"Keep it Simple Silly!"

Blog 5:  “Keep it Simple Silly!”

In technology class this week we were introduced to a wide range of interesting online teaching resources.  Two of the resources that I personally found interesting were One Syllable Texts and “Simple English” Wikipedia.

One Syllable Texts can be used as a means to reduce the wordiness of a document or a classical literary work.  This online teaching resource demonstrates how we can simplify an entire text at just the click of a button.  One Syllable Texts would be very useful when teaching lessons to ESL students and students with learning disabilities.  By simplifying the content of a classical literary work (such as Robinson Crusoe), students will become more confident in their abilities, and begin to enjoy reading.

Another useful online teaching resource that would strongly benefit struggling learners would be “Simple English” Wikipedia.  “Simple English” Wikipedia also reduces the wordiness of a document, and it would really come in handy for research papers in the intermediate grades.  I really wish that I knew about this resource when I was working as an educational assistant.  It would have made research assignments a lot simpler for the students who were in my care.  Instead of sifting through a pile of wordy and redundant information, the computer could have done this for us.  Many times I had to go through the pile of information myself and then translate it manually into a more simplified language that the students would understand.  The only problem with Wikipedia is that we don’t know who the author is.  This liability makes it very difficult to discern if it is a reliable source for scholarly information.