Blog topic: Overall reflection of Blogging

1)what is the greatest advantage to having a blog in t his course? and 2)what is the greatest barrier to your successful use of a blog in this course?

The greatest advantage of having a blog in this class was the fact that when I wanted to see more than one example of something we were doing it, I could see 20 other post about the same topic. I really enjoyed seeing how other people felt about topics, and when I was nervous about something, it seememed someone else was as well. The greatest barrier to my successful use of a blog in this class is just that it was the first time I used one in a class. People stopped responding to post, and it was really stressful when other people wouldn't post a blog and I would have to wait until right before class to comment on someone else's blog. I really enjoyed using a blog over the semester. I found it stressful at times, annoying when I couldnt find something I needed to for a graded blog, but I really enjoyed doing a blog for this class. I hope you continue doing it for other semesters.

Lessons

I really enjoyed the lessons last week. I learned a lot for presenting myself. It is really interesting to see different lessons with different grade levels. It is fun to participate in lessons that I did not have to present myself. There are many different ways to use technology I didn't even think of before. I am excited to go, but I am nervous that when I actually use technology in my class, that I am going to do something wrong. I guess we will see.

Lesson Plan

I learned a lot this week. I really enjoyed doing my lesson plan and had to go online to find valuable resources I would use in my classroom. I am really excited to present and look forward to class this week. I have been nervous about my website, and am still really confused so I hope it gets easier. I dont have much for this week sorry. :(

I also really liked this photo.

And another. Both are odd paintings, but give you a different mood. I thought it was interesting.

Technology for the Classroom

So there are so many different options to use in the classroom. My biggest concern is how am I giong to have the time to impliment technology in my classroom? I have written so many lesson plans in the last few weeks and there are so many things you need to add to your lessons that it seems so hard to include technology on a regular basis. I am not talking about PowerPoint or SMARTboard technology. I mean how do you use virtual worlds to interact with a classroom over seas. You would first need to find a time that you are both in school, since you are on such a differnet time schedule. Then it would take up an entire period just to work with the technology. My problem is, I cannot wait till 2:30 to have all my classes come in to interact on a virtual world with someone that comes from France. It would be much easier in an elementary classroom where I am able to work more with time. I just dont see how it would be possible for every class. I also am weiry about how much technolgy students are using. Our schools are run by such a 19th century thinking, that it is almsot hard to use technology and to help prepare students for the examinations. I dont mean teach to the test, but it will be difficult! Thats it for this week!!

New post

I was just playing with images on a blog sorry.

Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan: Comparing Education Around the World
I adopted this lesson from the VITAL website for English for Comparing Education Around the World. I would use this and adopt it for a French Lesson.
Grade Level- 7th
Time Required- 4- 40 minute classes
Part I: Learning Activity
1. Tell students that they will be learning about two classrooms from around the world. Before viewing the first segment, distribute copies of the Education Around the World handout (changed for use in a French classroom)
2. Tell students that they're going to watch a video segment about the culture in American classrooms.
3. After watching the segment, ask students what they remember about the classroom. Use a story map online to go over first segment. Replay the video, asking students to listen for specific information in order to complete the first column of the chart. Afterwards, students copy what you have written.
4. Tell students that they're going to watch another video about schools in other countries. This part of the video would be from a French classroom in France.
5. After watching the second segment, ask students what they remember about the classroom. As before, use a story map online. Have students write what I have written. Replay the video as needed in order to complete the chart.
Part II: Assessment
1. Students use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the differences between a French speaking classroom in France, and how we do things differently or similar in America.
2. Discuss completed Venn diagrams as a class. How are they alike? How are they different?
3. Completed Venn diagrams can be placed in student portfolios to demonstrate their understanding of this concept.
For students with additional help
1. Go over chart with students, marking similarities in one color and differences in another color.
2. Then, help students to organize the similarities and differences on the Venn diagram.
Resources:
http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/vtl07.la.rv.text.lpcomped/

Additional Resource: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/neworleans/tguide/index.html#culture
After the two classes about comparing and contrasting the cultures, I would go over this pbs resouce about New Orleans. This would show how the French ended up in America and after they have compared and contrasted, they will watch this video and then would use their knowledge of education in differnet cultures and compare how these people must of felt after coming to America. This would introduce two cultures and then bring the knowledge they know and come up with a hypothesis about how these people adapted to the new world.

Smart Board

I wont lie, my blog is a little late, but last week was a little extreme. Anyway, I really enjoyed using the SMARTboard in class. I learned a lot more than I would have by just using tutorials. There are so many different ways to use the SMART board for lessons and it is extremely useful in my classroom. By being able to be interactive, teaching french is a lot easier. I am able to use clips, and have students arrange things by interacting with the board at a much quicker level than they could with paper. I really learned a lot from last class.

Adaptive Technologies Reflection

I have not been exposed to that many adaptive technologies in my lifetime. I was exposed to a portable tablet PC that students with difficulties writing were given to assist them in the classroom. Students with poor handwriting were given these to help them take notes, send things to teachers and were used on a regular daily basis. I was also introduced to a projected microphone. Students that were hard of hearing would use this so that teachers would talk at a normal tone and students could have a portable ear piece that they could hear the teacher with.

