Friday, June 10, 2011
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.
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.
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.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
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:
Clicking the links below will provide you with notes I had taken during the workshops, as well as a final reflection of each workshop:
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Southern Oregon 1st Annual Ed Tech Conference
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.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Sample Assignment - El Rostro de Madrid
_7.jpg) |
| Un mercadillo |
 |
| El Rostro de Madrid |
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
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.
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.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Cleaning the slate
My efforts into developing a PBL experience for my students for my work sample has taken on a completely different form. It is no lie that PBL is a difficult thing to implement in your classroom. What I had first thought of as a great and wonderful project is now seeking to place itself among the tenants of a unique and inspiring educational project. Where I thought I had aligned my goals has now turned into a catching-up process, and a deep-seated concern as to what my students will produce. In this project I have definitely bitten off more than I can chew.
Alas, the only thing I can do from here is to reflect on my experiences and better myself as a new teacher. I am fortunate to be able to go through this process. I still feel somewhat guilty, though. That this all was at the cost of 180 student's education. We shall see tomorrow when the presentations begin.
I am thinking of changing my PBL for this course to something different. Something that includes what i have learned so far in this process of development. This time, I will not start at full speed, but rather now I will go at a steady pace. A pace that demands careful thinking and planning. More on this in my next post...
Alas, the only thing I can do from here is to reflect on my experiences and better myself as a new teacher. I am fortunate to be able to go through this process. I still feel somewhat guilty, though. That this all was at the cost of 180 student's education. We shall see tomorrow when the presentations begin.
I am thinking of changing my PBL for this course to something different. Something that includes what i have learned so far in this process of development. This time, I will not start at full speed, but rather now I will go at a steady pace. A pace that demands careful thinking and planning. More on this in my next post...
Monday, January 31, 2011
A PBL experience al azar
Just when I had thought I had planned everything out so nicely, I was hit by a few curveballs in class today. Today I learned a lot about myself as an educator, as well as some of the thought processes of my students.
I started my unit today on Daily Routine and reflexive verbs. The bulk of the lesson today was dedicated to introducing the students to the concept of reflexive verbs. The last 30 minutes or so was dedicated to my PBL, which proved to be the greatest learning experience.
I had spent so much time brainstorming the three project ideas for my students before today. I thought I had everything nicely managed, what with an introductory list, a timeline, a calendar for students to keep track of dates, and even a little reflection piece that they are to add to at the end of each class period. Though I thought I was prepared, their questions threw me for a loop. Let me explain the project first...
In thinking about PBL, and how it would look in a foreign language classroom, I decided to ask the students what would interest them as a potential final project for a unit. In my current classroom students are used to doing somewhat straightforward oral assessments of the language; a simple paired interview-type activity that guides students to repeat certain memorized phrases. I decided to ask my students what they would be interested in doing as an oral assessment. Something alternative. I went through each row in each class and asked the students to think of some sort of project they would be interested in. I received a wealth of ideas, from video projects, narrated PowerPoints, to pantomime (not really a good way to assess oral proficiency, but I put it up there anyway). After this brainstorm, I took the students ideas and decided on three possibilities as a basis of design for the final project of my work sample:
I started my unit today on Daily Routine and reflexive verbs. The bulk of the lesson today was dedicated to introducing the students to the concept of reflexive verbs. The last 30 minutes or so was dedicated to my PBL, which proved to be the greatest learning experience.
I had spent so much time brainstorming the three project ideas for my students before today. I thought I had everything nicely managed, what with an introductory list, a timeline, a calendar for students to keep track of dates, and even a little reflection piece that they are to add to at the end of each class period. Though I thought I was prepared, their questions threw me for a loop. Let me explain the project first...
