We are in the computer lab today setting up accounts for some of the websites we are going to be using this year. I am very excited to get started using the tech that is available to us. We will be creating accounts for Wallwisher, Edmodo, Twitter, Gmail, and our blogs. Your child will have a sheet in his/her binder that will give you access to all their usernames and passwords for each account. If you ever want to log in, you will have the necessary information. I am also sending home iPod User Agreements and Blog agreements. These two sheets must be signed and returned to class before your student can use an iPod or post to his/her blog. We will begin using iPods this Wednesday.
Today is the third day of school and we are getting to work in Spanish III. Yesterday, we reviewed sounds, basic question and answer, and we discussed why we should learn a foreign language. Students expressed their opinions about learning a foreign language, and especially Spanish. Today, we will be working in partners to ask and answer questions. Then we will come together as a class to answer those same questions to check for understanding. We will also discuss some review vocabulary, which students will quiz on during the day on Friday, September 3rd. We will really be talking about the differences between the verbs SER & ESTAR. This grammar point is a Spanish I skill, but it is so important that it is worthy of review in Spanish II & III. Tonight students should look over their vocabulary for 15 minutes, and their homework assignment is to make a post on our SER Wallwisher.
Tarea: el 25 de agosto
Go to the Wallwisher for this week. Once the wall comes up (should have a red background) you will double click anywhere on the page to create a new “sticky note.” Once the note has come up, you will click on the sentence “Write your message here.” You will type a sentence about the subject of your picture using one of your vocab word for description. Don’t forget to use the correct verb. Next you will search the internet for a picture to match your sentence. BE VERY CAREFUL ON YOUR CHOICE OF PICTURE. You must remember that this activity is for class and will be seen be everyone, as well as your parents if they look at my blog because it will be embedded here. Be certain that all pictures are school appropriate. Once you find the picture, right click and copy the url. Paste the url in the box titled add image. Then click ok. You may have the option to type your name on your box. If so, please include your name.
Welcome to Spanish III. ¡Bienvenidos a la clase de Español III! Today we will be discussing our class procedures and technology rules. You will have several papers to fill out as usual for the first day of school. I am very excited to teach each of you this year, and I anticipate a great year. You are the reason I come to work each day. I can’t wait to see all that you accomplish this year!
We will also discuss why it is important to learn Spanish:
Students will need the following supplies for class:
1 1/2 Inch Binder
1 pkg Dividers
1 pkg Note Book Paper (Wide Rule Only)
Pens
1 USB Drive–if you already have one, please don’t buy another. You may use one drive for all your classes unless another teacher requests that you have one specifically for that class.
1 set of ear buds to plug into an iPod Touch or laptop
Wow!! Summer for me has only been 2 weeks long and I have already learned so much from so many great educators. This really is an exciting time to be an educator with so many teachers and administrators willing to share what is working in their classrooms. In the last two weeks, I have had the opportunity to attend SummerSpark and the TCEA Area 7 Convention. More on those great educator meetings will follow.
During these two wonderful collaborating experiences, I was honored to meet Mr. Paul R Wood. He is a forward-thinking educator who cares about teachers rising to the challenge of educating and inspiring our 21st Century learners. He is an educator who just wants the best for students. I had time to start exploring his wiki today and found a wonderful video by a young man with an inspiring look at how schools can serve students. What follows is one person’s thoughts on how teaching with technology can impact our world in a number of ways:
My students and I decided to handle exam review just a little differently this year. We decided to use Fotobabble as a means of review rather than the traditional worksheet fill in the blank BORING review. My students were very open to the idea and we had an open discussion about what would be expected of them. We settled on using the site to review some basic grammatical structures that they as students were very aware of, but had not reviewed or practiced in a while. The following is how we structured the assignments using our iPod Touches as the vehicle:
1. Students would decide on a photo to upload that would allow them to describe a city in Spain.
2. Students uploaded the photo and began to make notes on the note app of the iPods to decide quickly which adjectives to use.
3. Students used a ThumbTack microphone to record their descriptive sentences.
4. Students were required to e-mail their Fotobabble to a partner in class.
5. Each student listened to the partner’s fotobabble and discussed the positives and negatives.
6. Finally each students e-mailed their fotobabble to me for review.
My students really enjoyed the activity because it allowed them to get immediate feedback from classmates about the positives and negatives of their sentences. The activity also allowed the natural practice of speaking skills and pronunciation. After the activity, we ran Twitter as a class to discuss what they liked and did not like about using Fotobabble in this manner. The overwhelming response was positive. I am including a few examples in this post, enjoy:
As a part of the last day of school, after finishing the final exam, I asked one of my students to write a post about how she feels we as teachers can reach today’s students on a deeper level. I asked her to think about what she would like from her teachers and her classes. The following was written by a sophomore Spanish III student:
This is what I would like to see in our classrooms: I would like to see the use of technology more. Being teenagers, we are very technology literate. Being able to use iPods, laptops, or cell phones, would make us become more involved because we like to use those kinds of things. We aren’t asking you to stop teaching or teach different stuff. We depend on you as teachers to teach us what we need to know. When we walk into the classroom, we trust that what we are learning is what you think is important. However, having to do everything on paper is boring and uninteresting. Using tools like Twitter or PollEverywhere or other websites like YouTube helps because you can ask questions and have others answer you and not feel bad for asking. Believe it or not, we do learn from each other and from you.
Technology would help everyone get involved in different ways. For example, the shy students would finally feel that they are able to speak out. Wouldn’t you love for all of us to be involved in class discussion? Also, we as students would feel more connected to the lesson if we could talk with each other about our ideas instead of simply answering questions about the chapter or the reading.
Instead of having to use books to look everything up, we could use Google or some other search engine. We would be able to type our reports rather than writing them. With Google we can help each other edit our assignments. Finally, I would say that we as students, even when we don’t show it, appreciate all that you do. You have a hard job and we know that. Part of your job is to challenge us every day in the classroom. So now, we challenge you. We don’t challenge your authority or your knowledge of what you teach, we simply challenge you to teach us in a way that means something to us. Teach us Shakespeare and linear equations and yes, how to dissect a starfish, but teach us with the tools we use in our everyday lives. Let’s see what we can do with them.
Thanks to my PLN, I found a new way for students to practice vocabulary. I was reading Mr. Hancock’s class blog Grade 2/3 and found that his students practice adjectives using PicLits. PicLits is a site that displays a picture and the user can drag and drop suggested words onto the picture. One of Mr. Hancock’s students used a close-up picture of a horse and added many adjectives to the picture, which he displayed on his blog.
I thought the same concept would work for my Spanish classes. I decided to display a PicLit for students to look at and have them translate the adjectives into Spanish as a class. After we translated the words, I reminded them of the adj/noun agreement rules in Spanish. I then directed the students to use Twitter to create an original sentence in Spanish using the adjectives we had just translated. I required that the sentences had to directly relate the original picture. After each student tweeted their sentence, I then asked students to offer constructive criticism about errors, and offer praise for a job well done. I ran the feed on the data projector for monitoring purposes, and so that I could offer suggestions if needed. I quickly realized they didn’t really need me because they were helping each other correct errors. That was truly a great moment. The students enjoyed the picture and the practice, as well as the social aspect of the 10 minute activity.
Twitter is accepted in some educational circles and controversial at best in others. I have used Twitter at various times with my students this year. Their conclusion: great! My conclusion: I will be using it on a regular basis next year in all my classes.
If you are still on the fence about the possibilities, watch the video, then decide. I love the comment about it being messy, but valuable. I assert that we teachers need to acknowledge that 21 st century learning is sometimes messy, but wonderful.
I am writing this post to display some work that my students did using Glogster. Glogster is a great presentation tool that breaks up the monotony of Power Point presentations. Many educational bloggers have commented lately that students are “dying” one Power Point presentation at a time. 21st century students long for assignments that aren’t centered around traditional media. My students and I have been on a journey this year to discover interesting ideas for presentations that are somewhat “outside the box” educationally speaking. The educational side of Glogster seemed to be a perfect choice.
What my students enjoyed:
1. It wasn’t a Power Point presentation
2. They were able to incorporate media they are familiar with such as YouTube videos, etc
3. Glogs are stored on the Glogster server–no flash drives
4. They could personalize their glogs while covering the required material
5. The social aspect of Glogster–leaving comments about a classmate’s work
6. Getting feedback from me on corrections, or messages of encouragement about their glogs
What I liked (technical):
1. It wasn’t a Power Point presentation
2. All work is stored online–no flash drives, no excuses about losing the project
3. Students were able to use other media such as videos, audio, etc in presentations
4. Glogster is user-friendly, simple to set up and everything is in one place
What I liked (results):
1. It wasn’t a Power Point presentation
2. Students were so creative, but really worked with class content
3. Students collaborated well–several students were willing to help others figure out the interface
4. Students really had fun and enjoyed the project
5. Students really mastered the material
6. I was able to give students “IM” type feedback. Several students ask questions via the “message” application
Grades:
Students were graded on the accuracy of the content on the glog, as well as a verbal presentation to the class explaining the content of their posters. All of my grades were high on both the glog and the presentation. As soon as presentations were finished, they were asking to do another glog.
