Let's try that link again

Here is the link again to my Google Earth project:

http://www.ge.tt/9kWagJf/v/0?c

¿Vamos a España?

EDIM 508: A trip to España

                As a World Language teacher, it is my responsibility to teach my students Spanish.  I present thousands of vocabulary words a year as well as numerous games to get students to conjugate verbs correctly.  I sometimes even teach them a lot about English grammar.  But being a World Language teacher has an even bigger responsibility.  The last of the five standards for World Language teaching is Cultures.   I know that the majority of my students will never step foot in a Spanish speaking country, yet most already have their impressions of Spanish speakers:  they all eat tacos and work in local restaurants, on  the weekends they attend bullfights and soccer games, they all have dark skin and dark hair, and they all speak very fast.  If they have never been to a Spanish speaking country, where do they get these ideas?

                Howard Gardner states, “From an early age, young people are influenced by what they see around them, what is rewarded, what is written about, what is ignored or disparaged” (pg. 142).  If they are learning this from the media, then it is now my ethical responsibility to use media to teach them the truth.  If they assume that what they may witness in their own communities is the way it is all over the world, then they must be shown the truth.  If their parents teach them only what they believe as true without any personal exposure, then I must expose them so that beliefs are based in reality.  It is a matter of respect and understanding for others’ similarities and differences.  “Ideally, the responsibility of engendering respect among different groups, and displaying that respect publicly should be distributed across the society.  Parents, neighbors, political leaders, religious leaders, the popular media, and the range of community organizations should all exhibit such respect” (Gardner, 109).

 Google Earth has offered me the means of taking all of my students to the actual countries we are studying without spending a penny.  By experiencing the cultures with their own eyes, maybe I can finally begin to fill their minds with what these countries and their citizens are truly like.  Being able to link pictures and videos to a particular topic permits cultural elements to be easily added while studying a region or country.  Students will be able to develop their respectful and ethical minds by basing their opinions and beliefs of others on facts and interactive experiences. 

Continuing to develop my 5 minds

Please view this link to see my video blog on how I plan to continue to develop my 5 minds based on Howard Gardner's book.

RESPECT...find out what it means to me!

   My entire professional and personal world was turned upside down the year I began teaching ESL.  It all began in the fall of 2001.  I was pregnant with my first child who was due in October.  The district had already hired someone to take my place as I had planned to be out for the year.  They were giving me various duties to do to fill my time.

   Being bilingual I was frequently asked to interpret for our growing population of Spanish speaking students.  At that time we did not have an official ESL program in our building.  I asked my district if I could spend the next two months visiting other ESL programs in other districts and then to create a program for our school.  They agreed.

   Returning in the fall of 2005 after the birth of our second child and an educational sabbatical to get my ESL Program Specialist certification, I began working on and in our district's new ESL program.  I traveled between our high school and our Freshman center to work with our 14 ESL students.  They were from 8 different countries and less than half spoke Spanish.  We created our own language that everyone could understand.

   For the next 6 years I would open my heart, my family, and my classroom to our limited English students.  At all times of the day, someone would show up that needed help.  Many times it had nothing to do with the content they were trying to understand in their courses. 

   I quickly determined that ESL really didn't stand for English as a second language, but rather emotional support learning.  Working with them was so much more than simply teaching them English.  It was my responsibility to teach them about American life, suburban teenagers, American food, football games and school dances.  Their families needed just as much help navigating their way through our society.  No one else in my district really offered to help them.  Very few students made the effort to get to know them.  My room was safe and welcoming.  I respected them and they knew that.

   While reading through Gardner's chapter on the respectful mind, I was touched by the following paragraph:  "I prefer the concept of respect.  Rather than ignoring differences, being inflamed by them, or seeking to annihilate them through love or hate, I call on human beings to accept the differences, learn to live with them, and value those who belong to other cohorts"  (Gardner 107).   The respectful mind must be developed through watching the actions of others.  Teachers, parents, and peers model on a daily basis the good (and bad) qualities of working with others.  Gardner states, "It is crucial to search for common ground" (Gardner 125).  With the advent of digital media, our world has shrunk.  Our students' future professions will have them communicating with others from around the globe.  They will need to understand the differences and find the connections that will become the foundations of a positive relationship. 

   While thinking about the requirements for this blog post, I first looked at it from the perspective of a Spanish teacher.  There are so many great projects using digital media that I should do in which I connect my students with other students in Spanish speaking countries.  I love the idea of having on-line pen pals.  This is one area I will be developing prior to returning to the classroom in the fall.   Julene Reed's article lists a variety of sources and ideas for online collaboration and project-based activities.  This list and the adjoining site suggestions are exactly what I have been looking for!  Reed goes on to state, "Knowledge of other cultures around the world leads students to understanding and compassion.  That, in turn, creates students who take action to make a difference in resolving problems and changing the world to be a better place" (Reed, 2007).

   That last line made me think of my ESL students.  For my digital media project, I would like to team up our international students with a "local" partner to do a study and share of cultures.  The idea of creating a digital storybook really meets the goals of the project.  Together, students would create a multimedia "story" comparing the daily life, school, food, sports, and other interesting activities of the two cultures from the perspective of a young adult.  First, this project would appeal to the "local" student as he/she learns about the lifestyle of an international student first hand.  Second, the project would appeal to the international student as he/she learns about this new culture first hand.  When completed, these storybooks would then be shared with others.  Together they will find that common ground that Gardner describes which would then lead to Reed's understanding and compassion of others.  The respectful mind would then break down those barriers of ignorance and judgment and value those who come from different backgrounds. 

  

Being creative through...glogging?

How can you use Glogster in your classroom this school year to foster the development of the creating mind? Elaborate on the instructional purpose and the standards you will address.

As a Spanish language teacher, my job is made up of three main elements:  vocabulary, grammar, and the tools to put the two together to effectively communicate.  With twenty years of classroom experience, I truly thought I had figured out the best way get this information across to my students.  Then I was introduced to glogster!

            One of the hardest tasks for a teacher is showing students how her content relates to their everyday lives.  When I began teaching, I gave students a vocabulary list with English on one side and the corresponding Spanish on the other.  From there I moved on to blank lists where one language was given and the other list had to be filled in by students.  Next came pictures.  I painfully searched through magazines to cut out pictures that represented the vocabulary.  Many times I would bring in actual items. The internet then introduced me to the world of clip art and the dawn of Power Point. 

            But all of these tools were presentation tools only.  Students looked, memorized, and then reviewed.  There was very little interaction.  Glogster allows me the opportunity to search interactive sites that review the content in an authentic way and then embed them into one easy-to-use site.  Students can hear the correct pronunciation, see the vocabulary in action, connect the terms to their own world, and then review through games.  Students can work at their own pace from anywhere with an internet connection. 

            Gardner (2007) shares his correlation between the synthesizing mind and the creative mind.  Both minds need a baseline of knowledge.  My students need to be taught the vocabulary before they can begin to integrate it into different activities.  “Both (minds) benefit from the provision of multiple examples, exposure to multiple role models, and the construction of multiple representations of the same general topic.”  (Gardner, 98)  The difference between the two is that the synthesizing mind looks to organize the information before using it while the creative mind wants to simply experience it and then extend knowledge. 

            Glogster easily welcomes both types of minds simultaneously.  Depending on how students set up their glog, their creativity can either follow a natural flow or be specifically guided from one activity to another.  Videos, images, audio, assessments, and interactive activities join together in an easy to view format that presents the content from a wealth of perspectives.

            Under the ACTFL World Language Standards, Glogster can be used to reach all five areas: Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities.  Our goal is to teach students how to communicate in an additional language with people from other cultures and backgrounds.  We connect content to what is familiar to them and then compare and make associations.  Together we become a community of learners.

            Glogster gives students the forum to creatively show the connections they have made to the required content.  Instead of a summative essay, exam, or report, students can create an interactive exploration of content to demonstrate what they have learned.  They can communicate with others through sharing their glogs.  I am very excited to see what my students will create and what aspects they will find most interesting to share. 

http://profewert.edu.glogster.com/necesito-ropa-nueva

Do the PSSAs kill creativity?

Have a discussion with one or more of your students about the role of creativity in the classroom. What do they really value currently and/or what would they change about their learning environment when it comes to digital media and technology supporting creativity?

I think this may have been the wrong week to ask my children about creativity in the classroom. It is PSSA week for them in 4th and 5th grade. As I am not teaching this year, I chose to ask my own children their thoughts on this topic. Here is what they shared with me.

My daughter, Gabi, 5th Grade: This week is no fun at all. We have to take the PSSAs. We take tests all morning long and then we do more work. The only nice thing is that we don't have any homework this week. I do like that.

My teacher does fun things in science class. That is the only time we do anything creative. I like doing experiments with her and my friends. In language arts we do a lot of PSSA practice so that is not very creative. Sometimes we get to write a story. That is creative. I like that. We don't do anything creative in math class. In social studies we sometimes act out different events in history. I really like that.

Other than to type up some of our reports, we don't use a lot of technology in my classroom. We have 4 computer stations that we take turns on doing PSSA practice activities. Sometimes we play review games on Study Island.

On my own I created a power point about our trip to Jamestown for my social studies class. That was so much fun. I wish we could do more things like that. I didn't get any credit for doing it, but my teacher showed it to all of her social studies classes. Oh, I would really like a cellphone. My friends do a lot on Instagram. Can I have a cellphone now?

My son, Will, 4th Grade: I'm not really sure what creativity is. My teacher likes to do a lot of activities in my class. We read our stories out of a book but everything else she does she puts up on a screen from a projector for us all to see. We work a lot in groups. I like that. I really like when we worked together to create a poster for Red Ribbon Week. I like working with my friends.

My teacher talks a lot about Pinterest. I think she looks on their a lot to get some ideas for our classroom. I like the way she charts our behaviour in class. It is very creative.

We only really use the computer when we go to the computer lab. We play a lot of games to help us with our vocabulary words now.

Is there a place for creativity in the classroom?

