Laptops+and+Language+Arts


 * __USING LAPTOPS IN THE lANGUAGE ARTS/LITERATURE CLASSROOM AT THE MIDDLE SCHOOL AND HIGH SCHOOL LEVELS__**


 * Vocabulary **


 * //Here is a link to a neat vocabulary website. It works well to show students how a word can have mulitple meanings and be used as more than one part of speech. I plan to use this site with my middle school students after we have covered parts of speech. Since middle school students really enjoy riddles, I am going to have each student research a word that will be part of a "What Word Am I?" game. I am going to have each student find a word that has multiple meanings and/or is used as more than one part of speech and then create a project using PowerPoint or Photo Story, with each slide depicting one of the meanings of that word. Other students in the class will then guess what the word is and explain what part of speech the word is for each meaning.//**

[] //**I use the vocabulary program WordSharp, which is on a cd. I supplement each lesson with a worksheet I created. I email the worksheet to the students one week prior to the day it is due. Worksheets are completed outside of class. I like the fact that only a minimal amount of class time is needed to address problems/questions of the students, and the students seem to like working through the lesson independently.**// **Grammar and Usage**

//**There are many ways to use laptops to enhance the study of grammar and usage. A link to one of the most comprehensive grammar websites I use with students, Interactive Grammar, is posted below.**// **//When you have students writing journal entries to reinforce a particular grammar or usage lesson, have students use colored text for the part of a sentence that you have asked them to include in their journal entry or composition. For example, if you want students to write sentences that include different kinds of phrases after they have studies phrases, have them highlight participial phrases in blue, gerund phrases in red, appositive phrases in green, infinitive phrases in purrple, etc. Project one student's color coded journal entries on to a whiteboard and then have the other students decide if the student's phrases are correctly colored. You can make this into a game by assigning point values for the various types of phrases: one point for an infinitive phrase, two points for an appositive phrase, three points for a participial phrase, four points for a gerund phrase. My middle school students think it is fun to use color and like to play games, so this is one way to use laptops in studying grammar and usage.//** **//I use the Sadlier-Oxford Grammar for Writing series, which has many online resources for not only grammar and usage. Here is a link to the website://** [|**//http://www.sadlier-oxford.com/grammar/writing.cfm//**]

**Composition** //**The Sadlier-Oxford Grammar for Writng series also has composition assignments. Assignments include linkes to websites used to gather information needed to complete the writing.The example I posted a link to below is a sample of a writing assignment at the Gold Level (Complete Course) where students have to create a biography board about a character from a legendary Old West town that will be displayed in the town's visitors center. The assignment contains links to websites where students can gather information about the Old West.**//


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 * //Laptops can be used to access a wealth of information that students can used to write compositions. If your students are asked to write essays for contests sponsored by organizations such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars or the American Legion, consider showing your students some videos of interviews of veterans by going to//** [|**//www.keloland.com//**] **//and typing in "Honor Flight." I found that my students put in much more effort writing these essays after viewing the videos and incorporated some of the veterans' stories in their essays. You will probably need to hook a pair of speakers up to your computer when you show the videos so that the sudents can hear the veterans' stories.//**

//**Laptops can be used to have students create projects that allow them to demonstrate their knowledge of content covered. An example of a a project assignment given to eighth graders to have them show their understanding of the rules of capitalization and punctuation follows.**//



At the end of the school year, students had to write a paper based on either a summary of their school year or a topic of their choice. The paper had to meet the requirements of the project assignment. Here is one student's paper.



Students then had to create a presentation based on their paper. The student whose paper is shown above chose to use PhotoStory and Movie Maker, recording the content of her paper to coordinate with her photos. The student will need to use a microphone to record his/her voice.

**Literature**
 * //Laptops can be used to access many sites where you and your students can access all sorts of literature without having to pay anything. Check out the following websites.//**

Spark Notes has a large library of free literature. []

LibraVox has a large library of audio recordings of literature. I found the recordings to be of high quality.

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In my mythlogy class, students pulled up the text of The Illiad using Spark Notes while listening to the recording of it in Libra Vox.


 * //Laptops can be used to introduce students to authors/speakers they are studying the writings/speeches of. For example, in my American literature class, I might google in "video clip of (name of author)" and find a video of the author/speaker students are studying, such as Malcolm X or Maya Angelou.//**


 * //Laptops can be used to create literature projects that allow students to be creative share knowledge with their classmates.//**

Laptops can be used to access game templates where students and/or teachers can create games to review content. For example, my students created //Romeo and Juliet Jeopardy.// Here is a template that can be used to create games such as Jeopardy. []

After my students completed reading portions of //The Odyssey,// each student selected a god or goddess to research and create a PowerPoint presentation on. Each presentation needed to meet requirements set forth in an assignment sheet, such as including at least ten bits of information about the student's god/goddess. Students found this assignment challenging yet fun.

When I introduce my students to Native American literature, I explain to them that before many Native Americans were literate, tribes recorded their happenings in ledger books. ( I show them the poster of ledger books I have from the //Picturing America// portfolio and complete the coordinating lesson from the accompanying teacher's resource book.) I then take them to the the Smithsonian Institute website on ledger books where they can complete much more in-depth research on ledger books. I have posted a link to that website below. When we have finished a unit of literature, my students complete a project. One project choice is to create a ledger book summarzing the past year(s) of the student's life.

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