Thursday, June 27, 2013

Summer Coursework for my ESOL/ Bilingual teaching endorsement

I have spent some of my summer completed a Computer Science Education course from WOU and the assignment have been focused on exploring and creating resources for ELL students in our classrooms. I have had a lot of fun and these are some things I have done for this course:

A: A YouTube video I created to encourage literacy of the Spanish language while reading the book "El ALmuerzo Sorpresa":

B: A Prezi Presentation on the Literacy Landscape Project created for ED 692 course, a graduate level course to learn about teaching Reading and Writing skills to ELLs:

C: A Screencast which shows teachers and students how to use Khan Academy website resources:
 

D: A Podcast I created while talking about strategies to unpack word problems in Math for ELLs:


E: An Animoto picture slideshow with music that shows some brief highlights of my life so far:
 
Enjoy the viewing!

FINAL PROJECT



I have embedded a link for a video I made on Screen-O-Matic that shows online Web 2.0 resources for ESOL students learning high school mathematics. 

I had some difficulty finding exactly one website that satisfied my expectations. I wanted a website that combined lessons on the CCSS High School Mathematics content and also provided a variety of skill practice, involving real life word problems that gave feedback and explanations to practice exercises. I found that Khan Academy met the lesson aspect with informational videos, and IXL met the CCSS skill practice with feedback expectation.
Although neither of the websites were ESOL specific, both meet the needs of ESOL students because of the visual aids and interactive content provided. It seems that all of the ESOL websites are primarily geared towards a K-8 grade level. So it made it difficult to find one website that was high school Math and specific to ESOL needs.
The websites I chose to use have a registration process. Khan Academy is free, but a login is nice because it remembers what videos have been viewed and scores that have been earned on practice tests. The videos are developed in detail using manipulatives and diagrams, entertaining and lively to watch, and full of real life applications. Khan does a good job of making the math applicable to real life situations and interesting. IXL requires a registration process and a fee. I was able to sign up for a 30 day trial. It seems like the really good websites that store more information than usual are the ones which cost money. IXL starts at $199 per year. It lets a teacher set up a virtual classroom and creates sign in accounts for each student. It keeps a detailed account of assessments that students have taken and are passing, informing the teacher of strengths and weaknesses. This would minimize the amount of time a teacher might spend on creating and grading formative assessments, and might even allow the teacher to give their summative assessments online. I really like how the skill practice questions are multiple choice, interactive, and use a lot of mathematical vocabulary.