Let's Go Shopping!

Over the summer, we developed an online project idea that could not use Web 2.0 ideas. My project idea was for a telefieldtrip dealing with shopping, food, and money. The idea was that anyone could submit a video to me of them giving a tour of a store and talking in their native language about the prices of things and what things are in general. They would then go through the check out and talk us through the purchase. The videos would be posted to a website for viewing only. This project was meant for all languages and age groups, so as to be more global.

Now that we can think about it in a Web 2.0 environment, I am seriously considering implementing this idea. I could very easily create a wiki that is open for public input. There would be pages for each language and then a listing of the different type of store (grocery, clothing, hardware, etc). The nice thing about it being Web 2.0 is that is would not require as much work from me, while at the same time allowing me to moderate the project to keep it age appropriate. Also, it would be search-able, which would be more difficult to do in a Web 1.0 environment. Also, people could write comments to each other. The only problem is having enough server space to keep all the videos up. To alleviate this, people could just upload them to youtube and then just link to the videos on the wiki. Creating an account with youtube and uploading a video is very easy and free! I just did it! The best part is you can set the privacy settings to make the video only available if someone has the link or if you designate them as a viewer.

This has so many applications in the classroom. Wouldn't it be cool to post a video of your students doing something and then send home the link to the parents? It would be like the parents were really there and they could see all the learning going on in your classroom. They could share the link with anyone they trust and not have to worry about the video being available to the public. Or your school could post a video of a school assembly that only the parents can view. But I digress...

The people submitting to the shopping wiki could put a short description of the video along with the link, to make it more like a resource than just a listing. I think this project could really bring people together in a different way and would make learning a foreign language and using math skills more meaningful. How cool would it be to see what stores look like in Japan or South Africa or Peru or Iran?

I hope you enjoyed the video of my cat, by the way ;) He doesn't freak out nearly as much when we put the harness on him now. That was his first experience, as you can tell.

Podcasts in Spanish....yikes!

So, this week we are thinking about podcasts and how we could use them in our classrooms. All I can think is "Yikes!!" This idea sounds like such a great idea but I have way too many questions about it (many of which are the same questions about wikis). I think that since I will be teaching secondary Spanish next year, perhaps I will be able to come up with some awesome application of wikis and podcasts for high schoolers. In elementary school, I only have 30 minutes with them; in high school I'll have 90! I am already thinking about having them create an online portfolio. I can come up with prompting questions or ideas and they will record their responses using Audacity. Then, they can post them on their wiki (or maybe we'll use blogs for that...the wiki could be a different class project). The nice thing is, theoretically, they could continue the same portfolio throughout their years in foreign language. They would certainly get to see how much they had learned throughout the years that way.

See? Now my gears are turning. That is really the problem with time. It can really destroy the best intentions of educators.

Wikis?

Wikis seem like such a great tool for the classroom according to everything I have read, but I really can't figure out how I could use it in the program I currently teach.

I guess I could have the students create a wiki for their year of Spanish, with each new page entailing the new sentence structures they had learned and new vocabulary, but that just sounds boring. And, what would be the purpose of it?

If I were teaching high school Spanish, I could probably come up with some neat ideas. One idea that comes off the top of my head is a resource for verb conjugations. It could have the rules, examples of the major verb types (-ar, -er, -ir, and irregulars). Then, it could have some real examples of the use of the each type of conjugation. For example, there would be a page about the present tense and perhaps that would be accompanied by some dialogues that naturally would use the present tense. I think this type of wiki would have a lot of use for the high schools for studying purposes and also a relearning activity. They would have to make sure they really understood the information, because they are sharing it with the entire class. I think I would try to get the teachers who got the groups after me to allow the students to expand their wikis and continue having access to them.

The problem is, I don't teach high school Spanish (yet). So how can I use wikis in the program I teach now? I think I'll have to keep thinking about this one.

Pretty cool ideas!

I can't take the credit for this one, but I wish I could! My neighbor just sent me this link that I think anyone who is thinking of starting blogs with students might enjoy. Basically, it is a list of fun services that you can use to create an avatar with your class, so you can avoid using pictures of them for safety reasons. What student will prefer their own picture to their SUPERHERO self?!? I think we all know the answer to that one. So, check it out!

The power of blogs

This past week, I got some really terrible news. The FLES program (Foreign Language in Elementary School) has been cut from grades 1-3 and downgraded to once a week for 4th-5th grades (down from twice a week). I have been doing everything I can to advocate for the program this week. Basically, I've been living the Teacher Leadership class, the game we played the first week back, and the Wiki my group chose to do (on multilingual education). So far, I have a few people moved across the board, but not far enough yet ;). So, part of our Wiki is to write a position paper, right? I decided that I really needed to tackle that one since it is so close to my heart right now. One of my group members, Lori, posted a bunch of great resources in the References section of the Wiki. I decided to start my research there. The very first one on the list was this blog! I was literally tearing up while reading it. This is definitive proof that my program should not be cut. I ended up writing to the author and hearing back from him. He is a really nice teacher in Rhode Island (as you can tell from the title of the blog) who is having to fight for their secondary French program right now. His article was such a huge help with my paper and I also sent the link to the school board and posted it on our Facebook advocacy page. I have to admit, I never really saw blogs as something that I would appreciate as much as I am right now. I hope that I will have the opportunity to write something so profound that people will tear up while reading.

Back for the last semester!

Well, we seem to have made it! It's finally the last semester of grad school. I am very happy I have done this and I wouldn't change anything (except maybe less procrastination) if I had to do it all over again. That being said, I am SSSOOOO excited to be nearly finished! So, let's hope I have some awesome stuff to talk about this semester....