The Impact of Technology on Student Learning.

Research literature shows in past decades that technology enhances literacy development, impacts language acquisition, provides greater access to information, supports learning, motivates students, and enhances students self-esteem.  More research indicates that computer technology provides opportunities for students to build personal knowledge through rich experiences that only technology can provide.

One study, The Reporter Project, used multimedia technology was developed and tested in sixth-grade classroom for two years and showed that students made statistically significant improvement in recognition and use of elements such as main ideas, supporting details and cause and effect relationships.  Their writing was also more cohesive!

Technology can be used to enhance language acquisition skills in the following ways:

• Multimedia presentations ( video, images, sound, text) can create stronger memory.
• The internet provides learners with access to authentic material, like news, and literature.
• Digital reading materials can be hiperlinked  to the reader to more easily digest the information.
• Students can engage in authentic types of communication through email, and other digital means.  

Technology improved test scores

Technology has positive effects on mathematics achievement.  Boster's study of 2,500 sixth and eight grade in Los Angeles showed a statistically significantly increase in math achievement scores when they used digital video. 

Technology is a great student motivator

When students have the choice in their assignment, see the relevancy, or can self-assess with teacher feedback, student motivation increases.  

This is a good article that explains that the use of technology is a great student motivator.  Everyone uses technology and it is a great tool.  There is a so many benefits to student learning.    Technology can help the learning disabled to the ADHD student.  It will allow the students to focus on the task at hand.   Students with learning disabilities have found to do better with better skills when using technology.  Students with physical disabilities, can give access to adaptive software without the need to physical write.  This article is a helpful and very useful. 

This is the link to where I found my file:///C:/Users/Mandy/Downloads/Blog%20Article%20Five%20(1).pdf

17 Things to do While you Actively Monitor a Standaridized Test

There was an interesting article I read recently that caught my eye; since this week is the STAAR Testing in our local schools.  The first part is basically what the article is about then I will explain what I think.  I hope you will enjoy!

There is so much wrong with standardized testing: they destroy their creativity, it discourages their ability to critical think, and it is very expensive. The most one that distresses teachers the most ist that the ability to actively monitor the test. Actively monitoring is an tediousness task that is designed by the State to prevent students  (and teachers) from cheating on the standardized test.
Teachers may not :

• Grade papers
• Talk
• Write
• Draw
• Read
• Use technology of ANY kind
• Or do ANYTHING that could distract the students

In fact, the only things teachers can do in some cases, in full school days are:

• Walk around the room
• Watch the students take the test

Here are the 17 things to do while you actively monitor the standardized testing...after all you have nothing but time!

 1) Memorize all the students’ first, middle, and last names from your roster. 

2) Keep a small amount of Silly Putty in your hand and challenge yourself to make various shapes without looking.  

3) Think about how you would describe the color red (or any color) to a person who cannot see.

4) Think about your responses to these “Would You Rather” questions or create some of your own.

5) Pretend to be a car.

6) Pretend to be a spider making a web. 

7) Pretend to be a ninja.

8) Think about what you would want your last words to be.

9) Put ice cream in a nondescript cup or mug in the back corner of the room just before testing.

10) Find things in the room that rhyme or almost rhyme.

11) Print out a sheet of riddles in a small font and put it somewhere only you will be able to see it.

12) Listen to the soundtrack of a musical just before testing and enjoy every single song being in your head for the next 8 hours.

13) Send each child positive vibes one at a time.

14) Arrange to have a specific treat after each day of testing.

14) Arrange to have a specific treat after each day of testing.

16) Do something healthy.

17) Think about what you would get on a vanity license plate.

