Journal Reflection #2
Nakamaru, Sarah. "Investment and Return: Wiki Engagement in a "Remedial" ESL Writing Course." JRTE 44.4 (2012): 273-291. http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ976469.pdf. Web. 2 Dec. 2012.
As per the requirement for this course, we were requested to reflect on two different articles that dealt with technology in education or more specifically education in an ESL environment. This was definitely going to be one of the hardest things which we had to do. In one such article, an education discussed how wiki engagement could be used in a writing course for ESL students.
One of the largest issues for ESL students tends to be writing. American English has so many rules and so many more exceptions to those rules it is difficult to know how to write properly. People must wonder why the use of a Wiki would be beneficial then. In the creation of a wiki, students are going to be a bit more formalized in their writing as it is meant to serve as an informative guide about a specific subject. It is important that students gain the experiences that they can with more formalized writing because they are going to be using it more and more often as they get older. The other issue that the author discusses is the difficulty with maintaining engagement in a school environment. This is not merely something that is an issue for grade level students, college students and their teachers face this issue as well. The teacher (who wrote this article) wanted to utilize the creation of a wiki for remedial purposes so that students could perhaps learn to write better.
Why is this so important then to those of us in a technology class and those of us who plan to be future teachers? Technology in the form of a wiki is most likely going to be something that a number of us will use in the classroom and help our students to learn. We do not want to be lacking in skills in using technology so that students get left. We want to make our writing intelligible enough and clear enough that any student regardless of their academic or language knowledge can understand the material. In addition, the importance of engaging our students should be a constant worry. We do not want our students to be nodding off or simply ignoring what we are trying to teach them. Thus, the use of a wiki and being aware of what we need to do to make our students succesful by using this type of technology and bringing good and solid information to the forefront of our students minds. This article meets the requirements of understanding both #1 and #2.
1) Demonstrate the understanding of how technologies can effectively promote student learning.
2) Evaluate and use a variety of current technologies to ehnance content instruct to advance students' technological literacy.
Students can quite easily benefit from the use of a wiki. If a wiki is done well, it serves the purpose of teaching people information that they may not know to begin with. Having students use a wiki and create their own wiki articles helps them to practice their writing skills and use them in such a way that they may be able to help others to learn new information.
I have learned from this article enough information so that I might be able to get a better understanding of how a wiki might actually be a great idea in my classroom. If I were to be teaching grammatical points, it might be a fun idea to have my students contribute their own articles to the wiki so that other students who may be more limited in their language skills can see how their fellow students created an understanding of a certain topic.
One of the largest issues for ESL students tends to be writing. American English has so many rules and so many more exceptions to those rules it is difficult to know how to write properly. People must wonder why the use of a Wiki would be beneficial then. In the creation of a wiki, students are going to be a bit more formalized in their writing as it is meant to serve as an informative guide about a specific subject. It is important that students gain the experiences that they can with more formalized writing because they are going to be using it more and more often as they get older. The other issue that the author discusses is the difficulty with maintaining engagement in a school environment. This is not merely something that is an issue for grade level students, college students and their teachers face this issue as well. The teacher (who wrote this article) wanted to utilize the creation of a wiki for remedial purposes so that students could perhaps learn to write better.
Why is this so important then to those of us in a technology class and those of us who plan to be future teachers? Technology in the form of a wiki is most likely going to be something that a number of us will use in the classroom and help our students to learn. We do not want to be lacking in skills in using technology so that students get left. We want to make our writing intelligible enough and clear enough that any student regardless of their academic or language knowledge can understand the material. In addition, the importance of engaging our students should be a constant worry. We do not want our students to be nodding off or simply ignoring what we are trying to teach them. Thus, the use of a wiki and being aware of what we need to do to make our students succesful by using this type of technology and bringing good and solid information to the forefront of our students minds. This article meets the requirements of understanding both #1 and #2.
1) Demonstrate the understanding of how technologies can effectively promote student learning.
2) Evaluate and use a variety of current technologies to ehnance content instruct to advance students' technological literacy.
Students can quite easily benefit from the use of a wiki. If a wiki is done well, it serves the purpose of teaching people information that they may not know to begin with. Having students use a wiki and create their own wiki articles helps them to practice their writing skills and use them in such a way that they may be able to help others to learn new information.
I have learned from this article enough information so that I might be able to get a better understanding of how a wiki might actually be a great idea in my classroom. If I were to be teaching grammatical points, it might be a fun idea to have my students contribute their own articles to the wiki so that other students who may be more limited in their language skills can see how their fellow students created an understanding of a certain topic.
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