Final Project Presentation

Mini-Project 3

podcasting

This is a podcast that my friend Kennedy and I recorded together about podcasts and some ways that they can be used in the classroom. In addition to the activities we talk about in the podcast, which mostly came from an article by Dolly J. Young, podcasts can be an easily accessed learning tool for students inside and outside of the classroom.

The idea of portability really appeals to me. I know that if I had the opportunity to download all of my homework assignments and carry them with me in the car or on a walk or during the other daily activities that fill up my time, I would definitely take advantage of that opportunity. Unfortunately, I haven't found audiobooks for the novels we are reading in my Spanish classes, which would definitely be a time saver for me.

Other than that, though, none of my current classes have made use of podcasting or of audio recording in general. I think this activity could be useful for helping students become more comfortable with their ability to produce the foreign language and their ability to communicate with others in the foreign language. It is often hard for foreign language teachers to gage students' speaking abilities when the only formally assessed oral language production takes place in the form of individual interviews or class presentations, where students have environmental factors that negatively affect their production of the foreign language. The idea of having students record even a brief response to something they have read, heard, or learned about in the foreign language classroom, as a sort of audio journal, seems like something that I might be interested in including in my classroom -- not only does it incorporate a different form of communication than most graded student work, but it could be entirely portable for me, too! I think that podcasting has advantages for students as well as teachers!

Second Life...in the classroom?

From what little I've seen so far of second life, I have serious doubts about its potential uses in the classroom.

I understand that it could potentially provide interactive situations for students to practice the language they are learning, but the hurdles and time required to set up those situations seem disproportionate to the perceived benefits.

It takes a long time to learn how to move around and communicate in second life. I think that the amount of class time that would have to be dedicated to learning how to maneuver in this virtual world would take away from the over-all learning time in the classroom. Unless all of the instructions for moving around in second life were in the target language, it would be hard to limit students' access to English instructions given by second life. I think it would be very challenging to hold students accountable for their movements in this virtual world and especially challenging to track their conversations.

Exploring teen second life would have been interesting for our class, because it seems like it might have a few more behavior limitations for its avatars. At least, I think I hope it does -- I'm not sure that it would be appropriate for my students to be able to walk around with their shirts off in a class activity, even if it was only in the virtual classroom.

So, although real-time interaction with others does seem to be important for language learning, I think that second life presents too many options and too little accountability for me to include it in my classroom. At least until a whole lot more research has been done on it!

mini-project #2

Here it is!

(if only I was happy with it...)

Writing this philosophy of teaching statement came at a busy time for me, in between working full time and trying to keep up with all 15 hours of classes I'm enrolled in right now. I wish I had more time to dedicate to each class, but for now....I'm doing my best. Even though sometimes, like with this one, I wish that my best could be a little bit better.

Intercultural communication

I think that intercultural communication done right is worth the effort. Done wrong, however, it seems like a waste of valuable time, especially considering the idea that it can reinforce negative stereotypes.

The research we've been looking at from various intercultural collaboration projects shows that the benefits of this type of collaboration can be multifaceted. With so many apparent benefits, it's hard to say that it could be a bad thing...Until one considers the examples of intercultural communication gone wrong.

We looked at several examples of what makes intercultural communication difficult, the tensions that arise from different expectations, time commitments, personal goals and motivation, and personal connections. Specifically, we looked at these from the side of conversations or projects that didn't result in greater cultural awareness, and then we talked about ways to start intercultural communication projects in a way that would have more potential for success.

The primary tenants for successful projects seem to be:
1. Make sure to introduce the project clearly. Be clear about expectations you have for students, and that students have for the project.
2. Communicate those expectations with the collaborating class. Talk about goals for the project so that everybody has a clear idea of the commitment required for the project.
3. Help students along the way. Expect to help students find a neutral or kind way to approach issues that they feel strongly about and help them to build a personal connection with their collaborating parter.
4. Introductory projects are a pretty good idea. Spend time letting students learn about who their partners are, what they like to do, etc. Value the non-academic as well as the academic aspects of the collaboration.

I'm sure there are more things to consider, but those were the ideas that seemed most important for ensuring the success of long-distance collaborative projects.

using video in the classroom

I'm sure everyone has seen videos used in class before....But has everyone tried making their own? Fortunately, the actual editing of videos using windows movie maker is something I'm pretty familiar with....But not so much the making videos in a language class. At least the software won't hold me back on this one.

I'm not really sure where to start for my video project. I've been focusing a lot lately on a unit about Spanish American poetry for another class, and my first mini-project went easily into that unit. I think this one will be a little bit more tricky, although, if possible, I'd love to have another activity ready to go for when I'm in my own classroom.

