Project-Based Learning for ELLs

One of my big goals for this summer was to create a skeleton or framework for at least one PBL idea for each grade level for my schools this year.  I will be in three elementary schools and I want to be a part of the PBL conversation because of how beneficial and engaging it can be for (everyone and) ELLs.

This short video from the Buck Institute for Education (BIE) gives you a taste of the kinds of differentiation techniques ESOL teachers can employ or suggest to general classroom teachers to encourage confidence and meaningful participation of ELLs in a group PBL setting.  Watch it below!

Twitter for educators

If you looked at my resume three years ago, you would think I spent all day on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and in the deep, dark back rooms of various social media websites.  You'd be compelled to ask, "Exactly what does a social media manager do?"

Give me a dollar for every time someone told me, "I really don't get Twitter," or "Do people really pay attention to those social media details?" and I would roll in the digital dough.  There are innumerable resources out there detailing the tutorials necessary for getting started on social media networks, but many in education are still left in the dark as to what they all mean.  Consider this your glossary:

For the first installment of my social media advice series, let's focus on the most confusing of all social media outlets: Twitter. What is it? Why use it? How to use it.

What is it? Micro-blogging, zinger-perfecting, short and documented conversing for easy idea-sharing.

Why use it? Use Twitter to share AND consume ideas, information, news, and to foster relationships with others in your professions or interest groups.  You have interests and you have goals for joining Twitter: narrow down what they are.

How to use it? Ask yourself what is important in your general life and try to stay within those bounds in your first months on Twitter. No one is rushing you to have a thousand followers or to be the expert on sixteen industries at once. Making the mistake to cover too much ground will lead you to over-tweet and to become an undesirable person to follow.  Additionally, don't be selfish.  When you tweet and tweet and tweet and never converse with anyone, you send the message that you are gracing us with your presence in the Twitter world.  Social media has the capacity to mimic real-life situation, at least to the extent that we can draw analogies. Don't tweet like these characters:

• The broadcaster: like the loud guy at the office holiday party who has story after story to tell, leaving zero room for contribution on the airwaves.  Avoid having this Twitter personality by reaching out to people who follow you, retweeting with others have shared, and spending the time to genuinely read and comment on what others have shared.  It's not a real-life conversation, but it can mimic one.
• The pleader: follows 500 people per day, gives them 24 hours to follow back, and then unfollows them when they do not, moving on to the next batch of consumers.  High numbers of followers matter nil if you have little to share or collaborate.  These people tend to add "Please RT" or "please retweet" to their tweets, which bothers me.  If your content is compelling, your followers will retweet it.
• The fair-weather tweeter: I'm entirely guilty of this right now.  This person gets excited and engaged in the first few days, petering off shortly thereafter.  They come back to Twitter world when they remember they set up that account X moons ago. Or they return when they have something they really need to share, so they pop in, tweet out, and go back into hiding.  Is anyone reading that random tweet that shows up next to the unfamiliar profile picture on your home feed? No. Is anyone going to remember to loop you into the conversation when they need your opinion about a topic of interest to you? No.  The bottom line is that you should be as consistent as you can be with your social media accounts.  Set a goal for how often you will tweet and read and comment on others' tweets.  

Example uses for those in education:

Schools can use Twitter to blast out important information. They should, however, also use it to loop in the community surrounding the school. It should not be exclusively a place for parents to see if there is a snow closing or for reminders about parent-teacher conference day. Twitter offers schools a chance to create a face and a personality in the community.  Tweet out "overheard at X school" quotes throughout the day. Post pictures of student work (without names or faces).  If there is a cool cloud forming outside your front office, snap a photo! You'll be surprised to learn how many things you can find to draw people into the fold.  These "human interest" tweets may be easily cross-posted on Facebook or Instagram, as well.  Consistency is key.  Even when no one is responding to your posts, keep them coming.  You develop credibility over time, slowly, like the tortoise.

Principals can follow similar protocols as schools, but have the flexibility to inject more of their own personality into the mix.  You provide a place where parents may feel that they have a personal connection with their child's principal, though it should be noted that Twitter is not a replacement for real-life connections.  Twitter is your portal for public relations and where you can nestle into your niche.  Pick a few key topics on which you want to focus: PBL, technology in the classroom, arts in the school.  Make a goal to post at least once a day and retweet others at least three times a week.

Teachers should determine if they want their Twitter accounts to be private, so parents feel more comfortable getting specific news about their child's classroom from a private account, or public so they can help schools and principals grow their social media presence.  When you make your account private, only those whose permission you grant may see what you post.  They cannot retweet your posts, either, so your content will remain safe.  This option, however, prevents you from supporting your principal and school in the greater Twitter world. Anything of theirs that you retweet will only go out to those previously approved followers, who are likely already following the school and principal.

Free EdTech for the ESOL classroom

Whoa buddy, technology is a battleground buzzword in the teacher world.  Personally, I love the concept of EdTech and finding a way to work smarter, not just harder.  I've been sorting through my hundreds of bookmarks and pins to glean out the little gems I might be able to use this, my first year as an ESOL teacher.

