find ReadTheWords.com to be one of the most useful services on the Internet today. Many LD (learning disabled)
students struggle with auditory processing.
these students are very capable,
they tend to favor auditory processing, versus the more common visual processing. It is important that these students
learn how their mind works and modify their learning techniques accordingly.
5 students incorporate this service for study of their weekly vocabulary words. We started by making an audio file of the words and definition, and turned it into an mp3 format. The students spent 10 minutes each day on the computer. Each student has averaged a minimum of a full letter grade higher. Two students have received perfect scores for the past 2 weeks.
ReadTheWords.com been created to cater to these students.
ReadtheWords.com is an AMAZING SERIVCE for young students.
ReadTheWords.com allows me to create listening material for some learners that struggle a little bit. It allows my
students to read along with the Virtual Avatar Reader. This saves a lot of time so I can focus on certain children
without slowing down the rest of the class.
We create links to audio files that read our
upcoming events, and we use it to help visually impaired patrons read anything - articles, letters they have received,
emails that can be copy/pasted from their email account...the possibilities are endless! On a personal level, I have been
using ReadTheWords toolbar plug in.
service with my university students who are learning English
brings the text to life, and stimulates my second language learners in a
dynamic way. I would recommend this program to all foreign language teachers,
I have been assisting students to create audio files of study review materials. This greatly helps them decode and
analyze the material for comprehension. I have seen a great improvement on test scores
Students listen to a piece of their own writing, so they can
hear if what they wrote sounds correct. It helps students with comprehension, spelling, grammar and structuring
sentences.
This service is godsend for many students, especially auditory learners. I cannot even begin to imagine how many people this will help in the future. We just received approval to offer this service to our entire school. (Email webmaster@readthewords.com to get a special deal like we did.
I believe that the audio could act as a reinforcer of the written word as students read. This could be helpful not only with students who are Language Impaired, but also for students who struggle with reading comprehension.
Something not mentioned by these teachers is the possible benefit to Autistic and Aspergers students. I can this being used as a reward or incentive because the work could be done independently. Since these students generally feel more at ease working independently, it would a motivator to them.
This could be a great tool for Language Impaired students, but also Learning Disabled in reading as well. The audio would act as a reinforcer of the written material. Even though this is learning or reading comprehension tool, students may see it as a reward thereby motivating them to read more. This could a aid to any teacher attempting to motivate reluctant or struggling readers.
Read The Words could be a beneficial tool to students who are Language Impaired and/or Learning Disabled in Reading. The audio can reinforce the written word and increase comprehension. Also, it could be a valuable tool for autistic students who prefer to work independently. They can use this to aid comprehension and also it could be a reward. This tool could also add interest to text for any student.
Early EFL: Leahn is located in Spain, where she works as a freelance language assistant teacher and as a teacher trainer in workshops for primary and secondary school teachers.
Box of Chocolates: Join this EFL teacher from Recife, Brazil, who is very passionate about teaching
Neslihan Durmusoglu: This blog reflects on the world of EFL and about being a 21st-century learner and teacher.
Reflections of a Teacher and Learner: David teaches kids at a private college in Turkey and he also is a distance student on the University of Manchester’s MA in EdTech & TESOL programme
An A-Z of ELT: This blog is managed by the man who wrote An A-Z of ELT in 2006, Scott Thornbury.
Authentic Teaching: This blogger has taught EFL in Brazil, and taught ELT for several years as well. He now is earning an MA in Education in London
Jeremy Harmer’s Blog: Jeremy is a writer and teacher/teacher-trainer for English to speakers of other languages, and he blogs about presentation.
Marisa Constantinides — TEFL Matters: This blogger runs CELT Athens, a teacher development center based in Greece.
Shaun Wilden’s Blog: Shaun has been involved in English language teaching for almost twenty years. He also maintains several online teaching sites including ihonlinetraining.net.
So this is English… This blog is filled with ideas, thoughts, discoveries, feedback and more about the teaching and learning of English.
Teaching Village: Barbara is an English teacher currently living in Kitakyushu, Japan, and using Web 2.0 tools and virtual worlds.
Technology and teaching - two words that seem to fit together perfectly today for most teachers and learners. So much so that a slew of new blogs have come on board to talk about education technology - or, edTech. This list of the 50 best education technology blogs are not inclusive, as there are so many new blogs available; however, if you look at links provided by many of these blogs to other edTech blogs, you may learn about even more blog that you aren't reading yet.
This is a useful news site which provides the same news story written at three different levels of English, making it a wonderful tool for ESL classes and differentiating for different age groups.
http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/English+As+An+Additional+Language
Listening and Speaking Tip: Class presentations with a rubric; allow class to complete rubric of their peers too and use video or text-to-speech based web 2.0 animation programs for shy students
all students need access to a wide range of materials on a variety of topics and genres
hese responses can vary in length based on the questions asked and tasks performed, from answering brief questions to crafting multiparagraph responses in upper grades.
two standards progression charts for each grade level
Writing
peaking and Listening
Graham, S., and M. A. Hebert. 2010. Writing to Read: Evidence for How Writing Can Improve Reading. A Carnegie Corporation Time to Act Report. Washington, D.C.: Alliance for Excellent Education.
suggests both the number and types
Students
offer one way of organizing the standards
quarterly modules
reflects the integrated nature
four sections
to express an opinion/make an argument or to inform/explain
“Students can critically read in a variety of ways:
When they raise vital questions and problems from the text,
When they gather and assess relevant information and then offer plausible interpretations of that information,
When they test their interpretations against previous knowledge or experience …,
When they examine their assumptions and the implications of those assumptions, and
When they use what they have read to communicate effectively with others or to develop potential solutions to complex problems.