I would use the microphone in my classroom to project discussion and allow students that are hard of hearing to hear me pronounce different words. Being a second language teacher many students are going to have a hard time with pronunciation and with hearing impairment students with difficulties may loose the importance of a word or phrase. With being able to hear me, students with hearing disabilities would have an easier time understanding me, and could advance their language. I would also use this adaptive technology to allow that student to hear me pronounce things more clearly. I could slow down speech, or speed it up so they could mimic back the language they hear, much like every other child does around them. Having a microphone for students with a hearing impairment would help that student be mainstreamed more easily. It would allow class to flow without having to stop or having that child not hear what I am talking about, because of where I am located in the classroom or having my back turned to that certain child. There are so many advantages to having a microphone for students with a hearing disability, because without this adaptive technology, they may go on for many years not knowing that they could actually have an easier time in classrooms. It is defiantly something I would use in my classroom.

I have not seen many technologies in my classroom, but it is important because mainstreaming children has become so important. It is going to be difficult for me because as a second language teacher I want students with disabilities to feel welcome in my classroom. So any assistive technology they may be able to use is going to be worth my time. I want to be able to go to meetings and be able to suggest a certain technology that may help certain children. I really need to look more into them and become better aware of what is offered.

Technology

Last week I really enjoyed using the cognitive maps. I could see how you could use it in almost every class that you could teach. As a french major, students are going to have trouble writing even basic concepts. Using this web could be useful in helping students organize their ideas. I look forward to using it in my classroom. As far as the bar graphs, I thought it would very helpful with younger students. I am excited to go to student support services. I keep hearing about all these new assistive technologies, but I have never seen them. Assistive technologies are so important when knowing how to follow students IEPs and knowing what you can recommend for your individual students.

aha! Classroom Sim

So the stimulation I found this week was called a Classroom Sim by Aha! Productions Inc. It is an interactive tool that allows you to use classroom management. The trial itself is free. This week was especially interesting to me to see the different types of technologies there are out there. The WWW has come out with so many different things to help students and teachers in the classrooms. By using this simulation I saw how life like they can be. It was very intriguing to see the different things they came out with for teachers. I would recommend playing the Trial Version. As a teacher in the years of technology, I hope to use as many of them as I can in the classroom. They can enhance learning so much if used in the right way. It would be very interesting to see. I really enjoyed the Reflection Paper assignment. I would have never found the simulation without it. Simulations are a great tool to use in the classroom if appropriate for the age group.

Article 2

Teachers are starting to believe that computer use is almost essential in a foreign language classroom. Software can give students a face to face interpersonal interaction that helps with fluency and accuracy. There is also software that teachers can buy for students and use in a computer lab, where they hear how to say a word or a sentence and then much mimic this back. It gives, in addition to learning in the classroom, a hands on approach where students do not need to feel afraid to speak up. Teachers can listen in on single students and help them with the pronunciation. Computers in the foreign language classroom can be used in so many ways and is really a simple way to add a new dimension in teaching. Teachers can also use interactive smart board with a computer and add almost a hands on approach to the teaching techniques they use. Students can see vocabulary hands on, hear the vocalization of the spoken language and have easier access to find their mistakes in the language. A computer is just such a great tool for language acquisition.
Hoe Kyeung Kim, Dorothy Rissel. (2008). Instructors' Integration of Computer Technology: Examining the Role of Interaction. Foreign Language Annals, 41(1), 61-80. Retrieved February 14, 2009, from Research Library database. (Document ID: 1462842711).

Article 1

In this article they examined the use of Podcasts in a foreign language classroom. Podcasts have been used to critique student projects and exams, for student video presentations, for student paired interviews, to complete specific assignments, dictations, in roundtable discussions, or for guest lectures. I believe that podcasts could be so important for foreign language classrooms. There is rarely an instant where students get to see hands on the use of the langauge while in the classroom. I believe podcasts are useful also because students are so used to using phones and ipods that incorporating them into instruction can make the lesson more interesting for the student. Many of the videos and technolgy used in foreign language classrooms today is so outdated, it uninterest students and students become more preoccupied with what they look like than what they are saying.
M'hammed Abdous, Margaret M Camarena, Betty Rose Facer. (2009). MALL Technology: Use of Academic Podcasting in the Foreign Language Classroom. ReCALL : the Journal of EUROCALL, 21(1), 76-95. Retrieved February 14, 2009, from Research Library database. (Document ID: 1638362631).

Games, Virtual Reality

I am so fortunate to have grown up with the new technology as they have come out. My first game I ever owned was the original Sega game system. I would have never imagined that when I started playing Sega, and started playing super Mario brothers, that the virtual world would change around us. Games have gotten better graphics, they are easier to use, and they are so much quicker.
I have not really had the chance to use much virtual reality in my lifetime. Though I know the basics, children and teens have gotten so used to these technology that it would be almost silly not to use the technology in our classrooms. If they are going to help the students feel more hands on than it is a great technology to use.
As a french major a Virtual reality world would be a great tool to allow students to communicate with another classroom from a french speaking part of the world. Imagine how much faster it would be than sending them in the mail. As new technology comes out, it is so important to see how they can be used in a classroom and not just as something they use on their free time. They need to understand the rules behind these virtual worlds too to stay safe and away from people who misuse the Internet. I think they are all great possibilities.

Technology has substantial influences on education. ISTE is a great resource when learning how to use technology in the classroom. As a teacher I hope to be able to use technology much more effectively than my teachers did when I was in school. Technology was so misunderstood and computers were so outdated. Teachers need more opportunity to be taught how to use technology in better ways. Talking to fellow teachers in your field is also important. Teachers just out of college usually have just been updated and have used the current technologies out there. Being able to communicate with them is important because they may be able to help you use a technology in a better way. I think it is such a big problem with older teachers, that as new technologies come out, they take so long to learn about the new technology that they are often outdated by the time someone becomes comfortable on them. I just feel it is so important to start understanding technology and stop being afraid of it.