124 items | 6 visits
Sites with lessons for teaching reading online; online journals with articles about teaching reading; literacy sites
Updated on Aug 15, 20
Created on Apr 10, 09
Category: Computers & Internet
URL:
"Reading Should Be Enjoyable, Not a Chore
"Ask nearly any parent or student what they think of reading logs, and I’m certain you won’t hear words like “inspiring, motivating.” The Atlantic did a great job addressing this outdated and ineffective approach to building lifelong learners in “Can Reading Logs Ruin Reading for Kids?“. " T/h N.LaFave
"#BookSnaps provide fun visual ways to share our reactions to what we read. This post provides my quick take on #BookSnaps built on my experience working with teachers and students. For a more comprehensive look at #BookSnaps, please check out the amazing work of their founder, Tara Martin." T/h Nick LaFave
Captions are the law, but also they may aid ESL students and students with learning disabilities. Some evidence is provided for improvement in test scores, and captioning certainly is a study aid. Captions can also aid in video searches.
"In their study, Van Hek, Kraaykamp and Buchmann show that the structure of the education system influences the differences in reading performance by boys and girls. The less freedom that teachers and schools have to design their own teaching methods, the worse their pupils perform, especially boys. So the more standardised the education in a country becomes, the bigger the differences in reading performance by boys and girls.
The researchers found the biggest difference between the sexes in Bulgaria, where education is very strictly standardised. The smallest difference was in Chile, where there is a lot of freedom to adjust teaching to the individual student. In the Netherlands the difference between boys and girls is also relatively small and the freedom for schools and teachers relatively large."
T/h to M.Burrett
This article suggest activities to review (Br. revise) vocabulary. Each is a communicative activity using groups or pairs, and requires only minimal tools. K-adult -- can be adapted to any level.
A follow-on video to the more advanced features of Quizlet: copying cards, editing, embedding, sharing with class groups, creating your own flashcards, etc. R. Stannard recommends viewing the first video before attempting these (link to intro included).
This quick intro to Quizlet is a good start up for a porgram that lets the user review vocabulary through quizzes and games. R. Stannard suggests using pre-made flashcards, rather than making your own each time. This video links to several more advanced features of Quizlet.
Photos can stimulate emotions, memories, and discussion. I've used photos, either cut from magazines or the local newspaper, or taken by students themselves, to teach reading and writing both overseas and with middle school students in the US. This blog article has some nice times for using photos to learn language, motivate students, and encourage reading and writing. See the companion article for online photos to inspire.
This is one of those amazing Internet contraptions that make one realize how digitized learning can really differ drastically from paper/pencil learning. This site allows you to translate any word in a website, so you can read any digital text, then practice the words you have selected in flashcards. The free version allows only 10 words/day (about what one could reasonably learn), but the premium version is only $5/month for unlimited words. Neat idea. I imagine teachers could put their texts on a website and have students work away at them.
Shows how a teacher can meet needs of relatively high-level ELLs in 5th grade through guided discussion and preparation for writing. Teacher provides the rationale for each step in her lesson. Includes small group discussion as well as whole group. Includes Common Core standards involved.
Whole group (in a circle) of young students (4-5th grade) discuss the non-fiction text. Students ask questions, use hand signals, and probe deeper before writing about the text. The discussion has Common Core standards subtitled throughout, and also allows for brief embedded small group discussions. Although it is a nonfiction text, the teacher helps students probe higher level aspects, such as author point of view.
R. Stannard has some instruction about how to use the ESL magazine, Breaking News English, which has games to play online, as well as an audio reading of the content, in various accents. A well-thought out set of activities, not just drill-and-grill.
The second site he discusses in Listen A Minute, which is for lower level students, and has shorter articles to read, as well as listening gap fill, jumble, and other activities.
"How we read online.
By Michael Agger
"You're probably going to read this.
"It's a short paragraph at the top of the page. It's surrounded by white space. It's in small type.
"To really get your attention, I should write like this:
Bulleted list
Occasional use of bold to prevent skimming
Short sentence fragments
Explanatory subheads
No puns
Did I mention lists?
"What Is This Article About?
"For the past month, I've been away from the computer screen. Now I'm back reading on it many hours a day. Which got me thinking: How do we read online?""
This is a topic I've written and published on, so it's interesting to see another person trying to grapple with the same problem. It's worth exploring repeatedly.
Taking visual reading notes is not just for so-called "visual" learners. Everyone can benefit by visualizing what they are reading and making notes as they read. Review of notes later is also key to success in remembering what is read.
This is a BYU-sponsored archive of a wide variety of copora. May be of use in vocabulary work. Includes a Wikipedia corpus, TIME Magazine, Google Books in American and British English, as well as Spanish.
Reading for K-6 kids is divided into activities by age group.
Another great lesson for teacher training from the Teaching Channel. The teacher looks at themes in _Hunger Games_, but goes beyond the text to what is happening underneath in terms of writing craft. Since the work is familiar, they don't have to work at understanding, but rather can focus on and analyze the "messages" contained in the work. The storyboards are used to have students create a reality show to convey the messages, such as "survival," "acts of resistance," how images and dialogue are used, etc.
Encourages the use of synthesis and deeper reading than just "beginning, middle, and end" by having them put together several readings, e.g., about an autistic child and a psychological case study to analyze a character in fiction. Uses case studies from non-fiction articles to create prototypes of, for example, a robot that pushes emotional or intellectual thinking to the extreme. Scenarios from fiction show what their prototypes have and what they need. As they read they are now thinking about how the reading speaks to humans.
The video also has a running text commentary that helps visualize how a teacher can make students think about their reading, see patterns, examine their own thought processes and progress. Questions to consider in the margin, as well as connections to the Common Core Standards.
"Reading Bear is a free service that offers narrated lessons on recognizing and pronouncing letters and words. There are also some lessons on prefixes and suffixes. Students can control the pace of each lesson to match their needs.
"After each lesson on Reading Bear students can take quizzes to test their skills. The quizzes present a picture and a set of words. Students have to match the correct word to the picture that they see. Through the narrator, students receive instant feedback on each question in the quiz."
I am not convinced that these topics are a good idea for K-3, but if this is in your curriculum, this site might be a good option.
"Spring Hill High School is using the Cornell note-taking method as a learning strategy that can help improve your recall and the usefulness of your notes. Do you want to know more about Cornell Notes? These resources will help you understand the process of taking notes using the Cornell system."
Includes videos showing how to use the Cornell Note-Taking Guide and various templates, as well as the Guide itself.
124 items | 6 visits
Sites with lessons for teaching reading online; online journals with articles about teaching reading; literacy sites
Updated on Aug 15, 20
Created on Apr 10, 09
Category: Computers & Internet
URL: