One of the most important concepts I have taken away from this class is that integrating technology needs to be congruent with effective teaching strategies rather than simply change without a difference. Especially since all of my students have laptops, the challenge that I and the rest of the teachers in my school have faced is finding ways to integrate the technology in a way that increases students' knowledge of the subject matter and the use of technology at the same time. The creation of the StAIR and the WebQuest I think really helped me learn how to do this at least somewhat effectively. I plan to use both applications with my students and I would like to create more of those over time. Creating these online experiences helped me really think about and evaluate the types of teaching strategies I use and incorporate some that I haven't used in the past. The WebQuest evaluation assignment helped me get ideas for my own WebQuest but also helped me develop a critical eye for what works and what doesn't. I also appreciated learning about the Quest Garden site for finding WebQuests that will be applicable to my subject.
I think my personal goals for learning about technology integration are a work in progress. I sometimes feel overwhelmed with learning so much in a short time and I know I need more time to explore and just play around with some of the applications we learned about. I also feel that I need to select and focus on 2 or 3 ideas or applications that will be most effective for my students and really learn those well rather than trying to dabble in several things without really knowing them well. Even though I have struggled with integrating technology in my TPRS instruction, I would like to find ways to use technology effectively while sticking to the tenants of the TPRS method as much as possible. Perhaps I could use some pod or video casting activities with recordings of the words and phrases I want my students to learn; if I record them myself, I'll be able to keep the concept of comprehensible input in mind and not overwhelm students with too much vocabulary. That will be my focus for the near future as I continue to make my way through the EduTech program.
I have really enjoyed this course and will surely rely on a lot of what was taught these last weeks. I have already bookmarked many of the sites that my classmates posted in the Tips and Tricks discussion forum and I know I will refer back to many of the articles we read for the class. (I'm old school--I printed them all!) Thank you for the guidance and opportunities!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Session 7 Blog Reflection
The Michigan Merit Curriculum Online Experience Guideline Companion Document is a great resource for teachers who are looking for a variety of online learning experiences to do with their students. I really like the table that outlines the resources available and includes the characteristics of each; it is well organized with links to several sites for each resources listed and it is something I plan to use in the future. Of course, we are already familiar with several of the resources listed since we worked with them over the course of this class; however, it's helpful to have a reminder of the different ways the resources can be used (links included) at one's fingertips for easy reference.
I contemplated which resource to discuss in this reflection and in doing so was reminded of some of my personal frustrations with integrating technology into my content area. I mentioned way back at the beginning of this course that our district recently implemented a new methodology for all of our World Language classes; we now use a method called Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS) which relies heavily on teacher input--it's a true example of the traditional "Sage on the Stage" teaching style. Of all the approaches to teaching language I have seen and tried in my 14 years of teaching Spanish, this one is THE BEST!! I have never had more success in terms of student acquisition of the language than with TPRS: this method reaches all levels of learners in my classes; students retain and actually acquire the language; they are able to produce the language in written form like never before; they LOVE the stories we tell in class; and perhaps most importantly, they are truly motivated to learn.
So I'm torn because I appreciate the benefits of computer-delivered instruction and I believe in the benefits of the methods we have reviewed and learned in this class. I think that students in this age of technology need to learn via online experiences--just not in my class. Does that sound selfish? Maybe it is. But knowing what I know about student acquisition of a new language--researchers say that from birth to age 5 we will have experienced about 20,000 hours of hearing, understanding and acquiring our birth language and that 4 years of high school Spanish yields about 600 hours of exposure to the new language--I find it difficult to justify even a day away from the TPRS method.
Having said that, I will say that one of things I miss about the "old" way of teaching Spanish is a departure from the cultural aspect. I have found that in order to teach culture effectively, it really must be done in English--there's just too much language that's too hard for students to understand if a culture lesson were to be taught in Spanish. Besides, the focus of a culture lesson is not language, it's culture. Therefore, the online experience that I feel would most benefit both me and my students is the WebQuest. If I must take time away from a TPRS lesson, then I would want students to be learning about culture and when I thought back to the Evaluation of a WebQuest assignment from earlier in the class, I came across many great examples that would help my students learn about the culture of Spanish speaking countries and people. For example, students are always interested in learning about the foods eaten in Spanish speaking countries and there were several WebQuests in Quest Garden that would be great to use with my classes. Personally, I like to teach my students about holidays or other cultural celebrations and I found several examples of that type of WebQuest as well. These WebQuests use many different strategies including cooperative learning and collaboration, jigsaw, research and scaffolding. However, the mental battle I struggle with is that while the WebQuests can be good opportunities for effective online experiences for students, they take away from opportunities for authentic language acquisition, which is the most important goal of my class.
You may be wondering why I don't just use Spanish-language WebQuests or other types of online experiences like podcasts or RSS feeds--there are thousands of the them in Spanish! However, the difficulty is a TPRS term called comprehensible input; the belief is that less is more in terms of effective language learning. Instead of handing out a list of 30 vocabulary words at the beginning of the week, I might focus on just 3 words or phrases for a whole week. The belief in TPRS-world is that students will internalize and acquire those 3 words if they are made comprehensible rather than memorized and regurgitated on a quiz and then forgotten. This concept was proven to me the first time TPRS was introduced to me--the instructor taught us a German lesson using just 3 key phrases and I remember those phrases (and several others that we ended up learning) to this day. The problem with Spanish-language WebQuests, podcasts, RSS feeds or Blogs is that the input would not be comprehensible to the students--there would just be way too many words they wouldn't understand which would lead to frustration and eventual abandonment of the assignment.
Phew, didn't mean to be so long-winded, but I kind of got fired up for a minute there!! Anyway, to wrap up, I think the document we reviewed is a useful resource that ultimately will help teachers make good decisions about effective online learning experiences for students.
I contemplated which resource to discuss in this reflection and in doing so was reminded of some of my personal frustrations with integrating technology into my content area. I mentioned way back at the beginning of this course that our district recently implemented a new methodology for all of our World Language classes; we now use a method called Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS) which relies heavily on teacher input--it's a true example of the traditional "Sage on the Stage" teaching style. Of all the approaches to teaching language I have seen and tried in my 14 years of teaching Spanish, this one is THE BEST!! I have never had more success in terms of student acquisition of the language than with TPRS: this method reaches all levels of learners in my classes; students retain and actually acquire the language; they are able to produce the language in written form like never before; they LOVE the stories we tell in class; and perhaps most importantly, they are truly motivated to learn.
So I'm torn because I appreciate the benefits of computer-delivered instruction and I believe in the benefits of the methods we have reviewed and learned in this class. I think that students in this age of technology need to learn via online experiences--just not in my class. Does that sound selfish? Maybe it is. But knowing what I know about student acquisition of a new language--researchers say that from birth to age 5 we will have experienced about 20,000 hours of hearing, understanding and acquiring our birth language and that 4 years of high school Spanish yields about 600 hours of exposure to the new language--I find it difficult to justify even a day away from the TPRS method.
Having said that, I will say that one of things I miss about the "old" way of teaching Spanish is a departure from the cultural aspect. I have found that in order to teach culture effectively, it really must be done in English--there's just too much language that's too hard for students to understand if a culture lesson were to be taught in Spanish. Besides, the focus of a culture lesson is not language, it's culture. Therefore, the online experience that I feel would most benefit both me and my students is the WebQuest. If I must take time away from a TPRS lesson, then I would want students to be learning about culture and when I thought back to the Evaluation of a WebQuest assignment from earlier in the class, I came across many great examples that would help my students learn about the culture of Spanish speaking countries and people. For example, students are always interested in learning about the foods eaten in Spanish speaking countries and there were several WebQuests in Quest Garden that would be great to use with my classes. Personally, I like to teach my students about holidays or other cultural celebrations and I found several examples of that type of WebQuest as well. These WebQuests use many different strategies including cooperative learning and collaboration, jigsaw, research and scaffolding. However, the mental battle I struggle with is that while the WebQuests can be good opportunities for effective online experiences for students, they take away from opportunities for authentic language acquisition, which is the most important goal of my class.
You may be wondering why I don't just use Spanish-language WebQuests or other types of online experiences like podcasts or RSS feeds--there are thousands of the them in Spanish! However, the difficulty is a TPRS term called comprehensible input; the belief is that less is more in terms of effective language learning. Instead of handing out a list of 30 vocabulary words at the beginning of the week, I might focus on just 3 words or phrases for a whole week. The belief in TPRS-world is that students will internalize and acquire those 3 words if they are made comprehensible rather than memorized and regurgitated on a quiz and then forgotten. This concept was proven to me the first time TPRS was introduced to me--the instructor taught us a German lesson using just 3 key phrases and I remember those phrases (and several others that we ended up learning) to this day. The problem with Spanish-language WebQuests, podcasts, RSS feeds or Blogs is that the input would not be comprehensible to the students--there would just be way too many words they wouldn't understand which would lead to frustration and eventual abandonment of the assignment.
Phew, didn't mean to be so long-winded, but I kind of got fired up for a minute there!! Anyway, to wrap up, I think the document we reviewed is a useful resource that ultimately will help teachers make good decisions about effective online learning experiences for students.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Evaluation of Google Presenter
One of the first things that I noticed about Google Presenter is that there are many features borrowed from Microsoft PowerPoint that are (I think) meant to be user friendly. I can't remember exactly what this is called, but I remember from one of the articles we read earlier in the course, that programs are written with this in mind in order to make new applications easy for people to use and learn a new program.
At first glance, Presenter seems very basic and has fewer icons than PowerPoint, but while playing around and making a quick presentation, there really wasn't anything I couldn't do that I wanted to do. And it was pretty easy to figure out how to do everything. It took a few extra mouse clicks at first, but it didn't take long to find out how to add a slide, add speaker notes, change the theme, etc. There is an option to insert a video, but I couldn't find a way to insert audio, which I do quite often in PowerPoint so that is one thing I didn't like about Presenter. There are fewer options for slide layouts than PowerPoint, but the basics are there.
All the students at my school have laptops and our students have school email through Google so this program is a natural fit our me! In fact, just last week my students worked on a group project and several groups chose to create a PowerPoint for their presentation. Instead of using traditional PowerPoint, many groups used Presenter so that each group member could collaborate and have the finished product saved for everyone to view. Since my students are already pretty familiar with PowerPoint (our student laptops use the Open Office suite of products instead of Microsoft Word but it's basically the same) there really isn't much that I would need to teach them before they used Presenter, especially since it's so similar to PowerPoint.
Students can share their work with Presenter in small groups or with an entire class by inviting users. A link to the project could also be included in a class blog so that others could see and use the presentation. It could be used in many subject areas; collaboration on a research paper or project, gathering and recording data for a science project, brainstorming ideas, making word webs, and of course, putting all the information together for a final presentation.
The teacher's role for helping students collaborate to use Presenter would be first to make sure students know how to use it and are comfortable with the program. The teacher could show students a finished presentation and then go through the steps for how to start a new presentation, select a theme or background, add new slides, insert tables, videos, images, etc. Then, students could create a short presentation on the topic of their choice as a way to show the teacher that they understand how to use the program before starting the "real" project. The teacher should also show students how to invite other people to the presentation for collaboration.
I don't think there are any special managerial or organizational considerations the teacher needs to consider that are out of the ordinary for this program. As with any use of technology, the teacher should make sure the internet connection is working, or, if using a lab, it should be reserved in advance. A back-up lesson should be planned in case the technology is unavailable.
Overall, I like Google Presenter. I think it is very comparable to PowerPoint for a basic presentation. It works especially well for my students since they already have Google accounts through my school and are pretty familiar with PowerPoint.
At first glance, Presenter seems very basic and has fewer icons than PowerPoint, but while playing around and making a quick presentation, there really wasn't anything I couldn't do that I wanted to do. And it was pretty easy to figure out how to do everything. It took a few extra mouse clicks at first, but it didn't take long to find out how to add a slide, add speaker notes, change the theme, etc. There is an option to insert a video, but I couldn't find a way to insert audio, which I do quite often in PowerPoint so that is one thing I didn't like about Presenter. There are fewer options for slide layouts than PowerPoint, but the basics are there.
All the students at my school have laptops and our students have school email through Google so this program is a natural fit our me! In fact, just last week my students worked on a group project and several groups chose to create a PowerPoint for their presentation. Instead of using traditional PowerPoint, many groups used Presenter so that each group member could collaborate and have the finished product saved for everyone to view. Since my students are already pretty familiar with PowerPoint (our student laptops use the Open Office suite of products instead of Microsoft Word but it's basically the same) there really isn't much that I would need to teach them before they used Presenter, especially since it's so similar to PowerPoint.
Students can share their work with Presenter in small groups or with an entire class by inviting users. A link to the project could also be included in a class blog so that others could see and use the presentation. It could be used in many subject areas; collaboration on a research paper or project, gathering and recording data for a science project, brainstorming ideas, making word webs, and of course, putting all the information together for a final presentation.
The teacher's role for helping students collaborate to use Presenter would be first to make sure students know how to use it and are comfortable with the program. The teacher could show students a finished presentation and then go through the steps for how to start a new presentation, select a theme or background, add new slides, insert tables, videos, images, etc. Then, students could create a short presentation on the topic of their choice as a way to show the teacher that they understand how to use the program before starting the "real" project. The teacher should also show students how to invite other people to the presentation for collaboration.
I don't think there are any special managerial or organizational considerations the teacher needs to consider that are out of the ordinary for this program. As with any use of technology, the teacher should make sure the internet connection is working, or, if using a lab, it should be reserved in advance. A back-up lesson should be planned in case the technology is unavailable.
Overall, I like Google Presenter. I think it is very comparable to PowerPoint for a basic presentation. It works especially well for my students since they already have Google accounts through my school and are pretty familiar with PowerPoint.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Using Blogs in the Classroom
Well first let me say that after reading David Warlick's article A Day in the Life of Web 2.0, my head was spinning! I had to go back and re-read a couple sections a couple of times just to try to sort it all out in my brain! It really is amazing to see how one use of technology can branch into so many more additional uses, and how teachers and students can connect to each other and connect subjects and curricular areas.
One of the most basic uses for a blog in the classroom is organization and dissemination of information such as due dates for assignments, the class syllabus, calendar of events, etc. I liked the mention of Monday reports that the teachers in the article are described as using. This gives everyone, like special education teachers, other general education teachers, the principal, board members, and parents, access to what is going on in each class for the whole week. It's a much more efficient method of communication versus email. The article shows how the various readers of the blog can use the information found in them for such things as cross-curricular lesson (teachers), preparing resources for teachers (librarian), writing a school newsletter (principal) and showcasing the school to the community (board member). I think these are great ideas, but somewhat impractical for most people given that unless it is administrator-mandated, only a handful of teachers in a given district or school will use a blog. But , it's ok to dream big, right?
In the article Content Delivery in the 'Blogosphere', authors Ferdig and Trammell discuss the importance of social interaction in teaching and learning and blogs certainly address this need. Students today are totally plugged in to all the new technologies from MP3 players to on-line gaming and teachers need to keep up. The authors discuss the importance of students' using technology for "authentic opprotunities for publication of knowledge" and a blog is an appropriate format for students to both reflect on their own thoughts and understanding and comment on others' thoughts and understanding on a particular topic. The authors state that through the use of a blog, students can become experts on the subject matter being studied simply by more exposure to information on a given topic. When students are asked to find information or review websites about the Mexican-American War, for example, they are following a 3-step process described by the authors: scouring, filtering and posting. This process leads to an expanding knowledge base of the topic.
Teachers are always looking for ways to keep students interested and motivated and the authors believe that blogging is one way to do to that because of the novelty of blogs and perhaps more importantly, because students (sometimes) get the opportunity to blog about topics that are important to them. I like the piece in the article that addresses student participation. We can all think of the students who never raise their hand in class; these shy students now have a safe place to participate. Less shy students can benefit, too, by interacting with the community of learners.
