Pilot “Pondor” created in Irish for schools
November 25, 2014
Ponder is a higher-order literacy tool, designed to support students in their critiquing and evaluating of texts and videos. It does this through a flexible and fun social media platform intertwined with the learning experience. Ponder is already used across the US in English and Spanish, and across subject areas; this year, together with Anna Davitt (Hibernia College) and Fiona Nic Fhionnlaoich (NUIM-Froebel), COGG has funded a pilot for us to collaborate with teachers from Irish schools to develop a version of Ponder for Gaeilge. Interested schools should contact gaeilge@ponder.co for additional information or to schedule a webinar. (More information)
Language teachers are familiar with the challenge of fully immersing students. Reading casually in the language and chatting with friends are important parts of building and maintaining fluency. Outside of assigned homework, Ponder supports these activities by creating a pedagogically-sound social media environment for students to practice Gaeilge across all of their subject areas. There is an introductory video on our site, and a series of interviews with current Ponder teachers discussing teaching challenges and the ways they have implemented Ponder.
