Instructions with Technologies for Middle School Classrooms

Instructions with Technologies for Middle School Classrooms 

Middle school is a time of growth and change for students, with each student changing and growing in different ways and at different rates. These students, like the rest of us, have different interests, different backgrounds, and different goals for their lives. Educators have a responsibility to treat and teach them as individuals. Differentiated Instruction (DI) makes this possible, and technology makes DI easy, effective, and engaging. Recognizing a need for change in middle school instruction, the authors wrote Differentiating Instruction with Technology in Middle School Classrooms to show educators the benefits of combining DI with technology, encouraging educators to re-engage students by bringing lessons out of the past and into the student-centered reality of digital-age learning. This book offers an overview of research on the uniqueness of middle school students and illustrates the importance of using technology to create differentiated lessons, especially with this age group. It lists the fundamental components of DI, student traits that guide DI, and Web 2.0 resources that can help make DI a reality in the middle school classroom. It also includes sample activities for incorporating DI in multiple subjects: math, science, social studies, and language arts. The strategies and lessons in this book will ensure that students receive a tailored education that also prepares them with the technology skills they need for a successful future.  The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is the trusted source for professional development, knowledge generation, advocacy and leadership for innovation. ISTE is the premier membership association for educators and education leaders engaged in improving teaching and learning by advancing the effective use of technology in PK-12 and teacher education. Home of the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS), the Center for Applied Research in Educational Technology (CARET), and ISTE's annual conference (formerly known as the National Educational Computing Conference, or NECC), ISTE represents more than 100,000 professionals worldwide. We support our members with information, networking opportunities, and guidance as they face the challenge of transforming education.

Middle school students are motivated and encouraged to use higher level thinking skills when instruction includes emerging technologies.  In the hands of an excellent teacher in a student-centered classroom, technologies can transform instruction providing authentic, real-world learning experiences to the benefit of students of all learning styles and intelligence.

 

Online Social Media Applications for Language Teaching & Learning

Online Social Media Applications for Language Teaching & Learning

There are so many applications for teacher to support teaching and learning process by using internet. This method is very useful for both teacher and students. They can wisely use internet for educational purpose. Here are some examples of applications that we can use as a teacher to provide our classroom activities. First are the applications for teaching students how to present, create and code. TED-Ed is using by more than 250,000 teachers to spark student curiosity and explore presentation literacy skills. They are have given students the opportunities to help in the process of creating TED-Ed Lessons by choosing videos and creating questions to include. Haikudeck can make students create beautiful presentations with this app. Duolingo is also beneficial for students. Duolingo revolutionized the way people learn languages. Next is Draw and Tell. This app can increase creative confidence in kids of all ages. Just draw something, tell a story about it and share your creation. Animoto also can make students easily create and share their own beautiful videos with Animoto. For a great introduction to Animoto, with a built-in lesson in digital citizenship, have students create an ‘About Me’ or ‘Year in Review’ Animoto. iMovie is another teacher-recommended choice for student video creation. The students can enjoy using iMovie for group projects. From science experiments to merit badges, Instructables offers instructions for more than 100,000 DIY projects. Students can learn computer science fundamentals via game design using Hopscotch. Tinkercad is also a beneficial application for students. After students get inspired by the open-source wonderland at Thingaverse, turn them loose to start designing their own 3D objects with this app. Second, For everyday classroom needs, the students can use some applications such as Evernote. Evernote has allowed teachers to get rid of handouts. All of our projects are shared with our students through our shared notebooks, and all assignments are posted on the Assignment shared notebook that is available for parents too. Explain Everything is an interactive whiteboard. We can have it in our toolbox. Educreations makes us easy to create new videos for learning. For example, “it’s a great tool for explaining math strategies with voice, pen and screen recorder,” says TED-Ed community member Melissa Julian. ”It also lets students make learning resources for other children to use.”Oxford Dictionaries is also help students to help them solve their vocabulary problems. For Collaborating on school projects we can use Slack. Whether you’re collaborating with other teachers or assigning group project work to students, this app can make communication easier for teams in a variety of settings. Students used Google Hangouts on Air to have climate change conversations with friends and family members. Harnessing the power of two-way video has really opened up new pathways to learning opportunities. Schoology includes the needed security features for school use for example for a class page, so my students and can post assignments, videos, completed work and links. Mindmeister makes it easy to map out the relationships between ideas. For complex group projects, it can also provide a way to quickly visualize and create a project outline, together. Wikispaces sometimes what you really want is a wiki. For those moments, teachers recommend this app. For communicating with students (and their families) we can use Remind. This digital communication tool is in a league of its own. Edublogs is also very helpful. A WordPress blogging platform designed with teachers in mind. ClassDojo provides multiple ways to engage students and their families. For giving (and receiving) student feedback teacher can use Edmodo. Edmodo providing clear feedback, many teachers like this learning management system. It’s also easy for students to respond. Another application is Socrative. This learning assessment tool simplifies grading and reports. One recommendation: try out the quiz feature to enhance student understanding of classroom content, says TED-Ed community member Noor Alhoda. Moodle can also help teacher to give feedback. This open-source learning management platform has a questionnaire option that I really like. Many teachers recommend Google Form for gathering feedback from students. “It’s a great way to receive feedback from the whole class at the end of a semester,” says TED-Ed Innovative Educator Sharon Hadar. So, there are so many applications that we can use to provide to support our teaching process. We must use it wisely to give them assignments and also to assess them.

New Technologies for a Language Classroom

New Technologies for a Language Classroom

Blended learning is a term increasingly used to describe the way e-learning is being combined with traditional classroom methods and independent study to create a new, hybrid teaching methodology. It represents a much greater change in basic technique than simply adding computers to classrooms; it represents, in many cases, a fundamental change in the way teachers and students approach the learning experience. It has already produced an offshoot the flipped classroom that has quickly become a distinct approach of its own. A course created in a blended learning model uses the classroom time for activities that benefit the most from direct interaction. Traditional education (especially at the college level) tends to place an emphasis on delivering material by way of a lecture, while in a blended learning model lectures can be videotaped ahead of time so the student can watch on their own time. The classroom time is more likely to be for structured exercises that emphasize the application of the curriculum to solve problems or work through tasks. An individual semester of blended learning may emphasize classroom time at the beginning, then gradually increase the amount of work that students do online or during independent study. Many argue that class discussion boards, for example, are far more useful if the participants have met face-to-face first. In some situations, the move to blended learning has inspired educators to redefine traditional roles. The word “facilitator” has emerged as an alternative to “teacher,” bringing with it a slightly different focus. The facilitator places an emphasis on empowering students with the skills and knowledge required to make the most of the online material and independent study time, guiding students toward the most meaningful experience possible. The advantages of blended learning are Blended instruction is reportedly more effective than purely face-to-face or purely online classes. Blended learning methods can also result in high levels of student achievement more effective than face-to-face learning. Blended learning also has the potential to reduce educational expenses, although some dispute. Blended learning is inherently less expensive than traditional classroom learning. Blended learning has can lower costs by putting classrooms in the online space and it essentially replaces pricey textbooks with electronic devices that students often bring themselves to class. There are also disadvantages of blended learning. Blended learning has a strong dependence on the technical resources or tools with which the blended learning experience is delivered. These tools need to be reliable, easy to use, and up to date, for them to have a meaningful impact on the learning experience. From an educator's perspective, most recently, it has been noted that providing effective feedback is more time-consuming (and therefore more expensive) when electronic media are used, in comparison to traditional assessments.

Global Education Network

Global Education Network is very important and beneficial for all people in the world. With technology, we can gather around a screen in a small town and connect with a classroom in cities all over the world. Instead of just sending information out about a holiday, custom, or community that child in our classroom experience, we can have an exchange and receive information back in return about cultural practices, customs, and communities other children experience around the world. Technology in the delivery of education worldwide is very necessary to be used. Focusing on developing countries, technology can be instrumental in creating global learning experiences because technology has the power to breakdown geographical, economical, language, and time-zone. Technology also allows for a two-way street. There are barriers associated with technology acquisition and use, no matter what the intended purpose. There are unquestionably endless possibilities associated with technology. Many initiatives, as noted above, exist and will ultimately provide educational opportunities to tens of millions of people. The resulting information, knowledge and economic development are positive benefits. These initiatives reflect a political, cultural and economic will on the part of participating institutions and individuals. Educators in developing countries face several challenges in access to staff development. Long distance/high cost travel, visa acquisition, and prohibitive professional journal costs present insurmountable difficulties. Nowadays, children need new skill sets in order to communicate and collaborate and to work and play together. We should utilize it as an opportunity to engage young children in an ongoing exploration of the world. By creating global learning experiences, early childhood teachers have the ability to expose children to concepts of diversity, multiculturalism, and multilingualism at an early age. This type of early exposure can make issues of equity and equality, as well as global understanding, accessible and relevant to children and hopefully less of a struggle to understand and practice as they grow into adults. A significant benefit to instant global communications is that students can improve their language skills through student-to-student conversations regardless of where they live.  The introduction of Peer-to-Peer video conferencing using devices students are familiar with can increase personal interaction. And it can be accomplished from anywhere – opening the world to students who do not have the time or resources to travel. A contact network can help students to develop business leads, find new job opportunities, and increase their knowledge of other countries and cultures.