In thinking about PBL, and how it would look in a foreign language classroom, I decided to ask the students what would interest them as a potential final project for a unit. In my current classroom students are used to doing somewhat straightforward oral assessments of the language; a simple paired interview-type activity that guides students to repeat certain memorized phrases. I decided to ask my students what they would be interested in doing as an oral assessment. Something alternative. I went through each row in each class and asked the students to think of some sort of project they would be interested in. I received a wealth of ideas, from video projects, narrated PowerPoints, to pantomime (not really a good way to assess oral proficiency, but I put it up there anyway). After this brainstorm, I took the students ideas and decided on three possibilities as a basis of design for the final project of my work sample:
Video PowerPoint Show n' Tell
The last one would permit students to create a book, scrapbook, or poster of their daily routine.
So, I spent all of this time creating the guidelines for this project. But I failed to fully think about one essential element: group work. In explaining the project options to students in the classes, I was frequently hit by the question: "Can we work in groups?" "How big of a group? I wanna work with like 4 other people." I was stumped at the moment, perhaps to the fact that I was so nervous, and had a packed lesson as is. I asked myself after school was over, "I want them to work in groups. It's an integral part to PBL. But how will this work out for the PowerPoint project? Or the Show n' Tell project? The video?"
After some intense contemplation, I realized that YES they can work in groups....for the video project. That one is, by far, the most time consuming choice for a final project. But I must clarify to the students that they, as an individual, must meet the oral proficiency requirements that are set as the base of the whole entire project. Two people can talk on video, but each must meet the proficiency requirements. This needs some more contemplation, and luckily I have tomorrow off as far as teaching, so I will probably be adding another entry here tomorrow.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Time is of the essence
Keeping track of time is pretty difficult for me when I'm in the midst of conducting the class. Today was a perfect example of that. Class starts at 9:45, but things usually don't start going until 9:50, or even 10:00. What happened to those 15 minutes?! That's 15 minutes that could have been spent on learning. We take the time to stamp any homework that was due that day, and then on to the bellwork activity. In my lesson plan I always write down the amount of time I intend on spending on the activity. Though, I must admit that my presumtion of how much time the activity will take is usually off. Those 15 minutes were spent with students scrambling to finish whatever they had failed to finish in the three days between classes. The problem with it all is that I don't even look at the clock. I just go by the feel and flow of the class, rarely glancing up to see how many minutes have passed. This needs to be changed.
I really need to start keeping track of time. Someway, maybe using the timer on my phone, I need to keep to a set time for my activities. The transitions are great, but the time spent on the activities is not great. Pick a time and stick to it. I am going to have to take these students so far in my lessons that if I spend more time discussing their personal likes and dislikes, or engaging in side conversations, then I will not be able to take them to where I need to in the curriculum. Don't get me wrong, today was fantastic. We had ample time to discuss, when doing my comprehension check, for understanding of the material. I asked students to tell me personally what they like to eat for breakfast or lunch. I felt that putting in their own likes and disliikes far supercedes me forcing them to learn vocabulary that has nothing to do with their lives. Making learning personal. I asked follow-up questions, attempting to elicit more information from them. Many students were lost, confused, and didn't know what the heck I was talking about. Ah, language immersion. They aren't used to it at all. The words are there, on the board, on their lists, but the connections haven't been made yet. Practice, practice, practice.
So, all of this led to me spending a good 20 minutes on this entire oral activity. I feel like I am shorting these kids from their education when I just rush through activities and don't leave time for questions or discussions. I do need to find a healthy balance between the two. Next conversation activity I do will be timed and much shorter. I at least need to try it.
*Note: It wound up being the same time-frame for the next class. It was a bit harder though, as I don't know the students as well. This impedes on time, and getting to know the students. This is no bueno. I went through the activity much more smoothly this time, but the energy just wasn't there. How to fix that....
I really need to start keeping track of time. Someway, maybe using the timer on my phone, I need to keep to a set time for my activities. The transitions are great, but the time spent on the activities is not great. Pick a time and stick to it. I am going to have to take these students so far in my lessons that if I spend more time discussing their personal likes and dislikes, or engaging in side conversations, then I will not be able to take them to where I need to in the curriculum. Don't get me wrong, today was fantastic. We had ample time to discuss, when doing my comprehension check, for understanding of the material. I asked students to tell me personally what they like to eat for breakfast or lunch. I felt that putting in their own likes and disliikes far supercedes me forcing them to learn vocabulary that has nothing to do with their lives. Making learning personal. I asked follow-up questions, attempting to elicit more information from them. Many students were lost, confused, and didn't know what the heck I was talking about. Ah, language immersion. They aren't used to it at all. The words are there, on the board, on their lists, but the connections haven't been made yet. Practice, practice, practice.
