Getting started on Weblogs requires a commitment on the part of the teacher to dedicate his/herspare time creatively blogging for her own writing and creativity. If we don't don't know how to use it ourselves, we can't expect our students to embrace it. Most of our students are using blogs as a social network and not for critical thinking and reflection. If we use the blog as an educational tool it will make our students better readers and thinkers.
Starting small by posting assignments and links would be a good starting point. Next, I would encourage students to respond to the posts on the class blog based on a simple question of the day in Spanish. I went to a foreign language seminar with a great presenter who actually called his students on his celll phone and spoke to them about a brief topic for a homework assignment! The blog would be a good way to get writing feedback, but would not be as effective as this for speaking evaluation. However, many basic grammatical concepts could be posed as questoins with each student answering as a homework assignment. I'm still unsure about giving each student his or her own blog until the administration gives us some clear guidelines. Until then, I plan to start small and work my way up. I think as we try each new small thing, we'll see what works best for our subject matter.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
chapter 2
Chapter 2 focuses mainly on the advantages of blogging in the educational world. As always, this tool is more user friendly and advantageous to the teachers of history, ELA , science and math. I really read the chapter searching for answers to how foreign language students could benefit from blogging. Again I ended up with more questions than answers due to the fact that 8th grade Spanish students do not posess the skills to write critically in the target language. The positive reasons for possibly using a blog for Spanish are as a "filing cabinet" for writing samples, the willingness of shy students to participate, the possibility ofcreating conversations with native speakers, surveys and literature circles.
The challenges we face as foreign language teachers is that we lack a common meaningful reading text for our students. The idea of somehow engaging with Spanish speaking pen pals through a blog would be fantastic once the logistics are settled. This would take away all the "paper" involved in the pen pal system making the process easier for students and teachers. Journal entries on basic writing promts as well as survey questions using basic grammar topics covered in class. I agree with the author that the excuses would decline with the lack of paper. Lastly, creating a site to publish examples of good writing, regardless of how complex could be very motivating.
The challenges we face as foreign language teachers is that we lack a common meaningful reading text for our students. The idea of somehow engaging with Spanish speaking pen pals through a blog would be fantastic once the logistics are settled. This would take away all the "paper" involved in the pen pal system making the process easier for students and teachers. Journal entries on basic writing promts as well as survey questions using basic grammar topics covered in class. I agree with the author that the excuses would decline with the lack of paper. Lastly, creating a site to publish examples of good writing, regardless of how complex could be very motivating.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Chapter 1
Chapter 1 was not the most informative or interesting chapter, but it did show how important technology is becoming in society and as a teaching tool. We all know how much our students rely on technology for school work and for social media. We, as teachers will need to start using technology in our daily lives in order to keep up with current teaching techniques and to keep pace with our students. I am always amazed at how technologically advanced many of our students are as compared to myself. I have had many a student solve an audio-visual/computer problem or glitch that I was unable to resolve. The section about learners as teachers was eye opening because it says that we as teachers need to be passionate about and embrace technology in our daily lives before we can really appreciate it's uses for our students. The fact that education has been slow to embrace much of this new technology is definitely something that needs to be addressed as we move toward the future.
The other important information in chapter 1 was about how to keep our students safe while using these tools. If we can teach students how to safely blog and us wikis in the school environment, then they will be better trained to use safe practices at home. We discussed the various obstacles to using blogs and wikis in class last week and there were many. First the administration has to be on board then the parents will need to give permission and lastly the teacher needs to set up safety practices for students by practicing in the school setting. Although it may seem like a lot of work, I think that there are lots of lessons and projects that could be better presented with the use of technology. I also think there is a certain amount of fear that goes with trying new technology as a teacher. Hopefully, when we finish this class we'll feel much more comfortable and able to embrace this new technology to interract with our students.
The other important information in chapter 1 was about how to keep our students safe while using these tools. If we can teach students how to safely blog and us wikis in the school environment, then they will be better trained to use safe practices at home. We discussed the various obstacles to using blogs and wikis in class last week and there were many. First the administration has to be on board then the parents will need to give permission and lastly the teacher needs to set up safety practices for students by practicing in the school setting. Although it may seem like a lot of work, I think that there are lots of lessons and projects that could be better presented with the use of technology. I also think there is a certain amount of fear that goes with trying new technology as a teacher. Hopefully, when we finish this class we'll feel much more comfortable and able to embrace this new technology to interract with our students.
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