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Etienne Wenger (2007) asked Cristina Costa when she knew she was in a community of practice and she said, when she noticed her practice had changed. And this is the correct answer.  When your practice changes, you know you have truly learned. The next step as a teacher is to model what you did for your students so that some will follow in your footsteps. So how can you do it?  Your change in practice probably won't be from this one encounter, unless I can convince you or nudge you, if you were heading that way already, into taking the next step in your journey.  The goal is to move from being just a consumer of networked content, which you in essence hoard, to a creator of content, which you share with the network that shares with you.

language teachers need to look beyond what it appears on the surface is happening between them and the learner and consider the bigger picture, such as ways in which technology fosters connections with communities and networks that humanize rather than isolate to strengthen individuals as an integral part of modern society and how that society acculturates, or learns together.

I encourage colleagues to think SMALL because in my view the computer is no longer the salient aspect of technology. The salient aspect is the use to which technology is put, and the salient use is to re-wire and expand how we are able to learn by enabling us to nurture and participate in always-on PLNs, or Personal Learning Networks.

.should teachers and students really be interacting with each other in this way? With proper adherence to respectful and professional interaction, and with the understanding that our personal and professional cyber presence cannot really be altogether separate and based on different standards...yes! Yes, we should! Who better to teach students how to develop online identities aligned with the same character education standards modeled in “real” life? Who better to guide them on what is acceptable interaction? I believe this is a wonderful opportunity for mentoring young students, and for the most part, we are currently opting out.

Perhaps the first consideration is the instructional purpose of the lesson, and how the technology will enhance that purpose or help students to achieve the goals and objectives of the lesson.

Technology, as mentioned earlier, has the power to increase student knowledge and skills in various content areas. Yet another consideration that must be taken into account when working with English learners is how the technology is increasing academic language knowledge and skills. It is critical, then, that teachers take into account not only the content goals and objectives for the lesson, but also the language goals and objectives as well as the linguistic demand of the tasks students will need to accomplish in the classroom.

English learners need additional instructional supports or scaffolds, including providing students with necessary background knowledge that other students may possess, using graphic organizers, pictures/visuals, demonstrations and realia, and providing redundant information and differentiated instruction based on students' language proficiency level. When researching various technology tools, it is critical that we investigate how the tool addresses these principles.