ESL Podcasts for teachers and parents!

English as a Second Language is an important and growing sector of public education.  Teachers and parents alike can struggle with reaching every student or helping their child succeed in the English language.  This can be especially difficult if parents do not have a strong English background. Below are three podcasts that offer suggestions and tips to helping both teachers and parents reach the ESL students.

English as a Second Language–  This is a podcast offered and produced by the University of Virginia.  The podcast centers around teaching and mastering English Language Proficiency Standards.  While the standards are geared towards higher education, the tips provided can be tailored for students of all ages.

English As A Second Language– Parents especially will love this podcast.  A Tennessee school district has put together this series where local community members, who speak English as a second language, offer tips for helping parents make a difference in ESL students success in school.

Free Teacher PD–  While not completely ESL related, this podcast offers a plethora of episodes on how to integrate technology into the classroom.  Teachers can tailor lessons for ESL students to utilize technology to help them learn.

Classrooms of the Future…Beyond Four Walls

“Can you hand me a pencil?” Jess says as she takes a sip of her morning coffee.

“Sure,” laughs Mr. Scheuch, “but you are twenty miles away from me right now and eventhough it is the year 2020, I can’t teleport you one.”

“Oh.  Sorry Mr. Scheuch.  I was talking to my mother.  She is cooking me breakfast.  It is really great that you can take some time out of your busy schedule to meet with me and Robert and give us some feedback on our online presentation about nanotechnology.”

As Jess finishes this sentence, her laptop beeps and new updates from Robert appear on her screen.  She and Robert have been putting together a multimedia presentation to be presented to their science class in three days.  Mr.  Scheuch is their science teacher and he is having a live chat with both of them via Skype.  In the past 10 years Skype and other video conferencing software has replaced the need for teachers to teach from a classroom.  In fact on this Tuesday morning, Mr. Scheuch is meeting with all of his students who are presenting.  They have appointments in 15 minute increments.

Science class, and all classes for that matter, have taken on a dramatic new look.  No longer do the students come in to school every day and sit through 5-8 periods a day.  Students are required to come to school one day a week and meet with all of their teachers.  They ask questions, receive whole group instruction and details about their upcoming work for that week.  Just because the students only come to class one day a week, does not mean that they do not complete school work the rest of the week.  Through devices like computers, iPhones, Smartphones, and iPads, students are constantly connected to their teacher and to each other.  In fact, the school voucher program has passed in all 50 states and now students from many different neighborhoods are all attending the same school.  Jess is from a rural neighborhood and Robert is from an urban one.

“Mr. Scheuch, Someone left an inappropriate comment on our class Facebook page,” says Jess as Mr. Scheuch is looking through their presentation.

“Did you follow the steps outlined in our acceptable use policy for dealing with inappropriate content on the internet?” asks Mr. Scheuch.

Knowing that every student in the district has had two internet safety classes, one in first grade and one in seventh grade,  he is confident that his students know how to deal with unexpected roadblocks on the net.  In fact, for the first time ever, most districts in the United States have written curriculum to inform students, teachers, and parents about internet safety.  Parents are required to attend at least one workshop per year that outlines current dangers on the internet and how to deal with them.  Also, they learn about new web 2.0 and social networking sites so they can have conversations with their children about how to effectively use them in their education.  Teachers are trained three times a year on technology.  It has become mandatory that they use technology to deliver their content.  Since cyber school has become the preferred method for 90% of the students, this training is extremely important.

Again because of vouchers, the remaining 10%of students that are not learning online, attend traditional school.  In fact, they are learning the same content in traditional school as the others are learning online.  This learning is done through classes that meet 5 days a week with a teacher present in the classroom.  The teacher serves as a facilitator and guides their learning through interactive activities that are internet and computer based.  These teachers are also trained three times a year on technology.

School districts are saving tremendous amounts of money without having additional costs for transportation, textbooks, paper, and other traditional school supplies.  Since students are learning from their home, they do not need rides to school.  Also, all of their class materials and texts are available online.  The best part is, teachers are not making photo copies anymore.  For his student’s science presentations, Mr. Scheuch has used online document apps to create and distribute rubrics, requirements, and notes to all of his students.  With the money being saved on these items, districts are now able to afford paying for meaningful professional developement.  Teachers are not using new technology because they have to, they are using it because they want to.

Mr. Scheuch has several students in his class that are IEP students and need accommodations.  With the use of online apps and other web 2.0 tools, all of his lessons and materials are easily differentiated.  By a few simple mouse clicks, teachers are creating, editing and distributing material through different channels to different people.

Through web-based programs, students can choose to create products that fit their learning styles.  They make connections and build their networks through collaboration and online discussion.  This is at the heart of Connectivism.

