The Portable Web in a Box: Why You Need It and How to Get It

Posted on January 31, 2019 by TDWolsey

By Thomas DeVere Wolsey

In backpacks, pockets, and purses, students bring their connected devices to school. But “connected” may be the wrong term; perhaps “connectable” devices is more accurate. Bandwidth means that a network can deliver data in a specified amount of time. For many schools, bandwidth may be a limitation. For some teachers, there is nothing more frustrating than planning a lesson that requires students to access the internet only to find that the bandwidth delivers data at speeds at which snails would sneer.

Students at Maya Jaguar using RACHEL









Some educational settings require restrictions on access to the internet, such as those that serve incarcerated youth or adults. Others are so distant from internet connections that it is prohibitively expensive to ensure all students have access.

Click to read the rest of the article on Literacy Daily, Teaching with Tech.

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The Photo Essay Project

Posted on September 20, 2018 by TDWolsey

By Thomas DeVere Wolsey

This semester, I assigned my undergraduates to create a photo essay defining the places that have had the most impact on who they are and who they might become.  Their photo essays are due next week, so this week I am sharing some of the photo essay websites and software tools they are using.  Today, they explored the affordances of each. I provided a list of questions (you will find them below) to guide their choices.

Dear Literacy Beat readers, if you have a site or tool to share, please add it in the comments.

Photos

iPhone Photos

Platforms

  1. Tumblr
  2. Instagram
  3. WordPress
  4. Spark from Adobe
  5. Exposure
  6. Ghost
  7. PowerPoint Online and Slideshare, Youtube or Vimeo (convert slide decks to video), Authorstream
  8. Prezi

Pro-Tip: What’s your statement about the photos you choose? Can you write one (or maybe two) sentences that capture the main idea of your photo essay? Is it unique enough that others will want to view your essay?

 

Photo Editing Tools

  1. Canva
  2. Ribbet
  3. GIMP
  4. Photo Resizer
  5. net
  6. Photoshop Express
  7. PIXLR

A note about intellectual property: Any work you use that you did not write or create must be attributed.  This includes music (and be aware that using copyrighted music could result in your project being taken down by the platform or host).

Pro Tip: Create a rough draft of your essay in order to check out the features of the platform and tools you use.  Try different ways of arranging your photos, text (including captions), and titles.  Later, you can hide or delete the rough draft.

Questions / Affordances

Check out the sites and tools (software) on the first page and review a couple of examples. What affordances does each offer your project?

  • What does it cost?
  • Do you need an account?
  • Can you make the site available to anyone?
  • Does the site privilege images, text, or both?
  • What features does the site or tool have that others may not have?
  • Is the site or tool mobile friendly? Laptop friendly?
  • Does it have sharing tools (e.g., Facebook, Twitter)?
  • Are there advertisements? How intrusive are they?
  • Is the platform easy to navigate and provide tools that make it easy for you to create a photo essay?

Two notes about color:

  1. Don’t overdo it!
  2. Make sure the colors you choose for frames, text, and so on are easy to read against the backgrounds you choose

Filed under: digital content creation, digital resources, digital tools, Images, visual literacy | Tagged: , | 2 Comments »

RACHEL Goes to Northwestern Guatemala

Posted on August 24, 2018 by TDWolsey

By Thomas DeVere Wolsey

Try to picture yourself without access to the Internet. The web of sites and content have changed our lives dramatically. When we need to stay informed, we can just Google a topic and voila. Not everyone on Planet Earth has the luxury of Google, though.

Students at the Maya Jaguar Center for Education and Development are used to innovation. They maintain sustainable gardens and go to classes in rooms lit by solar power. The latest innovation at Maya Jaguar is the introduction of RACHEL, a Remote Area Community Hotspot for Education and Learning. Internet content difficult to access in the past is now a reality there.

RACHEL brings large but thoughtfully selected portions of the internet to regions and institutions that do not have affordable access to the internet via broadband.  I delivered a RACHEL server to Maya Jaguar early in August. Francisco Pablo is the senior technology instructor at Maya Jaguar. He and I worked together to show the other teachers how to navigate the RACHEL interface.

