I am happy to be writing and sharing more information with everyone. I was out for a bit with a pretty bad concussion from falling on some really slippery ice… twice. I am excited to announce that I will be presenting on glogs and kerpoof at the 2012 MN ESL, Bilingual and Migrant Education Conference on Friday afternoon. I am very excited about being able to share what I have created in my classroom this year with other great educators!

I am also beginning to consult with schools and districts on enabling their teachers to use technology in their classrooms to promote higher order thinking. I am very excited about this new endeavor as I have a strong passion for 21st thinking skills in the classroom.

from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/collaborative-assessment-digital-classroom-social-media-tools

Everyone who is looking for the links from Minneapolis Public Schools NET Spotlight that I did on Glogster & Digital Storytelling is here!

Glogster – online interactive posterboard
Digital Storytelling Ideas – many different ways to teach digital storytelling!
Creative Commons – Explains licensing agreement about creative commons and how to legally use information found on the web.
Kerpoof – the website I am using for introducing digital storytelling
Story Templates – A great site for many templates, including my storyboard one!
Rubrics – creates rubrics that you can edit for free!!!

my professional twitter: lindsaymalene

I have been learning so much this year when it comes to teaching middle school students and when it is appropriate and not appropriate to use 21st Century skills in the classroom. I believe these skills are extremely important, but should only be used to enhance the curriculum and standards that are there. The technology parts of teaching should not take over the class.

Two ways I am doing this in school is with Glogster & Kerpoof. I am using Glogster with my 7th graders to create poems about the Holocaust and having them take on a persona from the story “Night” by Elie Wiesel. My students not only have to create a metaphor to build off of, but their glogs need to use only creative commons photos, have them be cited and to create a mood for their glog. Finally they will have to evaluate and comment on their classmates glogs after publishing. There are so many pieces in the project that my students are not only learning parts of poetry, but how to think critically. Technology must do this in the classroom.

With Kerpoof, I am teaching my 5th graders to create digital stories. First they will have to decide on a genre and a conflict before diving into their storyboards. When they are actually creating their digital storybooks, the students will be challenged to only use pictures and words that are from their story and have to do with their story. They will need to evaluate and determine how to best do this. I look forward to beginning this next Monday with my students!

Here is my Prezi about using these technologies in the classroom:

There are so many ways to add in higher order thinking skills for students while using 21st Century skills. What are you doing in your classroom? I’d love to know!

I am sitting here thinking about tomorrow: the day students arrive to school. How is everyone else doing? I am very excited to continue with my career at a new school and it is a MIDDLE SCHOOL. Ahhh, I love that age! I know I know, not everyone agrees with me, but that is ok with me.

I am very excited for my job, but I am nervous about co-teaching with some teachers. They have had a failed model of co-teaching in the past and some of the veteran teachers have already expressed their disinterest in me joining their rooms. I would love to hear some ideas on how to bridge this gap better. Currently I am trying to build my relationship with them by helping create mandatory posters for their room and having a “coffee center” in my room. Any other good ideas??? I’d love to hear them!

So I am just finishing up a class all about the different way that you can incorporate the web into your classroom. Actually this website used to be just a resume, and has become a blog (or weblog) because of a requirement for this class. However, I am really enjoying the blogging experience now. I thought it would make sense to share about a lot of the things that i have been learning about.

First off, if you are interested in learning more, our text was really easy to follow and not expensive to buy. It is Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms by Will Richardson.

We discussed many items from blogs (also known as weblogs), wikis, policies for safety of students, twitter, Facebook, Ning, Flickr, RSS aggregators (which basically means a place to collect everything you subscribe to on the web, like Google Reader), social bookmarking/trend sites (have you seen Jott, Diigo, Digg This! or del.cio.us?), and podcasting through Yodio. Many items that might have come up or I have used before that are equally amazing are Prezis and TweetDeck amongst others.

Here are a few of my random thoughts on the aforementioned items…

My favorite new find: YODIO!!! Wow, I am so impressed with this site. Here on this site, as well as others, you can sign up for free and connect you phone number to your account. Then all you need to do is call the toll free number and record a message when it tells you to. When you hang up, within minutes, it is recorded to the website. Then you can create a podcast from your recordings or use them on another site. This creates a way for students to use this technology EVEN IF they do not have a computer at home and also makes it so you can add audio to presentations without needing to buy a bunch of handheld recorders. AMAZING. I could see myself using it with my ELLs and having them practice their oral language by sending me “voicemail hw” this way. I am sold on this material!

What I brought to the table: Prezis! If you haven’t heard of them, research ‘em! They are an easier and a new and improved version of PowerPoint, that also lend themselves to lots of creativity. They might seem hard at first, but seriously, watch a how-to video, SOOO EASY! To top it off, my students last semester LOVED them. I had my level 1 ELLs and my level 5 students create them. With scaffolding, it is a material that is accessible to all levels of students!

