Amazon Book Review – 1st Post

February 2, 2009 at 9:38 pm (Uncategorized)
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After my classes created a book review rubric, it was really important to begin writing their first review. One of my criteria was that they must finish a book before they review it.  While that might not always be necessary, a lot of my students struggle to really describe why they aren’t liking a book.  I get a lot of “It’s boring.”  I am working to try and get them to really understand why they don’t like it, but they aren’t all totally there yet, but that is another problem.

They had to use the rubric to write their rough draft.  We talked about what elements they should include in the review and in what order.  Descriptive words, we decided, needed to be added after the rough draft was completed.  It was a polishing area as opposed to a component of the review.  After they finished their rough draft, they edited it for content and word choice.  I then edited it once more.  I had my students write out the review because they are not able to draft on the computer and polish their writing in the 20 minutes that I have in the computer lab.  There is also no way to save the review to complete at a different time.  

After they had created the review and edited it, we headed into the computer lab.  In order to post on Amazon, you must have a customer account.  Additionally, you must purchase something on the account.  If you purchase a book, you can then delete the payment information and still use the account to post reviews.  I had created screen shots to help students log in.  It is quite a process to login to the account, so there were many steps that they needed to follow.  You can see the login sheets here:  Logging in to Amazon.  

I was very glad that I had the screen shots for my students to use and that they had written their reviews ahead of time.  It took them the full 20 minutes (at least) to get the review entered and edited before publishing.  They were very excited about publishing it to the internet – I was as well.

We posted our first reviews in December and have since posted one more round.  They were able to access the account much faster which meant that they had time to edit their typos.  I am now having them post one review a month.

Note:  You might check your Amazon profile to make sure that is shows the reviews you have posted (or find your review under the book’s information).  I have run into a problem with my account.  None of my reviews had posted after my first test.  I have contacted customer service, but the problem hasn’t been totally fixed yet.  You might not have any issues with this, but it is something to keep an eye on.

2nd Note: 4/1/09 – I figured out the posting issue. When your students enter their review, have them select that they are over 13. This will allow the book review to be posted. This was not a privacy issue as the account they were posting under was Mrs. Duarte’s class, so their names don’t appear anywhere. I have also discovered that if one person writes a book review on The 13th Reality, no one else can post a review on it. That means that each student will have to create a review on a different book. This might be a problem depending on how many students you teach, then again, you can always create multiple accounts.

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Amazon Book Reviews – Rubric Creation

December 23, 2008 at 11:32 am (Uncategorized)
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Before my students started writing their own book reviews, I wanted to make sure that they knew the target that they needed to aim for – that is what I call a rubric.  We used the same four sections from the book review highlight activity:  who should read this book?, descriptive words, plot, and opinions.  We added three optional categories:  characters, genre, and rating.  After we had each of the topics that they needed to include, we started filling out a rubric together on the overhead.  Since we had created a booktalk rubric together earlier in the year and they had been assessed on the rubric, they were familiar with the possible scores they could receive in each area:  advanced, proficient, partially proficient, unsatisfactory, or no attempt.  We usually fill out the advanced first, then work our way down the scale.  We listen to everyone’s ideas and come to a consensus.  After we create the rough draft, I type up the information, create an overhead and have my classes review the information.  I want to make sure that they agree to everything on the rubric, because that is what they are going to be required to do.

Each of the rubrics look a little different, based on the decisions of each class.  Here is an example that my class came up with:

book-review-rubric1

So, after the creation of the rubric, it was time for them to write their own book review…to be continued.

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Language Acquisition Theories

October 20, 2008 at 2:01 pm (Research, Resources, Strategies, Teachers)
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    Second-language acquisition (SLA) is a learner’s process of learning a non-native language. This exact process is still unknown after much research. (Columbia University Press, 2003) However, there are many theories of learning that address SLA. Below the author takes an in-depth look at the behaviorist, information processing, and constructivist theories as they apply to SLA. A brief description of the role of the facilitator and learner, classroom instructional strategies, and assessments will help the reader distinguished the similarities and differences between the theories.

 

Facilitator Role

Behaviorist: The behaviorist theory defines the role of a facilitator as one who structures the learning environment through various antecedents and consequences. (Newby, et. al., 2006) The facilitator provides clear and concise objectives and goals for the lesson.

 

Information Processing: From the viewpoint of the cognitive, information processing theory, a facilitator’s role is to present information in an organized format. Facilitators of English learners also use visual and kinesthetic props and vary their speech by speaking slower, word choice, or shortening the length of their sentences.

 

Constructivist: The constructivist provides opportunities for learners to construct knowledge through discovery, project-based instruction, and real-world problems. The facilitator acts as a coach or support to the learner instead of an expert of the language.

 

Learner Role

Behaviorist: Learners within a behaviorist classroom are responsible for responding appropriately to commands or antecedents provided by the facilitator. In the audiolingual method, learners repeat oral and pattern drills. Total physical response (TPR), a method that is also used, requires learners to move as commands are announced. (Diaz-Rico, 2004)

 

Information Processing: The roles of the learner are addressed in three stages as described by the Natural Approach. In the preproduction stage, learners learn to identify words and rely on clues and nonverbal signals. Secondly, learners enter the pre-production stage where they begin to respond using single words and two- and three-word phrases. Speech emergence is the third stage resulting in more complex communication. Lastly, learners enter the intermediate fluency stage. This stage represents the learner’s ability to participate in conversations with English speakers. (Diaz-Rico, 2004)

 

Constructivist: Within the constructivist learning environment, learners are responsible for working with other students to investigate, discover, and produce reasonable results to real-world problems. Learner responses often drive lesson content and instructional strategies. The learner works alongside classmates and the facilitator in order to construct understanding. (Diaz-Rico, 2004)

 

Instructional Strategies

Behaviorist: One strategy traditional behavioralists use is the grammar-translation method. This method requires the facilitator to explain vocabulary words, phrases, and sentence structure. A second strategy is the audiolingual method. Students repeat pattern drills that are scaffolded. As the learner masters the drill, he then begins the next pattern. A third strategy, TPR combines language and movement. Direct learning “emphasizes…learning of facts, sequences steps, or rules” (Diaz-Rico, 2004, p.35). Master learning is another type of behaviorialist instruction, which divides a course “into small units with specific objectives. Students progress at their own rate” (Diaz-Rico, 2004, pp. 35-36) as they master each proceeding step.

 

Information Processing: Graphic organizers are a visual method of organizing information, which is essential for cognitive theorist. Color codes help the learner distinguish between words with various sounds. Questioning is another strategy used to develop the learner’s thinking process. “Active processing, through such activities as questioning and genuine reflection, allows learners to internalize learning in such a way that is personally meaningful” (Diaz-Rico, 2004, p. 42). Storytelling is a strategy that reaches a student emotionally. Facilitators of English learners often use visuals to help learners make connections to the language.

 

Constructivist: Cooperative grouping is used so that learners are working together towards a common goal. Within cooperative groups, learners are often presented with project-based instructional assignments requiring research and discovery resulting in a presented project. Instructional strategies used in the constructivist classroom vary in response to the learner’s interest and learning style.

 

References:

Diaz-Rico, L. (2004). Teaching English Learners: Strategies and Methods. San Francisco: Pearson Education.

 

Language acquisition. (n.d.). The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Retrieved March 15, 2006, from Answers.com Web site: http://www.answers.com/topic/language-acquisition

 

Newby, T., Stepich, D., Lehman, J., & Russell, J. (2006). Educational Technology for Teaching and Learning (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

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