Week 6

Week 6

Assignment #1: Article

The article I chose to share is entitled, “Tomorrow will not be like today”: Literacy and identity in a world of multiliteracies by Bronwyn T. Williams. I highly recommend reading this article. It is not very lengthy, so it keeps you attention while explaining how students create their own, different identities than the ones used in face-to-face situations. That being said, it then goes into explaining how students can use online tools effectively for multimedia projects in the fields of reading and writing. Since technology is changing constantly, so should your tools in the classroom. Of course students want the new latest and greatest thing, so why not do the same thing with your tools in the classroom? This article explains how it is important to keep innovating inside the classroom.

http://igenlit.pbworks.com/f/williams%20multiliteracies.pdf

Assignment #2-1:

Both of these articles relate in that it shows that there is a need to integrate technology in the room, but it is limited due to the teachers’ expertise. If the teacher does not feel comfortable using the new literacies and integrating it with the subjects she/he teaches, then the students will not have the opportunity to be exposed to that technological, hands-on way of learning that already relates to the tech-savvy generation of students. If teachers do not take the necessary steps in order to use these strategies, then we are holding back on teaching students to achieve their fullest potential both inside and outside the classroom.

Assignment #2-2: Edmodo

Edmodo Functions:

Planner: I really like the layout of the planner function located next to the home button. It gives you a very easy to read week-at-a-glance format or a month-at-a-glance format that allows you to create new events and new tasks. This tool makes plan books extremely easy to keep up to date and well organized.

Progress: The progress icon allows the teacher to view the progress among the students that he/she adds to the group. Here, you can also give the students the opportunity to earn badges for their work. You can give them ready-made ones by edmodo, or create your own. This is a great motivation strategy and allows the teacher to see the flow of the conversations that go on inside the edmodo site among students.

Library: The library allows the teacher to post links and files for the students to navigate the suggested material effortlessly without being distracted by visiting other sites along their way to do their work. You can also create folders to keep the links organized within topics to allow students to navigate the material with ease.

Assignment: In the assignment function, the teachers allows the students to view their assignments very clearly. The teacher has the opportunity to describe the assignment to the students and choose a due date for them to abide by.

Poll: One of my favorite features of Edmodo is the poll function. You get to survey your students by asking them questions related to your topic. You can ask questions that put the students in characters’ shoes asking if they would do anything different than they did in the story. Or one can set up questions about the class in general asking about specific material. This gives the opportunity for the teacher to receive feedback from the students and make them think outside the box.

How ELA teachers can use Edmodo to enhance their ELA instruction:

Since the students of this generation are mostly tech-savvy, why not use it to provide it to them to develop their skills in the classroom? There are many different ways to incorporate this tool within regular classroom instruction. Teachers have the opportunity to split students up into groups to complete assignments.

Another way that one can use this is to post assignments, due dates, and rubrics right to the edmodo group page. It provides easy access in case there are students that are either forgetful, don’t write down due dates or just like the constant reminder. Along the way, the teacher can post alerts to inform the students of any changes, or just giving them a heads up that an assignment is due next week and so forth. Overall, I think that the use of edmodo could be extremely effective in classrooms if used regularly. It combines social networking with learning, which keeps the students engaged within the lessons and units making them successful in the classroom.