Group items tagged

This article discusses the importance or non-importance of homework. Ideas addressed are homework policy, homework as formative assessment, and emphasis on homework versus achievement. Ultimately, it is suggested that feedback is what is most important.

This paper focuses on the critical issue of using technology as a tool to enrich classroom practices for LEP students. When instructional technology is integrated in a competent and effective manner, students have control over their learning by being able to control their time, speed of learning, choice of topics, and it gives LEP learners prompt feedback. Data is cited from various authors; along with research from two diverse schools (El Paso, TX & Schaumburg, IL) where technology was used to successfully support LEP students. Information from ISTE is included curriculum instruction is defined and the NCLB is discussed throughout the paper. A great deal of information is included to help support the LEP student, family, and teacher.

This is an article about the RTI program and how students who are English Language Learners can benefit from using certain strategies and what areas they might struggle in. Teachers could use this resource as a guide to how to implement their own interventions for their students.

This website gives a good overview of what RTI is, as well as a background and makeup of ESOL learners in the United States. The article also provides teachers with strategies on how to teach certain skills to ESOL students, such as using a table that includes a picture and the word in both English and Spanish. As a user of RTI at my own school, I have seen the positive effects of this tool.

(Week 8: Michele, Ericka and Spencer) This article was retrieved using a search on Diigo. It can be accessed using this link http://www.rtinetwork.org/learn/diversity/response-to-intervention-implications-for-spanish-speaking-english-language-learners In the article, Elsa Hagan provides the reader with insight into ways ELA teachers can improve reading levels of their Spanish-Speaking ELL students. Currently, there is a 29% gap in reading level with Spanish-Speaking ELL students when compared to other ELL students. To help bridge the gap, strategies need to be utilized. One involves the use of Response-to-Intervention (RTI) model to aid in monitoring the individual progress of all ELL students with an extra emphasis placed on the Spanish-Speaking students in the program. This will involve continuous monitoring of the Spanish-Speaking ELL students to ensure they are receiving the appropriate intervention strategies for their current level. Along with using RTI, the author indicates that a Phonological Awareness is needed. By aiding the ELL students ability to "process and manipulate" the sounds of the English language, their ability to read and comprehend information in English will improve. While this article was intended more for ESOL course teachers, the information provided can be utilized with all educators who have an ELL student in their class. The article identified that the Spanish language only has approximately 22 sounds where the English language has double the number of sounds. To aid in the improvement of reading in ELL students, we as non-ESOL class teachers, can exchange text that will be a lower reading level but still mean the same. Reference: Hagan, E. (2010) Response to intervention: implications for spanish-speaking english language learners. Retrieved on October 30, 2018 from http://www.rtinetwork.org/learn/diversity/response-to-intervention-implications-for-spanish- speaking-english-language-learn

This paper discusses the importance of vocabulary instruction and instructional strategies in order to support vocabulary learning across all grade levels and content areas. Using direct and intentional vocabulary development in the educational setting provides students with the tools and language skills necessary to progress and thrive. This focus is instrumental in narrowing achievement gaps between students, and is particularly beneficial for ESOL students. As a language teacher, it was an excellent reminder of the need to continue vocabulary focus across all skill levels. The lower levels are very vocabulary-centric, but the higher levels become less vocabulary-focused and more communicative in nature. However, there are always more words to know and as concepts and themes of study become more sophisticated, so too becomes the language and word level. Various strategies must be employed, both emanating from the teacher's intentional instruction and students' independent work. This paper has concrete and specific instructional strategies that teachers of all content areas and across all age levels can employ.

I found this paper particularly interesting because it highlighted that when teachers explicitly teach vocabulary to students, it results in not only the increased retention of words learned, but of increased comprehension skills as well.

Dimension: Student Engagement Rate: 4 My SMART Target Learning Goal is that 80 % of my Pre-kindergarten class will master their reading foundation skills by the 3rd trimester. This EL Education video introduces the concept of interactive writing. This concept allows students to use spelling patterns and high frequency words. The video demonstrated how all of the students participate in tapping out the letter sounds. The students were engaged in the video and used different techniques were utilized to display how various students were engaged in learning. They used different learning tools including: sky writing, full body movements, body writing, sharing the pens and white boards. This relates to my SMART goal because my students need to be able to master reading foundation skills. This is a key component to reading foundation skills. I practice some of these techniques already but I want to try all of them to see if that will improve my students reading foundation skills.

Dimension: Rigor and Relevance Rate: 4 - students think and work My SMART goal is that students will be able to solve an on grade level math task, that will require them to respond and defend their work to explain their reasoning 3 out of 5 times by the end of the 1st marking period. This EL Education video shows a great model of how to use interactive writing with younger students. The reason I gave this a score of 4 is because although students are in a whole group setting they still were required to think and work. Students had to think and act out words or spellings. They worked as a class to write the sentence. It required students to think and help! While I think this is a great video, I don't really think it is something that could work for my SMART goal. Yes it relates to writing but I think that my students would need something a little more advanced for 4th graders. I think if students had this lesson taught to them at a younger age it would help them achieve this goal. I don't think this instructional tactic is something that would teach students how to defend and support their answer.

This tool allows educators to create a collection of tiles with links to frequently used web resources. Good for setting up a PLE (Personal Learning Environment0. Useful for general resources or for specific projects. Can be embedded in a website for easy access.

Edmodo is also a great site to use for a class homepage. It's a good resources for students and teachers. We have Edline in our county but I think the personalization of this is better.

