Ted-Ed Lesson: History of Halloween

Holidays are always great fun to teach ELLs, especially Halloween! I created a Ted-Ed Lesson about Halloween. I used a short video from the History Channel that described a brief history of the holiday.  

My learning objectives were to teach students about American Holidays, specifically Halloween the origins of the holiday. Halloween can be big culture shock for new immigrants. They see people decorating their houses with pumpkins and scary things. They may see someone dressed up in a scary costume and think that this is an evil holiday. My goal in teaching the origins of Halloween was to teach  students where these scary traditions stem from and how they have carried on and morphed through many centuries. 

To be sure my learning objectives have been met, I may ask students to write a summary of the origins or make a timeline of Halloween based on the video. I would also encourage discussion after the Ted-Ed lesson to allow students to share their thoughts and ask questions and compare it to a holiday or custom in their country of origin. I would walk around and assess as students talk in pairs.

NYS Standards : 

ESL.I.5-8.5.1.2: Students will demonstrate a broad range of U.S. cultural and political referents through institutions, functions, and processes at the local and national levels and compare/contrast these with parallels in the students native community.

ESL.I.5-8.5.1.5: Students compare and contrast oral traditions, myths, folktales, and literature from the United States and international regions and cultures, including the students' own and identify similarities and differences and universal cultural themes.

Twitter for Teachers & Students

Twitter for Professional Development

Twitter is a great way for teachers to share resources, see different perspectives from other teachers and to create a professional network.  Teachers create and post wonderful resources on Twitter so it is a great place to find resources and share resources with other teachers. Log into Twitter to find out what's working in other classrooms and give it a try! With twitter, you can log in and at your fingertips find solutions to problems you've had in the classroom. If you follow a Twitter chat, this gives you an opportunity to connect and ask and answer questions about a topic that you're interested in. This makes a more informed teacher. There are so many different teaching styles and Twitter is a great way to learn from other teachers.

resources: 15 Ways to Use Twitter In Education




How to Use Twitter in the Classroom

Twitter is not only great for professional development but it's a great way to motivate your students! I love the idea of taking notes on Twitter and sharing them on a class twitter page. When students collaborate in this way, they really help each other out. I also like the idea of using Twitter to post homework assignments or syllabus updates. Students have their phones in their hands every chance they get, so this is a good way for the class to be connected and always know what's going on. I teach ESL so I like the idea of posting videos and word games for students to look at over the weekend. I find many of my students leave school and don't speak English at home. Some of my students want to watch movies in English but feel overwhelmed with the language and the length of movies. One way I helped improve my own Spanish language skills was by watching short youtube videos in Spanish about subjects that interested me. Students could post short youtube videos to the class page and create discussion questions based on the video.

I love the idea of using social media in the classroom because it's a simple way to motivate students and foster learning.

50 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom

A Learner is Like an Explorer

In the article, Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, the author, George Siemens, discusses that old learning theories are not relevant in today's technology driven world. Siemens says that Connectivism is driven by the understanding that decisions are based on rapidly altering foundations and that new information is continually being acquired. In today's information age, one has to constantly search for updated information. This is why I made the analogy that a learner is like an explorer. Learners must continuously search for updated information as the life of knowledge according to Siemens, is now measured in months and years instead of decades, as it used to be.

In the Video, The Conflict of Learning Theories with Human Nature, Siemens says that old theories of learning are at odds with a human desire to externalize. He says, we need to externalize our thoughts to connect with other individuals. A learner must explore various ways of networking with others because as he says, learning is a function of a network. Networking with other individuals can foster this human need to externalize in social spaces and help learners grow.