Welcome to American English Dan!

Welcome to American English Dan! My name is Daniel Conklin and this blog is focused on presenting and reviewing resources for teaching and learning the English language. The idea is to build a repository of ideas that I have found helpful and would like to share with my professional colleagues and students. Some of the teaching resources may be originated by me, since I am a Teacher of English as an Additional Language (TEAL), and I intend to post and link to great resources I find along the way. I will also present tips for Learners of English as a New/Additional Language (ENLs or EALs). We will probably also discuss these acronyms!

This blog is partially the result of a requirement for the program for the M.Ed. in Teaching English Learners at American College of Education .
I am not getting financial remuneration for any part of it.

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Human Research Ethics and Teacher/Student Relationships

As part of my Masters in Education program at American College of Education , I recently took a course in ethics related to using humans as research subjects . This course was through the National Institutes of Health and led to a certification. Some of my peers questioned why it would be necessary for teachers to be concerned about how to treat human subjects in research. However, when you think about it, we are constantly observing our students, gathering data, experimenting with our methods and planning, and making adjustments based on student feedback. We often share our observations about our students with our peers and with students' parents. We also guide our students' use of and access to outside information. This could be considered study of human subjects, and as such has certain ethical ramifications. The three basic ethical principles that came from the Belmont Report are: Respect for persons , which involves informed consent; Benef...

Two Online Graphics Design Tools

In a previous post I showed a graphic which I designed using an online tool at canva.com. This kind of tool can be very useful for busy teachers for a couple of reasons. First, it is inexpensive to use compared to other graphics tools. Many of the templates on the site can be used at no cost, and some cost only a dollar to buy one-time use rights. Secondly, it is quick and easy to find an appropriate template and modify it for your specific use. I have a background in graphic arts and years of experience with expensive graphic design tools, but it would have taken me much longer to put together this graphic about gerunds with those than it did using canva.com. I think most teachers can figure out how it works fairly quickly, but if not, they have an extensive set of tutorials. Once you have finished your design, it is stored in a personal library, and can be downloaded in a variety of file types and resolutions. Another useful online design...

Schoolhouse Rock and Musical Intelligence

I do not intend to turn this blog into a running obituary, but I believe it is important to mention that Bob Dorough passed away on April 24th, 2018. He was 94 years old. He was one of the creators of the Schoolhouse Rock animated musical series that ran during the period from 1973-1985. They were created to help children learn and remember content they needed in their school classes. I can still sing many of these tunes I heard on TV when I was a child. There are many studies surrounding the Multiple Intelligences Theory of Howard Gardner ( Brualdi, 1998). Gardner examines seven intelligences which he defines as "the capacity to solve problems or to fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural settings" ( Gardner & Hatch, 1989). One of the seven is musical intelligence. People may possess and use forms of these intelligences in various mixtures with individuals having greater abilities in some areas than others....

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