Sunday, December 5, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Mentoring Minds: The English Language Learner Strategies Guide
This website has a lot of information that can be useful to educators of English Language Learners. The website is called Mentoring Minds. According to this website, the No Child Left Behind Law is enforcing schools to make sure that all students are improving, even the E.L.L. students. Therefore, it is important that teachers have specific strategies that will help the E.L.L. students improve in their learning skills and grade wise as well. This website not only has strategies for teachers, but it encourages parents to help their child by making cultural adjustments and allow more opportunities, now that their child is learning to speak English, in order to ease the transitional process.
What I found most interesting about this website was how the tool bars on the side offered more than just teaching strategies to educators. The website has assessments that can help bring up the students’ test scores in math and reading for standardized tests. In addition, there are vocabulary, Spanish, math and writing activities that the students can work on. The website is not only for teachers, but for parents as well. Both parents and teachers can monitor their student or child “mentoring their minds” by doing activities in different subjects, using smart charts, and using graphic organizers. This site also has classroom management tips, flip charts for critical thinking strategies, internet safety and protection, behavior guides, and E.L.L. strategies. Overall, this website is very useful for the students to improve in their studies because it provides special activities and strategies that will help ease the transitional process.
http://www.mentoringminds.com/ELL-Strategies-Guide-Research.php
Friday, November 19, 2010
A Site for the Ages
Finding sites on technologies that assist Ell students was proved to be quite a daunting task. After viewing multiple sites I stumbled across the one stated above. After reviewing this site, it has everything I was looking for and more. There are multiple articles under each subheading of the site which include audio books and publications, optional character recognition, paper based computer pen, speech synthesizers/screen readers, and the variable-speed tape recorders. Under each subheading there is a small summary of what the technology actually does to help Ell students on their path to learning. The site then displays a “products to consider” section to give examples and products that are related to the technology. The final and most helpful part of the site for each technology is the “resources to help you evaluate” which is consumer tips for helping you evaluate the effectiveness of the technologies and help you compare them to find the right one for you.
The site is well put together and covers all of its bases by featuring a series of links on the sidebar to help guide you in the direction of the information that you seek. The site not only teaches how to teach reading but also gives very insightful strategies that can be used by teachers to get the most out of their instructing techniques. Instructional videos are also on display as well as a well equipped learning store that provides a link to the sites store where they sell everything you would need for educational purposes. I really like the fact that the site gives you all of the information first before it leads you to its store because once you enter you are well informed and know exactly what your are looking for.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Assisting Students who are English Language Learners (ELLs)
While I learned alot from the site, my personal feeling was that the website made it seem very easy and sunny to help ELLs. It listed its methods including inclusion, pull out, and mainstream, but I think the reality of the situation is that's its very difficult to teach English Language Learners. As for the funding, the reality is that there just isn't enough to provide the proper help to all of the schools.
http://www.unionps.org/index.cfm?id=333
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Special Programs for Special Needs
This post is very helpful in that it clearly posts the several different technological tools to help special needs students. Not only does it give a description of what the program does and which need it specifically addresses. The site shows the advantages of word processors, which gives accommodations for the dyslexic. Word processors provides spell checking and font size and color change. The site also explains the advantages of reading systems, concept mapping, phonetic spelling, word prediction, speech recognition, personal information managers, talking calculators, and low tech tools such as post-its and highlighters.
The access stem site is well put together and full of information on the different learning aids for the special needs. But it does fail to give a link to provide information on the systems themselves or links the lead to sites to purchase these programs. Some statistics on the effectiveness of these programs would have also proven useful. The site also has a couple of glitches in that its top links are half cut off in some areas. The site does though have a knowledge base search which can help lead you right to the information you are looking for.
Alexandra's Podcast
Gabcast! EME 2040 #1 - Alexandra Newton's Podcast
This podcast will talk about two different websites that involve technological tools for assisting students with special and diverse needs.
Basic Technology Tools for Diverse Learning Needs
This article by Kathy Weise discusses how many people have different learning needs such as speaking a different language, using different learning styles, come from different backgrounds, have mental or physical disabilities, need to enhance their technology skills, and need more encouragement. In order for everyone’s needs to be met, students should be able to access the correct curriculum in order to suit their learning needs. An example of this would be putting a sound amplification system in a classroom in order to help students who are hearing impaired. This device can also be helpful to students who have A.D.D. (attention deficit disorder) because the system can encourage students to learn better from audio learning style, if they are strong in that type of learning. The article also discusses Universal Design for Learning (UDL), which are architectural designs that help students move around the outdoors more easily such as building a ramp for students who are physically disabled and are in wheelchairs. UDL is based on advancing learning styles and skills, structural design, educational technology, and assistive technology.
Since the use of computers and assistive technology tools in schools are increasing at a rapid rate, the program helps students with specific learning needs. Another way technology has helped students in schools is by reading the text itself. Teachers can change the font size, font type, and highlight important words or phrases, which would be projected from the computer to a screen, while teaching their students. This can benefit students by allowing them to read and following along better. Some other topics this article discusses are benefits to using technology in classrooms, what students can gain by learning from different technology programs, and lesson plans teachers should use. While the site is informative, it reminds teachers to observe their students and what type of learning style will benefit them. In addition, this site mentions what technological tools teachers can use to enhance the student’s ability to learn, such as how to use word document, how to use the computer system, when to use talking text, speech recognition, and organizers for research and reading comprehension. Overall, this article is useful because it discusses important ways to use technology to help students with different learning needs. Weise discusses how some learning styles for special needs students can even benefit students who may have a disorder or may be a normal student.