So, all of this led to me spending a good 20 minutes on this entire oral activity. I feel like I am shorting these kids from their education when I just rush through activities and don't leave time for questions or discussions. I do need to find a healthy balance between the two. Next conversation activity I do will be timed and much shorter. I at least need to try it.
*Note: It wound up being the same time-frame for the next class. It was a bit harder though, as I don't know the students as well. This impedes on time, and getting to know the students. This is no bueno. I went through the activity much more smoothly this time, but the energy just wasn't there. How to fix that....
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Watch your tongue!
Normally I spend the first two periods in the classroom as part of my student teaching requirements. Not that I wouldn't like to stay longer, but I do have a lot of other to-do's on my list. Friday turned out to be a bit different for this week.
Lately I have been creating and conducting the Bellwork activities and some sort of Oral Language Activity for our Spanish 2 class. These have been original creations that seek to target specific structures in the language. This week's topic is gustar sentences and food vocabulary. My CT asked me to stay for the period after lunch so I could try running those activities again with a different class. She promoted the idea because she felt I would gain a lot of insight as to how dynamics change from class to class. I've had experience with this particular period (Period 3), but only in subbing her class for a day and using her lesson plan. I readily agreed, and the class began.
Now, I don't want to go into too much detail for Period 3 at this point. I will say that they were a really fun group of kids, and I was surprised as to how on-task the majority of the students were. No side-talk, no interruptions. Everyone was engaged in the activities I had created, and for that I am fortunate. (We are just starting the "honeymoon" period for that particular class, so I'm assuming it won't be as easy in the future.) It was the next class that brought about a great learning experience for myself.
Period 4 is a really fun group of students. There is an intense amount of energy in the class, largely due to the fact that it's the last class of the school day. A lot of male energy in that class, which may contribute to the atmosphere as well. In a nutshell, those students are pretty laid back, very supportive of each other (even if the support is in the form of a sarcastic remark), and overall just a playful group of kids. After finding out that I was going to be taking over most of the class that day I was greeted with a large round of applause. I thought I was special, that my presence there was greatly appreciated. Though this is more or less true, I found out through the course of the period, that those students applaud just about everything. Haha!
In the midst of conducting my lesson, much like the previous two periods but with more finesse, I made a grave mistake. Let me set up the scene for you. I was going over a huge list of nouns, adjectives, and verbs that previous classes had helped develop. All of these words had something to do with food. I went through the nouns first, asking students to write down any words that thy felt they might use in the future when talking with someone about food. Also included were words that they may not know, or words that they absolutely knew what the word meant in Spanish. It was a fun review, and we touched upon some of the abstract/odd words that previous classes had added. (perro....really? Maybe to some that's a delicacy....) We moved through adjectives, and then on to verbs. It was at verbs that I made the slip. I was reviewing the verb odiar, which means "to hate" in Spanish. I was explaining to them my distaste for the word "hate", that it is a very strong word that should be reserved for something you really, really, really don't like. This is how it went, "I would save the word odiar for something that you really hate....for example, Odio a George Bu-." I caught myself mid-stream in the sentence. I thought, "You idiot! If there's one thing you DO NOT include in a lesson with students, it would be politics!" Luckily my CT was there to save my butt. She quickly got out of her seat and helped fill in the sentence, "He hates...uh...Curious George. Yea, that's it." Ooops!
That's not the end of it, though. Not only did I make a political slip, I also was saying "George" as a student who shares the same name was raising his hand! He reeled back, eyes wide open, mouth agape. "What?! You hate me?!" No, no, no I don't hate him, I hate....ah...now i've done it. My slip of the tongue was greeted by other students hissing. A couple of "oh snaps" were in there too. I covered myself pretty well, I think. I clarified that I did not hate that particular student, it was just bad timing. Most knew what the end of my sentence was. I offered them an alternative word detestar, which means "to detest", and we moved on with the lesson.