Maestro RACHEL screen

Francisco Demonstrates RACHEL

Teachers were encouraged to create their own sites on the server with content they upload that is specific to their classes. In the coming months, they will work on methods of helping students to be inquirers and critical users of the content they encounter on RACHEL.

Teachers Maestros Computers

Teachers Exploring RACHEL’s Possibilities

For me, it was gratifying to see the teachers’ excitement as they found materials on the server that could really enhance their teaching.  For some months, Alan Crawford, Frances Dixon, and I have been working on ways to bring simulations to the students.  Simulations provide a way to explore ideas and phenomena that can’t be visited and observed in the physical world (or at least not easily).

With content from the University of Colorado at Boulder’s PheT project installed on RACHEL, students can now explore atomic interactions,  create semi-conducting diodes, and learn the principles of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).  All of this is available in Spanish, of course.

20180807_094052.jpg

Using RACHEL

The RACHEL server has proven so useful that Adopt-a-Village in Guatemala, the Foundation that sponsors the school and outreach programs, is now exploring the possibility of a second device. Two RACHEL servers would make it possible for each of the two main school buildings to have RACHEL availability all the time.  Want to help make that possible? Please visit https://www.adoptavillage.com/donate

Learn more about RACHEL here: https://worldpossible.org/

Adapted version cross-posted on Adopt-a-Village in Guatemala.

Filed under: digital resources, digital tools, Español | Tagged: , , , | Leave a comment »

Teatro de lectores | Readers’ Theatre

Posted on May 16, 2018 by TDWolsey

~Thomas DeVere Wolsey

Available in English/inglés and adapted from: 

Lapp, D., Fisher, D., & Wolsey, T. D. (2009).  Literacy growth for every child: Differentiated small-group instruction K-6. New York, NY: Guilford Publishers.

Un teatro para lectores es una actuación informal en la que los estudiantes en grupos pequeños leen un guion en voz alta. El guion puede ser preparado por adelantado por el maestro o los estudiantes pueden crear sus propios guiones. El ensayo les permite a los estudiantes practicar ante una audiencia con sus compañeros de clase. En el proceso, vuelven a leer el texto muchas veces y aumentan su fluidez de lectura.

readers' theatre

Teachers in Guatemala City demonstrate readers’ theatre.

Los puntos fuertes del lenguaje y la lectura se desarrollan a través del teatro de lectura cuando pequeños grupos de estudiantes vuelven a leer los textos en su nivel de lectura independiente y los transforman en un guion de teatro de lectores que pueden representar más tarde para sus compañeros. La relectura, que es importante para la comprensión, también proporciona la seguridad de que los estudiantes hablen públicamente durante la actuación. Todos los estudiantes, incluidos aquellos que son muy competentes, aquellos a quienes todavía les cuesta alcanzar la competencia, y los que son estudiantes de un segundo idioma tendrán un crecimiento positivo a medida que participan en las representaciones teatrales de los lectores (Goodman, 1978). En estos grupos de colaboración, todos los niños aumentan su fluidez en la lectura y el habla al compartir textos con sus compañeros (Martinez, Roser, & Strecker, 1998/1999). Estas actuaciones se pueden compartir dentro de su clase y también con otras clases. Un beneficio para la clase que se visita es que una vez que los oyentes están expuestos a nuevos libros, a menudo claman por leerlos

El énfasis en el teatro de lectores está en apoyar el crecimiento de cada niño en fluidez de lectura y lenguaje oral. Esto sucede naturalmente si los estudiantes, con la ayuda del maestro, seleccionan sus roles y tienen tiempos de relectura y de práctica adecuados. La meta del maestro debe que todos los estudiantes trabajen dentro de sus niveles de comodidad y competencia y que tengan experiencias exitosas. Todo el grupo también puede discutir cómo actuar con el uso de títeres, personajes de fieltro o programas de animación gráfica.

Las ventajas del Teatro de lectores incluyen*:

  • Promoción de la fluidez, incluida la expresión o prosodia
  • Brinda a los estudiantes la oportunidad de elegir, ensayar y presentar guiones cortos de tipo obra ante los compañeros de clase y otras personas sin el estrés de memorizar líneas o usar disfraces o accesorios elaborados
  • Proporciona oportunidades de lectura repetida a medida que los estudiantes practican antes de la actuación
  • Maximiza el compromiso de los estudiantes ya que cada estudiante en el grupo tiene un rol.
  • Aparece menos desalentador que otros textos ya que un alumno lee una parte en lugar de todo el texto solo
  • Se adapta a una amplia gama de habilidades con roles o partes de nivel de dificultad variado.