Queue the chorus of well-seasoned teachers giggling in unison.

The following is the beginning of what promises to be a GIGANTIC list of free EdTech tools I am exploring for use in the classroom, in project-based learning groups, by gen ed teachers, or by students:

WordNet® is a large lexical database of English. Nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are grouped into sets of cognitive synonyms (synsets), each expressing a distinct concept. Synsets are interlinked by means of conceptual-semantic and lexical relations. It's nice to have a reference source like this readily at hand.

The Google has so many resources that have yet to become household names. Let's make them classroom names, instead! The Cultural Institute is a hub for viewing high quality photos of different aspects of the humanities. More to come when I develop the PBL ideas marinating in my head right now with this great tool, but there is so much potential for getting our students engaged in these virtual field trips and insights in the world's many facets.

• Cultural Institute's Street Art

• Cultural Institute's World Wonders

• Cultural Institute's Art Project

Google's Open Gallery - Virtual field trips to galleries and museums around the world.

Google Map Maker – a map editor wherein you impart your local knowledge to help improve Google's map features. This is a good PBL idea waiting to happen.

Google Knowledge - Help support your students' (and your) media literacy by learning tips and tricks of researching online from the experts.

Goo.gl – URL shortener for both Google and non-Google websites. Rather than needing to make sure the link is bookmarked on every computer (for those with somewhat antiquated networks), quickly plug in the link here and you will easily write the shorter link on the board.

Panoramio – Photos of the world.

Google Classroom - Are you brave enough to be a beta tester? Google Classroom is a content management system for schools that aids in distribution and grading of assignments and providing in-class communication. "Simple assignments, communication with Classroom, teachers can create and organize assignments quickly, provide feedback efficiently, and communicate with their classes with ease. Classroom lets students organize their work in Google Drive, complete and turn it in, and communicate directly with their teachers and classmates."

GeoGuessr - I spent way too much time walking around unknown parts of the world, trying to guess where Google had virtually dropped me while using this tool. This would be a fun Geography hook or 5-minute time stretcher.  Students use and collaborate their knowledge of landmarks and landscape to figure out where in the world they are, all the while realizing how similar some parts of the world are to others!

I will add to this list... I promise Google doesn't pay me to push their products. I just got started on one Google product and daisy-chained my way around the suite! This list will grow!

Arvind Gupta: Turning trash into toys for learning

Brilliant, simple, and inexpensive hands-on toys that will help students understand concrete math and science concepts. I first watched this video a year ago and I continue to love watching his creativity.

Uncovering through teaching and other links

[caption id="attachment_137" align="aligncenter" width="448"] Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net[/caption]

These are my favorite education (and education-adjacent) links from the past week. One of my classes requires that we stay up on current education events, something I should have already invested time, so here comes accountability:

7 Tips For Parents Of Struggling Readers | TeachThought


Highlights from the SMU National Center for Arts Reform Report | SMU NCAR


"5 Reasons You Should Be Teaching Digital Citizenship" | TeachThought

"Sport phrases" | BBC Learning English - It's so charming that these phrases can be read in a British accent.


Why New Teachers Need Mentors | Edutopia - Yes, please.

"The Second Lives Of 'Stuff' In Chicago Public Schools" | NPR - I have always wondered about this.

Persuading an Audience Using Logos, Pathos and Ethos | NYT - The Learning Network - Don't pretend that teaching isn't made up of lots of little performances and persuasive speeches.

Lexical distance between European languages | Flowing Data


"10 Innovative Ways to Bring STEM to Schools" | Mindshift - My strengths are the humanities, but I have a little engineer in my head and I'm motivated to introduce kids to STEM.

Tips for incorporating nonfiction into the ELA curriculum | Smartblog on Education

42 Idiom Examples & Explanations | TeachThought

Fun schtuff:

Highway traffic reorganized by color | Flowing Data - This is both helpful for and too indulgent of my OCD.


Elaborate New Portraits Drawn on Vintage Maps by Ed Fairburn | Colossal - Beauty.

Facial hair trends over time | Flowing Data - Methinks the beard graph should start ascending again.

Kris Trappeniers' Flickr albums - He draws portraits with one continuous line. Wow. Then, sometimes he Exacto-cuts out the negative space. Wow. Then, sometimes he uses that as a stencil to spray paint the portrait onto something else. Dang.

Languages and Children: Chapter 9

This chapter shows how much cultural emphasis can be a vehicle for implicitly learning a language, as well as the greatest motivation to learn it. I love the idea of starting with a culturally integrative lesson to help teach vocabulary and language. As Curtain and Dahlberg allude, it can help bridge a gap that ELLs might fear crossing: knowing more about the country in which they now live. The Classroom Exchanges idea jumped out as particularly interesting as I suspect it would get the adrenaline pumping in the veins of these young learners: a great recipe for learning success. I also love the ideas that integrate technology and uniting students with other students around the globe.