Chapter 10-Technology Integration Strategies for ELL and Foreign Language Instruction

I was not aware of the variety of strategies available to support ELL and foreign language learners, specifically ELL students. As a new teacher I have struggled tremendously on ways to reach my ELL students. The section on technology based strategies was extremely helpful to me and I plan to implement many of the strategies learned into my classroom. I have listed two of the strategies most interesting to me.

Multimedia software and interactive storybooks- These strategies are designed to support language acquisition and vocabulary development. They allow teachers to have individualized plans for the students different language levels. This is great because I have ELL students who are at different reading levels and students who struggle in different areas. Individualized instruction allows students to be helped in specific areas of need. This strategy also gives students a chance to interact in English in a less stressful environment. The student is allowed to see the words along with illustrations to match. The students are not under pressure by peers, they are allowed to work at their own pace, and they are not under pressure to pronounce English words correctly.

Learning games on handheld computers- Using handheld computers is a great way to help students. Many handheld computers are designed to give students practice in math, science, and social studies using content from textbooks. I believe using handheld computers to enhance English instruction is wonderful. The use of handheld computers will allow students an oppurtunity to gain more interest in learning a new language. Students will have the advantage of learning a new language as well as advancing their technology skills.

Chapter 9 Literacy Development

Technology is also beginning to play a huge role in literacy development. Chapter 9 discusses numerous thing teachers currently use in their classrooms to support and motivate literacy development. I found many of the examples they listed very interesting. Here are a few of the examples that I found very useful and imortant:

Networked literacy projects-They suggest using internet sites to engage students in reading books. Classroom teacher can also use story starters, having each student write a sentence or paragraph and the emailing to the next student. I have tried story starters in my own classroom and I can say that it is wonderful!You really get to see how far some kid s can go with the imagination. Also, everyone has a chance to express themselves and know body feels left out.

Digital Storytelling-Have students produce digital images to visually communicate and provide pictures for the video. This activity has been found to make the reading process easier to understand through visuals. I believe this would be a wonderful activity for students to complete. In most books the picture are already drawn for the students to view. This would allow students to express their own creativity through visualization and narration. Students can compare and contrast the pictures they draw with the ones drawn by the original narrator.

Writing in blogs-Blogs is increasing in popularity among students. Blogs can be a great benefit to student writing. Also, students can use blogs to have discussions about books they are currently reading and class. Blogging can be an outlet for them to exchange ideas and get feedback on their reading and writing. I am a little behind in technology so I didn't know much about blogging before this class. I've found that blogging has been quite fun on a weekly basis. It has been interesting blog on some others sites as well as see what the others are thinking.

Chapter 8- Integration Strategies for Web-Based Activities

I was extremely interested in integration strategies for web-based activities. From reading I've found that web-based projects and activities can open numerous doors for learning in the classroom.
Support for student research-Websites and web-based resources are a great way to help students find information for research and presentations. Using web-based resources is wonderful tool for students to use when they are interested in acquiring new information about a topic or project.
Motivation for writing-Web-based activities are also motivation for writing. Things such as email and videoconferencing are great for motivating students to do their best writing. Students are prone to becoming more excited when they have to type versus using the traditional paper and pencil.
Practicing for information literacy skills-Finding information on the internet plays a huge role in classroom learning. Learning how to use web resources is a great opportunity for students to learn to use the web properly.
Visual learning problems and solutions-Visual learning helps students understand problems and find solutions. I can see my students benefiting tremendously from visual learning. They seem to really enjoy imaging and animations, using them keeps the students more engaged.
Development of collaboration skills-Web-based projects are also a great opportunity for students to collaborate on projects such as making a brochure or designing a web page.
Multicultural experiences-Web-based projects allow students to get insight on other cultures and gain perspective on other places in the world. Doing a web-based activity such as a virtual fieldtrip would allow students to explore a place they might not have the opportunity to visit.

Chapter 7-Communicating on the Internet

Communicating on the internet has become a main source of communication for teachers and students. Internet communication such as e-mail and videoconferencing can be much easier than sending a letter or waiting for someone to return your phone call. Chapter 7 describes various internet resources and ways they can enhance communication. Email is one of the resources it lists. An email is an electronic message sent to an individual. Email can be especially helpful to teachers, students, and parents. I have learned firsthand through EDT 630 how helpful email can be. I find myself using email to contact the professor as well as my classmates. If I can use it to contact my classmates, I'm sure my students can use it to contact theirs. I didn't think of it this way before but now it all makes sense. Berkson and Britsch (cited byRoblyer 2006) found that having students email others gives more immediate purpose for writing, motivating them to write more frequent ly and produce longer passages.