This is a video explaining simple circuits. This video could be used in instructing for simple circuits.

An informative and engaging article that provides eight solutions to tackling the achievement gap.  It is well organized and written with clear reasoning for each solution.

I really enjoyed this article. As a new instructor I am constantly looking to engage my adult students. Through my instruction, making that personal connection is so important. Once you make that personal connection I find that students start making a personal connection with their assignments as well. I find having a non-academic conversation at the beginning of class can help the students feel involved classroom citizens.

This article really gives great advice on how teachers can help close the achievement gap by changing small things they do in the classroom. The two things that stuck out to me was allowing more time and progress monitoring. Sometimes time is all a student needs to succeed. When students feel rushed they end up just picking whatever answer they think is right or just something to complete the assignment. Allowing students to return to their unfinished work could really help students concentrate knowing that they don't have to rush to finish an assignment. As far as progress monitoring goes, it helps when the teacher really cares about making sure the students are on the right track and that their parents are aware of the work they have completed or would need to complete to get them on track.

Implementation Week 2 - Chris, Elijah, Noelle, Angela "Analyzing Differentiation in the Classroom: Using the COS-R" (available via UMUC Library): Citation: VanTassel-Baska, J. (2012). Analyzing Differentiation in the Classroom: Using the COS-R. Gifted Child Today, 35(1), 42-48. doi:10.1177/1076217511427431 This article discusses the use of the "Classroom Observation Scale-Revised" or COS-R. The COS-R is a tool intended for the use of observing and evaluating teachers in a more meaningful way. The COS-R assesses the teacher in a performance-based manner similar to performance-based assessments used for students. The goal of using this tool is to highlight "...the use of strategies that promote student learning and growth, especially in the area of higher order thinking, problem solving, and metacognition." This article was useful as one of our practicing teachers is an AP teacher and often needs to differentiate lesson planning for students of various high achievement levels. Other practicing teachers within our group expressed, much in the same manner as teachers referenced in the article, that many pedagogical tactics are not covered during teacher preparation programs, and there is a lack of strong feedback / recommendation of strategies that help increase teacher knowledge of differentiating instruction for various student populations.

Remember the 65% solution? This article is from 2006, but the discussion about demonstrating student learning in the school library is still relevant. It describes a pilot program that sounds similar to Venables' data action model: "Using online tools, [librarians] continue a dialogue, exchange ideas, and provide critical support to one another as they strive to create evidence folders for their own school library media programs." Includes sample rubrics and graphs of outcomes.

This website validated my concerns about science vocabulary for secondary students. It can also provide other resource videos and professional learning resources.

The website helps guide teachers as well as parents to focus on the building blocks of reading and writing. This Pre-K guide is designed to walk teachers through several important building blocks, including sounds, print awareness, letters and more. Within each section, you'll find easy to read and use resources for learning more, and for trying some activities within your setting. Short videos bring concepts to life, booklists provide ideas for extension, and we provide guidance about when to have concerns about a child's development.

This describes a new feature of Diigo which allows you to create outlines of information, including notes, links, images, videos, etc. This could be a great way to help students think about the information they are collecting and to analyze and synthesize the information they are collecting and learning about.

This is a video about using work group for students as a learning strategy. This teachers use of define roles for students in work groups is inspiring.

This article describes the report of a 4 week study of the English reading comprehension of struggling readers. The research used technology to decrease achievement gaps in reading. Thirty 4th-grade students read narrative and informational hypertexts that contained vocabulary, comprehension strategy supports, and text to speech read aloud features. In the process, vocabulary and comprehension achievement was observed in the students. The results in this article suggest that struggling readers and Spanish-speaking ELLs used technology and beneficiated by learning vocabulary and effectively applying reading comprehension strategies.

In reading this article it was quite interesting to me the successes that occurred when the school incorporated the use of a technology based universal digital literacy (UDL) tool. The digital text coupled with vocabulary support was instrumental in the success of these students. It is also important to note that the stories given to the students to study were a blend of folktales that represented many different cultures rather than strictly from the US. It is important to note that when ELL students and struggling readers are given text or material that is relevant to their own culture they are able to access prior knowledge to make connections to the new material. The supports utilized in the study were the initial discussion of "power words" that are prominent in the text. The mid reading strategy is a support to develop comprehension by prompting students at the end of each page to stop, reflect and summarize/predict then being prompted to give a written or recorded response. These activities are able to be tracked using the technology thus furthering a teachers ability to interpret student needs and supplement with various strategies in the classroom. An important element to this programs success was the training of the teachers on the UDL technology.

DimensionU creates engaging and interactive multi-player video games that focus on core skills in mathematics and literacy. Our content aligns with the Common Core, state standards and classroom instruction Learn More about DimensionU Comprised of four engaging, multi-player games with access to curriculum in both Math and Literacy, grades 3 - 9. Some available games: * Meltdown is the DimensionU game that offers students a second chance when answering difficult questions, and rewards creative strategies to achieve victory. * Velocity is DimensionU's high-speed obstacle course that ensures players answer questions correctly in order to continue progressing through the race.

Week 7 - This is an excellent article for second language teachers who want to be inclusive of all students through digital story telling. Dr. Vinogradova's personal experience affirms the importance of cultural identity integration using technology to achieve pedagogical goals. By Polina Vinogradova, Ph.D, Director of the TESOL Program, Department of World Languages and Cultures, American University....