Los profesores:

  • Seleccionan los textos. Los textos narrativos con mucho diálogo funcionan mejor.
  • Preparan los guiones (las fuentes incluyen guiones preparados comercialmente, sitios web y guiones escritos por el docente o los alumnos); resaltan las partes específicas en los guiones de los estudiantes
  • Modelan leyendo el texto en voz alta
  • Asignan los estudiantes a grupos
  • Proporcionan retroalimentación y monitorean a medida que los grupos pequeños practican

Los estudiantes:

  • Leen el guion en silencio o con un compañero
  • Vuelven a leer en grupo con los estudiantes, leyendo diferentes roles, en turnos
  • Negocian y asignan roles
  • Leen y releen de forma individual, centrándose en la parte o rol asignado (pueden practicar fuera de la escuela y en casa)
  • Practica la relectura del guion con otros en grupo
  • Hacen etiquetas, tarjetas o marionetas que los estudiantes sostienen para identificar a su personaje
  • Deciden dónde se colocarán los estudiantes durante la actuación
  • Actúan con el guion en la mano

El teatro de lectores no es una gran producción y no es necesario que los estudiantes memoricen líneas, usen un micrófono o se pongan disfraces.

* Adaptado de los materiales proporcionados por la Universidad de Texas en Austin. https://buildingrti.utexas.org/instructional-materials/fluency-fourth-grade

Recursos y ejemplos:

Teatro de lectores- 02 La Honestidad

https://www.kinderbilingue.com/collections/reading-activities/products/teatro-de-lectores-01-la-responsabilidad-readers-theater-in-spanish?variant=39500372300

University of Texas at Austin Resources in Spanish and English

https://buildingrti.utexas.org/instructional-materials/fluency-spanish-readers-theater-scripts

Tareas del teatro de lectores

Readers’ Theatre Tasks en-es (descargar PDF)

El coyote y el conejo

http://bibliotecadigital.ilce.edu.mx/Colecciones/index.php?clave=huasteca&pag=7

Ejemplos

https://youtu.be/-2lyNbteztk

https://youtu.be/9i88od41w0s

https://youtu.be/bgd0ieZx4RU

Referencias

Goodman, J. A. (1978).  Teaching the total language with readers’ theatre.  [ERIC document number ED 191321].

Martinez, M., Roser, N. L., & Strecker, S. (1998/1999). I never thought I could be a star: A readers’ theatre ticket to fluency. The Reading Teacher, 52, 326-333.

 

 

Filed under: children's literature, collaboration, digital resources, Español, Wolsey | Tagged: , , | 2 Comments »

Online Cognate Resources for Vocabulary Development

Posted on May 20, 2017 by TDWolsey

A Guest Post by Patricia Acosta and colleagues

Patricia and her colleagues at Eastern Oregon University compiled this list of online resources for vocabulary development using cognates. Thanks, Patricia, for sharing!

Cognates are words that have the same or similar spelling and meaning in two languages. Teaching cognate awareness is a way to build academic vocabulary and reading comprehension.  By connecting two words in two languages, knowledge of the word and concept in the native language transfers to English.

The following is a list of cognate resources.

Provides a list of English and Portuguese, Italian and French cognates.

Provides a list of English and Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French and Romanian cognates.

Provides strategies for teaching cognates, videos, and a list of English and Spanish cognates.

Provides more than 25,000 frequently used English and Spanish, French, and Portuguese cognates.  Provides an Online Dictionary of Cognates, Google Chrome Cognate Highlighter that will automatically highlight cognates, false cognate awareness, information on psycholinguistic aspects of cognates, free materials, and other resources.

Provides a list of English and Spanish cognates that have the same spelling and words that vary slightly in spelling.  In addition, provides a list of false cognates; words with similar spelling but have very different meanings.  Vocabulary flashcards, vocabulary quizzes, spelling quizzes, matching, word order quizzes and multiple choice quizzes are available.

Provides a list of Russian and English cognates.

