Hello and welcome to my CARLA 2008 wikipage

The theme for the week- Bigger, Better, Smaller, Faster.

No, Faster Still

I'm learning how the web 2.0 and technology for communication and language acquisition is changing how we look at the world and the nature of information and knowledge

 

 

A quick snapshot of my current interests and energies: 

K-12 English Language Learners Coordinator in Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Recently entered the mystery of virtual worlds and their application to teaching
My mission is to support teachers and learners in content and language acquisition	Second year at CARLA--Taking Learner Strategies Course next week
Big Fan of the Twin Cities	Thinking the summer's going wayyyy too fast

 

 

Reflections

Monday

Using technology in the second language classroom is definitely the way of the future. The web is changing how we think about learning and assessment. It truly is the key to meeting 21st century learning goals. I am excited and humbled by what can be done to build communities, share knowledge and experience and bridge cultural and linguistic boundaries.  Since I am not a classroom teacher with a specific curriculum I don't yet know where to put the skills the Institute is bring to me to best use. For now, I plan on just getting acquainted with some of them...and having awareness of more of them. I'm having to pull back a bit to see where I can apply wikis, social networking like Del.icio.us and Trackstar.

One idea I have is to use a wiki for job-embedded staff development. I envision the ESL teacher as a second language acquisition and literacy mentor for the mainstream teacher. The collaborative nature of wikis could enable a grade level or department share knowledge and experience to move their personal and professional practice forward with out lots of meetings, staff development days and so on. It would be cost effective to districts and a way that administration could count toward evidence of professional development and goals for learning.

Another way a wiki could be shared is to increase home-school connection with families of ELLs. Since the children could provide content to the page in their home language, parents could be more participatory and even contribute to the class wiki. Technology is making our personal worlds bigger, while it makes the whole world smaller and this is happening faster and faster. Recently, I heard about a kindergarten class that used  SKYPE in an amazing way...when it was Sara Sol's turn to be "star of the week" they were able to have her grandmother in rural Mexico read the whole class a story. WOW! As I am learning about what is out there with the Web 2.0 my imagination is freed to create all kinds of personalized learning opportunities. That, to me is what teaching for the 21st Century demands.  

 

Tuesday

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Wednesday

I'm becoming aware of what is possible on the web and creating an instructional plan to take advantage of digital media in my local and content area framework. What is a realistic starting point for implementation? In K-12 ESL I have to ask--what are the language and content area learning objectives and how do I apply them to the digital media technology that can most effectively and efficiently facilitate learning?

Alyssa suggested I remember to frame any exploration around two basic questions:

PLAN: What do I want students to learn? How much time do I have to teach/create the materials?

Additionally I would ask: TEACH: How will I know students have learned? REFLECT: What will I do if they haven't?

Thursday

My plan to support teachers and build the ESL program will be to focus on teacher training and job-embedded staff development through coteaching and ESL mentoring. The web 2.0 and 21st Century literacy skills matched to appropriate technology will play a central role in curriculum and in classrooms. I will create support for both mainstream staff and students around ELL issues and second language acquisition. The examples of technology and their applied use in content based instruction and lesson planning help all children to become advocates for their own learning .

 

Friday

Implementation-

 

 

ere is a video I'd like to share. Zac helped me put it into a smaller, more staff

development friendly format.

 

 

 

my new page 

Picnik

Karen Davis's Page