WOW! Free tools related to literacy skills. The book builder tool has a section which reads a story (here's a link for "A Tortoise and a Hare") - They offer professional development and multimedia learning tools.
....."A Tortoise and a Hare" - just this one book offers an amazing variety of learning tools including: activating background knowledge, self assessment and reflection, collaboration and communication, action and expression, coping skills and strategies, challenge and support, recruiting interest, goal-centered learning, and designing flexible curriculum. Each of these skills has a specific activity within the story to address it (almost every page has a different one!). Every page also has a question to think about and respond to. At the end it discusses the moral in another activity and the story itself offers extension activities for follow-up. The story is read by a young girl, but there is also a text reader built in, a glossary, and word-by-word English/Spanish translations.
An educational research & development organization that works to expand learning opportunities for all individuals through Universal Design for Learning.
CAST is an educational research & development organization that works to expand learning opportunities for all individuals through Universal Design for Learning.
This is a must try site which provides an amazing 3D world which teaches English and maths core skills. Players race against two other randomly chosen online players of a similar level. The questions start out very easy and adapt to the performance of the player. The questions are read out and some are displayed on the screen. The player just clicks on the correct multiple choice answer to increase their speed. There is a download for PCs and Macs as well as apps for iPad and Android. There are teacher accounts which allow you to make logins for lots of children quickly. When there log in students will be asked to design an avatar. Because the resource requires a sizeable download it takes a little time to set up, but because it runs on your local device game play is very smooth and quick.
http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools
Feed readers
are probably the most important digital tool for today's learner because they
make sifting through the amazing amount of content added to the Internet
easy. Also known as aggregators, feed readers are free tools that can
automatically check nearly any website for new content dozens of times a
day---saving ridiculous amounts of time and customizing learning experiences for
anyone.
Imagine
never having to go hunting for new information from your favorite sources
again. Learning goes from a frustrating search through thousands of
marginal links written by questionable characters to quickly browsing the
thoughts of writers that you trust, respect and enjoy.
Feed readers can
quickly and easily support blogging in the classroom, allowing teachers to
provide students with ready access to age-appropriate sites of interest that are
connected to the curriculum. By collecting sites in advance and organizing
them with a feed reader, teachers can make accessing information manageable for
their students.
Here are several
examples of feed readers in action:
Used specifically as
a part of one classroom project, this feed list contains information related to
global warming that students can use as a starting point for individual
research.
While there are literally dozens of different feed reader
programs to choose from (Bloglines andGoogle Reader are two
biggies), Pageflakes is a favorite of
many educators because it has a visual layout that is easy to read and
interesting to look at. It is also free and web-based. That
means that users can check accounts from any computer with an Internet
connection. Finally, Pageflakes makes it quick and easy to add new
websites to a growing feed list—and to get rid of any websites that users are no
longer interested in.
What's even
better: Pageflakes has been developinga teacher version of their tooljust for us that includes an online grade tracker,
a task list and a built in writing tutor. As Pageflakes works to perfect
its teacher product, this might become one of the first kid-friendly feed
readers on the market. Teacher Pageflakes users can actually blog and create a
discussion forum directly in their feed reader---making an all-in-one digital
home for students.
For more
information about the teacher version of Pageflakes, check out this
review:
A superb cross-curricular site brimming over with downloadable resources. Find reading comprehensions, flashcards, videos, educational songs, colouring pages, teaching tools and much more.
http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Cross+Curricular
Assessment | News
Varsity Tutors Debuts Free Test Question Site
By Dian Schaffhauser
11/07/13
Varsity Tutors, a providor of private tutoring to students online, has launched a new, free service with the intention of becoming the "Khan Academy" of practice tests. The company has introduced a Web-based assessment system intended to replace other forms of educational content such as SAT or ACT preparation books or online subscriptions to assessment materials.
Varsity Learning Tools, as it's called, makes hundreds of free practice tests available in 95 subjects. Currently in open beta testing, the site lists assessment tests by subject and allows the user to choose to answer a single test, flashcards, or a question of the day.
Each question can be shared through social network services. When the student answers it, a second page displays with an assessment and explanation and data on how much time was spent on the question, and how many others answered it correctly."
(Read more at http://thejournal.com/articles/2013/11/07/varsity-tutors-launches-free-test-question-site.aspx?=THEEL#8hQzr0oig6X2IZmS.99)
Thank you, Jennifer, for sharing your process on digital storytelling. I teach middle school English and am not as tech-savvy as you, but I know the value of a well-planned multimedia project for students. I am inspired to plan out a similar project, now that I see how to do it. I like that they create a storyboard and script to emphasize the "meat" of their project and not the glitzy stuff. Their narrated videos are quite impressive. Your students are lucky to have you!
Thanks Irene! The students did such an amazing job. You really don't have to be tech-saavy to employ this in your classroom. The software is already so user-friendly. The person who taught me how to do this was an English teacher - she would use it with poetry, so that students would have to emphasize emotion in their reading. Very effective!
Jennifer, this is wonderful! I love how you give your students choices of which app to use and how you place the onus on them to learn it and to troubleshoot on their own. This is something that I teach in my computer classes because students have to acquire and feel comfortable with that skill. Thanks!
Rewordify takes a complex passage and rephrases it in simpler terms. Students can adjust Rewordify's settings to match their needs. For example, students can add words to a "skip list" and those words will not be changed when they appear in a passage. Students can also use Rewordify to simply highlight difficult words instead of having them replaced.
"I absolutely get that we're moving in a world that's technology-based," she says. "But I'm of the old school that believes you can't forget where you came from to get where you're going. There could be a day the computer crashes."
Everybody knows enough about some topic - be it English, science, yoga or bourbon - to teach other people about it. And every topic is covered by content scattered around the Web. The idea behind a new site called Learnist is to give everybody a spot to teach through curation. The site, which is also available as an app for iPhone and iPad, features user-created lessons that bring together Web pages, videos, Google Books e-books and other items on a specific topic. At the moment, only a relatively small group of people approved by the site - including some teachers - can create these "learnings," but anyone can check them out.
Read more: http://techland.time.com/2012/09/18/50-best-websites-2012/#ixzz2KnPnZqks
Everybody knows enough about some topic to teach other people about it. And every topic is covered by content scattered around the Web. The idea behind a new site called Learnist is to give everybody a spot to teach through curation. The site, which is also available as an app for iPhone and iPad, features user-created lessons that bring together Web pages, videos, Google Books e-books and other items on a specific topic. At the moment, only a relatively small group of people approved by the site - including some teachers - can create these "learnings," but anyone can check them out.
There are keynote speakers—often the people who created the technology at hand or crafted a given language. There are the regular speakers, often paid not at all or in airfare, who present some idea or technique or approach. Then there are the panels, where a group of people are lined up in a row and forced into some semblance of interaction while the audience checks its e-mail.
Fewer than a fifth of undergraduate degrees in computer science awarded in 2012 went to women, according to the National Center for Women & Information Technology
The average programmer is moderately diligent, capable of basic mathematics, has a working knowledge of one or more programming languages, and can communicate what he or she is doing to management and his or her peers
The true measure of a language isn’t how it uses semicolons; it’s the standard library of each language. A language is software for making software. The standard library is a set of premade software that you can reuse and reapply.
A coder needs to be able to quickly examine and identify which giant, complex library is the one that’s the most recently and actively updated and the best match for his or her current needs. A coder needs to be a good listener.
Code isn’t just obscure commands in a file. It requires you to have a map in your head, to know where the good libraries, the best documentation, and the most helpful message boards are located. If you don’t know where those things are, you will spend all of your time searching, instead of building cool new things.
Some tools are better for certain jobs.
C is a simple language, simple like a shotgun that can blow off your foot. It allows you to manage every last part of a computer—the memory, files, a hard drive—which is great if you’re meticulous and dangerous if you’re sloppy
Object-oriented programming is, at its essence, a filing system for code.
Where C tried to make it easier to do computer things, Smalltalk tried to make it easier to do human things.
Style and usage matter; sometimes programmers recommend Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style—that’s right, the one about the English language. Its focus on efficient usage resonates with programmers. The idiom of a language is part of its communal identity.
Coding is a culture of blurters.
Programmers carve out a sliver of cognitive territory for themselves and go to conferences, and yet they know their position is vulnerable.
Programmers are often angry because they’re often scared.
Programming is a task that rewards intense focus and can be done with a small group or even in isolation.
For a truly gifted programmer, writing code is a side effect of thought
As a class, programmers are easily bored, love novelty, and are obsessed with various forms of productivity enhancement.
“Most programming languages are partly a way of expressing things in terms of other things and partly a basic set of given things.”
Of course, while we were trying to build a bookstore, we actually built the death of bookstores—that seems to happen a lot in the business. You set out to do something cool and end up destroying lots of things that came before.
Welcome to the Center on Instruction, your gateway to a cutting-edge collection of scientifically based research and information on K-12 instruction in reading, math, science, special education, and English language learning. Part of the Comprehensive Center network, the Center on Instruction is one of five content centers serving as resources for the 16 regional U.S.
readthewords.com for Special Ed, ESOL, Low Level Readers, Writing and More!
Read The Words could be a beneficial tool to students who are Language Impaired and/or Learning Disabled in Reading. The audio can reinforce the written word and increase comprehension. Also, it could be a valuable tool for autistic students who prefer to work independently. They can use this to aid comprehension and also it could be a reward. This tool could also add interest to text for any student.
