ESL/EFL and Web 2.0
No digo el español muy bien. Pero tengo a muchos estudiantes Latinos que no dicen el inglés. ¿Cómo puedo ayudarles a vencer su barrera de los idiomas? Creo que la Web 2.0 puede ayudar, y aquí está un vídeo por Sr. Graham Stanley que muestra como.
I don’t speak Spanish very well (or write it well, as you can see above!). But I have many Latino students who do not speak English. How am I to help them overcome their language barrier? I think Web 2.0 can help, and the video below, created by Mr. Graham Stanley got me thinking about it.
Ok, so that’s about the best I can do with Spanish
(be kind, Miguel!), even after four years of it in school and three years teaching at a middle school with a Latino ESL population averaging roughly 40 percent of the school’s population. Most likely, you have all heard the phrase:
“All teachers are reading and language teachers.” While I have seen this statement generate eye-rolls and head shakes, I take it to heart. The power of communication is undeniable, and if we are not relaying this concept to our students, then we are failing as educators.Many who are reading this post already know the power Web 2.0 applications when coupled with a teaching philosophy that encourages student-led thinking, creative effort, and collaboration. However, the purpose of this blog is to relay my coming to understand this concept so that my process of discovery may one day help those new to it grasp it as well. In doing so, I wanted to highlight an October 2007 video created by Mr. Graham Stanley, an English teacher in Barcelona, Spain.
Download Video: Posted by bcgstanley at
TeacherTube.com.Watching this video really got my morning off to a great start, and it started me thinking about how useful Web 2.0 technology – specifically blogs and podcasts – could be to our many ESL students striving to gain a solid working knowledge of English. Mr. Stanley’s Slideshare presentation (below) convinced me of this fact:[slideshare id=54399&doc=t-e-s-o-l-2007-student-publishing-final-7983&w=425]While no means a finite solution to ensuring their success, I do believe that Web 2.0 technologies can really help these students improve their communication skills. As always, I welcome feedback and input from those of you who have used these tools successfully to instruct and support limited English speakers in your classrooms.More on ESL and Web 2.0 after I wrangle in opinions and feedback … from the wise ones: Miguel, Chris, Jose, and Carla…
Drupal, blogs, wikis, podcasting to enhance the learner experience. But are we doing enough?
David Warlick’s July 26th article detailing his findings regarding first year teachers and their familiarity with Web 2.0 technology painted a picture that seemed less optimistic than it was in all actuality. After stating that only two in attendance were bloggers, RSS was a mystery, and virtually no one knew what a wiki was, he followed up by saying that:
“It’s not a bad thing that these beginning teachers hadn’t heard of Web 2.0. They’re certainly doing it. Most of them IM, and have MySpace or Facebook (etc.) sites. They communicate online with individuals and groups, and they’ve used these conversations to teach and learn, though they probably haven’t thought of it that way.”
This leaves me with a feeling of hope. But hey, I’m a pretty optimistic guy! I guess I just believe that one by one, as the collaborative online learning and networking mechanism powers up in more and more classrooms, we’ll keep heading in the right direction – towards all things Web 2.0 settling into the realm of tried and true versus novel and experimental. Like many of the educators I have come to call friends and colleagues over the past couple of months, I will be starting and maintaining a consistent grass roots effort on my school campus. If I can encourage five teachers at Boone Middle School in Haines City, Florida to reach out to the world via even one community authored blog and a shared wiki (heck, throw in a podcast .. who knows!?), then that’ll be my little success story for the year. For if they in turn do the same, I think we might find ourselves making progress after all.
Technorati Tags: ESOL collaborative learning education
Is Scotland’s Past Leading it Toward the Future?
Ewan McIntosh reports in his latest post, “Scotland Has Been Blogging for 5 Million Years,” that Scotland is leading the pack in terms of the number of educators using Web 2.0 applications. He states that “its education system is arguably using proportionally more social bookmarking, online video sharing, image sharing, wikis, feed readers and blogs than any other country in the world.” McIntosh outlines in great detail Scotland’s position as the harbinger of education to the world. Coupling this history with the country’s own cultural mythology and innovative spirit, he makes a solid case for why, as a general rule, Scotland’s educational community has largely embraced social networking and the use of Web 2.0 technology while many other countries are still waging grass roots campaigns for its acceptance. I have come to enjoy Ewan’s blog very much, and I value his perspective on pretty much all things Web 2.0. I know I’m the only one in my school right now pushing Web 2.0. So it would seem, that in my little neck of the woods (ok, orange groves) his take on Scotland leading the Web 2.0 revolution may just be spot on.