Provides a video and list of English, Spanish and Arabic cognates.

Provides 1001 English and Spanish Cognates.  List includes words with the same spelling in both English and Spanish and words with similar spelling.

Subject specific English and Spanish cognates from A-Z. Cognates are organized in alphabetical order and by subject; language arts, math science and social studies.

Provides English and Spanish cognates, as well as false cognate awareness. Lists cover common Greek and Latin Roots, common English and Spanish cognates in alphabetical order and cognates for weights and measurements.

Read more about Cognates on Literacy Beat.

Credit: This list of cognate resources was compiled by students from Eastern Oregon University, ED 556 Applied Linguistics, Winter Term 2017 course.

Patricia Acosta is an in-district substitute. She also taught Spanish Reynolds High School in Troutdale, Oregon, and she is a graduate student in the READ Oregon program at Portland State University. Her teaching endorsements include Spanish, ESOL, and library media.

Filed under: digital resources, English Language Learners (ELL), vocabulary | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

Online Resources for Argumentation and Logical Fallacies

Posted on February 15, 2016 by TDWolsey

By Thomas DeVere Wolsey

This week on Literacy Beat, I gathered some resources for teaching students to create and critique effective arguments. This list will appear in Literacy in the Disciplines: A Field Guide by Thomas DeVere Wolsey and Diane Lapp to be published by Guilford Press in summer 2016.

In the first section, you will find several resources that are useful across disciplines.  The second section includes argumentation resources for specific disciplines, such as science, social studies, and mathematics. Have you found useful resources for working with argumentation in your classroom? Please share them in the comments section, below, or send me an email.

General Resources:

 

Discipline-specific Resources:

From the Literacy Beat archives: See how we used the Visual Thesaurus in the Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy Plus technique then visit their site. Just click the image below.

Filed under: Common Core, digital resources, disciplinary literacy, web watch, writing | Tagged: | 3 Comments »

Education Dictionaries and Glossaries

Posted on February 1, 2016 by TDWolsey

By Thomas DeVere Wolsey 

In August, I published a post with links to discipline-specific glossaries and dictionaries. Because the internet has such a wealth of resources, it is sometimes difficult to find the sites you want or the key words for a search you need. Lists with links can help readers find the resources they need quickly. Continuing the dictionary list tradition, I compiled some general education dictionaries online. The criteria for inclusion are the same as in the discipline-specific post, except that the resource audience includes teachers and parents.

Parents may want to catch up on the words teachers use. Because schools and states purchase materials from different publishers, sometimes differing terms are heard in the faculty lounge or the school board room. The underlying ideas may be the same, but the word to describe that idea could differ from district to district.  Here are some resources to learn more about the words teachers use.

Reading Rockets

Reading Rockets

Language and teaching strategies: Effective teachers use a variety of strategies to guide their students. This glossary from Reading Rockets organizes them by the type of language learning task (phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing). http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies

 

Glossary of Language Education Terms

Wikipedia

English Language Learners: WikiProjects Glossaries provides this resource that includes terms used in teaching English language learners (students whose first language is not English). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_language_education_terms

The United States Department of Education also publishes a useful glossary of terms related to teaching English language learners. http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/ell/glossary.html 

 

 

Teachnology glossary

Teach-nology

General Teaching Glossary: General terms that go beyond those used just in language learning environments can be found on the Teach-nology site. http://www.teach-nology.com/glossary/

 

 

Fractus Learning Technology Terms for Teachers

Fractus

Technology in Education: As technology becomes an increasingly useful component for teaching, new terms have made their way into the classroom. Learn some of them on the Fractus Learning blog.    http://www.fractuslearning.com/2013/03/04/technology-terms-for-teachers/

Another useful site with technology terms, but not specifically for educators or parents, is Netlingo.com

 

Understood Disability Important Terms

Understood

Special education: The field of special education has its own set of terms, often derived from policies and laws that govern special education settings.  Look them up on the Understood website.          https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/getting-started/disability-important-terms/terms-you-may-hear-from-educators

What other categories should be added to this link list? Are there other dictionaries or glossaries that you can suggest for any of the categories in this post?

 

Filed under: digital resources, English Language Learners (ELL), students with special needs, vocabulary, Wolsey | Tagged: | 2 Comments »

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