Final blog!

I just wanted to post one final blog saying how much I've learned from and enjoyed this class. Also, here's a link to yet another project I thought I'd never be able to complete but did! It's my digital portfolio, which will be very handy if I ever decide to look for a teaching job other than the one I currently have. It's nice that I can access it from anywhere as well, oh the wonders of the internet :) Well here it is if you'd like to see it, enjoy! http://cms.miss-saylor-portfolio.webnode.com/

Class Reflections

I started this class thinking how much I hated technology. Computers have always frustrated me and I have always preferred to do my class work the old fashioned way-with a pen, paper, and a book. I've changed my views a lot over the semester. I still prefer to do my work the old fashioned way. There's just something I enjoy about opening up a book and taking it with me anywhere. It's nice too, when I'm writing, to not have to worry about a computer crashing or stress about how often I save what I'm doing. I also just don't like looking at computer screens! But...I've learned that technology has so much to offer, for me and my students. I've learned about all kinds of neat tools for teachers (powerpoint, interactive whiteboards, social bookmarking sites, and tons of useful websites), and while I don't enjoy spending all my time with technology, I've certainly come to appreciate it, understand it, and utilize it! My goal as a teacher is to make sure my students learn. It seems to me, that students learn better when technology is used (at least some of the time). I also am beginning to think that more teachers need to be taking a class like this one. Not enough teachers know how to use technology, many of them know even less than I knew when I started this class. There are so many technology related tools out there for teachers to use and they are being wasted because not enough teachers know they exist, or know how to use them.
This class was more work for me than I'm used to. Typically, I sign up for a class, do the readings and papers that are required and get an A. Nothing is out of my comfort zone. This class was waaay out of my comfort zone! But, because of that I think I've learned the most from it. I had to actually use the tools I was learning about, and that's why I learned so much. That's exactly what I feel my students need. They should be using technology to DO what they are learning. They need to be actively engaged to internalize what they're learning and technology is one of many ways to do that. Why not use it?

Article Presentations

I thought everyone did an awesome job on their presentations! I especially admired one student's use of the interactive whiteboard, she clearly spent a lot of time working on it! Throughout the presentations, I learned quite a few things that I may actually be able to apply to the classes I teach. The articles I chose were both related to my content area, so I obviously found them to be interesting. It would be neat to have my students follow along with a transcript and watch a film in Spanish. It would also be neat if I could use SKYPE for video conferences from a Spanish speaking country, I just am not sure how I could actually pull that one off! I am also really excited about maybe trying out e-pals. It would be awesome if I could get an account set up and give my students electronic pen pals right from Spain! Also, I will almost definitely use multiplication.com, in fact I'm not sure why I haven't already heard of it? Students during after school programs, or students with spare time in the computer lab, could really benefit from and enjoy some of the games they have on that site. I also think that many of the presentations emphasized the benefits of technology, I just think teachers have a long way to go before they actually start using it to it's full potential!

copyright

I absolutely loved the "fair(y) use tale" video...Very clever! However, I am still a little confused about copyright, especially with regard to teachers. According to the video teaching falls under fair use, so what exactly must teachers do to avoid copyright infringement? I would assume that any material used should be cited, but other than that I am lost! On that note, it's difficult for me to say what teachers I've seen violating copyright laws. I know that as a school we attempted to generate enthusiasm about the PSSA by having "North East Idol" (a teacher talent show with PSSA themed acts) rather than "American Idol". The kids really enjoyed it, but it was certainly an "American Idol" rip-off, if you will. But from what I understand, our little talent show would be considered a parody, and thus okay according to fair use. Given that I don't fully understand copyright, teaching my students about it would be difficult, but I can definitely say it's important to emphasize how to avoid plagiarism of any kind. I think that many times kids (as well as adults) violate copyright laws or plagiarize without even knowing they are doing it. Kids, and especially college students, need to learn how to properly cite sources and differentiate between what is an original thought in their writing and what is being borrowed by another source. As far as copyright goes, I do believe creators of material deserve to be compensated for their work. On the other hand, 100 years is a little extreme to hold the benefits of copyrighted items from the general public, especially if it's for the purpose of education.

interactive whiteboards

I would LOVE to have an interactive whiteboard in my classroom! I believe they keep students almost 100% more engaged than using a traditional black board. Students are excited to be able to come up and actually manipulate what's on the board. I can think of so many neat things I'd be able to do with one in my Spanish classroom. Foreign Language learning is meant to be interactive and interactive whiteboards appeal to multiple learning styles. They can help audio, visual, and hands-on learners and they keep kids from getting bored! My students always start out the year excited to learn a new language, and when they realize how much grammar and work is involved in doing that, they become frustrated and disengaged. The more ways to keep them "entertained" the better, and I believe Smart boards keep kids entertained as they are learning. It's a shame that not all schools/teachers have the funding to be able to have an interactive whiteboard because there are so many advantages to them. It's also a shame that some teachers have them in their rooms, and never use them! I think it will be a very long time before I have one in my room, and in the meantime I try to do as much as possible to keep my teaching interactive and mix up the learning styles I teach to as often as possible. Having an interactive whiteboard would make that a whole lot easier! Many times there is no other way (that I can think of!) to practice the vocab. and grammar involved in learning Spanish without giving out a worksheet or assigning book work. A Smart board would make review and practice work so much more fun, I don't think the students would even know that it would be the same content as what is on their "boring" worksheets! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I eventually will get one in my room.

PowerPoint

I'd like to share that I used my PowerPoint! I created a PowerPoint on the topic of Day of the Dead, and then posted it to my echalk account. I took my kids to the computer lab (since I don't have a digital projector)the day before Halloween and had them look up my powerpoint and then complete a short webquest. The kids loved it and it was so much better for them to learn by seeing and doing, rather than by listening to me lecture. It freed up enough class time so that we could create our own papel picado (day of the dead craft). The other cool thing is now that I've done all the work, I can use it again next year! Yay for technology! (never thought I'd say that!)

video reflection

Our group made a video Public Service Announcement on the topic of online sexual predators. We made our video a spoof on Chris Hansen from Dateline NBC. We tried to make our video a little silly (my name was Chris Shmansen, and we were an all girl group acting out male roles), yet solemn enough to acknowledge the seriousness of the issue we chose. We had a lot of fun filming and learned a lot about the video equipment. The fact that I found out that I can check out the equipment as an Albright student was neat. That opens up the possibility of me actually using my own videos in a lesson. We also became much more familiar with moviemaker, youtube, and audacity. I feel that my group did an awesome job of working together and multitasking. Jocabed and Chauncy did the majority of the editing while I looked on royaltyfreemusic.com for background music and opened up a youtube account. I also used a separate computer to sort of "try out" different ideas we had. Then, when they were ready I had a few suggestions (for example, effects and fonts) that we could put right into the real video. We used a flashdrive to transfer my audio into their edited video. I have to admit that I was dreading making this video, mostly because I wasn't comfortable with the hard/software and had never made a video before. But, I now feel 100 times more comfortable with the process and had a lot of fun creating the video. It shows that you really learn by doing!