Gretchen+T.

Hi, all.

My name is Gretchen and I teach K-8 English Language Learners in Brookline. This will be my 13th year teaching. Though currently in ELL, I have also taught Spanish, bilingual middle school social studies, and two-way bilingual 3rd grade.

My students join me from all over the world, making a new and interesting group each year. Because students generally receive ELL services for a few years, I am able to work with children through more than one grade. The program is pull-out, so students are with their mainstream class for the majority of the day. The groups I teach are usually mixed-age, mixed-level.

I am taking this course because there is so much technology out there to enhance learning and instruction, but I feel out of date in my command of it and I’d like to learn to use what is available. At my school I have been using a few useful websites for content movies and interactive books. My sister, a teacher, inspires me with her use of i-touches and other fancy stuff with her pre-k students.

I will be taking this course for credit.

Assignment 2

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This tool exploration was eye-opening. So much that is available. I worked with Squared and Scholar the most. Below is an example of how I could use Squared with middle school students studying ancient civilizations. A main focus is comparing different time periods and outcomes within one civilization and among a civilization and its contemporaries in other parts of the world. Looking at the different Chinese ruling dynasties with Squared would be useful. I might have students add a column of “Accomplishments” at the end. ====== [|Chinese Dynasties]

Assignment 3: 1. What I hope //not// to see at beach in North Carolina! media type="custom" key="10050151" align="center" width="210" height="210"

2. Schools Across the Ocean

Kapin School, Haiti ~ Lincoln School, Brookline

media type="custom" key="10050643" align="center"

Hi! Great maps and widgets. Erin

Assignment 4
[|Picture Book Maker Link]
 * // Picture Book Maker: //**** Lesson For 2nd Graders **


 * Students will have already participated in a retelling activity with a fiction animal story. They will have drawn and written about the beginning, middle, and end of the story. As a group we will have made a chart of the characters, setting, main event/problem, and solution


 * For this activity they will be told that we will make our own story that includes a beginning, middle, and end. With the Smart Board in the computer lab I will show students a Picture Book Maker story that I make previously.


 * We will then explore how to create an original story. I will choose one animal-gorilla, and show students the sizes and actions that can be selected.


 * We will do the same for backgrounds (settings) and accessories (trees, gates, etc.).


 * The small group of students will choose, by voting with raised hands, which characters to use with our class story. With this demonstration, they will tell me what text to type for each page and what characters and scenery to add. They will choose a title and their names will be added as authors.


 * When the book is complete we will read in on the computer and then print small pocket books for the students.


 * During subsequent sessions students will create their own stories in pairs so as to help each other with details of the program the other can’t remember. Later, with practice under their belts, students will be proficient and able to create books on their own.


 * The books can be linked to our classroom blog and read by classmates.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa [|My Picture Book] aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa [|Picture Book Maker Sample by my 7-year-old volunteer.]
 * A couple of samples below made with my daughter. (No students available!) She dictated the text.

Assignment 5
//Animoto Beach Vacation Video!//

media type="custom" key="10125611" =__3 Classroom Tools... __=

Vocabulary and Spelling City aaaaaaaa  [|spellingcity.com]
A site where teachers can enter word lists which are then available for students to study with in a variety of ways: spelling or vocabulary tests, sentence writing, matching word with definition, flashcards, crossword puzzles, and ore. Audio is available for activity directions, as well as for some of the //Teach Me// options. Teacher resources are available and include many word lists related to specific titles, Dolch words, and grammar activities. Many activities can be used online or printed. The Basic version is free.

This site has the potential to save me a lot of time! For middle school students I make individual weekly vocabulary study packets. It was very easy to enter a list of words on this site, which I could then direct a students to and assign certain activities to help master the words, including spelling, meaning, and correct use in writing. The interactive, online aspects would be engaging for my students. The audio portions would be especially helpful for English Language Learners who can often spell a word correctly from studying and seeing it in readings, but are not confident about pronunciation. I can’t wait to share this site with others in my department!

Poetry Foundation aaaaaaaa [|poetryfoundation.org]
An incredible poetry resource. Visitors to this site can search for poetry by title, poet, subject, season, and more. Other resources include short biographies of poets and teacher resources for using poetry with children. Audio of poems being read aloud, often by the poet, is available, as well as some video. Audio can be combined with the text of the poem for easy read-alongs.

Another site that I will use immediately in September. Students in my ELL classes choose one poem per week to copy, practice reading aloud, and then recite to the class on Friday. The poems available on this site will give students the ability to not only browse poetry books I have in the classroom, but to control a search and find poems related to their interests. The diverse group of poets from the U.S. and around the world represented on this site is impressive and will allow students to experience poetry from poets both like them and different from them. It is often difficult for me to review poems with each student at the beginning of the week. The audio options on this site will allow students to hear the poem not only with correct pronunciation, but with emotion and passion as well. ELL students can move forward with confidence knowing that their pronunciation is accurate.

Signed Stories aaaaaaaa [|signedstories.com]
One of the better storytelling sites I have explored. Animated children’s stories available on this site are accompanied by audio, text, and an ASL interpreter. Stories available include many popular picture books, fairy/folk tales, and stories searchable by other categories such as family/friendships, adventure, and more.

This is a site I would use with kindergarten through third grade ELL students. It would be especially useful with my students who are learning spoken English and ASL simultaneously. The tellings are animated and engaging. When first graders study fairy tales I often share with them several versions of a traditional tale, many of which are available on this site. Having the audio and text presented with the animation of the pictures will encourage new readers and allow them to more fully enjoy stories in a language new to them.