There are probably a lot more ideas that this article clearly did not mention. Some of these are truly silly but would make having to do this taunting job more bearable.  I would mention that with all of these you would have to be as quiet as possible.  So when you are pretending to be a ninja be a fiercely quiet one!  There is one in my opinion that was not mentioned and you might agree with me and that is okay, it is to pray each student. I will try to use these methods when I monitor the standardized testing.  I hope you will use some of these methods too!      


http://www.weareteachers.com/blogs/post/2015/01/29/17-more-things-you-can-do-while-actively-monitoring-a-standardized-test

10 Ways to use Technology to Build Vocabulary

An eVoc strategy is an electronic or technology-based strategy that teachers can use to develop students' vocabulary learning and interest in words. As literacy educators, we need to use the tools that 21st-century technologies are available to use.  Vocabulary is also an area where teachers are asking for guidance on instructional approaches, strategies, and material. The purpose of this article is to highlight 10 eVoc strategies that hold promise for improving vocabulary learning in intermediate grades and that employ digital tools and resources that readily available and feasible to implement in today's schools.
What does research tell us abut vocabulary learning?

• For English Learners (EL's), academic language may represent the task of learning a third language. The good news is that we can improve vocabulary to our students. 
•  Direct vocabulary instruction is essential, but research indicates that students with well-developed vocabulary learn many more words indirectly through reading than from instruction. 

Strategies for teaching and learning vocabulary

eVoc strategy 1: Learn from visual displays of word relationships within text.

• Wordle is a free Web application that allows you to create a word Cloud based on the frequency of words in a particular text.

eVoc strategy 2: Take a digital vocabulary field trip

• Teachers can create a digital version of a vocabulary field trip using a free ONLINE PROGRAM called TrackStar (trackstar.4teachers.org).

• eVoc strategy 3: Connect fun and learning with online vocabulary games

• We recommend two sites that offer a variety of activities to engage students in playing with words and word meanings:Vocabulary Games and Vocabulary. Games include crossword puzzles, picture-word matches, word scrambles, and 8 Letters in Search of a Word (a game that can draw you in unexpectedly as you race to create as many words as possible from eight letters within the time limit).

eVoc strategy 4: Have students use media to express vocabulary knowledge This strategy focuses on students' vocabulary representations in multiple modes-writing, audio, graphic, video, and animation.   Students create captions to illustrate their understanding of contribute.Multimedia glossary example of camouflage using a POWERPOINT TEMPLATE

eVoc strategy 5: Take advantage of online word reference tools that are also teaching tools

• Many online word reference tools are also excellent teaching resources. For example, theVisual Thesaurus website complements its fee-based content with free information such as the Behind the Dictionary and Teachers at Work columns and teacher-created themed word lists.

Develop strategic digital readers with "on-demand" vocabulary help
eVoc strategy 6: Support reading and word learning with just-in-time vocabulary reference support
eVoc strategy 7: Use language translators to provide just-in-time help for ELLs

•  You can paste text into the translator field, select the input and output languages, and view the translation (seeBabelfish, Google translator, and Bing Translator). You may also DOWNLOAD a toolbar extension that translates any webpage automatically. 

Expand wide reading and incidental word learning with digital text
eVoc strategy 8: Increase reading volume by reading digital text

• Class libraries, read-alouds, book clubs, and independent reading time during the school day can increase the amount and variety of student reading.

• Time for Kids

• Weekly Reader

• National Geographic Kids

• National Geographic Kids' blogs

• Science News for Kids

eVoc strategy 9: Increase reading volume by listening to digital text with a text-to-speech tool and audio books

• A common concern among EDUCATORS is the readability of websites and Internet content.

eVoc strategy 10: Combine vocabulary learning and social service

•  This final eVoc strategy is a free online vocabulary game, Free Rice that has attracted millions of users, young and old. We believe it offers an opportunity to promote students' engagement with words while contributing to the social good.

This is a link to the article I got all this information from : http://www.readingrockets.org/article/10-ways-use-technology-build-vocabulary

This section highlights two online tools that provide just-in-time support while reading. Students can develop their strategic learning repertoire as they customize their own collection of supports.