“I can’t seem to find enough information on this importance of nanotechnology in the medical field,” Robert says.

“Have you checked the RSS feeds and the Del.icio.us links on our class Pageflake site? asks Mr. Scheuch.  “If you have and you still can’t find anything, why don’t you see if you can contact one of our community scientists and set up a Skype conversation with them.”

The line between community and school has been blurred.  Community members are also part of students learning network.  People volunteer to lead class discussions and to work with students on school related topics.  The walls of the classroom have been broken down.  Information is not only coming into the “classroom,” it is being dispersed and spread out of the “classroom.”  Through cooperation between Federal, state, and local government, people are starting to see the importance of education and the role that EVERYONE plays in it.  Teachers are no longer considered lazy, tax-money-sucking state employees who are draining taxpayer wallets with their pension plans and their summers off.  They are viewed as dedicated, hard-working individuals who put the needs of their students on the front lines.

“Well, Mr. Scheuch, thanks so much for helping us.  We can’t wait to present to the entire class via video conferencing next week,” says Jess as her and Robert finish up making changes to their presentations.

Beep…beep…beep…

“I am so glad to hear that,” says Mr. Scheuch.  “I am looking forward to seeing the finished product from everyone in class.” Beep…beep…beep… “Do you guys hear that beeping.” Beep…beep…beep… “There it is again.”

Suddenly Mr. Scheuch realizes that he is not sitting in front of his computer monitor talking to Jess and Robert.  He is standing in a dark, warm room that smells like toner and hot plastic.  He looks down and sees the light labeled “Paper Jam  in Tray 3” flashing on the photocopy machine.  Time to clear the jam and get back to teaching in 2011.  The year 2020 holds many changes for education but they only enhance student learning and create learning environments and motivation for life-long learning in all students.

Using On-line Apps for Collaboration

Copyright Google TM 2011

I have many students in my sixth grade class that enjoy working together on projects.  However, a problem arises when the bell rings and the students have to save their work.  The next day, they come back but the person whose account they used to log onto the computer is absent.  What to do, what to do?    This is where the online Google Docs app comes in handy.  Students can all collaborate online, in real time, from any machine with internet access.   Let’s say, three students start a wonderful presentation at school using PowerPoint.  They are very skilled in their use of the software.  They have multimedia, and it looks really great.  However, only one person can work on it at a time.  If all three students sign up for a free Google account, they can all collaborate on the project from home.   The best part is, all of their work that they did in PowerPoint is not lost.  Google Docs allows you to import existing presentations into the online software.  They can still create their beautiful presentation without worrying about one person being absent.  Even if every student in the group is absent on the day that the presentation is due, they can share the presentation with the teacher through Google Docs and it can be submitted electronically.  That is one way to begin a paperless classroom.  The teacher can then grade it and make comment right in the presentation with out using any paper.

One of the students in the group is very into the web and web 2.0.  She has a Pageflakes page complete with RSS feeds, YouTube videos and a flake for her Facebook account.  With Google docs, she can get an embed code for their presentation, and use the Anything flake to embed their project onto her Pageflakes page.  Now their project from science class has gone global.

Google Docs also eliminates the need to carry around flash drives and other portable media storage devices.  Since everything is saved every 5 seconds in Google.  The students can work on a presentation at home, and then continue it at school by signing into their Google account.  As teachers, that makes our life much easier.  It takes many excuses for why things are not submitted out of the equation.  What a cool idea.

“The Printer is out of Paper”…That’s Ok.

Wow.  Columbia University has paperless classes!  Students don’t have to “hand” anything in as a hardcopy.  In fact, the professor refuses to take it!  Not only are they saving the environment, the students are submitting work in an online environement that is rich in not only text, but also graphics, audio, and video.  How cool would it be to have a class where the students don’t submit work on paper?  As a teacher, I would feel much more comfortable grading my student’s work.  I always say that the worst part of teahing is grading papers.  Sitting at your desk and staring at a massive pile of paper just doesn’t motivate me to get it done.  However, if I have to assess projects, essays or other products that contain multimedia images, I would love to complete my grading.  Also, the linked article above mentions that Professor Marc Myer said, “Studies have shown that the most effective learning takes place when a student develops an emotional attachment to the work.”  If my students can create media rich work and taylor it to fit their personallity and style, they are becoming emotionally attached to their work.  That is awesome.

