show their learning and to have students learn from one another. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete