¡He Regresado!

I'm back! I knew I had a blog about my Spanish language teaching somewhere on the interwebs. Alas, I have returned! I read some of my posts from back in the day and boy...I must say, I have grown much since those days. I'm now 8 years into my teaching career with a wide variety of experience, much of it in Educational Technology. Yet, here I am many years later finally teaching a Spanish course. The last time I taught a Spanish class was in 2011. And that was as a student teacher!

I figured I'd revitalize this blog and use it as a platform for reflection. Nothing fancy for now, just a brain dump of three key topics in relation to the online Spanish course I am teaching. I might add more prompts as I go along, but we'll keep it simple to start.

1. What went well
2. What didn't go so well
3. What would I like to do next time

What went well

All the students who signed up for my online class showed up. And all but one had their camera on. They followed instructions without issue. We spent our first day together just going over the basics of using the technologies associated with the class. Connecting and using Zoom (through introductions and interaction with some of the features in the application), reading and using their email service (ensured they can log in, can view emails, and can send emails), and logging in to our LMS (Canvas in this case...free for teacher because our district has yet to purchase a license for Canvas). We had fun in this first class, and I heard feedback from a few parents and staff that the students really liked it. That made me feel good about running my first ever online course.

Not so well

I wanted a low-key fun activity that we could all do at the end of the class. I wound up using a Quizlet game to engage students in a simple Spanish-related trivia game. That flopped like a flounder. Quizlet assumes you're in a group, in the same room where you can converse with each other about what the correct answer is. It pretty much requires a physical presence to get the correct answer. I forgot about that. Luckily it was the last 10 minutes of class, so we just wrapped up and said hasta luego.

Next time

I"d love to try and use the Quizlet game alongside the Breakout room feature in Zoom. I have a feeling it won't go well, but you never know. It's worth a shot. I think I'll have students do some simple activities in a breakout room so they feel comfortable talking to each other in those types of settings (and so I can figure out how this system works), and then we can breakout and do the games. We haven't done much Spanish-related activities yet, but that's okay. We're building a class culture first. 

Lessons with Technology

Below I will include links to three lessons I have developed or adapted to suit the needs of my Spanish classes. Each lesson is a framework model for how I would like my students to interact and learn through the use of technology. These lessons are bound to change when getting to know my students, their proficiencies, and their attitude towards the use of technology. I have found something very interesting during my student teaching experience. I realized that not all students use technology or have been exposed to it, and even if they do, there are many students who have developed a strong apprehension towards using technology. My lessons integrate differentiated instruction techniques that touch upon the needs of each learner. Some of those needs ask for the supplemental use of tehcnology to help students better understand the course material.

Lesson #1

Lesson #2

Lesson #3

Recursos Vitales

Google Docs
I think it appropriate to discuss how I have integrated Google features with my teachers. While I was attending the last workshop, Grizznet in the Classroom, we discussed how things such as Google Docs could be integrated with Moodle. Instead of hosting documents solely on Moodle, you could easily host those documents on Google Docs, allowing students to even edit documents together, make comments, and a plethora of other features that serve to enhance learning.

Google Docs offers a large variety of different types of docs one could create. One type of doc that I really enjoy using is the Forms doc. This doc is fantastic for quickly creating surveys for your students. It could also serve as a method of creating pop-quizzes or any other sort of multiple choice assessment. Even better is that the Form will aggregate the information for you in nifty graphs. In fact, the options of what you can do with the data is almost endless!

Click HERE for an example version of a survey. This is a learning inventory survey.

Education Technology Summit - Workshops

I figure I would create a new post for the workshops. I attended three workshops during this conference. I have to admit that I am slightly disappointed by the set-up of the workshops. Not what kind of conferences, but rather how many wonderful conferences were available to watch. The conference would be much better if it went over the course of two days. That way, as an attendee, I would be able to view more presentations.

Clicking the links below will provide you with notes I had taken during the workshops, as well as a final reflection of each workshop:

Google Earth in the Classroom

Amazing Activboard Applications

Using Moodle in the Classroom 

Southern Oregon 1st Annual Ed Tech Conference

Some time has passed since I attended this conference, but I can still remember the wonderful things I learned there as if it happened only yesterday. Southern Oregon University held their first-annual conference that focused on one of my biggest passions as an educator: technology. There was no such way I was going to miss such a wonderful opportunity to not only share my knowledge with my peers, but also learn an immense amount about how to implement more use of technology in my foreign language classroom.

I must admit that I am a HUGE technology buff. Before I started in the MAT program I had already gained extensive experience in web development, graphic design, digital photography, internet research, digital music production, and anything else I could get my hands on. When I started my student teaching I immediately dived into the technology available, including document cameras, interactive whiteboards, learning management systems, and other tools that serve to enhance student learning.

It was with great pleasure to find out that Southern Oregon University was going to host its first annual Educational Technology Summit. I wound up being able to attend with five of my colleagues at my school, two of which are in the same department as myself. This was a bonus becuase after each workshop we attended, we were able to discuss what we learned and how we could implement various technologies within our current curriculum. I was so excited to be able to collaborate with others who have had years of experience teaching. Their technological aptitude is low, novice even. This is where I fit in to the best. I was able to provide feedback on features or potential uses of technology. They were able to share their knowledge of the curriculum, pedagogy, and teaching practices that could be adjusted in such a way that technology could begin to be implemented.

The keynote speaker was phenominal, and a great start to what was a great conference. Esther Wojcicki showed the power of technology and how it can connect directly with student interests and needs. From her experiences, it seems that students are so engaged there exists a sense of autonomy in the classroom. Her students have taken ownership of what they produce, and in my investigations post-conference, I was absolutely amazed at the quality of published materials that the students produce. The keynote speech was very engaging, and got me, and no doubt my colleagues, excited about what was going to come up next.

Sample Assignment - El Rostro de Madrid

Un mercadillo

Mercadillos son muy comúnes en españa. A mucha gente les gustan ir de compras en los mercadillos, especialmente durante los fines de semana.













El Rostro de Madrid

 Un mercadillo muy famoso se encuentra en Madrid. Madrid tiene una populación de 5.8 millón.

Student teachers

My idea for a good PBL experience would be a student-led review of specific grammar concepts that have been covered throughout the term.  This activity would allow students to review certain material that would be found on the summative assessment given at the end of the semester. I have borrowed and adapted this activity from my CT Señora Hobein. This is a much more manageable activity than my previous creation, and I feel the students can only benefit from reviewing these important concepts.

By using the backwards design, I will first start with the final assessment for the semester. By reviewing the core concepts that will be assessed, which have been aligned with both state and school curriculum benchmarks, I will create a list of topics that students can choose from. Students will be in groups of 3-4, each group being an expert on that specific topic. Since I have just finished reflexive verbs, I will use that as an example: the group that is scheduled to talk about this topic will create a lesson. In this lesson students will first begin with a pre-assessment, a lesson, and then a post-assessment. The students will play teacher, in a sense, by developing their own assessments, grading them, and giving feedback to students. At the end of this activity, the group will write a reflection on how they felt students had done in the post-assessment. Included will be a self and group evaluation form.

This is a rough idea for now. I need to get the necessary documents together and talk with my CT about this idea. Again, I think it can prove to be a very fruitful endeavor for all students. More on this soon.