Thoughts on partner work, student interests, and ELLs

As someone who is pursuing a degree in Dual Language education, I found the articles on “digital storytelling” to be particularly interesting. Since the children I work with are developing both their Spanish and English language skills simultaneously, I am always looking for ways to allow them to express themselves using various modalities. I can see how incorporating digital storytelling into the curriculum would really support children at different levels throughout the language learning process.

Although “Young Children and Computers: Storytelling and Learning in a Digital Age” (Blagojevic, et al) is intended for early childhood educators, many of the ideas apply to my 4^th/5^th students in the class where I am student teaching. A few main points that I am taking away with me are as follows:

1) Have children work in pairs, with one child as a doer and one as a viewer. This resonated with me because I realize that in my classroom, we always have students work independently at the computer and there is a missed learning opportunity here. I believe it is important to utilize a variety of grouping configurations when planning activities, and partner work definitely has a lot of advantages. One thing that could be done is to pair students according to language proficiency (such as a higher-level English speaker with a student who is dominant in Spanish) so that they can support each other with the language demands of computer usage. Secondly, even when the “viewer” is not actively engaged in the activity, he is gaining value from watching someone else navigate a particular program and problem-solve along the way. As the viewer observes, he can remember actions that were taken, this way his own turn will be easier for him to navigate and perhaps he can then begin doing some higher-level tasks.

2) Ask children “What do you already know how to do on computers?” and “What do you want to learn?” This is so simple yet brilliant. I am actually a bit embarrassed to admit that this has never occurred to me. My students come from all different backgrounds and experiences, and they each have their own unique talents and interests. It would make perfect sense to ask them these questions, as it is quite probable that they will come up with ideas that did not occur to me personally, with my own unique schema. In particular, since the school where I am student teaching is now moving towards an emphasis on multimedia communication, it would be useful to learn which forms of media the children are most interested in learning how to make. Following student interest is always conducive to effective teaching. From what I already know about some of my students, I can imagine that they’d be interested in writing and animating fiction stories, making comic books, magazines, and music, among other things.

3) Encourage tech-savvy children to become computer peer mentors. The school where I am student teaching is employing this strategy by having upper-grade children mentor lower-grade children during their computer class (outside of the main classroom). This is a great activity for all children involved, and now I am thinking of how to incorporate it within my own classroom. By observing and assessing my students, I can see what the individual strengths and areas of need are, and pair children accordingly so that they can support each other.