Technology tools for teaching Reading

 Hi everybody! 

                                               Hope you are all fine!☺

Teaching reading is a complex process. The best teachers develop an extensive knowledge base and draw on a repertoire of strategies for working with struggling students. I consider Teaching Reading as Rocket Science. 

Most people don't think about  the process of learning to read until they decide to start teaching their own children. But learning to read is a complex process that doesn't happen on its own. The best way to teach kids to read is by making it fun. 

Comprehension ensures students can read proficiently, eventually allowing them to take the reading skills a step forward, making connections beyond factual, literacy recall. This variety of techniques, combined with technology, which allows for a more personalized approach to learning, makes it easier than ever to help students improve their skills, their own way.

1.Reading Bear

(Technique: Audio, Self- Listening and Highlighting)

Help your students learn and practice phonics with this simple, yet impressive website. It takes students through a thorough and progressive process of learning letter sounds.
Students can use this tool at their own pace, repeating words and sentences as needed.

2. Whooo's Reading

(Technique: Comprehension monitoring and gamification)

This online reading log not only motivates students to read more, but improves their reading comprehension without making it feel like 'work'. what makes this tool so effective is both the gaming and comprehension aspects: Students are rewarded with Wisdom Coins for logging reading and answering open-ender, CCSS-aligned questions.

3. Mindmeister

(Technique: Graphic organization and recognizing story structure)

Graphic organizers help students break down an otherwise complex plotline, text or thought process and understand it more clearly. Students can build these from scratch, or you can build a framework for them to follow.

4. Newsela

(Technique: Approachable non-fiction text)

When students don't understand a text, and don't have the skill to recognize that the text is simply difficult, they become frustrated and often give up. Using a leveled - reading website like Newsela allows all of your students to read the same text, or dive into new and more interesting texts while struggling less. The content on Newsela is all non- fiction and functions as a news site for kids. 

Some other technology tools I decided to use for my reading classroom are:

1. Kahoot - Review literary elements

2. Seesaw - Reflection on reading

3. Spark Video - Book trailer

4. Padlet- I can literally admit that this one is my favorite and I usually use it for pre- reading activities

5. Today's Meet- For a read aloud backchannel

6. Explain everything - I suppose this one to be the best ever. It is used for strategy tutorials

7. Nearpod - I use it for annotating text

8. New York Times VR- It provides background knowledge

9. Spark Page- To publish book recommendations

10. Buncee- Used for shareable reading responses

11. Popplet - Try to organize thinking

12. Spark Post- Try it for a virtual exit slip

I hope you enjoyed reading this post. Feel free to leave your comments below😍

Project Feels

 Hi everybody! ☺

                                                                          I hope this post will find you fine!

Group Work💫

Some say working alone is more beneficial, some say working in a group is more beneficial. Working either in a group or alone is personal preference. But working in a group is mostly more beneficial because there are more ideas, people with different skills work on sudden parts, and work can be done sooner than expected with a better product.

When it comes to working in a group, one of the main benefits is there are more ideas. This type of collaboration benefits the project and gives team members an outlet to bounce around ideas to find the best fit. Let's say there are several good advantages about working in a group, but a member unsure which is the most appropriate one, so it gives other member and opportunity to give their ideas or opinions to help finding the best fit. A mistake that usually occurs is the project drifts off the topic. The group can be seen as a resource. Members work on their tasks, but further information might be needed, according to their experiences and knowledge, they will help.

Moreover, working in a group is about teamwork, people with different skills work on sudden parts that they are really good at and can get help whenever they need. I agree with the fact that 'to solve complex problems and to complete difficult tasks, team works better than an individual.' Teamwork is not just work, it is about communication and motivation. As I was working with B. my team mate, we really enjoyed our group work. We had fun, learnt a lot of new things, and really entertained ourselves with some childhood memories.  As we know people with different skills, work on sudden parts. Teamwork is where members need encouragement to put their view across, make it exciting, interesting and motivating. And this is exactly the main reason I liked working with my teammate. She is very motivational, and always keeps me up with her good sense of humor.

Lastly, working in a group is that it enables the group as a whole to be more productive, more creative, and can get work done in small amount of time. During our project we took a really short time to find what we needed for our presentation, and our preparation I guess was way easier than when working individually. A group that works together can achieve much more, creativity thrives when people work together. One of the benefits of working in a group is that it helps to raise the complete output. People work together using their best skills to make the quality better. A broader range of skills can be applied to practical activities.

I know that this post might look as if I described some of the advantages of group work, but in fact I just explained with short points the most accurate side of working with my teammate B.

Working together, helped us to improve skills such as, communication, teamwork, and leadership as well. Most importantly, it made the work more interesting, more motivating. Being teammates is obviously more beneficial than working alone. People should work together and blend themselves into the community.

People who work together, Slay together!❤

Feel free to leave your opinion in the comments below👇

Technology tools in lesson planning!

Hi everybody! 
                                           I hope you are all fine and enjoying these sunny days! ☺

Technology tools in lesson planning! 

The rise of Technology used in classrooms has made learning much more interactive. The emergence of  i-Pads to browser- based tools in project- based learning, take teaching to a new level in the 21 st century. Even the current trends in education include the use of new technology, from collaborative projects to blending traditional textbook teaching with innovative tools.

For students, the core of aim project- based learning is to put theory into practice and gain new skills throughout the process. From prioritizing tasks to managing sources and summarizing concepts, they will be developing skills for life. As well as using interactive tools in group project helps students to grasp a better understanding of a concept.

