Reflections

This course has helped me refine my skills in certain technological areas. Being born during the early 1980’s I can be considered a Digital Native and grew up with a lot of technology.  I have been blogging, have created wiki’s and podcasts in the past, and this course helped me recall some of the skills that I have previously learned for fun when I was an undergraduate.  These skills are useful and now I feel confident in implementing them in my Spanish classroom. 

This course has emphasized something that my mother told me a long time ago, that is the importance of being a life-long learner.  Being a teacher has changed so much in my lifetime just like technology.  As technology changes teachers need to be aware of it to reach new learners in the classroom.  The new areas of teaching and learning are always changing and therefore it is important for me as a professional teacher to keep learning to be the fully prepared to teach new learners.

There are some things that are important for me to be teacher-centered in the foreign language classroom in order to build a solid foundation of learning for the students. Once that foundation is built the transition into learner-centered.  The process of being leaner-centered has a great deal of benefits where I as the teacher can guide the students to finding their way in learning a new language.  Being learner-centered the students will have the ability to access all kinds of different resources to find answers and give them a greater sense of accomplishment.
 

In being a life-long learner I will always look for new and better ways to teach children.  There is always a different way that can be used to be more effective when teaching.  There a so many new technologies and new technological advances that I can learn to implement into my classroom.  These are things that I can use to increase student interest and involvement as opposed to running a traditional classroom.  By being aware of many different ideas I can have a class that is constantly fresh and keeps student interest by not becoming stale.
 

There are two technological goals that I would like to have implemented in the next two school years; one would be for a classroom set of laptop computers and for there to be wireless internet access in my classroom.  The advantages of each student having access to a computer while in my class would be great so that I would not have to take them to and reserve the computer lab.  There are so many wonderful things that can be done using the computer with learning a new language.  I would have the ability to record a podcast of a story or an assignment in Spanish and then have the students listen to it on their own computer to complete the task at hand working at their own pace.  The next thing is having wireless internet access in the classroom as opposed to a direct line.  Being wireless there would be a lot less clutter from all of the different cords and such that would need to be present to connect everything otherwise.  There are of course many obstacles from getting these implemented, but most relevant is the availability of funds.  I have already done a lot of research about buying a classroom set of computers from the city Public School system, and have given my finding to a union grant writer to try and find grant money to pay for this.  We were able to find someone who was willing to give the district grant money for the computers, but unfortunately we were unable to get that money because they stipulated that we buy the computers from a certain company and the district was contractually obligated to buy from another company.   I will continue to search for different companies that may be willing to donate older computers to the classroom and hopefully when the contract is done we can still receive the grant money that has already been found.

Looking back to week one and how much I have progressed throughout this course fills me with some pride.  I have a new confidence to use technology in my class instead of shying away from it.  I feel that there is a sense of not implementing technology because it may be difficult to figure out a starting point for using it.  From the checklist from week one thing that I can change is the use of technology across the curriculum.  I can see many advantages in working collaboratively with an English teacher or a Social Studies teacher while teaching students about the Spanish language and the Latino and Hispanic cultures.   

Reflections

This course has helped me refine my skills in certain technological areas. Being born during the early 1980’s I can be considered a Digital Native and grew up with a lot of technology.  I have been blogging, have created wiki’s and podcasts in the past, and this course helped me recall some of the skills that I have previously learned for fun when I was an undergraduate.  These skills are useful and now I feel confident in implementing them in my Spanish classroom. 

This course has emphasized something that my mother told me a long time ago, that is the importance of being a life-long learner.  Being a teacher has changed so much in my lifetime just like technology.  As technology changes teachers need to be aware of it to reach new learners in the classroom.  The new areas of teaching and learning are always changing and therefore it is important for me as a professional teacher to keep learning to be the fully prepared to teach new learners.

There are some things that are important for me to be teacher-centered in the foreign language classroom in order to build a solid foundation of learning for the students. Once that foundation is built the transition into learner-centered.  The process of being leaner-centered has a great deal of benefits where I as the teacher can guide the students to finding their way in learning a new language.  Being learner-centered the students will have the ability to access all kinds of different resources to find answers and give them a greater sense of accomplishment. 

In being a life-long learner I will always look for new and better ways to teach children.  There is always a different way that can be used to be more effective when teaching.  There a so many new technologies and new technological advances that I can learn to implement into my classroom.  These are things that I can use to increase student interest and involvement as opposed to running a traditional classroom.  By being aware of many different ideas I can have a class that is constantly fresh and keeps student interest by not becoming stale. 

There are two technological goals that I would like to have implemented in the next two school years; one would be for a classroom set of laptop computers and for there to be wireless internet access in my classroom.  The advantages of each student having access to a computer while in my class would be great so that I would not have to take them to and reserve the computer lab.  There are so many wonderful things that can be done using the computer with learning a new language.  I would have the ability to record a podcast of a story or an assignment in Spanish and then have the students listen to it on their own computer to complete the task at hand working at their own pace.  The next thing is having wireless internet access in the classroom as opposed to a direct line.  Being wireless there would be a lot less clutter from all of the different cords and such that would need to be present to connect everything otherwise.  There are of course many obstacles from getting these implemented, but most relevant is the availability of funds.  I have already done a lot of research about buying a classroom set of computers from the city Public School system, and have given my finding to a union grant writer to try and find grant money to pay for this.  We were able to find someone who was willing to give the district grant money for the computers, but unfortunately we were unable to get that money because they stipulated that we buy the computers from a certain company and the district was contractually obligated to buy from another company.   I will continue to search for different companies that may be willing to donate older computers to the classroom and hopefully when the contract is done we can still receive the grant money that has already been found.

