Keep on Blogging!

I know that many of us are relieved to complete our ICT blogging assignment. The task seemed monumental but, I'm sure you will agree, turned out to be an excellent learning experience. I have learnt so much from reading your blogs. To those of you who suggested sites that could be of help, Thank you so much. To those who injected doses of much needed humour, loved it! Let us continue to blog and share ideas, resources, frustrations etc. This could be an excellent forum for the first batch of Reading Specialists, our mission- to make a difference in the lives of struggling young readers.

Keep on blogging!

Reading in Rhythm

Fellow bloggers, I came upon a very interesting website which advocates teaching children to read using rhythm. Hmmm! West Indians are born with rhythm. We walk in rhythm, we talk in rhythm and we move in rhythm. Why not teach our children to read in rhythm? Their objective is to make learning interesting and exciting so they use raps and chants and song- like repetitions which they call rhythm and rhymes. The activities are age appropriate and learners seem to love it. You can read more about it by visiting the following link:

http://www.phonicsrhythmsrhymes.com/gradefour.html

A Must Have Experience: Walking in a Struggling Reader's Shoes.

The Demonstration Way.

It’s sometimes difficult to imagine what struggling readers go through. Reading was never a problem for most of us. Words on a page never looked like Greek. I grew up reading; books were around me all of the time. My parents read, my siblings read, my teachers encouraged me to read . I’m sure most of you, my fellow Reading Specialists, have had the same experience. As a result we are able to read easily and consequently comprehension followed. It’s a no-brainer!

Unfortunately, for some of our students, the words on the page do look like Greek. Fluency and comprehension are out of the question. How can we, as teachers, fully understand the struggles our students go through on a daily basis? Well, I found a site that allows us to put ourselves in their shoes. It allows us to simulate their experience. It will blow you away!!!

You can share in this experience by clicking on the text pictured on the left. You can then click on the ‘Try It’ link and you will be well on your way to grasping the difficulties faced by our students. Hopefully understanding what they go through will lead to awareness and this will awareness will improve our instructional practices which in turn will improve our students’ learning.

Hope this has a profound effect on how you teach.

Please let me know how the exercises affected your thoughts about struggling readers.

Follow this link for an unforgettable experience:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunderstoodminds/attention.html

The Fun Begins

So the ICT course is over but the fun has just begun. To some of us the idea of using our newly learnt technology to teach literacy to our students might be a bit daunting. The thought that we really don’t have a choice does nothing to ease the pressure either. There’s no getting around it, we have to be aware of the uses of the technology and how it is constantly changing. We need to ensure that it’s integrated into our lessons so at the end of the day our students have spent enough time interacting with the technological tools to which they were exposed.
There’s no need to be intimidated. Here are some tips I came across to get you started.

1.PREPARE

There is nothing worse than an ill prepared lesson. Students begin to make noise and play. The rhythm of the lesson is lost and our objectives are not achieved. Know what you are doing and how you are going to do it.

2.RUN IT THROUGH

Remember what Ms Wood Jackson said repeatedly? Test run the technology before your lesson. Yes it is SUPPOSED to work but these things have a mind of their own. Check to ensure the equipment you need is working and available.

3.USE TECHNOLOGY WITH A PURPOSE

This leaves the students no time to get into trouble on the computer. Know which website you want them to visit, and what you want them to do there. Provide them with headphones so they can turn up the volume without distracting others.

Remember technology can be fun in spite of the related headaches. Go brave!!

The 'Slow' Learner and Electronic Books

All teachers know that many students with learning disabilities are not found in what some term 'special ' schools but in our primary and secondary schools. Typically these are the ones who fell through the cracks or should I say gaps in our education system and never received the specialised help needed for perform well academically. What do we do when faced with these students in our classrooms? One year ago we would have come up with numerous suggestions,but it would have taken a bit of thought. Now, the answers are as clear as day. We know of the joys of teacher made electronic books.

Electronic books are an excellent way to support students with disabilities. They expose students to sound, animation and interactive features which build on their prior knowledge and make it easier for them to develop positive attitudes toward reading. Those books, created by teachers for classroom use would serve to meet the needs of individual learners, focusing on weaknesses in vocabulary , comprehension and fluency.

In my research, I also came across an excellent website on digital storytelling. Its a great source of fresh ideas. I do hope you find it useful.

Here's the link: www.microsoft.com/education/teachers/guides/digital_storytelling.aspx

Impact of technology in the classroom

Hi fellow bloggers, I came across an informative video on the impact of technology on teaching and learning which I would like to share.

Concept Maps as an Assessment Tool

Hi fellow bloggers, I came across some literature on the use of concept maps as an assessment tool. It's a great way to trace, document and evaluate student learning and language acquisition.

According to Rice, Ryan and Samson (1998), there is a increasing tendency to replace traditional assessment with alternative assessment, such as concept maps for collecting information about student's ability and acquisition of knowledge.

Ruiz-Primo and Shavelson (1996) identify three characteristics of concept mapping assessment:

• a task that requires students to give evidence of possession of knowledge structure of a domain
• A format for student response
• a scoring system by which concept maps produced by students can be evaluated consistently and accurately.

These three measures ensure the concept map is an effective assessment tool.

Concept maps are assessed by comparing the one produced by the students to an expert map produced by the educator. This comparison allows the teacher to note what is understood and remembered by the student. Significant differences would inform what changes should be made in relation to how the material was taught to ensure that the students have a better understanding of the major concepts.