A major advantage of digital tools used is better engagement in the classroom. For students it's the curiosity, for teachers it's a great tool to work with, to inspire and to grade student work!
Browser- Based tools and several apps used in education are especially useful for researching, storytelling and collaborative video- making. 
Handy mobile devices allow students to be inspired when outside the classroom by creating and sharing ideas and creations instantly. The benefit of some tools is that they accommodate different approaches to projects. Whether the end result is a presentation, telling stories on an interactive timeline, or a visual board. In the case of project- based learning, the passive 'teacher tells students' teaching has turned tp a more 'hands -on' approach with students finding the best ways to present their own results. 

In collaborative projects, students have a chance to enhance their skills in communication, critical thinking, productivity and problem - solving.

Technology Tools (click the link for some more apps)

Here is a mini- guide to some of the project - based learning tools:

1. Mindmeister
As the name suggests , this tool is great for mapping out ideas. A good way to start a project is by asking driving questions, like what's the essence of a project?  Free app available from the Apple Store, and for Android users.

2. Glogster
This creative tool is excellent for creating digital posters and other multimedia-projects. It can be used as a 'pre-tool' for a major project, or simply to highlight research.

3. Myhistro
This versatile browser-based tool enables students to combine blogging, videos and photographs on interactive Google Earth and Google Maps. Myhistro's chronological timeline makes it great for collaborative tasks, multimedia projects and presentations in History, Geography and Social Science.

4. Pixton

A fun web-based tool for creative storytelling. This dynamic comic building site is easy to use and great in English Literature. Interactive features such as a variety of expressions, background templates , and images make classroom activities interesting and let students creativity flow.

5.Reeldirector
Similar to i-Movie only this useful tool comes with advanced features in video making. It's simple to use and has many features  from stitching together clips to putting transitions between video clips to smooth the flow of the video.

6. Animoto
A fun tool for creating slideshows of field trips and learning concepts. You can illustrate you project with videos, photos and text. Simply choose a video style and add your visual material.

7. Voice Thread
A versatile tool used for commenting on any type of media, from videos to photos. It's especially useful in foreign language classes.

8. FotoBabble
'Talking photos'. a tool used to record a voice over for an image in a slideshow format. It's great for collaborative projects telling a story of a photo or event. In the classroom, students can start a project by analyzing a concept or story and import audio from another source.

9. Audioboo
A similar tool to Foto Babble. This voice over tool is excellent for telling stories of a photograph and other visual projects. It supports recordings from other devices, allows users to tag a location and enter a small description.

10. Popplet
An amazing tool for planning that can be used as a mind map illustrated with drawings, photos and videos. This easy way to use interactive tool is ideal for generating concepts, creating galleries, and adding comments. The main downside is that it's fairly expensive for a mind map app.

Feedback , Reflection and Revision

Technology can make it easier for teachers to give students feedback about their thinking and for students to revise their work. 

Thank you for you cooperation!
                                                                            Feel free to leave your comments below✌

Cooperative Learning

Hi everyone!       

                                                                              I hope you are fine and taking care of your health!☺

What is cooperative learning?

Cooperative learning is a teaching approach with small mixed groups, with the aim that all participants benefit from the interaction. There is a substantial amount of literature methods and techniques which consider such factors as group ability, success and the awarding of this success. Salvin (1988): cooperative learning covers learning methods in which students work in small groups (generally 4-6 students) and group success is awarded in different ways. Both group rewards and individual accountability means that each individual is rewarded only when others in his or her group also succeed, which prevents high achievers from dominating the work. Thus, cooperative group work that incorporates both group rewards and individual accountability not only forces students to take responsibility for their own mastery of the material, but also makes the students responsible for their classmates’ mastery. However, according to (Christian 1990) cooperative learning is a classroom learning approach which is used to increase motivation and retention, to help students to develop positive thoughts about themselves and their friends, to develop students’ ability to solve problems and think critically and to help the student develop cooperative skills.

 

The main aim of cooperative learning is to install the mentality that the groups is working together to increase their own and their friends learning to the top level and not to encourage competition. Competition adopts a win- lose situation where superior students win all the rewards and recognition while low- achieving students are left demotivated with nothing to show for the lesson. In contrast everyone benefits from a cooperative learning environment. Students help each other and in doing so , build a supportive community which raises the performance level of each member (Kagan 1986) and this in turn leads to higher self-esteem in all students (Webb 1982). Each member of the group should help all the other members to learn. (Reeve, 1996_ believes these are psychological benefits to be gain when students work together. According to Reeves students can be increasing engaged and find significant enjoyment when social interaction is integrated into their learning experience. In order to carry out cooperative learning successfully, the group must have a purpose, and all the students in the group should undertake responsibility to achieve the aim of the group. In this approach, students should combine their own efforts with those of their friends in the group because the essence of this approach is “either we swim together or we sink together”. No matter what his/her success level is, every student should believe that he does what he can to contribute to the success of the group. Every group member should be aware of the concept of commitment of aim and commitment of success. “In this method, the group members should be in face to face interaction. This interaction is obtaining by helping each

other, giving feedback, relying on each other, discussing and encouraging each other” (Johnson and Johnson ,1989). For communication and social skills, students should be taught the required small group skills and interpersonal skills. Such as leadership, decision making, trustworthiness, communicating and resolving conflict skills. If these skills are not present in the student, cooperative study cannot be achieved. Also, no matter what level the students’ ability and competence levels are, their contributions to the group should be appreciated. Students should be given the opportunity to show themselves at the subject they are good at. Slavin (1992) emphasizes that:
“Students will learn from one another because in the in discussions of the content, cognitive conflicts will arise, inadequate reasoning will be exposed, disequilibrium will occur, and higher quality understandings will emerge”

Please find attached the link to my Padlet presentation about Cooperative learning in Education!

Padlet

                                                                                   Thank you for you cooperation guys!☺