Farewell Reflection

The course Teaching with the Internet has provided me with new and exciting teacher tools that can help me incorporate technology in my classroom. Initially I was afraid I may not enjoy the blogging assignment but in the end I found that blogging has so many purposes. One way I plan on using blogging in my high school classes is simply for journaling. I am now aware of the many literacy websites available to us through everyone’s hard work in researching and writing the reviews. Thank you Dr. Rivera for providing us with the rigor and opportunity to learn during intersession, this was definitely an arduous but fun course. To my peers, intersession wasn’t an easy semester for me because of the short time we had to complete assignments for both classes but I appreciated all of your reviews and look forward to celebrating graduation with you all soon!  

IRA Newsletter Project Effective Literacy Website #7

I chose PBS Guam (Education) as my final website to review. It’s important for educators to know the available resources we have locally for our students and their families, and our families as well. PBS Learning Media has many classroom-ready, curriculum-targeted digital resources that focuses on strengthening public media to improve teacher effectiveness and student achievement. Resources found on their website is aligned with Common Core State Standards (CCSS) which is inclusive of interactive videos and in-depth lesson plans.

On the home page of PBS Guam, I clicked on both the Kids and Education tabs. The Kids tab takes me to a page with many learning resources that appears to be tailored to the preschool or early childhood learners. The initial page begins with their options to watch their children’s programs.  There are also many activity coloring sheets and other free stuff to choose from. Children can also select from some fun games to play or storybooks to read.  There is also a link to “cool websites” but didn’t seem to be working when I clicked on it. The education tab seemed to be more of an instructional page for educators on PBS Guam’s resources. I liked this feature because it has different tabs on technical requirements, searching and browsing, interactive lessons, teacher tools, how to get started on google classroom, and even professional development. Creating an account was easy because I simply used my GDOE email to log in. Once I was logged in, I had the option to view the webpage as a student or as a teacher. After selecting the teacher view option I found many video resources when I clicked on a content/subject matter which I was excited about. After reviewing six other literacy sites I have to say I wasn’t too impressed with PBS Guam. I wanted to register my child for PBS Kids Guam but registration required a fee. Also, I didn’t feel the focus was on literacy even 

Farewell Refection

First and foremost, I want to say Kaselehlia and Kalahngan to Dr. Rivera and all my fellow candidates in this Masters program.  The past four weeks was definitely a challenge for me.  Balancing and prioritizing my schedule was really tough since everyone was in holiday mode and there were so many events lined up with family and friends.  There was no magic trick to staying on top schedule and turning assignments in on time but it was all about making choices, working hard and being persistent.  Now that it's coming to an end, I feel so proud of myself that I was able to meet every requirement.   I have learned a lot of new and exciting things that will help me extent and enhance my lessons.  There are so many strategies and skills that I have learned through this course and from my fellow classmates. I appreciate the respect I receive from everyone and most especially the help I get from our instructors.  In addition, one of the most exciting tool that learned to use is Google Earth.  I know that my students will love it as much as I did exploring and learning new things.  Technology is a very important part of instruction and I felt empowered using and learning new tools that will help me bring more excitement and learning into my classroom.

 I want to wish you all the best as we continue on this journey.  It is 2020, and with hard work and persistence, we all will successfully complete these courses and be a better educator than we were when we started last Summer.  Again, Kaselelehlia and Kalahngan to Dr. Rivera.  You are awesome and I will look forward to my next class with you. 

IRA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Website #7

     Story Line Online is an effective literacy website that makes stories comes alive.  This website has talented actors and animations that help kids experience the magic of books. It is a great read aloud learning tool that can be used in different settings, smalls group, or individual setting to support struggling readers as well as English Language Learners.   On this website, students get to experience a virtual read-aloud, with animations, read by actors and actresses.

            This is a great literacy website to add on to existing literacy instruction because it brings books to life with exciting readings and fun animations.  Students are required only a tablet or computer and internet connections to access stories that brings fantasy, teachers about other cultures, history and various life stories.  There are also resources that can help kids with reading comprehension.

            Upon exploring this website, I think that Storyline Online is a great teaching for read aloud.  One of the examples from this website that was interesting was how they showed the video of White Socks Only by Evelyn Coleman.  They use the activity guide to lead kids through discussion and exploration of segregation.  This website promotes literacy and integration of other content areas.  It is a great platform for upper elementary and middle school.  It makes a great companion to existing reading programs and it helps motivate readers by using real life actors to read and bring stories into life.