• Rather than using print dictionaries or asking the teacher, students can learn to use online dictionaries and thesauri. When they have access to WORD HELP on demand, at the point of need, both monolingual (Reinking & Rickman, 1990) and bilingual (Yoshii, 2006) students tend to use them more often than print references and improve their understanding. Many of these Internet-based tools are free (they vary in difficulty, so try out different applications to determine the best fit for your students).
• Two popular free online dictionaries/thesauri are Reference.com and Merriam-Webster. Tools expressly designed for students include Word Central from Merriam-Webster , Back in School from Dictionary.com, and Yahoo Kids! American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.

Reading widely and deeply is important for vocabulary development and reading comprehension. These two strategies help increase students' volume of reading and, indirectly, their incidental word learning (Cunningham & Stanovich, 2001; Nagy & Herman, 1985).

This article is filled with a ton of fun filled actives.  There is a ton of links and I will be using this in my classroom.  I have used some of the strategies myself in my college years and found that they had value to using them. Wordle.net was a fun way to use vocabulary words or even sight words. At the beginning of the year it would be a great way for the students to get to know their classmates.  They could go on a hunt for familiar traits and when they put them in a wordle.net it forms this beautiful piece of vocabulary.  

I have used National Geographic kids in the labs at my times at Arlington Baptist College.  It was a great too the students loved it. 

The digital vocabulary field trip sounds like it would be exciting. There is a ton of information on this website that can lend itself to great teaching. You just have to use it!

Using a virtual field trip

All school districts are able to go on field trips.  They can become costly for parents and the school districts.  They can become time consuming for the classroom teachers as well.  Then there is the added stress of the parents coming along for extra chaperons. What if there were an option we could go to an African Safari in Kindergarten when we are learning about animal habits or to compare the cold climate of Alaskan polar bears?  Well that would be possible with the helpful aid of a virtual field trip.

This is all possible with the help of books and the internet. This could be made possible as a individualized activity or a group activity. The possibilities are endless. The article gave about 13 different places that you could travel to in one second! You could literally take a trip to the White House or go along with the Space Shuttle. This website gave a printable to help while your students were using the field trip activities. The printable included were from rating their experiences to adding their travels to a world map.  Then the students could do a writing activity about what they experienced.  This is a fun and exciting way to learn.

I would definitely be using this website and this idea in my classroom.  I did this idea while I was in college and LOVED it!  I can see how it could benefit every style of learning. No student likes to read out of a book and take a test over what they have learned.  Providing learning in an engaging and a cooperative style you are allowing so much more learning and I do believe that they will remember what they did and saw for a lifetime.  Leaning can be fun!

This is the link to the website http://teach123-school.blogspot.com/2012/10/virtual-field-trips.html

A Flipped Classsroom

What is a flipped classroom? A flipped classroom basically is when you give the material you are teaching your students the night before so when the students return the next day to class they are already familiar with the material and can dig right in to the meat of the lesson. 

This article discusses ways to incorporate a flipped idea into an everyday classroom.  It gives examples for ways to use it in almost every grade level and every subject area.  For example: Physical Education when a coach is frustrated when he spends too much time on  telling the students to settle down instead they can just jump into the fun of the Physical Education. They would already know the valuable skills needed to do the lesson the night before and when they get to the gym they are ready to start to have fun.This article gives another example for woodworking: since many students may not be as familiar with woodworking and the tools used in it it would be a great way to introduce the tools used in it.  It would be a great way to teach the proper way to use the tools so safety would be the used in when the students got to use them.  It would allow that time would not be taken out of the instructional time and students would be able to get more various project completed in the same amount of time. 

Another example given in the article was in an third grade classroom, it stated that if a student needed extra attention a teacher could use it for instruction instead of giving it at home it could be used in a center or a individualized format.  A student could replay how many times they needed to in order to understand how to do the task.  That would allow the teacher to help other students .
  
I see the benefits of using this method.  I have used this method while I was in college. I would use it as a center and for individualized instruction if needed.  It would be a great asset for those students with disabilities or those who work faster than other (the possibilities are endless!) This is a great teaching tool!  It doesn't  have to be limited to just at home use.  Not all students have access to the internet or a computer.  So, unless if my classroom becomes equipped with ipads or tablets for my students to take home I will not be using the at home version.  But, I will be using it in the center or individualized aspect. I do love the idea!