Many of us here in the States, and some of you abroad, have been involved lately in extensive conversations on the issue of educators being slow to hear about much less adopt online social networking technologies. When I first heard about Moodle, I quickly learned of the wonderful progress Australia and New Zealand were making with it in their educational efforts. Moreover, I learned that students in these regions were truly being encouraged to actively participate in taking ownership of their own education! My first impression was that once again, the US educational system was being outclassed. Further discovery and conversations with area experts painted a slightly brighter picture, as I learned that there are numerous US educators using Moodle, Drupal, blogs, wikis, podcasting to enhance the learner experience. But are we doing enough?
David Warlick’s July 26th article detailing his findings regarding first year teachers and their familiarity with Web 2.0 technology painted a picture that seemed less optimistic than it was in all actuality. After stating that only two in attendance were bloggers, RSS was a mystery, and virtually no one knew what a wiki was, he followed up by saying that:
“It’s not a bad thing that these beginning teachers hadn’t heard of Web 2.0. They’re certainly doing it. Most of them IM, and have MySpace or Facebook (etc.) sites. They communicate online with individuals and groups, and they’ve used these conversations to teach and learn, though they probably haven’t thought of it that way.”
This leaves me with a feeling of hope. But hey, I’m a pretty optimistic guy! I guess I just believe that one by one, as the collaborative online learning and networking mechanism powers up in more and more classrooms, we’ll keep heading in the right direction – towards all things Web 2.0 settling into the realm of tried and true versus novel and experimental. Like many of the educators I have come to call friends and colleagues over the past couple of months, I will be starting and maintaining a consistent grass roots effort on my school campus. If I can encourage five teachers at Boone Middle School in Haines City, Florida to reach out to the world via even one community authored blog and a shared wiki (heck, throw in a podcast .. who knows!?), then that’ll be my little success story for the year. For if they in turn do the same, I think we might find ourselves making progress after all.
Technorati Tags: Web 2.0, collaborative learning, pedagogy
Senate Bill S. 49… What Will it Mean for Your Classroom?
John Concilus, Coordinator of Educational Technology for the Bearing Strait School District in Unalakleet, Alaska recently submitted a great post about what happens when a district’s technical leadership sides with commercial vendors. Typically, these vendors offer “secured” and potentially limited Web 2.0 management software rather than going with more open-ended, open source/software libre options on which many of us have come to depend. Many of you teach at or are at least aware of schools that have closed off access to YouTube, Wikipedia.org, Blogger.com, and other popular content rich portals, so you you don’t have to stretch too far to see why this might happen. Nevertheless, you should read this article to gain some insight into a real live situation that developed not too long ago in my home state of Florida.
I am fortunate enough to teach in a school that is supported under a district policy that encourages the use of technology in the classroom and is open to new and innovative approaches to collaborative learning. However, we all owe it to ourselves to remain aware of obstacles that may potentially arise as our “Web 2.0 in the classroom” efforts move forward. I’ll start by commenting as follows:
Many school districts, perhaps even my own to some degree, view some of Web 2.0’s collaborative and open source applications as potentially damaging to students from a safety or appropriateness standpoint. Some hold fast to strict
whitelists created to prevent internet enabled computers at schools and district offices from gaining access to non-sanctioned or otherwise unapproved content. John’s post references Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, who recently introduced
Senate Bill S.49 (referred to many as DOPA, Jr.), which has become a real hot button issue of late. The bill would block access to many social networking sites accessed through public computers (i.e., those located in libraries and schools), and there are many educators, including myself, who believe that this bill poses the serious risk of limiting access to Web 2.0 educational content. The bill is presently at the introduction stage, and the actual wording related to “educational use” may provide
some leeway. That wording, as presented in the bill’s
summary text, is provided as follows:
Amends the Crime Control Act of 1990 to triple the fines on providers of electronic communication services or remote computing services who knowingly and willfully fail to report child pornography. Requires warning labels for websites depicting sexually explicit material. Deleting Online Predators Act of 2007 – Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to require schools and libraries that receive universal service support to enforce a policy that: (1) prohibits access to a commercial social networking website or chat room unless used for an educational purpose with adult supervision; and (2) protects against access to visual depictions that are obscene, child pornography, or harmful to minors. (Track the progress of this bill by clicking here.)
In John’s article referenced above, he relays some interesting thoughts about the way software vendors may be preying on school/district IT Directors who are fearful of promoting the wide use of Web 2.0 technology in light of what they perceive to be the regulations presented by Senate Bill S.49 as well as CIPA, COPA, and eRate:
“Let me be clear: Despite what you may have heard, nothing in CIPA or eRate funding regulations bans the use of wiki, chat, IM, blog, or social networking sites such as MySpace, Bebo, and so on. If these technologies are blocked in your school, it is your district’s policy that prohibits their use.
Vendors of firewall and filtering and security products use industry “publications” to reprint their press releases that fuel these same misperceptions. Why? Because fear equals market share. It is a brilliant use of disinformation, and I see this happening now with collaborative technologies. These tools are freely available right now to any school district that wants them.
A scared tech director is easy prey for sales calls, folks. Want to guess where most tech directors get their information about CIPA, COPA and eRate? Yep, you’ve got it. District level technology leaders get their info mostly from conferences and vendor press releases disguised as articles. These same school district tech directors either make the decisions about purchases and policies for student or teacher use, or they advise those at the top who do.
That vicious cycle, my virtual friends, is the real reason you don’t see Web 2.0 technologies more widely used in schools.”
It is easy to get caught up in the excitement of what Web 2.0 technology can do for our students, and I encourage you to push forward with as many instances of this technology as you can muster up and use. But do stay mindful of the issues mentioned above as you move ahead, and take time to find out where your district stands regarding this latest legislative effort.
Do you see trouble ahead for Web 2.0? Do you feel that the bill’s language adequately protects against the blockage of Web 2.0 applications we educators find so very useful? What is your take regarding John’s opinion that software companies are spearheading a mass disinformation campaign to boost sales?
As always, I look forward to reading your thoughts.
Technorati Tags: web 2.0, Senate Bill S.49, Ted Stevens
Web 2.0: Embrace the Past and Create the Future
Yesterday, I submitted a post detailing the need to shift classroom control from teacher to student in an effort to encourage in our youth a greater sense of ownership over the knowledge that they actively gain versus passively retain. Today, I received a response to that article from Tracy Rosen, whose words inspired me to jot down the following thoughts.
Great post, Kevin. Thanks for reminding me about Wesley Fryer. It’s about time I payed his blog a visit and his podcasts a listen.
Who do I look for when I’m seeking guidance and inspiration? My students. Definitely. and also my fellow bloggers who plug at it each day, asking difficult questions and sharing their experiences.
Am I a Web 2.0 teacher? I don’t know about that. I feel I am a teacher because a teacher works with students to help them create products that reflect their knowledge and their growth. Regardless of the media in which they do this. I personally use Web 2.0 ’stuff’ because it is authentic to how my students live and learn…and because I think it’s way cool! But I also have them use other technologies – like book-making and tactile arts because they are pretty cool too and because they still play a role in their lives.
Like I wrote at the beginning of this lengthy comment – great post!
cheers,
tracy
Comment by Tracy 08.06.07
In her comment to me, Tracy stated that she uses Web 2.0 technology as part of her teacher tool bag because it is “authentic to how [her] students live and learn.” But she reminded me that it is also important to use “tactile arts” – a category in which I typically include bookmaking (as Tracy does in her class), painting, ceramics, screen printing, and the like. This brings up a very important point, and one that bears a tiny bit of fleshing out.
What I hear Tracy stating is that we need not abandon traditionally accepted creative tools in favor of all things “Webby.” If you will remember from my Giving Up the Ghost article, I stated that Web 2.0 is as much a creative philosophy as it is a collection of technologies. Tracy is absolutely correct. I mean, think about it. Some of humankind’s most stunning innovations reference at least one landmark iteration that came before them. Throughout our history on this planet, one style or school of thought has built upon another, sometimes leaving the former behind – sometimes incorporating it into something familiar,yet altogether new. We have only to look at the Renaissance to find an example of this. The very word means “new birth,” and the period itself is wrought with artists, sculptors, and architects responsible for some of the world’s most famous creations who accomplished greatness by looking at the Classical past. From a technological perspective we can ask ourselves: How many wooden plows were made and refined before John Deere crafted the world’s first successful steel version?
How many of us have been in a school for more than a couple of years and have had to experience a new “flavor of the month” teaching methodology or system of tools for each of those years? I would urge us to remember Tracy’s point as we embrace the Web 2.0 philosophy. Move forward with blogs, wikis, podcasting, and screencasting with reckless abandon, but do take a moment to pull out a few trusty non-Webby tools should they prove useful in supplementing some of your ‘wired’ activities.
Closing Thoughts…
What do you think? Is there value in looking back to past teaching styles or methods? In what ways can you think to integrate classic or traditional creative practices with Web 2.0 technology? As you ponder your answer, take a look at Tracy’s Understanding the Machine post, which relays how she used a combination of traditional and Web 2.0 teaching methods to reach students no one else thought were reachable! Great work, Tracy. And thanks again for your comment.
Technorati Tags: web 2.0, applied arts, fine arts, creativity
