What worked well with Edmodo:
Students love technology! They were engaged and excited while using Edmodo. Even simply choosing a profile picture (while not a real one) was a way to express themselves and their passions, hobbies, or personalities. They communicated with each other and myself inside and outside the classroom. When a student traveled overseas for a few weeks, she still logged on to see what the others were doing. Edmodo was a key part in motivating the students to stay engaged during online discussions. Someone was always posting a comment, so the students were continually reading and formulating their own questions and answers. If the task was challenging for a lower level ELL student, they were given sentence stems or the opportunity to work closely with someone who could guide them.
The students were able to demonstrate and practice online etiquette throughout the year and because the discussions were recorded, I could also go back to reference comments made during a discussion.
Challenges using Edmodo in Language Arts:
Before my Language Arts class was combined with another class, we were able to use Edmodo daily as we had access to both the IPads and the computers, but when we combined classes, time became an issue in getting 21 computers set up, powered up, and logged on. We were fortunate to join another class that was also using Edmodo. The students still had the opportunity to test, hold discussions, submit assignments, complete readings, and access lesson materials on Edmodo, but we were not using the program daily.
What worked well with the Hong Kong partnership:
Using VoiceThread with my ELL students was a wonderful platform for them to publish their work and receive feedback from their peers and their overseas partners. VoiceThread gives the students options of writing or orally recording their comments, so this gave the students the opportunity to use both mediums for communication. The comments from the Hong Kong students allowed the Hammond students to learn more about their partners.
Challenges with the Hong Kong partnership:
The challenges of keeping the project with Hong Kong running was that the teacher who was partnering with me in Hong Kong only met with her students at lunch time. She did not have a class with only these 10 students, so the responses from her students were limited to what they did during their lunch hour. The students in Hong Kong did not have the time to create their own VoiceThread projects in school. I could tailor my lessons to be applicable in meeting the needs of the curriculum and this project in Hong Kong, but this became more challenging when my class was integrated with another Language Arts class in February. I no longer had a set time to work with my students on this project.
Students love technology! They were engaged and excited while using Edmodo. Even simply choosing a profile picture (while not a real one) was a way to express themselves and their passions, hobbies, or personalities. They communicated with each other and myself inside and outside the classroom. When a student traveled overseas for a few weeks, she still logged on to see what the others were doing. Edmodo was a key part in motivating the students to stay engaged during online discussions. Someone was always posting a comment, so the students were continually reading and formulating their own questions and answers. If the task was challenging for a lower level ELL student, they were given sentence stems or the opportunity to work closely with someone who could guide them.
The students were able to demonstrate and practice online etiquette throughout the year and because the discussions were recorded, I could also go back to reference comments made during a discussion.
Challenges using Edmodo in Language Arts:
Before my Language Arts class was combined with another class, we were able to use Edmodo daily as we had access to both the IPads and the computers, but when we combined classes, time became an issue in getting 21 computers set up, powered up, and logged on. We were fortunate to join another class that was also using Edmodo. The students still had the opportunity to test, hold discussions, submit assignments, complete readings, and access lesson materials on Edmodo, but we were not using the program daily.
What worked well with the Hong Kong partnership:
Using VoiceThread with my ELL students was a wonderful platform for them to publish their work and receive feedback from their peers and their overseas partners. VoiceThread gives the students options of writing or orally recording their comments, so this gave the students the opportunity to use both mediums for communication. The comments from the Hong Kong students allowed the Hammond students to learn more about their partners.
Challenges with the Hong Kong partnership:
The challenges of keeping the project with Hong Kong running was that the teacher who was partnering with me in Hong Kong only met with her students at lunch time. She did not have a class with only these 10 students, so the responses from her students were limited to what they did during their lunch hour. The students in Hong Kong did not have the time to create their own VoiceThread projects in school. I could tailor my lessons to be applicable in meeting the needs of the curriculum and this project in Hong Kong, but this became more challenging when my class was integrated with another Language Arts class in February. I no longer had a set time to work with my students on this project.