To read further about this subject this is the link:  http://www.edutopia.org/blog/flipping-the-non-flippable-classes-jon-bergmann

Dyslexic tips

In an recent article titled A Dyslexic Author's Writing Tips for Dyslexic Kids  written by tom McLaughlin it got me thinking as a teacher that has struggled with dyslexia myself what a great asset this is to pass along to any readers.  

He gives tips from a dyslexic person's perspective what a brilliant idea! Here is a list of his 10 tips: 

1. The things we struggle with are actually the most rewarding. 

• the reasoning behind this tip is we struggle so much that when we master something it feels so rewarding that we NEVER forget it! It would be like riding your bike after a long lesson.  You take that long ride and it feels so good.

2. Never be afraid to think visually. 

• reading is complicated and a struggle.  You can get it one minute and not get it the next. 

3. Try not to get angry at anyone that wants to help correct your reading.

• They are there to help you get better. You want to get better right?

4. Surround yourself by what you love.

• It helps you grow.  

5.Have corrections be made verbally instead of handwritten.  

• We remember things when they are not written down.  Having them in two ways of communication is the best key.

6.  Think of writing like this: poetry often works to a structure, you know that a certain line rhyme with another, it makes you think about words.  Its like the foundations of a house are laid out in front of you, and you have to add the walls and roof. 

• Think outside the box when writing.

7. Don't be scared of the blank piece of paper. 

• You have to start at some point just start and see where it goes. 

8. Do your homework about being dyslexic. 

• There is a ton of tips to help you!

9. When free writing don't be scared to lay it all out, it is all about you and what you have to say. 

• You can't be wrong when it is your piece of work. 

10. Go on and write something amazing!

• Don't be afraid to tell your story.  It feels good to tell and lay it out.  It is who you are! 

He has written a book here is the link to find his book it is about the power of drawing and story telling. 

http://bookshop.theguardian.com/story-machine.html

As someone that has struggled with dyslexia these tips are useful.  I am never afraid to tell someone that I have struggled with dyslexia because that is who I am.  I have learned to cope with it and at times it has been a struggle.  But, I have learned to embrace it and it has made me stronger.  I believe that it has made me a better teacher.  I can relate to my students in a way that other teachers cannot. I hope that you have learned a little from this blog and can relate to your students a little bit better. If you are a student struggling with dyslexia remember that you are not alone and that you are amazing and bright!   

Here is the link to the article I read:

http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/jan/22/a-dyslexic-authors-writing-tips-for-dyslexic-kids

Assistive Technology: Resource Roundup

 I recently looked at a online article titled Assistive Technology: Resource Roundup it had a ton of tips for teachers for using technology in the classroom that I thought might be useful in the classroom.
These tips are especially valuable for learners with learning disabilities and English Language Learners and in General just wonderful tips that are valuable to all learners.
For Educators:

• This article is a is a great walk through of assistive-technology basics for classroom teachers. It talked about the areas that we all face as classroom teachers:
• challenge
• Initial thought
•  Prospective and Resources
• Wrap-up
• Assessment
• It mentioned that as educators that we need to know the individual needs of our students because what would work for one student might not benefit for all the students with learning issues. 
• Be mindful of the individual needs and learn to give options that would encourage the use of such assistive technologies.  It might make the difference in the student's learning!

For Parents:

•  What is Assistive Technology?
• What is Assistive Technology? Assistive technology refers to devices that are used by people with disabilities to perform functions that might otherwise be difficult or impossible for them to do.
• It is just as simple as a tool to aid your child in the learning process.
• What types of Assistive Technology is available for my child some we use on a daily basis? 
• Braile
• Audio
• Large text
• Digital text
• Glasses
• Grip on a pencil
• Talk to text software 
•  If I have any further question where might I go and find out more about technology and disabilities?
• http://www.fctd.info/
• A good app that might help is  Graphite, a service of Common Sense Media; also if you are looking to enhance your child's learning by using apps this website has a ton of useful apps that might be helpful
•  https://www.graphite.org/top-picks/great-special-ed-apps-and-sites?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_term=&utm_content=10232013&utm_campaign=reviews
• Don't wait for the school to get involved what your child's needs are.  You know your child better than anyone.  Do your research.  
• Be prepared when it is time for the ARD and allow such items to be used on your child's IEP.  