Certain types of lessons or strategies still have to be done the olf fashioned way. Science labs must be conducted with hands-on work from students; art teachers still need to have students create pieces of pottery or sketches and paintings; physical education teachers will continue to have students learn to dribble a basketball with a real basketball, not a virtual one. While Blogs can provide a platform for discussion and reflection on these types of activities, they can't replace the experience.
I see myself using Blogs in my Spanish classroom for reflection purposes when we discuss cultural topics. Students tend to have wide variety of responses to issues such as learning a new language, why one shoud/n't ever travel to a Spanish-speaking country (or travel at all!), etc. Since classroom discussion on these topics often have to be cut short, a Blog would be a great platform for students to continue the discussion outside of class. There could also be a place for language practice and learning to occur with the use of Blog. Links to internet-based resources could be placed on the Blog for student practice. Students could post questions and answers when working on homework or projects.
I'm struggling a bit with the bonus question, mostly because I'm still trying to find ways to incorporate the Blog with conventional strategies, let alone with instructional strategies that aren't easily supported witht his technology. I'm going to think a bit on this point and add more later.
One of the most basic uses for a blog in the classroom is organization and dissemination of information such as due dates for assignments, the class syllabus, calendar of events, etc. I liked the mention of Monday reports that the teachers in the article are described as using. This gives everyone, like special education teachers, other general education teachers, the principal, board members, and parents, access to what is going on in each class for the whole week. It's a much more efficient method of communication versus email. The article shows how the various readers of the blog can use the information found in them for such things as cross-curricular lesson (teachers), preparing resources for teachers (librarian), writing a school newsletter (principal) and showcasing the school to the community (board member). I think these are great ideas, but somewhat impractical for most people given that unless it is administrator-mandated, only a handful of teachers in a given district or school will use a blog. But , it's ok to dream big, right?
In the article Content Delivery in the 'Blogosphere', authors Ferdig and Trammell discuss the importance of social interaction in teaching and learning and blogs certainly address this need. Students today are totally plugged in to all the new technologies from MP3 players to on-line gaming and teachers need to keep up. The authors discuss the importance of students' using technology for "authentic opprotunities for publication of knowledge" and a blog is an appropriate format for students to both reflect on their own thoughts and understanding and comment on others' thoughts and understanding on a particular topic. The authors state that through the use of a blog, students can become experts on the subject matter being studied simply by more exposure to information on a given topic. When students are asked to find information or review websites about the Mexican-American War, for example, they are following a 3-step process described by the authors: scouring, filtering and posting. This process leads to an expanding knowledge base of the topic.
Teachers are always looking for ways to keep students interested and motivated and the authors believe that blogging is one way to do to that because of the novelty of blogs and perhaps more importantly, because students (sometimes) get the opportunity to blog about topics that are important to them. I like the piece in the article that addresses student participation. We can all think of the students who never raise their hand in class; these shy students now have a safe place to participate. Less shy students can benefit, too, by interacting with the community of learners.
Certain types of lessons or strategies still have to be done the olf fashioned way. Science labs must be conducted with hands-on work from students; art teachers still need to have students create pieces of pottery or sketches and paintings; physical education teachers will continue to have students learn to dribble a basketball with a real basketball, not a virtual one. While Blogs can provide a platform for discussion and reflection on these types of activities, they can't replace the experience.
I see myself using Blogs in my Spanish classroom for reflection purposes when we discuss cultural topics. Students tend to have wide variety of responses to issues such as learning a new language, why one shoud/n't ever travel to a Spanish-speaking country (or travel at all!), etc. Since classroom discussion on these topics often have to be cut short, a Blog would be a great platform for students to continue the discussion outside of class. There could also be a place for language practice and learning to occur with the use of Blog. Links to internet-based resources could be placed on the Blog for student practice. Students could post questions and answers when working on homework or projects.
I'm struggling a bit with the bonus question, mostly because I'm still trying to find ways to incorporate the Blog with conventional strategies, let alone with instructional strategies that aren't easily supported witht his technology. I'm going to think a bit on this point and add more later.
A little less frustrated...
So I'm feeling a little better about the Wiki. I spent some more time playing around and trying out the different things you can do with it. And I (think) I invited all of you to be writers on my Wiki and shared a page with you. I'm still trying to find a practical application for it in my classroom. Does anyone already use one and if so, what specifically do you use it for? Thanks for looking and for your input!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
GRRRRR!!!
Ok, so I'm not really getting the whole Wiki thing! I mean, I kind of get it, but I don't really understand what to put on my Wiki. I created two, the first one using Wikispaces but I didn't think it was very user friendly, so I tried PB Works, which didn't help much. I'm going to keep reading and messing around and see if I can figure it out. I feel like such a fish out of water with a lot of this stuff!! Anyone else floundering?!?!?
I did manage to find my school on Wikipedia and edit some erroneous information. Here's a screen shot:
Ok, now I'm frustrated with this--can't seem to get a screen shot on this post. Instead, here's a link to the site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allendale_High_School
I changed the enrollment information from 610 students in 2008-2009 to 591 students in 2009-2010.
I did manage to find my school on Wikipedia and edit some erroneous information. Here's a screen shot:
Ok, now I'm frustrated with this--can't seem to get a screen shot on this post. Instead, here's a link to the site:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allendale_High_School
I changed the enrollment information from 610 students in 2008-2009 to 591 students in 2009-2010.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Good WebQuests for Spanish
There are lots of good WebQuests for learning about the culture of Spanish speaking countries but it's harder to find ones that help students learn the Spanish language, especially for middle school. So I focused my search on that aspect, hoping to find something that I could use in my classes, maybe even this year yet. Here's what I found:
La Comida Tipica--Typical Food
http://questgarden.com/102/24/7/100425190937/evaluation.htm
In this WebQuest, students are asked to plan a typical menu for a restaurant in a Spanish-speaking city. I like this project because students are learning vocabulary and some culture at the same time as they study the sites provided for some different restaurants in Spanish-speaking cities. There are 3 excellent evaluation rubrics included for the different parts of the project. Looking forward to using this one!
Let's Learn Some Basic Vocabulary and Grammar in Spanish!
http://questgarden.com/102/24/7/100425190937/evaluation.htm
Ok, this one is mediocre at best, but I do like that students can practice vocabulary and grammar, which isn't that easy to fine. It is listed for 9-12 grades, but the material taught isn't so hard that middle schoolers couldn't use it. I see myself using this one with students who finsih another project ahead of time or want a challenge.
Why Study Spanish?
http://questgarden.com/90/33/5/091115103433/index.htm
Although this site doesn't teach the Spanish language, it does help students find the answer to one of the most common questions I get every year: why do we have to learn Spanish? I would ask students at the beginning of the school year to complete the WebQuest as a way to help them understand the importance of learning Spanish and to help them feel a little more excited and motivated for the class. It also teaches them about some Spanish-speaking countries.
La Comida Tipica--Typical Food
http://questgarden.com/102/24/7/100425190937/evaluation.htm
In this WebQuest, students are asked to plan a typical menu for a restaurant in a Spanish-speaking city. I like this project because students are learning vocabulary and some culture at the same time as they study the sites provided for some different restaurants in Spanish-speaking cities. There are 3 excellent evaluation rubrics included for the different parts of the project. Looking forward to using this one!
Let's Learn Some Basic Vocabulary and Grammar in Spanish!
http://questgarden.com/102/24/7/100425190937/evaluation.htm
Ok, this one is mediocre at best, but I do like that students can practice vocabulary and grammar, which isn't that easy to fine. It is listed for 9-12 grades, but the material taught isn't so hard that middle schoolers couldn't use it. I see myself using this one with students who finsih another project ahead of time or want a challenge.
Why Study Spanish?
http://questgarden.com/90/33/5/091115103433/index.htm
Although this site doesn't teach the Spanish language, it does help students find the answer to one of the most common questions I get every year: why do we have to learn Spanish? I would ask students at the beginning of the school year to complete the WebQuest as a way to help them understand the importance of learning Spanish and to help them feel a little more excited and motivated for the class. It also teaches them about some Spanish-speaking countries.
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