Integrating Technology and Literacy, Alaa

StoryLineOnline           As a learner of English as a second language, one of the difficulties I faced is finding the materials that improve my language academically especially in the primary level. After years from studying and today as a teacher for English language learner, I found a great resource to improve the student’s literacy and develop their words bank. I bring for yours as teachers, parents, and students of English language a great valuable source that helps in improving many skills in English language, such as writing and reading. It is a very useful source for the learner because it supports many types of learning like visual and aural learning and skills like writing and reading at the same time.        It is the StoryLineOnline.net website. This is the website I wished I had known about a long time ago. Storylineonline.net is available for 24 hours for children, parents, and teachers to...

DK FindOut?!                  DK FindOut is a great visual source that includes diagrams and an encyclopedia of images for elementary level in science and many other topics like nature, math, and transportation. Additionally, it includes a diversity of stories and books for all grade levels. It is a website that has been launched in February 2015 for free.         DK FindOut is a richly visual interactive resource with supported games. To start using it go to https://www.dkfindout.com/us/ choose the language and search for the topic you are interested in and enjoy learning in a creative interactive way. It is one of the digital literacy sources that could be applied to two main standards, first, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.4.D: Use glossaries or beginning dictionaries, both print and digital, to determine or clarify the precise meaning of key words and phrases. There are many vocabularies related to many...

NASA-app      Digital literacy tools are an enormous world that has thousands of apps, websites, and blogs to provide a unique technique in the world of literacy. One of the best apps that help student being familiarise with the digital world and make the digital storytelling is Nasa-app https://www.commonsensemedia.org/app-reviews/nasa-app.             Nasa-App is a great tool for a student as a science resource because it is rich with the data from an expert's organization in science world. Additionally, the information there is updated every few days which means having an up to date source. Moreover, Nasa-app supports the interactive feature for student age 7 and older. I really like how the data there is very similar to the research papers but in a much flexible way that makes students interested to find it. I would recommend this app for the teacher, parents, and even students who are interested in science aspect. ...

        Interactive Games In Education          Today’s education system is much more flexible than 15 years ago. There are many ways a student might have in order to success in learning and increase his/her knowledge. One of the best ways to me as a teacher is introducing student to learn through the interactive games that support the learning subject they are studying. So, they are going to enjoy and learn at the same time. Moreover, some of those interactive games are related to many cultural backgrounds, which help  ELLs in being familiarized with the topic and  improve their comprehension. There are many  sources for interactive games online. For example, Interactive Sites For Education  (http://interactivesites.weebly.com/language-arts.html) which has many links in different topics like language, math, vocabulary….etc. Also, it is very easy to deal with. You might ask your self why do...

     Watching the two videos http://edtap.psu.edu/video/zines/ and http://edtap.psu.edu/video/minilesson/, which are about techniques in teaching the writing skill, provided me with a diversity of strategies in teaching writing skill for English Language Learner (ELLs) and how it is important for a student to be aware of the digital citizenship. The first video http://edtap.psu.edu/video/zines/ is very interesting to me because it has the idea of teaching writing through many steps, such as searching for data, evaluating the sources, and choosing a creative theme for the writing assignment or the story. So, students are going to enjoy the task and feel the responsibility in providing a valuable information to their classmate. I also like when the teachers made a small discussion with students and took some feedback from them and welcomed to hear their opinion. It is a very valuable video to me as a future teacher.    

        About Me ;)           Becoming a teacher is one of my greatest dreams in life. I have admired teaching for a long time. I carried the high respect and honor for my greatest teachers in all the years of the learning process especially those teachers who used the highly motivated technique in teaching. Therefore, I decided to play an unforgettable role in improving the education system. My vision in education is to provide the language learner with the pleasure of learning that language and mastering it in a very flexible and enjoyable atmosphere. I have many identities and cultural backgrounds that give her the chance to speak three different languages. I am a Saudi future teacher who dreams of having my vision exist in education systems one day. This is me, Alaa, a graduate student in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Program at The University of Saint Joseph.