As with any assessment or graded project, there would have to be an extensive lesson on the process to create, submit, and review graded material.  Also, students would have to be given rubrics for expectations of graded work.  I believe that they would be more apt to follow the rubrics if they could submit all work online.  With web 2.0 tools lik Google Docs, students can share work, ideas, projects, presentations, and data.  They can offer real-time feedback to each other.  Each time they share and discuss their work, they are creating connections in their network.  I feel like it would be an extremely easy way to build a learning network online.    Not only can they share with each other, they can share with you as the teacher.  I have had students submit work to me electronically before it was due so that I could comment on it and give them feedback.  It is an extremely powerful tool.  Also, with a paperless learning environment, they can work on their own time.   I can only hope that we can start moving toward paperles classrooms.  Seeing the amount of paper that is wasted everyday makes the trees in our school yard shiver.

Push it into Third if You Know You’re Going to Climb That Hill

Unknown. (Date unknown). “Shift Together.” http://www.ci-shift.com. Retrieved February 22, 2011

Education is changing.  Quickly and without end.  We need to make a shift.  If we cannot change gears and climb that hill, we will continue to fall further and further behind in education.  Will Richardson outlines 10 “Big Shifts” in Education in his book, Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms.  These give us insight into ways that we can prepare ourselves and our students to succeed in this ever-changing landscape.  One that really hit me is the fact that students, teachers, parents, and adminstrators need to realize that there are “many, many teachers” that allow students to engage in 24/7 learning.  This idea is at the heart of social networking and building collaborative environments online.  As students become “connected” to others near them and around the world, there education has the potential to take off.  The teacher no longer is the one who stands in front of the classroom.  The teacher takes on the form of an avatar on the computer screen, the person on the other end of a Skype conversation, the hundreds of “friends” that have been made through Facebook and MySpace.  Education is no longer contained within four walls.  It is uncontained.  Students can always access information and people in their network.  Until districts start to realize the potential of this big shift (i.e. taking down firewalls and blocked websites that are educationally valuable) students are mssing out in school.  We cannot expect them to learn like this on their own.  Our job is to teach effective practice using these tools.  We cannot if the means are not there.

Since I started reading and discussing the benefits of web 2.0, my views have not changed very much.  However, they have become more concrete.  I am a huge proponent for the internet and the realm of possibilities it provides.  I am now starting to have more “ammunition” to approach my higher-ups with to begin the conversation of opening up the web a bit more.

Skype for Educational Purposes?

Skype has been around for a hand full of years now.  I have been using it for personal contacts for three years.  During the winter months, my parents move down to sunny, warm, North Carolina.  They miss their granddaughter tremendously.  Every Sunday, we gather around the computer monitor and have an hour long conversation.  It amazes me that we can see my parents and they can see us in real-time from hundreds of miles away.  The best part is that this service is free.

Until the other night, I never really thought about Skype as a tool for my teaching career.  On Thursday, I had a 40 minute conversation with Robert from my online grad class.  We had never met.  We had only posted information and comments on each others blogs.  We also worked on a wiki together.  It was great collaborating with him online to complete those activities, but it was even better seeing him in person…almost.  Through Skype we were able to have a discussion and share stories about our careers and how we use technology.  Using technology to talk about technology.  That was pretty cool.

Robert had a question about how to do something in our wiki.  Instead of me trying to explain to him the process, the new version of Skype has a screen sharing feature.  I shared my desktop with him and he was able to watch me do what he wanted to know.  How cool is that?  I figured Skype would be a great way to do off-site training for fellow teachers in my building.  I could show them how to use software or complete a task on the computer.  Also, I would like to use Skype to contact and talk to professionals in the science field.  My kids can Skype with them and get a first hand look at a real scientist that works in the fields that we are studying.  What a great authentic presentation for students.

How do you use Skype in your classroom?  What are some ideas of things you could use it for?

Connectivism in the Classroom

Unknown. (Date unknown). “Future.” From Connectivism Already Happened: Practitioners – Let’s Explain It… Now – While We Still Have A Job…Retrieved February 17, 2011

Another “ism” in education..are you serious?  Is connectivism a new learning theory or not?  I recently read a wiki in support of this new learning theory.  The Wiki titled, The Practicality of Connectivism gave many reasons why connevtivism should be considered a new learning theory as opposed to supporting other learning theories.  While I agree that connectivism is a new way of learning, I have questions about the debate.  Does it really matter if this is a new learning theory or not?  Why do we need to spend time arguing whether this should be considered a “theory?”  Let’s say the debate ends and it is considered a new theory.  Is it going to be packaged and sold to school districts like so many other learning theories have?  Is someone going to make millions on its framework?  If students are learning in this “theory” then lets just accept it as an acceptable teaching practice and use it.  Part of teaching is knowing your students.  If your students can use the connectivism way to learn, then it should be used.  If not, adopt another learning theory or supplement connectivism with it.  Our students are constantly changing.  Technology is changing.  If we can’t keep up as educators, we will fall behind and be replaced by someone who can keep up.  Theory is only as good as its application.  If it works, use it.  Does it really matter if it is accepted as a theory or not?  Sometimes I think that the intelligent people who research and create these “theories” forget what its like to be in the classroom.  Most likely, they have never been in a classroom before….