Ning? Ever heard of it? This is something that is also new to me, but I am more impressed with Yodios. Ning is like taking your blog, Flickr, twitter and Facebook and mashing them all into one site. I think this is great for a classroom. It provides that social networking opportunity for teachers with their students, while maintaining their privacy on Facebook and such. Unfortunately, Ning is not free, which is a drawback to it. It is not very expensive and only costs money for the person creating the community, so at least the students wouldn’t have to pay. Also, if you are really tight on a budget, Pearson has an opportunity for teachers to apply for a scholarship for Ning.

I believe that the crisis happening over in Japan can be used in a multitude of ways to encourage and educate students about Japan and natural disasters. First off I need to state that as I am writing this I am thinking back on my time when I lived in Japan: Morioka, Iwate Prefecture. My former director and his family also live/d in Sendai, where I frequently visited them and made lots of wonderful friends. I have been back from Japan for almost exactly one year (April 14th). I am blessed to not be over there is a time like this, but am happy to share my knowledge and experience with my students as we process the crisis that is happening.

First of all lessons on geography can be especially helpful and important with understanding where I lived versus where the earthquake and tsunami hit. Japan has regions, just like we do in the US and prefectures, which are like our states, and then capitol cities. It is great for students to be able to make connections with US geography to other places in the world. It helps students see we are not so different from one another.

Also, a lesson on natural disasters can stem from this crisis. Can earthquakes happen where we live? For me in MN, not so much even though they can happen just not like in Japan. What are the other kinds of natural disasters and have student research the worst natural disaster sin the world, or even just the worst earthquakes. In the last couple of years we have plenty to choose from: Chile, Haiti & now Japan.

These kinds of hands on authentic lessons are so important for ELLs as it will connect to or create background knowledge for them on these subjects. The lessons are rich in content specific vocabulary while being real and interesting to hold their attention and make them want to understand. Also there are so many available photos, videos and audio files that will increase their comprehension of the topic.

Lastly, another way to incorporate the earthquake into your classroom is by having your students learn about relief efforts and do something in the school to raise support. This will require them to read up on what is needed (food, shelter, clothing, etc which could become a focus), write and create handouts/posters for the school, write letters/emails to organizations for ways to help and organize a fundraiser of some sort.

These are not the only ways to incorporate the recent events into your classroom, but are a great beginning – and a wonderful way to make the classroom come alive during all of the testing that goes on during the spring!

What is the difference between ESL, ELL and the newly acclaimed EL?

Besides all of these terms we also have: LEP, TESOL, TESL, TEFL, EAP, SIOP, CBI, L1, L2, SLA, TPR, ELT, CALP, BICS, FES, NES, LES, and even more. The ESL world is filled with so many different kinds of acronyms sometimes it can make you feel like you are speaking another language in itself!

But the basics comes down to what do I need to know and why are certain acronyms used more than others?

ESL is the most common used term that simply means English as a Second Language. This is finally becoming more well-known outside of the field of education, so of course it has changed to ELL inside the field of Education. ELL means English Language Learners. This is the more politically correct acronym to use when speaking about students who are learning English. This is because not all ELLs speak ONLY ONE other language — so really we can’t call them ESL students, right? Yea, so this does make sense.

Then why oh why does the “newest” term EL coming into play? This simply means English Learners… I don’t understand if the people who coined the new term are trying to make things simpler or what, but I think it is just adding another acronym to an acronym filled world and will make the ESL field even less cohesive with everyone using what they think is the best term.

What do you think?

I believe the leadership in a school can make or break that school. The way one leads needs to be in direct correlation to the relationships that they are building around them. I felt so strongly about this that John Maxwell quoted me in his book, “Everyone Communicates, Few Connect: What Do the Most Effective People Do Differently”. I spoke on how the administration at the school I worked at before I moved to Japan did just this. Their belief in me and my abilities drove me to do the best I could. How would you feel if your principal felt that you were working hard and trusted that you had your students best interest in hand, all the time, even when you make mistakes? Would the pressure to do things “just right” slide off your back? Would you strive to excel and to find ways to reach those unreachable students? I did, however, when speak with some colleagues they do not believe this is the norm. They believe most people would just get lazy and slack off. I have more faith in people, I guess. I find when the confidence to do well is instilled in us from our superiors then why wouldn’t we want to prove them right, right? Right! I believe that the days of ruling with an iron fist are over and that trust & relationship building is the key to leadership – in any organization – but especially in schools, where there is sometimes no funding and no time. Schools are like a family; and it is up to the administration to determine what kind of family that is! When the relationships are strong, the lack of funding and time in a day don’t seem so tough, as when you are in a place where you fear your job is on the line every day.

Anyways, I was thinking about this today as pink slip time is coming up in many schools and wanted to share. Have a great night!

Here I will be inviting discussion around topics in the education field ranging from ELLs in the classroom, to best practices for students to the various technological ways we can enhance the classroom! I hope you enjoy and participate in this blog with me!

Lindsay