Looking back to week one and how much I have progressed throughout this course fills me with some pride.  I have a new confidence to use technology in my class instead of shying away from it.  I feel that there is a sense of not implementing technology because it may be difficult to figure out a starting point for using it.  From the checklist from week one thing that I can change is the use of technology across the curriculum.  I can see many advantages in working collaboratively with an English teacher or a Social Studies teacher while teaching students about the Spanish language and the Latino and Hispanic cultures.   

Podcast

Podcast

P21

When I see the P21 website, I think it is a good idea and good way to see the bigger world outside of the United States, which is good for me since I am a foreign language teacher who is trying to show my students a bigger world.  I was surprised to see that my state, Ohio, is partnering with P21 since I had never heard of it before this assignment.  The thing that I can disagree with is that it is difficult for cash strapped districts to go ahead and get involved with some aspects of this program.  There are so many problems facing these districts that being able to eTeach students can be a very difficult thing to do.  The thing that excites me is that I can find great ways to use this to show my students different aspects of the global community, focusing in Latin America and Spain, which is what I am already trying to show them.  

I teach Spanish to middle and high school students. I think that if I were to use a blog for my class I would use it as a way for my students and their parents to follow along in my class. I could post weekly outlines with lessons, quiz and test dates etc. This way parents will always know what is coming up and students will know what to expect when they come to class. If a student misses class for whatever reason they can go to the blog and see what they are missing.

Technological future

As I reflect on just how much technology has changed even from when I was a child, it makes me wonder how it will effect my classroom. Even as of now I do not have a "hard copy" of a grade book. Everything that I do as far as grading is on a computer. I do not have to calculate grades or go through many papers trying to find grades its all right there on the computer. Today I can see technology changing how some teachers "prepare" for class. In a lot of schools the faculty teaches to pass tests. The subjects that matter most for the schools "AYP" or adequate yearly progress, which is essentially the schools report card, are Math and Language Arts. There are tests on other subjects, but they do not count against the school. Since schools understand this, they focus their instruction in these two subjects, the other subjects are put off to the side. Teachers who "teach" the classes that do not effect AYP don't really teach but facilitate the class. They use drill-and-practice-software to work on these subjects. What this software does is question learners on key content points by responding to specific questions. This software also provides instant feedback to how the students do with the content questions, then the program makes the adjustments to the level that the particular student is doing. All the teacher has to do is make sure the software is working properly and that the students are staying on task.
This type of technology I believe can be great but at this point it is making a teacher's job obsolete. I would be bored out of my mind if I had to facilitate a class like that, and if I were a student I would hate to learn in that way all of the time. If I had to learn, say science, in a drill-and-practice type of class I would not really learn or like science.
I think that there is a posative in with technology. Teachers can stay in contact with parents and students. If a student is sick, he/she could still stay on track academically if the teacher could keep in contact with that student. A teacher can stay in touch with parents and let them know how their children are doing in class.
The future of teaching will be very closely intertwined with technology. I believe that everything will be done electronically. Teachers will no longer have to write out lesson plans, write out grades or send out handwritten notes home. This past year I communicated with a parent on a daily basis using text-messaging so that she was up to date with her son. I can see a problem with a big reliance on technology however. I believe that a lot of teachers will lose their jobs. School districts will find a way to say money by eliminating teachers and paying monitors less money to watch students working on computers to "learn." I think that with video-conferencing technology students can watch a screen and learn from a teacher who isn't in the same room as them (but this is a problem that the Union's will have to figure out...). I do believe that technology in the future will be essential and a positive tool in education.

Dreamtime!! Well I was just given the keys to outfit my classroom with whatever AV (audio/visual) equipment I want. Being a foreign language teacher, good AV equipment is essential for student learning. There are three things that I would like to have to help me in my classroom. The first thing being a personal laptop computer that I can use for the class, this would allow me to create lessons using programs on the computer. The laptop that I would prefer is LifeBook A6110 because it has everything that I need to create relevant lessons in Spanish. It has a lot of space to save lesson plans and other media creations that I create for class. This computer is up to date with modern technology that can be used in a variety of ways in the class.

In order for the class to appreciate and see the different media creations that I have made I will also need a projector. This DLP projector has a variety of inputs that will show the children the different lessons but also there are many inputs to this projector which will allow me to bring in a DVD player or a VCR (I think they still exist) that can be plugged into this projector. Videos can help the children learn things especially for the children who are visual learners. This projector has a long bulb life which is important so that it can be used for an extended period of time. The projector can also be mounted in a variety of ways so that it can conform to meet the dimensions of any classroom.

The last thing that would be needed to complete my Dream class as far as technology is concerned is a good sound system. All of the visual projects that I can create can be enhanced by good audio equipment. The audio equipment that I would like to have is this Digital Surround Sound System. This system offers crisp digital sound that will help the students hear the accent of fluent speakers of the Spanish Language. They will be able to hear and repeat different words in the Spanish Language which is important in learning a new language.

These three things would be my dream equipment for my class.