Friday, May 18, 2018

Can Tech Tools Develop Critical Thinking Skills in ELLs?

Teaching English Language Learners means, obviously, teaching them the English language.  But it also means much more.  It includes teaching these students content area subject matter in ways they can understand the material so they can stay on grade level with their English-speaking peers.  It’s also important to teach ELLs 21st century skills that will enable them to thrive in the workplace after they finish their education.

To that end, Laurah from Tools for Teachers by Laurah J and I are beginning a series of Twitter chats about the 4 Cs: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity and Innovation.  Our first topic will be Critical Thinking and will take place on Sunday, May 20th, at 7pm Eastern / 4pm Pacific time.

Come and discuss using tech tools to develop ELLs' critical thinking skills in the next #ELLEdTech Twitter chat on May 20, 2018 | The ESL Nexus
You're invited to participate in the May 2018 Twitter chat! source: The ESL Nexus
If you’d like to read up on the concepts beforehand, this is a useful article.  Pages 8 – 13 specifically discuss the concept of Critical Thinking.  Come join us and discuss how you develop this skill with ELLs!  Details are below:

Schedule and Questions
7:00 = Introduction: Tell us your name, location, level/grade and subject taught. #ELLEdTech
7:05 = Q1: Which tech tools do you use to help your students engage in Critical Thinking? #ELLEdTech
7:13 = Q2: How do these tools help teachers facilitate Critical Thinking for ELLs at all proficiency levels? #ELLEdTech
7:21 = Q3: What are the advantages & benefits of using these tools? #ELLEdTech
7:29 = Q4: Are there any cons or drawbacks teachers or students might have when using these tools? #ELLEdTech
7:37 = Q5: What advice do you have for teachers who want to use technology to support Critical Thinking with ELLs? #ELLEdTech

Directions for Joining the Chat
1. Log into Twitter on Sunday; the chat runs from 7:00 - 7:45pm Eastern.
2. Search for tweets with the hashtag #ELLEdTech in the search bar.  Make sure to click “All tweets.”
3. The first five minutes will be spent introducing ourselves.
4. Starting at 7:05, @ESOL_Odyssey or @The_ESL_Nexus will post questions every 8 minutes using Q1, Q2, Q3, etc. to identify the questions and the hashtag #ELLEdTech.
5.  Answer the questions by prefacing them with A1, A2, A3, etc. and use the hashtag #ELLEdTech.
6.  Follow any teachers who respond and are also using #ELLEdTech.
7.  Like (click the heart icon) and post responses to other teachers' tweets.

You can schedule your answers to the questions in advance by using an online scheduler such as TweetDeck or HootSuite (and remember to use A1, A2, etc. and #ELLEdTech).  Links are encouraged, but use tinyurl, bitly, goo.gl or ow.ly to shorten your link so it can be included in your tweet.  Just click one of those links, paste the longer link in the app's box to shorten it for Twitter, then paste the shortened link into your tweet. If you have relevant images, we encourage you to post them, too.



Is this your first Twitter chat? Here are our rules:
1. Please stay on topic.
2. Please do not post about paid products unless explicitly asked.
3. If you arrive after the chat has started, please try to read the previous tweets before joining in.
4. Feel free to just read, like, and/or retweet if you prefer -- we know the first time can be a little overwhelming!
5. Always use the hashtag #ELLEdTech when tweeting.
6. Make sure your twitter feed is set to "public." (And do remember that Twitter is completely public; that means anyone--students, parents, administrators--may see what you tweet.)

You are welcome to let your teacher friends who might be interested in joining us know about this Twitter chat. We look forward to chatting with you on Sunday!

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