Classroom Environment and Students

Applying This Week's Readings

This week's readings have been helpful in showing that it is important to consider the challenges that new writers face -- especially if those writers are young ESL's. The idea of Peregoy and Boyle (2013) to use technology and introduce students to blogs or wikis on the Internet is a good idea and Gottlieb's (2006) idea of keeping students engaged by spicing up the classroom environment with different modes of learning -- such as pictures or videos is another useful tool.

In class, I could see applying both of these methods because we are now in the Digital Age and it is important that we embrace this fact and enable young learners to navigate their lessons via this technology. So I think this week's readings helped me to see that and to better appreciate the options that are available to a teacher. It has definitely helped me to think outside the box. The idea of having students post on a blog site that I host has really helped me develop a really exciting lesson plan in my head: I see the students commenting on one another's entries and familiarizing them both with the Internet and with the basics of writing. Also, as we are really now in a blogging world, it is helpful to have students learn how to respond to others who are commenting on their works.