What I'm thinking about, for Mini-Project 3, at the moment, is to record rhymes/guessing games (adivinanzas) and to have a paused spot in the video where students are supposed to discuss and guess what the answer is. It would be neat for the video to have time-released clues....like giving little hints every 7-10 seconds until the answer becomes really obvious. I think it would be neat for students to have the chance, after seeing some of these, to write and then perform their own -- we could make a video as a class to be used with future classes.

I think this would end up working out ok as a piece of my unit on poetry, because the grammatical focus of that unit is asking and answering questions. Adivinanzas are definitely conducive to questions.

Another idea would be to film the scene of a mystery, and then to have a follow up activity about who did what, where, how, when and why. I'm not sure what I'll end up using.

I'm feeling antisocial.

From what I've seen so far of citeulike and del.icio.us, I am not a fan of these sites! I'm having a really hard time figuring out exactly how they work, and exactly what their benefit is!

I know, from the readings we did last week, that they are supposed to make it easier to have access to what other people have found relevant in relation to specific topics. To do this, people with like interests join a group where they can easily see articles or sites that other people have tagged.

I'm a little confused about how to do all of this tagging, and how to find other people's tags, and I'm sure that the system works for plenty of people....
But right now, I'm too busy to look for things that other people are interested in, and too busy to try to figure out how to tag things, and just because it is supposed to be a time-saving system that I can't figure out, it's making me cranky.

I did sign up for citeulike and found an article to start my library with. I tried to figure out how del.icio.us works, but had no luck there.

This looks like one technological tool that I'm not ready to use at all, let alone in a classroom!

One resource that I do enjoy, although it is not at all predictable, just for fun, is stumbleupon. I find that it is highly entertaining, although, again, I'm not sure that this would be a good tool for the classroom, unless there is a way to set it to only go to webpages in a certain language.

Mini-Project 1

I've been working on a thematic unit about poetry for a level one Spanish class, and integrating a SCMC activity seemed like a great way to help students prepare for an oral presentation about a poet they have been researching. You can see a copy of the activity I designed by following this link. The rubrics that the document refers to as attachments are included in at the end of the document.

CMC tools in the classroom

As we've been seeing for the past few weeks, CMC can be a very valuable tool in the classroom. There are several aspects of CMC that still need to be researched, and these uses of technology in the classroom are most useful when investigated with an eye towards SLA research, as well.

My favorite application, from what we've seen so far of CMC in the classroom, is the use of synchronous chats in the classroom to give students more time to experience interpersonal communication. I like the idea that online chats can be saved and used for future activities, as well, so that the original purpose of the chat ends up doing double duty -- first as language practice, second as something else -- cultural reflection, grammatical reflection, the springboard for a follow-up activity.

A close second place would be either blogging or e-mail. Both blogging and email provide students with a forum to practice more formal writing skills than chatting (by nature, faster, more conversational than the writing found in blogs and emails). Blogs are more public than email, which can be both a benefit and a drawback, depending on point of view. For some students, knowing that any person can access the blog might be a drawback, while for others, that very same reason would be a benefit. Email communication can be more personal in nature than blog posts because it does tend to be less public than a blog. Both of these tools can also be used as the springboard for follow-up activities similar to those mentioned above.

So far, it seems that most research about these tools concludes that their usefulness is all in the way that they are put to use....So it's really still about good teaching, good context, putting things into a logical sequence....

research questions

We're thinking about our upcoming research projects, and thinking about how to write a good research question this week.

This feels like a really big challenge for me, because with my limited knowledge of the technologies available for classroom use I feel like I'm up against all of the smart people who figured out that technology could be used in a classroom a long time ago, and that they've already asked all the good questions!

I started brainstorming in class about webquests, and how to use them in the classroom. It seems too broad to ask a question like, "are webquests effective tools for teaching foreign languages?", but at the same time, I feel like my knowledge of webquests is so limited that I don't know what kind of questions have already been asked, what information has already been found about them, and what kind of questions would actually add something to the realm of SLA theory in relation to webquests.

So for now, the questions that stick out as possibly interesting topics for my research project this semester are:
1. How do webquests promote the inclusion of the standards for foreign language learning in the secondary classroom?
2. To what extent do webquests promote language proficiency in foreign language classrooms?

I think that both of these questions have potential, and both are related to a subject I'm interested in knowing more about. What I'm hoping to discover through studying this topic is more information about webquests, how they are useful, when they are useful, and what they are useful for, especially as related to the foreign language classroom.

I think knowing more about what aspects of webquests are truly conducive to learning would be very helpful for language teachers. Also, knowing the most appropriate strategies for using webquests in the classroom and having guidelines for what works well and what tends not to be a productive use of class time would be helpful for many teachers, including myself!

one of my favorite lunches

One of my favorite lunches is beet soup.
I found the recipe on the great big veggie challenge

And the recipe shows that I can upload a document -- woohoo!

