Providing Professional Development for Effective Technology Use ISSUE: Whether technology should be used in schools is no longer the issue in education. Instead, the current emphasis is ensuring that technology is used effectively to create new opportunities for learning and to promote student achievement. Educational technology is not, and never will be, transformative on its own, however. It requires the assistance of educators who integrate technology into the curriculum, align it with student learning goals, and use it for engaged learning projects. "Teacher quality is the factor that matters most for student learning," note Darling-Hammond and Berry (1998). Therefore, professional development for teachers becomes the key issue in using technology to improve the quality of learning in the classroom. Lack of professional development for technology use is one of the most serious obstacles to fully integrating technology into the curriculum (Fatemi, 1999; Office of Technology Assessment, 1995; Panel on Educational Technology, 1997). Teachers:
Methodologies and Approaches in ELT The short URL for this page is: The 20th century was a period of great experimentation and innovation in language education. These were almost always based on evolving theories of learning, of language acquisition and of language itself. This website aimed to provide some factual and critical information about each of the better-known so-called methodologies. Just as QANTAS covers more of the world than its name, the Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service, might suggest, this website has grown to become the central repository for most of my work. It allows a wide range of courses, mainly Moodle-based, to reference it here so that resources don't have to be repeatedly uploaded into different places. This site is an ongoing project. The author won a British Council ELTon in 2010. Check it out. and a new accompanying Workbook & Glossary in April 2016.
Reading & Writing (Literacy) - Common Core State Standards | Vermont Agency of Education The Common Core Standards (English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects) set requirements not only for English language arts (ELA) but also for literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Just as students must learn to read, write, speak, listen, and use language effectively in a variety of content areas, so too must the Standards specify the literacy skills and understandings required for college and career readiness in multiple disciplines. Students who meet the Standards develop the skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening that are the foundation for any creative and purposeful expression in language. (CCSS ELA/L p. 3) Questions?
Professional Development & Program Evaluation Bloom's taxonomy and English language learners Thinking Skills and English language learners English language learners should be asked critical thinking questions from all levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. Some of the tasks on the taxonomy are difficult for ELLs because they lack the language and vocabulary to work in English. However, teachers need to ask questions from all levels of the taxonomy that are age appropriate and at the English language level of the English language learners. Even very young children can work at the Synthesis and Evaluation levels. Examples at each level below come from Pa Lia's First Day by Michelle Edwards. Level 1: Knowledge. What did Pa Lia's brother do on the way to school? Level II: Comprehension. Why did Pa Lia dawdle on the way to school? Level III: Application. Why did Pa Lia send a note? Level 4: Analysis. How do we know Pa La felt nervous? Level 5: Synthesis. Pa Lia is a new student at school and she has no friends. Level VI: Evaluation. Resource Picks
10 Great Warm up Activities For The Classroom Warm up strategies for our classroom are an excellent teaching tool! We all know that starting the lesson with a good hook activity sets us up for a better chance of success. It captivates the students and draws them into the lesson - giving us the opportunity to "do our thing"! The Evocative This is done by giving the students an evocative quotation, photo, scenario or song. You'd be suprised at what people can come up with, and more so, how wrong they can often be. Most importantly, in my opinion, it lets you know how to target the lesson, after all, it makes no sense to teach them what they are already know (unless you are deliberately using repetition) - they would just get bored. Data Manipulation "A picture is worth a thousand words", so with this strategy we ask the students to draw a diagram of what they currently understand about the subject or concept. Pre-Quiz A quiz (even if it's ungraded) always gets the attention of students. Wordsplash Simulation Guessing Game Opinionnaire
Needs Assessment Teaching Tips | Silent Cacophony Welcome to Teaching Tip Tuesdays – The Table of Contents Please visit this page often as I will continue to update it every week with my latest teaching tip. Below you find the tips in the order they have appeared on my blog. The tips are also grouped by theme a little further down. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, or would like to write a guest post for Teaching Tip Tuesdays, please leave me a comment below, send me an email, or get at me on Twitter Teachers helping teachers is what it is all about. 1. Posts by Theme will continue to be updated as well April Fools Day April Fools Day Art 5 Shading Techniques , Super Buck , Colour Wheel , First Day Craft , Don’t Throw That Out , Colour Families , Elementary Oragami (guest post) , Super Doors , Art Attack , Unscramble, Write, and Draw , Define Yourself: Word Collage , Visual (Drawing) Telephone , OK Go Primary Colours Assessment and Marking Level Everything , Mark Book Balancing Work, Career, and Family Drama Games Geography Money Music
EdTech Leaders Online: Online PD Teachers and school leaders need flexible access to high-quality, engaging professional development that is immediately applicable in their schools and classrooms, is aligned to Standards, builds communities of learners and provides hands-on experience with new technology tools for learning. ETLO online professional development courses help teachers and school leaders update their content knowledge and pedagogical skills, align teaching to the Common Core, learn new assessment strategies, incorporate technology tools effectively, differentiate and personalize instruction, address diverse learning needs and styles, integrate project based learning approaches and more! In the current budget environment, educational organizations are seeking proven, capacity-building approaches that can be adapted and grown to meet their particular needs and sustained locally in a cost-effective way. ETLO courses qualify for CEUs through local universities.
Checking Understanding Analysis of the language consists of two sub-stages, often known as highlighting and concept checking. Highlighting is taking the model sentence and showing, telling or eliciting what the problems are in terms of form, function, and phonology. Concept checking is checking the understanding of difficult aspects of the target structure in terms of function and meaning. Concept checking is vital, since learners must fully understand the structure before any intensive practice of form and phonology is carried out. Ways of checking understandingConcept questionsSome examplesLearning to construct concept questionsConclusion Ways of checking understanding Concept checking is normally achieved by the use of a set of questions designed to ensure comprehension of the target language, raise awareness of its problems, and to indicate to the teacher that the learners have fully understood. The question 'Do you understand?' Time lines to establish tenses. Target sentence: Look! Yes/no questions.
Nine ways to revise English vocabulary using slips of paper What can teachers do when classroom technology stops working? Cristina Cabal, latest winner of the British Council's TeachingEnglish blog award for her post on pronunciation, suggests nine activities for revising English vocabulary using simple slips of paper. Nowadays, it seems very simple to plan a lesson that makes use of the many tools available online, especially as more and more of us have access to the Internet in our classrooms. But while technology is increasingly part of our teaching, there are times when it can cause problems and frustrations for teachers, such as when the Wi-Fi stops working or the computer shuts down, leaving you with a one-hour lesson to teach and no plan B up your sleeve. One of the best ways to deal with this situation is to use slips of paper – a resource available to every teacher in any given situation. The following activities have never let me down. Using slips of paper to revise vocabulary 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Arrange students in pairs or in threes. 7.
“Grammaring”: The Fifth Skill In Language Teaching and Learning Fez – Language teaching and learning has always been a controversial area within applied linguistics. According to Corder (1973), “what to teach or learn can be described in linguistic terms as grammar […] or in psychological terms as language skills” (p. 137). Although grammar refers to what we know about a language such as phonology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics, language skills are about what we do with language. This includes listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Controversies often arise when the boundaries between these two areas become blurred, as in the case of treating “grammaring” as a language skill. In this respect, the present article will attempt to explain the background of the issue surrounding “grammaring,” followed by a tentative definition of the term and a description of the techniques for its implementation. The teaching and learning of grammar has always been one of the most hotly debated topics in the field of language education. A – Focus on form: