I've discovered a Spanish Grammar website that I think is wonderful (www.colby.edu/~bknelson/exercises/). Basically, it is a website that has basic grammar exercises as well as songs, interviews and stories that incorporate reading, writing and listening into the site. It was interesting to go back and evaluate it on such a detailed level, using the Kathy Schrock template. Often, I think we take things at face value, when it is a very useful exercise to critically evaluate it based on important factors.
The technical and visual aspects of the site are excellent. It is easy to use, loads well, there are not "page not found" messages nor any major problems. The content is also wonderful. This is information that you could never get in a book, due to the multiple medias it uses at the same time. Not only is it teaching you spanish, new vocabulary and aspects of culture, but it does it without directly translating into English. For example, there is a song called "Ofrenda", which is all about the altars used in Oaxaca during the Day of the Dead celebration. The song is there (audio), along with the words. But the interesting part, is that the words that are difficult are highlighted and can be used as links. When you press on the word "trigo", a picture of "wheat" comes onto the screen, while the song is still playing. This way, they are still listening to the song, following along with the lyrics and understanding even the difficult vocabulary all at the same time. And they never break into English.
This page is the baby of Barbara Kuzkun Nelson, a professor of Spanish at Colby University. She has put it up on the internet for public use, and I am entirely confident that what she has put up there is correct, and valid.
The pedagogy of the page is also excellent. Any time you can teach in a variety of mediums at the same time, you are reaching kids at all different levels. It is educational as well as entertaining at the same time. There are many different links for each topic, so you don't only get the song activity, but backgrounds on the singers, pictures from Oaxaca as well as grammar exercises related to the song. It is a very thorough treatment of the topic and an admirable project for someone to have put together for free internet use.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
Sony Wonderlab Visit
Although I loved the idea of the tech center, I didn't find anything there that I didn't already know about technology that I could use in my class. Of course, there were very informative displays, interactive stations and lots of interesting things to see and do, but as a teacher I didn't find anything to "bring home" as they say.
Right now, I have the luxury to work in a district that has given me all the technology I want, and more so. Not only do I already use multiple types of language sources to teach spanish, such as tapes, DVDs, VCR, Smartboard interactive activities, overheads etc, but we have also recently added a language lab to the mix. We now have 24 computers with recording software and access to the internet available ONLY to the language classes. I have instant (and constant) access to many of these resources on a daily basis. So, for example, I can listen to an authentic source of spanish on the internet, and have the students blog their reactions, or record a response, all in spanish. The students love the technology aspect to the lessons, and I must admit, I do too!
Right now, I have the luxury to work in a district that has given me all the technology I want, and more so. Not only do I already use multiple types of language sources to teach spanish, such as tapes, DVDs, VCR, Smartboard interactive activities, overheads etc, but we have also recently added a language lab to the mix. We now have 24 computers with recording software and access to the internet available ONLY to the language classes. I have instant (and constant) access to many of these resources on a daily basis. So, for example, I can listen to an authentic source of spanish on the internet, and have the students blog their reactions, or record a response, all in spanish. The students love the technology aspect to the lessons, and I must admit, I do too!
Hillary Clinton's Campaign
As all presidential campaigns, Hillary has been very well coached on making sure she has a presence on all the different media outlets available to her. I am positive that she herself has never been on flickr in her life (or any of these other sites), but her campaign makes sure she is there.
I carefully read through much of her website (and viewed the videos), and I was very happy to see that she actually discusses current topics as well as her viewpoints and plans on those sites. When I was in high school, 20 some years ago, we were also asked to contact the campaign headquarters of different candidates, to find information on their viewpoints because the teacher wanted us students to debate each other as if we were the candidates. My memory of it was how difficult it really was to find out a solid opinion or plan from the candidate. There were lots of lofty statements like "I'm for better government ", "no one wants to pay more taxes" and things like that. But from the look of it now, a student could go to Hillary's website and download her 10 point plan for government reform, her former proposal on universal healthcare (with some quotes about how she wants to do it now), her position on Iraq and a timeline for withdrawal of troops, etc. It seems that with enough time, the students could adequately prepare for a similar debate to what we did in high school, only this time, the students might have something to say!
As I commented to Brian in an email, I don't think that their "presence" on Facebook nor on Myspace is in anyway educational nor informative. First of all, to search them on Facebook, for example, you are only searching for that name amongst YOUR NETWORK of friends, not the entire internet. It is information that someone wrote ABOUT them, not by them. Second of all, you might find a group of kids that have created a "group" like "Spanish Teachers for Hillary", but not any information directly from the Hillary campaign. Lastly, it seems to me that both Facebook and Myspace are simply a blog amongst your friends, and from what I've seen, it is incredibly lame at that. If I see one more "I love you Hil" type comment, I'm going to log out permanently. A discussion group or a blog site should be more informative and more "meaty", in my opinion. Why voice your opinion if it is the same as the first 20,000 people that responded?
The candidates must be present on all these different sites, and it has been interesting to see how they have done that. I think this is only the beginning much more to come.
I carefully read through much of her website (and viewed the videos), and I was very happy to see that she actually discusses current topics as well as her viewpoints and plans on those sites. When I was in high school, 20 some years ago, we were also asked to contact the campaign headquarters of different candidates, to find information on their viewpoints because the teacher wanted us students to debate each other as if we were the candidates. My memory of it was how difficult it really was to find out a solid opinion or plan from the candidate. There were lots of lofty statements like "I'm for better government ", "no one wants to pay more taxes" and things like that. But from the look of it now, a student could go to Hillary's website and download her 10 point plan for government reform, her former proposal on universal healthcare (with some quotes about how she wants to do it now), her position on Iraq and a timeline for withdrawal of troops, etc. It seems that with enough time, the students could adequately prepare for a similar debate to what we did in high school, only this time, the students might have something to say!
As I commented to Brian in an email, I don't think that their "presence" on Facebook nor on Myspace is in anyway educational nor informative. First of all, to search them on Facebook, for example, you are only searching for that name amongst YOUR NETWORK of friends, not the entire internet. It is information that someone wrote ABOUT them, not by them. Second of all, you might find a group of kids that have created a "group" like "Spanish Teachers for Hillary", but not any information directly from the Hillary campaign. Lastly, it seems to me that both Facebook and Myspace are simply a blog amongst your friends, and from what I've seen, it is incredibly lame at that. If I see one more "I love you Hil" type comment, I'm going to log out permanently. A discussion group or a blog site should be more informative and more "meaty", in my opinion. Why voice your opinion if it is the same as the first 20,000 people that responded?
The candidates must be present on all these different sites, and it has been interesting to see how they have done that. I think this is only the beginning much more to come.
Ease History Lesson with Campaign Ads
I absolutely LOVE the idea of comparing and contrasting political ads of a specific time period, in order to get the students to deduce the important issues of the day, as well as to determine the attitude of the candidates. It is a wonderfully challenging activity that teachers are often looking for. Rather than giving them all the information, having them memorize it and produce it on a test, the student must do the work just to get the information in the first place. It think this would greatly improve critical thinking skills, which we all know, they need more of.
But unfortunately, it seems to have it's down side as well. I must admit that it would be a little intimidating to many teachers to teach this way. Without the concrete information listed in a book, without a summary page at the back of the chapter, or without the worksheets produced by the publisher, many teachers might be a little nervous to adapt this type of lesson. There are teachers who would be incapable of creating this type of discussion or encouraging the students to theorize, guess or analyze without giving them all the answers directly (not any teachers I know of course!). I'm sorry to say that, but let's face it, it's true! What I'm sure of, is that looking at this lesson, I personally was a little intimidated at trying to teach this way. But then again, this is not my area of specialty. Maybe that's why it seemed a little more daunting.
The other draw back to this type of lesson would be in the timing of presenting the material. It seems like the students would need an extraordinary amount of time to analyze, think and discuss what happened in 1984, for example. Unfortunately, our state and federal "proficiency" tests that all high school students must take are written for content, not thinking skills. I'm not sure a social studiest teacher would have time to teach this way, with the way the curriculum and state standards are set up.
Lastly, I'm incredibly impressed with the people who researched this and put it all together. It's amazingly detailed and informative.
But unfortunately, it seems to have it's down side as well. I must admit that it would be a little intimidating to many teachers to teach this way. Without the concrete information listed in a book, without a summary page at the back of the chapter, or without the worksheets produced by the publisher, many teachers might be a little nervous to adapt this type of lesson. There are teachers who would be incapable of creating this type of discussion or encouraging the students to theorize, guess or analyze without giving them all the answers directly (not any teachers I know of course!). I'm sorry to say that, but let's face it, it's true! What I'm sure of, is that looking at this lesson, I personally was a little intimidated at trying to teach this way. But then again, this is not my area of specialty. Maybe that's why it seemed a little more daunting.
The other draw back to this type of lesson would be in the timing of presenting the material. It seems like the students would need an extraordinary amount of time to analyze, think and discuss what happened in 1984, for example. Unfortunately, our state and federal "proficiency" tests that all high school students must take are written for content, not thinking skills. I'm not sure a social studiest teacher would have time to teach this way, with the way the curriculum and state standards are set up.
Lastly, I'm incredibly impressed with the people who researched this and put it all together. It's amazingly detailed and informative.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts
As a language teacher, I need to teach grammar, vocabulary, accents etc. all in a foreign language. I need the students to learn to think differently. You just can't express yourself the same way in English as you can in Spanish, even at the fundamental level. So, as I read this article, this quote stood out to me:
As Wineburg says: "it is much easier to learn names, dates, and stories than it is to change the fundamental mental structures that we use to grasp the meaning of the past"
I find, as I'm sure many of you do, that the students just want to learn words, spelling and rules (or names, dates and stories, as he says above). They want to master the rules of grammar that the words will ALWAYS fit into. Unfortunately spanish doesn't work that way, nor does life. Let's face it, there are many adults that want to learn that way too! (As the article pointed out so clearly) It is incredibly difficult for any teacher or student to change they way they think in order to better understand something. I'm not sure it is possible at all.
Lastly, what stood out for me was towards the end of this article. It was the college professor analyzing the historical documents. I actually felt sorry for him at first when the author said his comments weren't any more intellectual than some of the graduate students. But then the professor went on to ask, analyze, question, relate, and ask some more. I was so impressed with his ability to compare, contrast, ask and question himself, much less the documents, in order to create meaning for himself. I know I don't have that ability to analyze, much less the patience to do it that long and that well. It occurred to me that very rarely in my education did a professor ask me to do that. We as teachers need to find more ways to do that more often. It is a critical aspect of education.
As Wineburg says: "it is much easier to learn names, dates, and stories than it is to change the fundamental mental structures that we use to grasp the meaning of the past"
I find, as I'm sure many of you do, that the students just want to learn words, spelling and rules (or names, dates and stories, as he says above). They want to master the rules of grammar that the words will ALWAYS fit into. Unfortunately spanish doesn't work that way, nor does life. Let's face it, there are many adults that want to learn that way too! (As the article pointed out so clearly) It is incredibly difficult for any teacher or student to change they way they think in order to better understand something. I'm not sure it is possible at all.
Lastly, what stood out for me was towards the end of this article. It was the college professor analyzing the historical documents. I actually felt sorry for him at first when the author said his comments weren't any more intellectual than some of the graduate students. But then the professor went on to ask, analyze, question, relate, and ask some more. I was so impressed with his ability to compare, contrast, ask and question himself, much less the documents, in order to create meaning for himself. I know I don't have that ability to analyze, much less the patience to do it that long and that well. It occurred to me that very rarely in my education did a professor ask me to do that. We as teachers need to find more ways to do that more often. It is a critical aspect of education.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Field Experience
This week I'm laid up at home, due to some surgery I had. I expected to be back to work by today, Tuesday, but the surgery was much more extensive and complicated than the doctors had imagined, so as a result, the recovery is too. I need to take this entire week off as well. But here is the problem: I have my AP exam in 3 weeks! Of course all my classes are important, but this is really NOT the time to be missing my AP class. So, I realized that a blog would be a perfect solution to this problem. All week, I've given them assignments through the blog, and they are responding through postings. It is almost as if I have to change my course to be an "online" course for a week. I had to get all their email addresses, I had to create appropriate activities, and I had to instruct them on how to use it. (You would think they know... but many of them didn't!!!) What I'm loving about it, is that they can make a posting, but they MUST reply to another person's posting, making this format much more interactive than the regular composition type of assignment I normally give. I'll keep you up to date on how it goes.
The only bad thing about this is that I have one blog account for a few different blogs. So, when I respond to you all, it comes up as "Sra. Juana", rather than "Maggie". Sorry -- I'm not trying to be so formal, but I can't have my students calling me Maggie!
The only bad thing about this is that I have one blog account for a few different blogs. So, when I respond to you all, it comes up as "Sra. Juana", rather than "Maggie". Sorry -- I'm not trying to be so formal, but I can't have my students calling me Maggie!
Monday, April 9, 2007
Cognitive Flexible Theory
The educational goals listed at the beginning of this article had me hooked immediately because they are the same goals I struggle with on a daily basis. The idea of teaching students to learn and not memorize, or teaching students to apply the principles of spanish grammar to everything they have learned and not just to today's exercise is a problem I deal with on a daily basis. It is also overwhelming to them that what they learn today, they have to be able to apply tomorrow, next week and next year in all different situations. In fact, I tell them that what they have learned in 6th grade must be readily accessible in their minds during 12th grade, for example.
This theory seems to deal exactly with that goal. As I read the article, and looked through the EASE website, I was very impressed with the idea. Learning history, historical concepts and terms through ads, cartoons, pictures, etc, is phenominal. I think it truly embodies the idea of presenting information to a student without giving him all the "answers". The student must look at the information, synthesize it, have an opinion and apply it to different situations.
Unfortunately, I was selfishly disappointed because I would love to find a similar way to teach the spanish language. I would love it if someone could give me the tools to teach a language in the same way. Hopefully through further investigation, the answer to my question will become apparent. After all, I completely agree with the conclusion to the article, when it says that these types of skills are essential in order to preform in 21st century-type jobs.
This theory seems to deal exactly with that goal. As I read the article, and looked through the EASE website, I was very impressed with the idea. Learning history, historical concepts and terms through ads, cartoons, pictures, etc, is phenominal. I think it truly embodies the idea of presenting information to a student without giving him all the "answers". The student must look at the information, synthesize it, have an opinion and apply it to different situations.
Unfortunately, I was selfishly disappointed because I would love to find a similar way to teach the spanish language. I would love it if someone could give me the tools to teach a language in the same way. Hopefully through further investigation, the answer to my question will become apparent. After all, I completely agree with the conclusion to the article, when it says that these types of skills are essential in order to preform in 21st century-type jobs.
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