Forker's ESOL WIKI - follow this link to view my WIKI Space

Comment on my plan - follow this link to "David Plan" to make comments on my plan

Title – Forker Goes Virtual

 Abstract

Through my work at the RCWP Advanced Institute I have started moving my ESOL classroom closer to a Web based environment. Through this transition I will be able to implement higher expectations for my students and offer them a greater level of independence.

 Rationale

I engaged in this project because I feel digital voice technology and Web 2.0 will be particularly useful and applicable to my students. My students are 6th-8th grade ESOL students that range in English proficiency levels from new comer to fluent. My students love to use computers, and tend to be rather proficient with various tools and programs (both good and bad). By using things like voice threads and Wiki spaces I plan to challenge my students to post their work to my Wiki space and review/critique it together, individually, at school, at home or anywhere an Internet connection is available.

During my first year teaching I felt in adequate with my use of technology and how I applied it to my students. I knew a little about Wiki spaces, and was learning more about voice tools available or the Internet, but I was never quite able to put my students to work on independent (or group) projects that challenged them to use the Internet to create work and share it with their peers. I was also never quite able to employ any of the various voice tools effectively to challenge students to confidently practice speaking English. I hope to have students post work to my Wiki Space and incorporate voice tools such as Wimba or Voice Thread to actively engage my students.

These projects will impact my classroom immensely by creating a space on the Internet that students can use to share their work and productivity with people in their lives. I hope students take the time to share their work with their families, friends, teachers, and maybe even people in other countries. Rather than filling in the blanks on a piece of paper, my students will now be able to post their work to the Internet and share with people all over the world.


 An explicit account of how your project meets the following criteria
My project will most likely incorporate at least two Web 2.0 tools. I hope to incorporate my Wiki Space into my daily classroom activities by posting daily journal entries for the class to post their responses to; similar to the way we had open discussions in the Advanced Institute. I also plan utilize Voice tools to have students listen to, respond to, and demonstrate their live voices. This will enable them to critique themselves and hold themselves accountable for their own progress.
These projects will further my curriculum, instruction, and assessment needs/goals by diversifying the way I approach my Georgia Performance Standards. I will now be able to implement curriculum, instruct, and assess with more than pencils and paper. The use of Web 2.0 will allow me to explore my students’ abilities from different perspectives. As there are multiple types of intelligences, students excel in expressing themselves in multiple modes. Thus I will be able to access more students, in more ways.
Linked to this wiki – see hyperlink above
I plan utilize Red Clay’s philosophical lens of standing by my morals and continually trying to instill morals in my students and peers. In addition, my inquiry stance is to be open to all new possibilities. I pride myself on evaluating something fairly and thoroughly before making a decision. Furthermore, I will do my best to continue to evaluate things in order to always stay current and keep a tab on myself on my opinions.
A timeline that shows the following information:

• Activities, anticipated dates of completion, tools that will be used

Although these are vague, I plan to solidify them as the school year develops.
1st Month of School – Give students explicit instructions on use of Wiki space, such as how to use, add documents, where to find assignments, editing, and acceptable/unacceptable behavior
2nd-3rd Month of School – establish comfort level using voice tools to begin having students utilize various tools independently. Create self guided lessons and goals. Monitor progress from remote locations and have dialogue such as on-line journals/discussions with students.
4th – 5th Months of School – Move towards students creating their own Wiki spaces that show off their work, act as a place where they keep their resources, create tools and activities to use to teach other students the things they have learned.
This week's work at the AI has really helped me to get the ball rolling toward my goal of utilizing the vast resources and programs available on the Internet. I have been thinking about moving in this direction (Web 2.0) for about a year but was intimidated by the complexity of the programs that I wanted to use. Thanks to the AI, I now feel much more comfortable using, and exploring many of the programs I had been thinking about using, such as Wiki Spaces, and Voice Tools.
After participating in the AI, I am currently checking my RSS feeds almost everyday, socially book marking for convenience (Delicious), and using Windows Movie Maker to post media on youtube.com.

Thanks Red Clay!!!