Effective Literacy #7

Read With Me (RWM) (https://readwithmeapp.com)  was created by teachers and developers who were tired of the daily mundane work of checking reading fluency assessments. This site offers an easier way of assessing and checking those assessments through a mobile app. The student fluency tests can be administered on tablets, with the student reading while the teacher is following along and marking any miscues along the way. The fluency assessments and practices RWM has to offer are meant to  be done anywhere and anytime.

RWM allows flexibility in how students are assessed. The student could be reading and decide to restart and the teacher can interrupt the students’ reading. The goal is to have the student read and comprehend. If reading all over again is an opportunity  for the child to comprehend the reading material, then that is allowed. All this is up to the teacher.

Reading passages for grades K-8^th with short comprehension questions after each one are available. The teacher has the option to assign students with the appropriate grade level passage. Each passage has a description of the number of words, how many of those words are considered unique as well as the Lexile Level. The passages are short enough for students to read without taking away too much time from other subject areas. Should a teacher want another passage that is not offered, the option to include that passage for assessment is available.

Effective Literacy #6

ABCya ( https://www.abcya.com) is a site that offers over 400 free educational games for PreK – 6 that will enrich their learning experiences while having fun. I have explored the site and found out some of what it has to offer. Anytime making learning easy, fun, and free is available, is certainly something I am willing to look into.

Alan and Lisa are former public-school teachers that wanted to share how enjoyable education in the classroom can be. Unfortunately, finding the resources and funding became a problem so they decided to venture into gamifying educational lessons. After developing programs that other teachers enjoyed, the birth of ABCya came to fruition.

To make things easier for the user the sight has categorized its activities by grade and subject. The variety of activities are used by over 100 million kids, all learning levels and styles each year, which I think proves that the site must be truly fun. These activities are designed by parents and educators, who know and understand how children learn better by having fun doing it. So that parents and educators are reassured that their children and students are on track with what they should be learning, ABCya has aligned these activities with the Common Core State Standards. To make things easier for the user, each standard on the site has a game that it recommends to correspond with it, just as each game has the corresponding standard.

One example of a game is the ”Fuzz Bug Farm Consonant Blends.” This game is great for teaching consonant blends. When the student spins they are able to play by choosing the correct sounds. The student is able to click on the selections and listen to each sound it makes before making their choice. When the student determines the right consonant blend, they match it with the other letters provided. Excellent for Kindergarteners who are just learning to read or ESL students learning how to read as well. As the game continues it identifies who wins in the end and goes on to another round.

Effective Literacy #5

ReadWorks’(https://www.readworks.org) mission is to commit to solving America’s reading comprehension crisis and student achievement gap. It is a nonprofit organization that provides teachers with a library of curated nonfiction and literacy articles, along with reading comprehension and vocabulary supports, formative assessments, teacher guidance, and so much more for free. Readworks is based on proven cognitive science research.

There are thousands of reading passages accompanied by an audio option in both fiction and non-fiction for K-12. Teachers can create different classes or groups within each class. For example, typical students will be assigned grade level reading passages, while ESL students are assigned to passages that they will be able to understand. After each passage, students answer scaffolded comprehension questions. Students can take notes at their own pace with the ability to pause while reading or listening to the passage. While the students are answering the questions, teachers are able to keep track of their progress. If a students’ score is too low, the teacher has the option to have the student reread the passage and answer the comprehension questions again.

Another feature the site has to offer is the availability of the Article-A-Day, designed to be utilized weekly. This is a 10-minute daily routine which is a great way for students to develop background knowledge and cognitive stamina. Teachers will be able to filter the collection for ESL students.

Teachers can differentiate reading passages for a range of learners with eBooks, almost 100, with human voice narration available, StepReads, and audio that the site also has to offer. The newest feature that is offered is StepReads.  StepReads has articles that are a less complex version of an original article. StepRead 2 has also been created to offer an even lesser complex version of the original. After each article, vocabulary and definitions are provided along with examples of how words are used.

A survey style inventory called, “reading mindset snapshot,” is designed to track the topics of interest as well as how students feel about reading. A great tool to have to keep track of what your students like to read, if they do and to have similar books in your class library to encourage further reading.

I use Readworks in my classroom for intervention purposes as well as to cover other subject areas. Readworks provides a weekly report which is emailed to you to show your classes’ progression. They offer webinars with detailed explanations of each feature that you would be able to refer to anytime you need clarification. It is a great site that offers so much more that I am still getting acquainted with.