Chapter 8 Review

Chapter 8 focuses on a topic that is ever growing.  Many students are coming into the school system with little knowledge of English or as speakers of a different language at home.  I think that technology can play a vital role in helping students become familiar with the English language.  Of course, technology should not be the only tool we use to help students become better English speakers.  Technology can provide software that students can work independently on during centers or work time to help themselves, but that should not take the place of the teacher working with them and their skills or their contact with other students.  

Once again during this chapter blogging and podcasts were brought up as ways to help immerse the students in the English language.  This can be a valuable resources but by no means should this be the exclusive list.  The book shows its biased through blogs and podcasts, but that should not stop teachers from finding different things and ways to immerse the students in the language.  

Teachers need to be sensitive to the students in their classrooms and what resources are available to them at home.  The book once again mentions that not all students will have access at their homes and that should defiantly be taken into consideration so that no one has an unfair advantage to get homework or research done at home.  This is important so that the students who already struggle with English do not get left behind because other students pick up working on the computer more quickly and with ease.  Everyone needs to be allotted the same amount of time with technology to establish a fair chance to learn and grow.  

Assessment is another topic that the book looked at closely.  They gave a definition of authentic assessment on page 168 that says, "Performance assessments call upon the examinee to demonstrate specific skills and competencies, that is, to apply the skills and knowledge they have mastered."  This is important for me because it reminds me that students can show what they've learned a variety of ways and through various medias so they should be allowed those opportunities, especially with the amount of technology available to them.