Language Variation and Technology in my Classroom
Hello!
One of the coolest things about my classroom is that they are a technology classroom, so every student is assigned a MacBook (excuse my sigh of envy for a moment) and they do a lot of assignments on the computer as a result. It's a really great tool for them-- they use MyAccess to write up essays and evaluate them, based on a Rubric that they can access at any time. They also use a program called Achieve3000, which is a program designed to foster reading comprehension.
The students all have to do at least 1 Achieve3000 a day, whether it is during their Support class, Language Arts or Social Studies (which they all have with Ms. R). What is does is give them a story or an article or an essay based on their reading level (which Ms. R can change from her computer, so if a student is reading through the material really quickly and getting all of the answers right on the first try, she'll ususally bump them up to the next level so that they can challenge themselves. But if a student is struggling consistently, not answering questions accurately, she might lower their Achieve3000 level. Of course, she bases that on the student too. If she knows the student is being lazy and just guessing, then she doesn't). At the end of the article/story/essay, they have to answer questions and they can go back as many times as they want to try for the correct answer if they get it wrong. After the correct answer is selected,the program will explain why it was the correct answer. It's a great program because Ms. R can monitor their progress, combine it with her personal knowledge of the student as well as thier reading ability, then respond appropriately.
The students also do a lot of different projects on their computers. Romig recently had a movie festival where the students--at least in our class--partnered up into two's, picked an idea and made a movie about it. They loaded the video onto the computers and edited it. They also make KeyNotes regularly for presentations, go on google maps for geography, use the Promethean board for items generated in class- like lists, spelling review and/or examples. When the students have finished their in class assignments and hw, they're allowed to use the computers for math, language or typing games.
My class doesn't have any English Language Learners in it-- we have 3 students who were born in the US to parents who have immigrated here, so they're bilingual, but they speak fluent English and don't qualify for special accomodations on tests like the SBA's. Each of the bilingual students speak a different language, so English is always spoken in the classroom. As for language variation, here is of course some (especially between me and Ms. R and the rest of the class!) but there is really not a lot. Their dialect is very similar and their register is all the same.We have some kids who are from families who are better off who have a more advanced vocabulary which they use in their writing, but not so much verbally.
Posted in: computers, ELL, Language Variation, Technology on Sunday, April 11, 2010 at at 11:51 AM
Do you think that the computer tests are better for some students than others? For example I know some people who do better on written tests than computer test and vice versa.
It is incredible to me how much technology is in the classroom today! In my classroom we also use keynote, but not near to the extent that your classroom does. I also didn’t notice any distinct variations in dialect in my classroom, but it is interesting to me that you saw a class variance in the student’s vocabulary. Why do you think that students who are “better off” reflect a higher vocabulary in their writing?
I'm sure that some students do better on the computer tests, but what is nice about the programs is that all of the students can have as many tries as they want to get the right answer. Some will get the right answer the first time, and others will have to try several more times. But you also have to consider that the students who do well on the first attempt are also the students who have read the essay in completion and concentrated--other students might skip straight to the questions or skim or goof off when they should be reading.
I don't think I can pinpoint a reason why the students who are better off use an advanced vocab--it was just something I noticed. We have a kid in our class who's family owns a couple of popular restaurants in Anchorage and I was reading one of his essays and he used words like superior or obscene (granted, he spelled obscene as "obceen" but it reminded me of what Mary said- as students attempt higher writing levels, sometimes other things go down). He tried things he hadn't before and he did a great job. I noticed that with some of the other students who had really supportive parents and a positive home life, that they did the same thing.