Are Visual Learning Strategies Important?

"To be truly literate in a modern technological culture, we need to comprehend and use both verbal and visual literacies." This statement was made by Richard Sinatra and Josephine Stahl-Germake in "Using the Right Brain in Language Art." Indeed, this statement has important ramifications for all content area teachers today. This is because our culture is now permeated immensely by television, computer games and other electronic media, where our students come to school with a rich experience in receiving and interpreting messages that are at once both visual and verbal. So instead of getting a panic attack, why not look on the positive side and use this experience as well as appropriate electronic tools that can in turn be an effective instructional opportunity to meet the learning needs of all students.
However, this can only take place when we acknowledge that presentations which effectively combine visual and verbal elements are more effective than printed texts. Also, a graphic representation of a key concept provides a useful mnemonic tool for all students.

How can we teach grammar effectively?

From my readings, research indicates that just teaching grammar terminology by itself is ineffective. This is because grammar terminology can be abstract and loaded with hidden assumptions.Robert de Be described grammar terminology to this,"a ladder with the bottom rungs cut out-if you don't already know the concept underlying the terminology, the terminology itself will be of little use to you."
However, Mark Lester states that there are two techniques that help students to grasp grammatical concepts. They are sentence combining and paraphrasing tests. sentence combining shows students how sentences with multiple phrases and clauses are built from underlying simple sentences and allows students to compare and evaluate the grammatical and stylistic effect of different ways of combining the same simple sentence. Paraphrasing tests on the other hand, tap into students' unconscious knowledge of their language which becomes practical ways of identifying concepts.

What writing strategies work with students of different abilities?

Hi everyone,
Here are some guidelines that I found during the course of my readings that are very useful for teaching writing to students with different abilities:
(1.) Provide frequent opportunities for students to write, read and reflect.
(2.)Help students discover the relationship between oral and written language.
(3.)Vary the instruction and management of writing workshops.
(4.) Emphasize fluency and quality of ideas before correctness.In other words, we need to model appropriate ways for students to respond to each other's writing.
(5.) Encourage all students to display, present and publish their writing.
(6.) Evaluate writing process as well as progress.
(7.) Appreciate the diversity of students in the classroom.

What is Our Task as Teachers for the Digital Generation?

From my readings, I discovered that educators must operate from a constant need to keep conversations with our students open and viable, asking good questions and not just giving our own answers, but looking from multidimensional points of view. Also, the imperative is to think beyond the specifics of discrete skills and knowledge and easily accountable measures of achievement. More so, it means to look qualitatively and dynamically at how language works, how students learn and how learning achievement can break new ground. Furthermore, it means we have to use our knowledge, experiences, expertise and imagination to help our students create a central place for reading and writing in their lives.

ICT

Although, this course was challenging for me at times, I must admit that learning about digital story telling, concept mapping and other electronic software that were free to download and can be integrated into lesson plans were very interesting and exciting.Indeed, integrating the appropriate electronic tool into the curriculum can be more fun and can make learning more meaningful to students.

The Power of Our Words

The Power of Our Words

Missouri students making slow, steady progress

Missouri students making slow, steady progress

Please check this out.

Technology in the Classroom

Top Web 2.0 tools for teachers and students

http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/xyeggmgPBnbDxIhUajdmnwalhEsO?format=standard

Although, I learnt about blogs before undertaking this course, I must admit that I have never incorporated this web 2.0 technology into my lesson plans. My reluctance stemmed from many factors. This involved having inadequate computers at my institution, frequent breakdown of the server, having only a minority of my students indicating that they have a computer at home, my lack of confidence to integrate this electronic tool into my lesson plans because I felt it was time consuming, and no one was using it as a teaching tool. However, after attending the workshop sessions and the practical skills gained from my tutor, I feel more confident and enthusiastic in incorporating the use of this digital technology into my lesson plans. In addition, there is more information available since there are more interventions conducted concerning the integration of this electronic tool to scaffold students’ learning skills across the curriculum. Indeed, it has broaden my perspective in learning more about this electronic tool and in finding out what are more appropriate activities that can be incorporated into the curriculum.

Is it feasible to integrate Electronic Texts across the curriculum?


From my readings, I discovered that there are unlimited possibilities for learning with electronic texts. Electronic texts on almost any given topic can assist students in a variety of ways. They include motivating students to read extensively and independently, helping them to think critically about content central to the curriculum, assisting them to examine ideas, organise, report research findings, and improve their communication skills with their peers and subject teachers. For example, Word processing and authoring software programs, allow students to develop content and multimedia presentations relevant to curriculum objectives.

Here is a list of E-Book Resources that may be vital for you in preparing your lesson plans:

 Digital Book Index
www.digitalbookindex.org
Meta-website linking thousands of titles from around the world

 Ereader.com
www.ereader.com
Comprehensive source for e-books with many young titles

 Marvel Comics
www.marverl.com/digitalcomics
Digital versions of Marvel Comics

 Poets.org
www.poets.org/booth/booth.cfm
Poems read by famous poets


 Moonlit Road
www.themoonlitroad.com
Students can read or listen to ghost stories and folk tales from the South