Technology

Technology in the classroom has many benefits. When students are using technology for support or for communicating purposes, they are in an active role of getting information. Students also make choices about how to generate, obtain, manipulate, or display information. Technology can provide ESL and ELL students an array of language experiences. =Twitter is a popular service with social networking, instant messaging and micro-blogging features and can be used in multiple ways in the classroom. Here are a few from= =[|50 Ways to Use Twitter]:=
 * Activity 1: Twitter **
 * 1) 1. **Tweet **. Teachers and students can contact each other through __ [|direct Tweets] __ without having to share cell phone numbers. This could be useful if you’re ever in a jam.
 * 2) 2. **Get to know your classmates **. A class Twitter group will help facilitate teachers and students [|getting to know each other].
 * 3) 3. **Collaborate on projects **. When working together on projects, set up a group using an app like [|Tweetworks] to facilitate communication between everyone working together.
 * 4) 4. **Make announcements **. Teachers can send out reminders about upcoming tests, project due dates, or any news that needs to be shared via Twitter.
 * 5) <span style="font-family: 'Malgun Gothic',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">5. **<span style="font-family: 'Malgun Gothic',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Brainstorm **<span style="font-family: 'Malgun Gothic',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">. The ability to share ideas as the occur any time and any where creates an excellent opportunity for brainstorming on class topics.
 * 6) <span style="font-family: 'Malgun Gothic',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">6. **<span style="font-family: 'Malgun Gothic',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Grammar **<span style="font-family: 'Malgun Gothic',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">. Twitter is actually good for teaching grammar because of its short form those who tweet often abbreviate and abuse grammar rules, developing their own unique “twitter rules.” This helps to demonstrate, both how all communication needs rules/structure and how important something like a comma or a period can be.

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Malgun Gothic',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">WebQuests are interesting and educational tasks you can set on the internet for K-12 students. They are student centered and inquiry based, in which it challenges students to explore the internet in the search for information on a particular topic. A webquest usually has an introduction, a process, a task, a list of resources, a conclusion, and an evaluation. Attached is a Science WebQuest I have used for my second grade class.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Malgun Gothic',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Activity 2: WebQuests **