This is my opinion: the values in using these tools are endless allowing the students to be able to be independent and promoting self-confidence is a tool that cannot be measured. It allows them to build on the skills that they are developing everyday and to utilize the individual that they can be if given the chance to excel.

This article had videos and links to other helpful articles on the same subject. This article was not meant for someone outside the education profession. It would be very hard to understand if you were not familiar with the terms that educators use.   I sure hope you enjoyed how I broke it down for you!






To find out more on this subject here is the article:
http://www.edutopia.org/article/assistive-technology-resources

My opinion on an app

I recently went looking at  different apps that the young students might be using, and came across an app that I wanted to share. It is called "KIK". I don't know if any of you are using it, or even have little ones using it but this is just my personal opinion on this app. Kik lets you connect with people you want to talk to, and it doesn't matter how or where you met them...at school, social app or on a gaming site.

When I searched i found lots of information about it. It says there is 185 million people love and are connected with Kik.  That got me thinking "How many of those users are being careful and responsible?" The good thing is it states that you never have to give out your personal phone number and you connect on your terms.  Young people need to be taught what is safe and secure.  Are we teaching them those values? It states that 40% of the users are from the ages of 13-25.

Some of the reviews of this app state that there is no monitoring of what is being sent to the users. However;there are ways to block users like any other apps. The content you share can be shared virtually and it doesn't disappear. There are eye-catching adds that may entice the users to pick which ones that they want to interact with.  There are 25 fashion, retail, non-profit and many more to choose to follow them in conversations.

Kik has made little profit selling stickers on the app so they recently introduced a point system which can reward users for specific tasks.  The app runs like a text messages with push notifications.

You can get videos sent to you. In an instant if you like the video it can be sent out to all your contacts.  That scares me.  However, with any mobile device it is our responsibility to monitor what our little ones are doing around us.  Do research about any product before you allow your little ones to use them and always add them so you can be connected with them.  This world we live in is not always safe and secure.

Please remember that this is just my opinion on this subject.  I'm not suggesting to download this app or delete the app.  All I am suggesting is to do your homework and protect your little ones.  Just be very cautious about what you are letting your students or your own children use.

Technology Integration: A Short History

I recently read an article titled Technology Integration: A Short History written by Suzie Boss; in the article she stated that technology needs to be integrated into every classroom.  There is no question that over half of the student that we teach use technology at home.

In 1960's Seymore Papert designed a Logo Language Program to be a simple yet complex program with enough mathematical understanding behind it.  It also allowed a computer to take control of their learning environment. He stated " With computers, there is a substantially bigger chance that you can lead the child with less effort into something he really likes doing..."

Using technology has positive benefits in mathematical achievements as well.  In a 1998 Educational Testing Service Study they found that some advances to learning include:

• technology brings excitements to the curriculum and to real-world problems
• technology provides an opportunity for teachers to scaffold students with extra tools to enhance learning
• technology allows for feedback
• technology builds a platform for global communication for teachers, administrators students, parents and other professional
• technology also expands opportunities for teacher growth

In my opinion this article was great.  It fully took in depth the need for technology.  Our classrooms need technology.  Not having technology would be like not having a textbook.  We could not teach properly without technology.  The times are changing and technology is ever changing as well.  The studies have proven that almost every student can learn from some aspect of technology.  Our students attitudes change when the use of technology is about to be used change to excitement and a sense of pride.  The students get more out of using technology than we know, it stimulates their brains.  The article had a ton of great advantages for the use of technology and I agreed with every one of them.  I plan on using technology in some aspect in my classroom everyday.  

Thank you for reading!!!

Here us a link to the article : http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-history