Nik Peachey

Culture

http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/search/label/culture

This culture site tells of a Youtube video site, LoneGirl15 that provides teenage students with personal situations in video form common to teenagers in language that they can identify with. I learned that providing these types of discussion starters is a great way to get teenagers to write and talk about issues that affect and interest them.

Knowledge Sharing
http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/search/label/knowledge%20sharing

From the knowledge sharing Youtube site Online Video: As Knowledge Resource, I learned how “with just a simple webcam, or a digital camera or camcorder it is now possible for teachers and students to create and share their knowledge and experience of a vast range of topics” that interest them. They can also “access a global pool of knowledge and experience from cultures all over the world”. Again this is done in video form and serves as a great introduction to discussions or writing activities.

Language Exchange
http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/search/label/language%20exchange

I learned about a language exchange site, Friendshipsabroad.com, that allows students, or anyone for that matter, to get a language pal that they can email, chat with or leave voice-mail messages for without disclosing personal information (not even their email). It has the potential to aid with social language development (BICS). “You simply put in your language and then the language you want to learn and then you can also choose the country where you would like to find the person. Click on search and you get a list of people who fit your criteria.” Although you have to register, it is free and provides tool to aid you with your communication.

Science and Math sites for ELL

In this list of sites,The Best Science & Math Websites — 2008, Larry combines both Math and Science sites. He does not list them according to preference. However, he does have a clear choice for the number one site — and the same site is number one for both science and math. In order to make the list the sites had to meet his usual criteria. They have to be free, engaging, and accessible to English Language Learners. Some of the sites in both categories give opportunities for language development.

Reading Sites for ELL

The sites on this list, The Best Websites To Help Beginning Readers, can be helpful to beginning and early intermediate English Language Learners, as well as to younger native-English speakers. They provide them with accessible and high-interest text. All the sites, except for one, have “talking stories” that show images and provide audio support to the text. The images and audio provide a high-degree of accessibility. Larry ranks eleven sites, with only one not being free. He suggests that the $60 yearly subscription for that one would be well spent. He also estimates that there are well over five hundred high-quality stories, including fiction and nonfiction, contained in these eleven sites. These sites provide countless online reading activities to supplement the texts as well.

Listening Sites for ELL

This Larry Ferlazzo's website, The Best Listening Sites For English Language Learners, consists of a series of listening websites that he lists into two categories, “sites that let users listen to anything they write or find on the internet” and “sites that have a wide-range of listening options combined with assessments. Sites in both of the categories had to meet the following criteria to have been included: “be free, be accessible to English Language Learners, let English Language Learners listen to pretty much anything they would either write or anything they could find on the internet, or have a wide range of listening options that would be combined with comprehension assessments”. Although Larry tries not to identify these in order of preference, he does single out one because he can’t seem to help himself.

Web 2.0 Basics

While reading the blog Basics for Beginners: What is Web 2.0?, I began to believe that I too could effectively communicate on the worldwide web using this valuable tool. I have already gotten a small notebook and began to write down and define terms that I will need to navigate the web while reading and writing on it. I can feel an excitement about using this new tool that can't help but be contagious as I share it with friends, family and colleagues. Once I feel that I am up to speed with the tool, I don't have any reason to believe that I can't use it with my students in my classroom.

Teaching Students to Blog

I read the blog Thinking About Teaching Blogging to Your Students
It was a very informative blog. I liked the way it took a reader through phases. After choosing a platform in phase I, a teacher needs to explore the fine art of blogging before teaching it to students. Phase III involves research and permission from the administration. Once permission is obtained it is simple to go through Phases IV through VI where the teacher needs to start teaching blogging, formulate a rubric and design an initial posting. There may be a need for reteaching after viewing the first posting and before assignment of the second posting. New things can be added one at a time for subsequent posting. I truly enjoyed how this blog summarized teaching blogging to students in a very informative and concise way. It’s like teaching blogging to students for dummies.

Why students should blog

Blogs give tech savy students who are possibly below grade level in class a chance to demonstrate their strengths and work with that mind set. They gain pride in their work sometimes for the first time. They are among peers without a teacher with a red pen. It is especially good that they get to pick their own topics.

I read a blog entitled 20 reasons students should blog.

Shift Happens

I was amazed by the changing statistics.

Video

Blogging in the Classroom: A Preliminary Exploration of Student Attitudes and Impact on Comprehension

EJ779030 - Blogging in the Classroom: A Preliminary Exploration of Student Attitudes and Impact on Comprehension

I was surprised that college students spent less time completing writing assignments using blogging that when using traditional methods. There was no significant difference between blog and paper assignment comprehension. Students felt benefited by having their writing exposed to diverse viewpoints. The data did show a need for more education for reviewing and critiquing the writing of peers. Although the abstract didn’t mentioned use of blogging to submit writing at lower academic levels, I can’t see why the same benefits can’t be expected with proper training of younger students in reviewing submitted writings.

Report: Girls blog, boys post video

Report: Girls blog, boys post video

I was surprised that boys and girls were not equally likely to post both blogs and videos. I was also surprised that teens were more likely than adults to protect their personal information and images. I would have also thought that more adults than teens would restrict access to their videos rather than an even number of adults and teens.
I am the mother of three teen boys and I do worry about the things that they post and view on the internet. In the future I will encourage them to restrict access to these things at all times along with monitoring their sites.

Access to Computers

My classroom contains six PCs and I have a laptop issued by the school. My school has four mobile laptop labs that I am free to wheel into my classroom and use with my students. My school has a computer lab with approximately 25 PCs that I am free to sign up to take my students to. At home we have one PC, my personal laptop and my husband's laptop from work. So as you can see I have quite a few computers at my disposal.

Pat

Loosing the Fear of Technology

Wow!!

I was dreading trying to create my own blog even though we were told in class that the steps were easy to follow. My sister, the computer analysis, terms me a technology dummy. However, she'll have to change her tune once I truly get the hang of this and spring it on her. Technology really does have very little if anything to fear.