"I don't like Edmodo, I love it!"
"It's better doing homework on computers than paper. I think if you do more homework on computers you can get more people to turn it in instead of maybe having some scruffy writing on paper."
"Because you can chat to each other and do assignments."
"I like Edmodo because you can comment on people's writing and share things with one another."
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
TED Talk Homework
This video offers a first-hand account of the discovery of the structure of DNA - in a very honest approach. After reading about James Watson in high school and teaching about him in my own classroom, it was wonderful to get a sense of his personality. Watson tends to face harsh criticism from some in the scientific community, but I actually find his frankness refreshing. Even at his age, he was able to keep the attention of the crowd and include humor and enthusiasm to make the talk enjoyable. To me he is a humble person, acknowledging that he was not the "brightest in the room".Even though his ideas were dismissed time and time again, he persisted and ultimately succeeded. I hadn't really heard much about him since the Human Genome Project was completed in 1994. I was surprised to find he is currently researching how genes are responsible for major diseases. I admire his passion and am pleased to learn that he is still involved with genetics. I will definitely show part of this video to my kids!
Blog Assignment
Jen Brown
EDU 6050
March 20, 2011
Blog Review Assignment
I chose to read and review the posts on the blog Teaching Successes with ELLs at http://teachingsuccesseswithells.blogspot.com/. Denise Stewart is a teacher and educational consultant in California. She has been working with ELLs for close to 30 years. She created this blog to help ELL and Bilingual teachers share successes, failures, hopes, frustrations, etc. I have an interest in these posts because I have an ELL endorsement and over the last two years have had many ELLs in my Biology classes. I am always looking to stay current and find new ways to better help these students. Out of the posts I read, there were three that were the most interesting and relevant to my area of teaching.
The first post, "Cooperative Learning Strategies Level the Playing Field for ELLs" was very useful because I teach a biology class that is a combination of regular ed., special ed., and ELLs. Even with the training I received to get my ELL endorsement, it is still tricky to accommodate every student. Group work is often complicated because my ELLs tend become very quiet when partnered up with native speakers. The link in this post gave me practical ideas to set up a risk-free classroom. The benefits of cooperative learning for ELLs seem endless: it increases retention, is rewarding, reinforces social skills, and enhances self-esteem. The link also includes many cooperative learning strategies including: think-pair-share, numbered heads together (expert groups), and jigsaw - all very useful for accountability.
The second post, "Sci-Fi Science--A Real Tool to Excite Students About Science!" had suggestions to spark curiosity about science with topics the students are interested in. This post focused on the importance of "what if" questions, that encourage kids to think outside the box. Possible suggestions from the post that I could use in my biology class include: What will happen when Earth runs out of natural resources? What will happen if Earth's axis tilts? What dangers will humans face in colonizing the moon? How will Earth deal with food shortages as the planet's population exceeds Earth's present ability to feed them all? There is also a link to a TV show Sci-fi Science: Physics of the Impossible, that has short video clips that can be used in class. A few fun episodes relate to the human body - "Becoming a Superhero" and "Finding Super-strength." There is also a link to short quizzes that can be given after the video clip to evaluate how well the students understood the material.
The last post that was of interest to me was "Where Does Technology Come In To Support Our ELLs?" This focused on the benefits of document cameras, and provided a link to "50 ideas for using document cameras," that gives many ways to use the camera at all grade levels. Visuals are so important for students, especially ELLs, so these ideas are wonderful. This is exciting because I can see how using these document cameras can support all areas of language acquisition: listening, reading, writing, and speaking. Unfortunately my building only has one ELMO, but hopefully with grant money we can equip each science classroom with one over the next year. I also hope that with the new technology comes the proper training. The use of document cameras is an important step in getting our lab classrooms up to date with current technology.
I found this blog to be very encouraging and helpful. The author obviously has a great deal of familiarity with teaching ELLs, which allows her to successfully impact other teachers. The links provided in this blog are practical and useful, and I will easily be able to pass on this information to other ELL teachers in my building. I have come to learn that blogs are an extremely beneficial resource for educators, and I will continue to follow this blog and seek out other educational blogs as well. I strongly believe that it is essential for teachers to use a wide range of approaches because ELLs deserve an equitable learning experience.
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