Listserv would be another great resource for students to use. Listserv is an electronic list of email addresses. Listserv would be great for classroom use because everyone gets a copy of the email sent to the list address. This way every student has access to the class email list. They can email one another versus calling on the phone. This would help students to advance with technology skills.

Video technology skills is also a great resource that Roblyer discusses in chapter 7. Videoconferencing is a form of two-way interactive communication that allows those involved to see and hear each other. This would be great for students to interact with each other. This would also be handy for days when the teacher cant come to school. The teacher and students can conference with one another.

Chapter 7 lists a number of Internet resources but I found the ones listed would be the most helpful to me.

Chapter 6-Video Production and Editing Systems

I really enjoyed the section on integrating video production and editing systems. Computer-based video and editing systems have become daily based necessities over the last few years. Students and teachers are using them for various things such as school news and video production skills. My school has allocated several funds over the past 2 years to computer based video and editing systems and I've been to several schools that already have things in place as essential communication tools. Chapter 6 offers many ways to integrate video production and editing systems into a school or classroom. Below I have discussed the ones that I found related to me the most.

• Demonstration and procedures-It suggests using short clips for repeated activities such as science experiments. Teachers can film theselves or others. I could see this being very beneficial to teachers because they could use the same video clips from year to year, or re-record themselves over as a new experience each year.


• Student-created presentations-Student-created presentations are a great way for students to document their research during a project or investigation. While you are integrating it into your classroom the students are integrating it into their lives.


• Video lectures-It suggest that teachers make videos of themselves or others introducing important information. It explains how this could be helpful for students who miss the original presentation. I had never thought of using video lectures for this purpose before but now I find that very useful. I've had lots of students out sick for the last two weeks, maybe if I had recorded some of my lessons I wouldn't be continuing to repeat myself. :0)

Software Support Tools-Chapter 5

Chapter 5 introduced other software support tools that you could use along with the "basic three" learned about in chapter 4. Their is a variety of software available to assist teachers and students. Chapter describes six general categories of software support tools. I was particularly interested in materials generators. I felt this section had lots of information related to me.

The first tool it discusses is desktop publishing software and the huge role it plays in the classroom. Desktop publishing software allows both teachers and students to text and graphics on each page and allows lots of user control over documents. Desktop publishing software can also be used for as many activities as word processing software. The author gave many suggestions on implementing Desktop into your classroom. One of my favorites was to have students create a flyer or brochure. This is also an oppurtunity for students to practice grammar and spelling.

It also discusses test and rubric generators. Making tests and rubrics are two of the most time consuming activities that a teacher can experience. Software for these has become a high demand for teachers. Test generators are really helpful to me. They do lots of things such as creating different versions of the same test and provide answer keys. Test generators are truly a dream come true!

Individualized Education Program (IEP) Generators have become huge over the last few year. The special education teachers at my school use IEP generators on a daily basis. Students with special needs usually have lots of paperwork. IEP generators have extremely lightened this load. IEP generators really take a load of work off the teachers. They allow you to work much faster and they are also make the IEPs easy to read.

Overall, Chapter 5 was fulll of helpful information. The section on materials generators really hit home for me. It provided me with lots of new information to build my prior knowledge with.,, :0)

Integration Strategies

Chapter 4 gave an overview of the basic three software tools: word processing, spreadsheets, and databases. This chapter suggested numerous ways that these tools can be implemented into the classroom. Some of the ideas they gave were very helpful to me. It explained how word processing is a huge asset to the writing process. Integrating word processing into the classroom will allow students to illustrate their work and increase their motivation to write. I really believe this is true. When I allow my children to type on the computer versus using pencil/paper they become much more interested in their work. When using word processing in the classroom students can learn to create coherence between sentences. They can also use color in their writing.

I also learned that using spreadsheet in teaching and learning can be very interesting as well. Students can learn easier ways to sort data. Spreadsheet can also assist students with complex calculations. It suggested an activity where students can predict average numbers of M&M's and colors in a package. I have tried this activity in my classroom numerous times and the students
love it!

I have always used databases in my classroom but this chapter did offer some new ways to integrate. Databases can be used to teach research and study skills. They can also be helpful with posing and testing hypotheses. Databases can show help students support or refute information.

Using software tools can be very helpful in the classroom. I've found that when they are properly implemented they become an essential part of learning.