Technology in the Classroom for ELL Students

The article I chose to reflect on is about how to use technology in an ELL classroom. http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/preparing-ells-be-21st-century-learners

The author starts out with a story about an ELL teacher who struggled to get students to keep up on computer-based assignments. It turned out that many of them were falling behind or simply gave up because they had never used a computer before and had no idea what to do with the instructions they were given. As you might guess, the best answer to the teacher's problem was to teach ELL students how to use computers and other electronic devices before even assigning anything technology-based.

The best way to teach ELL students how to use technology is to have them practice during class, make simple step-by-step instructions, illustrating the instructions (or providing screen shots), presenting the information in small chunks, and making the lessons practical for their immediate lives. To finish, each task should have a short exercise where the students practice what they have just learned.

Later on, the author discusses various specific points about teaching technology to ELL students, like providing them with handouts with instructions for technology-based assignments (to ensure they don't miss anything you might have said verbally), and have students pair up or get in groups to learn and practice (since many students learn socially).

I think the author makes a good point by saying that students need to learn about technology hands-on and then practice several times right away. When learning a language, students need to practice the language how it would be used, otherwise there's no point in learning it - they would just forget it or not know when or how to use certain terms or phrases. Making tasks/lessons simple and chunked is also important because there is only so much information they can learn at a time, and simplifying it means they will master it quickly and be able to move on to the next task.

What I think is funny, however, is that these teaching strategies are not really new. When teaching students anything they have no familiarity with, they need information to be chunked and practice to be hands-on so the information sticks with them and they don't feel overwhelmed. The author also discusses finding out how much the students know about technology before learning it, which is essentially access prior knowledge, and differentiating instruction. There are so many strategies that apply to students of all grade levels and abilities, it's just a matter of adapting them to new material.