Assignment 1: Evaluating and Using Websites

Assignment 1: Evaluating Using Websites
Lesson: Reading Lesson: Sight Words/High Frequency Words

Follow these directions to complete this assignment:

1. Go to the following website: http://www.netrover.com/~crose/dolch/dolch.htm

2. Choose from either List One or List Two.
3. Click on the second bullet titled, Listen and Match.
4. Both you and your partner need to read the directions.
5. Decide who is going to go first.
6. Then the first player will click START.
7. You must have the volume turned on in order to hear the words.
8. Player one will click on two blue boxes, trying to get a match. Player one’s score will show in the box titled Player One.
9. If player one gets a match, they can take a second turn.
10. When player one does not make a match, it is player two’s turn.
11. The winner of the game is the one with the most points.
12. Once you have done this, you may try Jigsaw or Listen and Spell.
13. Jigsaw and Listen and Spell are independent games.
14. For Listen and Spell, you click on the speed in which you want the game to be played.
15. Then the computer will say a word.
16. Use the letters at the bottom of the screen to spell the word before the timer runs out.
17. It will automatically give you the next word.
18. For Jigsaw, click START. On the left will be yellow rectangles with a picture of a speaker on them. Click on this to hear the word.
19. Then, on the right will be blue rectangles with the sight/high frequency words. Click and drag the word you heard to match the yellow rectangle. I the word is correct it will stick to the yellow triangle.

Review of Lesson and Website Resource

Students: First Grade students in a public school. Students are Hispanic, Russian, and Indian.
English Language Level: Intermediate ESL (Level 2/3)
Lesson Time: 30 Minutes at the cluster computers. This will take all of their ESL time as I only have the students for 30 minutes.
Class Location Environment: This will be taught in the cluster right outside of my ESL classroom. The cluster consists of 5 classrooms that form a square. The cluster is a carpeted area in the middle with computers set up. I will have a laptop and an overhead screen so that I can model the steps. Students will log in to the computer, open Internet Explorer, go to the blog which is saved in Favorites, read directions and follow along as I model, then work with their partners to play the game.
What is the Instructional Purpose?
By the end of first grade students need to know 100 sight/high frequency words. This is something that is assessed at the beginning and the end of the year. ESL students at a Level 2 have often struggled with these words because they are not easy to sound out and don’t always follow the “rules of English.” In order to help students learn these words, this game allows for a see, hear, say, drill kind of practice. Will the students know the words at the end of the 30 minutes? No! But, students can revisit this website on their own and again with me during class and at the end of the year their number of words known will increase.
How will you use the website to meet your instructional purposes?
First grade students are assessed using the Dolch word list at the beginning and the end of the year. To integrate technology into my student’s learning, I am taking the idea of flash cards or memory and putting it online. Students will practice the words by seeing them, hearing them, saying them, and matching them.
What handouts will I create?
I will create a handout for students with the URL for the sight word/high frequency word games so students can reread the directions to play the games with their general ed. classes or at home. I will also print off the Dolch word lists that are on this website and periodically assess them for words gained. These will be kept in their ESL portfolios to show progress.
What are potential problems students might encounter in using this website?
The students have experience with the computers, Internet, and games. However, they may have difficulty getting to the different games and back to the home page to choose a new game. This will be modeled in the beginning before students are set off on their own to play and explore.