ICT TOOLS IN ENGLISH by Ligia Pelosi

Using ICT (Keyboarding) to support writing of students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

2019-05-17 00:30:44 UTC

Students with ASD - Keyboarding rather than hand writing their work
Benefits: Legibility and working efficiency is enhanced, higher motivation to complete tasks (reported by Students, Teachers and Parents)
Evidence: Ashburner, J., Ziviani, J. & Pennington, A. 2012, ‘The introduction of keyboarding to children with autism spectrum disorders with handwriting difficulties: A help or a hindrance?’, Australasian Journal of Special Education, no. 1, pp. 32-61, viewed 11 May 2019, <https://search-ebscohost-com.wallaby.vu.edu.au:4433/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsihs&AN=edsihs.897744796959425&site=eds-live>.
Without this tool, students can get frustrated and exhibit challenging behaviours which disrupt both their learning and the learning of their peers
The work they hand-write is often illegible, incomplete and incoherent as the student is focussed too heavily on the skill they don’t like/are not proficient at (handwriting) rather than the task they are good at (creative ideas and the content of their writing)
The student is able to edit their work easier and doesn’t get as discouraged correcting their errors compared to crossing out their handwriting (anecdotal)
If this student is assessed on handwritten work, the actual assessable learning outcomes are missed and you can only assess their “inabilities” rather than abilities
Limitation: These tools CAN be a distraction and used inappropriately by students, which can become time consuming when a student needs constant supervision and reminding to stay on task
Work sample: This student has some very creative and unique ideas/approaches to his tasks, but his handwritten work is not always the most appropriate reflection of that. This student can work much more efficiently and to a higher standard when he is typing as opposed to handwriting.

https://assets.readingeggsassets.com/brochures/schools_brochure-fp-b3ceb562.pdf

2019-05-17 00:33:19 UTC

https://www.literacyplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/LiteracyPlanet-eLearning-Report.pdf

2019-05-17 00:33:46 UTC

Storyline Online

2019-05-17 00:35:54 UTC

An online storytelling platform where children's books are read by award winning actors like Oprah Winfrey, Chris Pine, and Kristen Bell and animated to create engaging read alouds.

- Read alouds provide students the opportunity to hear stories read to them that are at a difficulty level that may be beyond their current ability, thus introducing them to new vocabulary, decoding and comprehension skills.

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/ict-vocabulary-motivation

2019-05-17 00:38:07 UTC

Sound Waves: Phonemic Approach to Spelling

2019-05-17 00:45:01 UTC

https://www.fireflyeducation.com.au/soundwaves
- Students learn phonemes and their associated graphemes (i.e. /e/ 'e' and 'ea')
- students can play interactive games that explore phonemes and spelling choices
-segmenting tool: students identify the sounds in words and the graphemes that represent them
- weekly word list: contains a list of words that contain student's focus phoneme. extension list also available
- students can be active
- students can collaborate
- students can learn the relationship between graphemes and phonemes , they learn to identify sounds, blend sounds and accurately spell words
-program take a synthetic phonics approach- this is consistent with a bottom up skills approach or skills based approach to literacy

BrainPop

2019-05-17 00:53:34 UTC

https://www.brainpop.com/

Movie and quiz

Purpose

- Grammar, comprehension strategies, writing
- watch a short movie – images and text then answer the quiz to demonstrate understanding

Benefits

- Interplay between words, images and sound – from curric doc

- provides for kinaesthetic learners – visual and audio

- assessable – multiple choice questions related to the video, printable certificate which also denotes the questions not answered correctly

Theoretical

- constructivist approach, gardner multiple intelligences, problem solving – De Bono’s Hats, student centred approach

Scholastic story starters

2019-05-17 01:01:53 UTC

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/story-starters/
Story starter is a resource to support narrative writing. It can be displayed on a smart board and a writing prompt can be “spun” on a game machine.
This adds an element of excitement for students, who enjoy seeing the randomiser run. Also, it can spin out some funny or bizarre prompts for a range of narrative genres. The teacher can explore the selection of an appropriate genre with the students. The prompts are also vague / versatile enough that students can write about whatever they want to.
In using a randomiser it provides the students with an opportunity to see the teacher as letting go of a bit of their control over the classroom, rather than if the teacher were to select a prompt before the lesson.
The teacher can also unpack the prompt with the students and go through a brain storm process with them.

Reading Eggs

2019-05-17 01:55:49 UTC

subscription based tool that some schools use to enhance their reading and comprehension program. Self directed and motivational.

https://www.storybots.com/backpack

2019-05-17 02:39:07 UTC

L

2019-05-17 03:04:40 UTC

Le

2019-05-17 03:04:41 UTC

Letter Land series for Alphabet

2019-05-17 03:04:42 UTC

This is an addition to the Letter Land book in the learning of the alphabet. The ICT perspective is to compliment the book and have a sing-a-long with the character / letter that is being taught. The songs are short and "catchy" and gives the students the correct way to pronounce the letter.

The benefits are that the songs are engaging for 5 and 6 year olds, they're short in duration, and due to the repetition of the songs are easy to remember.

These songs are delivered through YouTube, both from a visual and auditory focus. Activities are also conducted with these songs on repeat in the background.

The theoretical positioning of this goes as far back as Aristotle in 4400 BC, where we claimed "it is a frequent repetition that produces a natural tendency"

https://principlesoflearning.wordpress.com/dissertation/chapter-4-results/themes-identified/repetition/

https://www.abc.net.au/btn/

2019-05-17 03:05:15 UTC

I used this website for persuasive writing. Instead of just giving a random topic like 'Cats are better than dogs' this has current stories that effect the students' lives. the way they are told is very engaging and explains things using images for kids to understand. The other good thing is it shows both sides of a story to help students make up an argument and during the stories they have students give their opinions on the matter as well.

Proloquo2GO

2019-05-17 03:15:56 UTC

Purpose: This a is a symbol based app that allows learners to express themselves.
Benefits: Customised for learners of fine-motor and visual skills. Versatile for non-verbal and other diagnoses.
Method: Word vocabulary of 10,000+ with custom levels.
Text to voice.
Add buttons using your own symbols and images.
Theoretical: Descriptive teaching model which gives the AAC user more practice retrieving core words and combining them into meaningful sentences. Modelling is also required, it requires the teacher to think about how to translate concepts into core words. This encourages teaching concepts at a deeper level.