Technology in the ESL elementary classroom Term Paper

Technology in the ESL elementary classroom - Term Paper Example One of the primary ways that the whiteboard can be used to help ESL teaching is in student motivation: â€Å"[O]nce a chapter section or story has been assigned and read for homework, the teacher can use an electronic â€Å"flip chart† presentation, displayed on a screen in front of the class, that visually emphasizes academic vocabulary and important content from the lesson. The flip chart allows a teacher to hide, reveal, and highlight text and images as necessary to motivate students† (Wappel, 2010). The flipchart allows vocabulary to be presented in interesting ways and can be used to encourage immediate participation. â€Å"To enhance and complement the teacher’s chart, each student is given an interactive tool. Using these hand held devices, the classmates can record their responses to quiz or test questions, either in an objective (true-false or multiple choice) format or using complete sentences† (Wappel, 2010). Teachers can pair immediate reinforc ement with students' answers, and students can feel that their participation is being immediately noted and rewarded. Whiteboard programs also allow collaborative on-line text editing and participation. â€Å"The on-line texts are particularly helpful in trying to get a large group of language learners to focus on one element of a lesson together. The format allows a teacher to have better control of a class and maintain continuous eye contact while directing attention to a particular sentence, paragraph, or picture in the text. The online texts also offer practice quizzes and tests, a writing lab and interactive questions, all of which may be sent electronically to the teacher† (Wappel, 2010). Eye contact during ESL teaching is one of the ways to build schemata and encourage interactive learning, making the process seem more human and less difficult (Stott, 2001). Students can be put into online groups, able to discuss and work together, figuring out each others' weak points and letting them build confidence collectively on assignments. â€Å"A bank of computers in Solebury’s ESL Center enables students to become part of an online community through e-mail, chat rooms, and posting and reading announcements and homework on the school’s web site† (Wappel, 2010). Any instructor knows that one of the most important elements is staving off boredom and prompting interest (Wappel, 2010). Whiteboard software allows teachers a wide variety of approaches. Stress, rhythm and structure exercises can be specially created which are not only different from the regular classroom process but also interactive, giving immediate feedback. In particular, the ability to encourage participation in other areas besides direct, verbal participation is useful. Shore argues that one of the ways to encourage participation and reduce stress for ESL students is to â€Å"Encourage participation in less language-demanding subject areas: music, art, physical educat ion† and provide opportunities for success. Whiteboard projects can allow students to sing along, make presentations with their own prompts, and otherwise demonstrate their skills in a non-threatening manner and setting. Whiteboards also allow participation to be immediately rewarded (Jeffrey, 2003). Jeffrey proposes a â€Å"

The Role Of Gender In Team Collaboration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Role Of Gender In Team Collaboration - Essay Example I learned how gendered communication and decision-making can affect the kinds of jobs and wage levels of women and men (Parcheta et al., 2013, p.244). The second proof the case study is awareness of skills needed to handle current workplace challenges. I learned that women should enhance their communication and negotiation skills that are related to their performance (Bear & Woolley, 2011, p.148). They should not be afraid of being aggressive in fighting for equal pay or promotion. The cons of doing the case study are related to examining exceptions to gender stereotypes and social generalizations. The first con of the case study is it does not consider men and women who do not fit in gender stereotypes. Some women are not timid in negotiation processes, while some men are not that aggressive in fighting for higher pay. The case study assumes that men and women, in general, have these gender-stereotyped characteristics, thereby neglecting individual differences. The second con of the case study is it has the tendency to overlook companies that may have benchmarks already when it comes to challenging gender stereotypes and in promoting gender equality in top management positions, high-paying positions, and gender wage. Some companies are making headways in undercutting gender bias and promoting equality across all workplace avenues. One of the actions that can help stop sexual harassment in the workplace is to promote refresher training on sexual harassment using office hours time. Using office/employment time is already a strong signal that the company takes sexual harassment seriously because learning about it is part of paid labor. In addition, refresher courses update employees about sexual harassment reports and their resolutions at work or in the industry, thereby showing that the company does not take harassment reports lightly.