Snapshots of a Lesson: Flickr in the Classroom

Krikit. (2008, August 3). The Best Thing to Do When it is Raining is to Let it Rain. Krikit’s Photostream. Retrieved February 8, 2011

There’s a storm a-brewin’.  Not the kind of storm with rain and wind, but a storm that can involve lots of money, rights, and hurt feelings.  With today’s technology, students have instant access to millions of webpages.  These pages contain not only text but video, audio, and most commonly, pictures and images.  How many times have you seen your students go to Google Images and grab an image to paste into a presentation?  How many times have you done it?  Did you or your students credit the source of where you got that image?  Copyright has become a huge issue today.  People are suing over media rights.

The site Flickr.com is a place where people can upload and share photos they have taken.  You can also download images from the same site.  Each image has rights attached to it.  If students use an image, they need to credit its source.  One way Flickr can be use din the classroom is to discuss the importance of copyright and citing sources.  Students will be doing research their entire educational career.  It is important they understand these concepts.

From a science point of view, Flickr contain a wealth of images that are directly related to my content area.  The Creative Commons area is a great place for students get images to add to presentations.  As long as they cite their source.  Also, Flickr can be used as a place for students to take and store pictures to use in the classroom.  We can take pictures of what is going on in class and share them with the world.  By entering tags in a search box in Flickr, students can take virtual field trips to anywhere or see a slideshow of an important event.  Flickr is another web 2.0 tool that breaks down the walls of the school and allows students to travel to far away places and collaborate with people on the other side of the planet.  That is pretty cool.

Podcasts and Vodcasts in the Classroom

Podcasts are a great way for students to learn or reinforce information.  We all know they love wearing their headphones and listening to their mp3 players.  In fact, I can’t even say good morning to half of my students as they walk in the front door because they have their headphones so loud.  Podcasts give us, as teachers, a way to “get into the students head.”  We can create our own podcasts for the kids to download and listen to or watch on their mp3 players.

But why not have the kids make their own podcasts.  I recently subscribed to a podcast called Naked Science Notebook on iTunes.  The podcst answers simple science questions with interesting animations and fun narration.  After view a few episodes, I came up with an idea on how to use this cool podcast in my own classroom.  Listen to my ideas here. http://www.edline.net/pages/Susquehanna_Township_Middle_Sc/Classes/1011_620_01/podcast

Wiki Wiki What? What?

What’s a wiki you say?  No, it is not a way that cool surfer dudes describe the wave they caught this morning.  It is a collaborative tool used on the web by millions of people! It is a way for people to share ideas and design webpages without having to be in the same room as each other.  I have seen the benefits of using wikis in my own science classroom.  My students were assigned a small research project on Pluto.  They had a specific job (meteorologist, astronomer, geologist, or historian) and they had to research different items about Pluto related to their job.  After completing the research, they had to create a wiki sharing their research.  Each student in the group had to create their own page in the wiki, and then, as a group, they had to create a page that tried to convince their audience that Pluto should or should not still be considered a planet.  The results were spectacular.  Check out one project on Pluto and another on Venus.

In my own professional developement, I recently created a wiki on Internet Safety While Using Web 2.0 Tools. It was a great experience.  My group and I collaborated from a distance and created a page with very detailed information and nice content.  We added links and videos, pictures and widgets.  It was cool to share ideas through our discussions.  One challenge I found was that we almost wanted to put too much on the page.  Our topic was very broad and there were only three of us.  We managed to get all of the information we needed onto two wiki pages.  I also learned how to create a table of contents on our wiki page.  I never knew the purpose of using different header setting in wikispaces.  Now I do.  It was pretty cool!

One of the most famous wikis on the web is Wikipedia.  There are many opinions about Wikipedia and its use in the classroom.  Many teachers refuse to let their students use it.  Others use it as a starting point for students and stress the importance of cross referencing information to validate fact.  I do the latter.  It is important for students to know that facts usually do not come from one source.  We discussed it quite a bit this week, but opinion of Wikipedia has not changed.

All in all, I feel that wikis are a great tool for the classroom.  I have not had any resistance to using them in my classroom.  In fact, the students have asked me repeatedly if they can do more.  THe parents like the wikis because their students end products are web-based and they can view them at home!