What did I learn in this experience? Watch your tongue! It is not my place, and I knew it at the time, to include politics as part of any discussion with high school students. Or adult students for that matter. It was a slip, and I think I handled it quite nicely. No feelings were hurt, so for that I am grateful. At least I can say I caught myself mid-sentence, and didn't wind up continuing my thoughts and making even more of an ass of myself.
Lately I have been creating and conducting the Bellwork activities and some sort of Oral Language Activity for our Spanish 2 class. These have been original creations that seek to target specific structures in the language. This week's topic is gustar sentences and food vocabulary. My CT asked me to stay for the period after lunch so I could try running those activities again with a different class. She promoted the idea because she felt I would gain a lot of insight as to how dynamics change from class to class. I've had experience with this particular period (Period 3), but only in subbing her class for a day and using her lesson plan. I readily agreed, and the class began.
Now, I don't want to go into too much detail for Period 3 at this point. I will say that they were a really fun group of kids, and I was surprised as to how on-task the majority of the students were. No side-talk, no interruptions. Everyone was engaged in the activities I had created, and for that I am fortunate. (We are just starting the "honeymoon" period for that particular class, so I'm assuming it won't be as easy in the future.) It was the next class that brought about a great learning experience for myself.
Period 4 is a really fun group of students. There is an intense amount of energy in the class, largely due to the fact that it's the last class of the school day. A lot of male energy in that class, which may contribute to the atmosphere as well. In a nutshell, those students are pretty laid back, very supportive of each other (even if the support is in the form of a sarcastic remark), and overall just a playful group of kids. After finding out that I was going to be taking over most of the class that day I was greeted with a large round of applause. I thought I was special, that my presence there was greatly appreciated. Though this is more or less true, I found out through the course of the period, that those students applaud just about everything. Haha!
In the midst of conducting my lesson, much like the previous two periods but with more finesse, I made a grave mistake. Let me set up the scene for you. I was going over a huge list of nouns, adjectives, and verbs that previous classes had helped develop. All of these words had something to do with food. I went through the nouns first, asking students to write down any words that thy felt they might use in the future when talking with someone about food. Also included were words that they may not know, or words that they absolutely knew what the word meant in Spanish. It was a fun review, and we touched upon some of the abstract/odd words that previous classes had added. (perro....really? Maybe to some that's a delicacy....) We moved through adjectives, and then on to verbs. It was at verbs that I made the slip. I was reviewing the verb odiar, which means "to hate" in Spanish. I was explaining to them my distaste for the word "hate", that it is a very strong word that should be reserved for something you really, really, really don't like. This is how it went, "I would save the word odiar for something that you really hate....for example, Odio a George Bu-." I caught myself mid-stream in the sentence. I thought, "You idiot! If there's one thing you DO NOT include in a lesson with students, it would be politics!" Luckily my CT was there to save my butt. She quickly got out of her seat and helped fill in the sentence, "He hates...uh...Curious George. Yea, that's it." Ooops!
That's not the end of it, though. Not only did I make a political slip, I also was saying "George" as a student who shares the same name was raising his hand! He reeled back, eyes wide open, mouth agape. "What?! You hate me?!" No, no, no I don't hate him, I hate....ah...now i've done it. My slip of the tongue was greeted by other students hissing. A couple of "oh snaps" were in there too. I covered myself pretty well, I think. I clarified that I did not hate that particular student, it was just bad timing. Most knew what the end of my sentence was. I offered them an alternative word detestar, which means "to detest", and we moved on with the lesson.
What did I learn in this experience? Watch your tongue! It is not my place, and I knew it at the time, to include politics as part of any discussion with high school students. Or adult students for that matter. It was a slip, and I think I handled it quite nicely. No feelings were hurt, so for that I am grateful. At least I can say I caught myself mid-sentence, and didn't wind up continuing my thoughts and making even more of an ass of myself.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)