Using widgets/polls/links in blogs

The theme for this week is the use of "add-ons" in the blog, and whether these can be useful in the classroom. And whether the blog, in and of itself, can be useful in the classroom.

I think, from what we've read and discussed so far, that incorporating not only use of computers but also use of the internet and internet based communication activities can be very helpful for foreign language students. Although limited by problems of access, incorporating technology into the classroom, in a hands-on, project based manner can give students the autonomy and motivation necessary to actively practice their new language skills and can provide a comfortable environment for this practice to take place.

I specifically think that blogs could be incorporated into the classroom in two ways. The first would be for the teacher to create a blog, which the students would be required to access for the instructions for specific activities, the links to specific activities, or the links to certain articles, readings, websites of interest. A "class blog" could centralize all of this information, making it easily accessible to all students who have web access. Of course, the issue of security comes into play, and as discussed in the Lafford and Lafford article, maintaining a secure environment is much easier when using programs like Blackboard, which restrict access to students. A second use for blogs in the classroom would be for the students to create and maintain their own blogs. I think this would be more useful at an intermediate level class, once the students already have a solid foundation in the target language and are able to write posts on various (perhaps assigned) topics, creating links to websites of interest in their target language and the like. Again, security issues and access issues might impede this type of technology use in the classroom, but if well incorporated into the teachers lesson plans and long-range goal oriented planning, it could be very interesting to see how it works.

Blog "add-ons", like videos and pictures, make the blog more interesting. When videos and pictures are well chosen, they can make the blog not only more interesting, but also more informative and easier to understand. Writing assignments, or oral communication assignments, could be given based on students' reactions to the videos or images posted on the blog. Other add-ons, like polls or surveys, could help determine students' interest level in certain topics or their reactions to other information posted on the blog. And link lists, of course, can provide students with many resources for the edification of their use of the target language.

This is to show that I know how to publish a document to my blog.

learning to use videos...

my first power point

You can click on the picture, or here to see my first power point presentation. Ever.

I have mixed feelings about power point, especially in the classroom. So many times, in the classes that I've been a student in, powerpoint presentations somehow make class less interesting -- perhaps because most of my teachers who have used power point in the classroom have had a tendency to read their lecture directly from the slides without adding much other information. I think I'm a capable reader, and I would rather read the slides for myself, at my faster reading pace, than have them be read to me. So far in my academic career, I have not seen powerpoint used in any other capacity. I suppose this could be helpful for visual learners, however, by satisfying their need to look at the information being presented to them, while other students still have the option of hearing the information presented in the lecture.

When one of my classmates heard that I hated powerpoint, she started listing some of the different ways that she has used powerpoint in the classroom, in more interactive ways than what I've experiences. I think that it can be an effective tool, when used in an engaging manner -- it seems that so far, I've encountered a lot of "user error" and what I might deem "false integration" of powerpoint into the classroom. Creating interactive games, for review purposes, seems like a new and different use of powerpoint to me, but one that could make common review games seem a lot more authentic in the classroom setting. I think I would like to learn how to make some sort of "choose your own adventure" with powerpoint -- but I'm so limited in my knowledge of what can be done with powerpoint that I don't know if this is possible!

Since making my own powerpoint presentations is so new to me, I think that, at least at first, using it in my classroom will be a challenge. It will take time for me to learn the tricks and tips for quickly creating interesting presentations and also for learning how to create more interactive presentations. I think that interaction is extremely important in the classroom, and I hope that powerpoint can be a tool that promotes interaction, rather than just make lecturing more convenient.

A look at my internet use

The internet is mostly a tool for communication for me. I send and receive emails mostly from close friends and family, with the occasional communication to or from a professor. Sometimes I will have quick chats online with my husband, usually while I am at work. I enjoy reading the news online; I check the BBC website three or four times a day, reveling at the balanced and outside-of-America point of view they present, and enjoying the pictures-of-the-day. In a typical week, all other internet use is directly related to work or school. The internet makes my day-to day communication a little quicker, a little easier, and a lot more convenient, on the whole, but the tasks I use it for are limited by my lack of free time.

learning how to search effectively

I'm Elizabeth, and not so technologically savvy....
so this will be a log of what I'm learning in my "teaching with technology" class.

First of all,
Who knew there were so many ways to search for information?

I've been a long-time fan of google, but now I've learned that using other search engines can pull up similar but different results.

Tricks I've learned for searching on google include using parenthesis, using capital letters, searching with limitations "this, not that", and searching for things that are "better than" other things.

I also like the fact that google will convert denominations of money if you type it into the search bar....Handy for travelers!