Sir Ken Robinson in his video, “Do schools kill creativity?” poses a very poignant point in that public schools tend to educate the mind, the left side specifically, as students get older.  Information is presented, then memorized, then assessed with very little attention paid to developing skills.  Sir Robinson offered that every school system throughout the world has the same educational hierarchy:  math and language at the top with art and music at the bottom.  High schools seem to focus on preparing students for college, not life necessarily.

            Sir Robinson went on to say that he believed that creativity is as important as literacy.  Young children tend to be more creative as they are not afraid to make a mistake.  From these mistakes is where originality is derived.  Original ideas that have value are what he defines as creativity.  It is important that we value these mistakes and build upon them for deeper thinking then to just go for the correct answer and move on. 

            This is how I remember learning in high school.  I sat in class, took feverish notes, completed my homework each night, and then crammed for the assessment; normally some sort of standardized test.  Now looking back, I remember very little of what I was taught in high school.  What does stand out to me are the projects we created using the content.  Our goal as educators is to get our students to not only learn our content, but to be able to retain it and connect it to their lives.  By using both sides of our brains to embrace new content it is much more likely to happen.

            Gardner (2007) gives his understanding of the difference between someone who is creative and someone who is an expert.  “An expert is an individual who, after a decade or more of training, has reached the pinnacle of current practice in her chosen domain” (Gardner, 82).  We do need our experts in society, but a creative person should know the content just as well.  The difference, though, is that the creative person learned by trial and error.  A creative person wants to learn the content on her own terms even if that involves failing a few times; she does not want to rely on someone else to teach it to her. 

            This is where digital media falls in to play.  Through digital media, students can connect to the content on their own terms.  They can learn the content in a way that is most acceptable by them.  If students make a mistake, they are the only ones to know.  Sitting in a classroom listening to someone present the information not only takes very little creativity, it also does not leave any room for a student to expand on the content.  Through creative learning comes original thinking and the desire to learn more.  Digital media encourage us to both interact with and present the content we have learned in a way that connects it to our everyday lives. 

The Synthesizing Mind

Share a classroom strategy (e.g., project, activity) that incorporates the use of digital resources to help students synthesize information.

When I first began teaching, I remember taking my students to the library to research a particular Spanish speaking country.  I would give them some specifics for the details I wanted included, but I wanted the project to represent what they had learned.  They would write down their facts, photocopy a few pictures, post it all on a big poster, and then present it to the class.  I truly don't believe anyone learned anything from those presentations!  Student presenters regurgitated whatever information they could find quickly and as the presentations were simply a repetition of facts, no connections were made.  In the disciplined mind, Gardner outlines that information needs to be presented in a way that students understand.  He goes on to say that students should learn a limited amount of information in depth instead of vast amounts of content. 

Now, through the assistance of technology, I have turned this same project idea into a more focused and meaningful activity.  Students now assume the roles of tour companies and work to create a cultural tour to share with the rest of the class.  Instead of just creating a poster of their respective countries, different student groups try to sell us a tour to their specific country.  Students research their countries from a wide variety of resources and then synthesize the information in to what they feel is most important and interesting.  As Gardner suggests, I give them a list of some of the required elements to guide them, but other than that they determine what is best.  Gardner urges the importance of developing a synthesizing mind in order to process not only the wealth of information available now, but that which is still developing and being shared each day.  Although a favorite resource for my students, Wikipedia entries change on a daily basis. Wikipedia entries change on a daily basis.  When my students use that as one of their resources, I encourage them to continue searching for more information so that they can cross reference the information.  The synthesizing mind takes information from a variety of sources, understands and evaluates what's important and reliable and what's not, and then puts the information back together in a way that is meaningful.

Having the students work together gives them the constant feedback that Gardner suggests.  Having students teach their fellow students has been a huge success.  The presenters truly know their information and the audience loves to learn along with them.  Technology is "eye catching".  Taking these courses through Wilkes has opened my eyes to all that is out there.  Up to this point, I had my students create their tours on a power point.  It was always frustrating to use so much class time to complete the projects as students had to work together in class and save their presentations to my computer.  But now, through the Web 2.0 tools that I have experienced, I am excited to revamp this original project idea even more.  I am eager to see what my students will be able to create when they get to search through country websites, existing travel company sites, Discovery Education, etc.  I am blessed to teach in a district in which every high school student has a laptop or netbook with them at all times.  It makes technology integration so much easier, once their teacher knows what she is doing!!!

Gardner, H. (2008). 5 minds for the future. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press.

Prezi Presentation

I believe the dream of any World Language teacher is to take students to a country where the language is spoken.  There they can hear it being used, see it in print, feel what it is like to interact with it.  That ability to connect with not only the language, but the culture from which it comes is crucial to motivating students to mastering a second language.  As Gardner states, “…education must be lifelong.” (p. 9)  Learning another language as well as learning about other cultures, peoples, traditions, and ways of life are tangible resources that anyone may have to call upon in the future.  As the world becomes smaller and we become more connected through technology, the Web, and social media it is crucial that we understand the ways others view life.  “When no group can remain isolated from the rest of the world, respect for those of a different background and appearance becomes vital, even essential, rather than simply a polite option” (Gardner, 11).  But the blatant reality is that it is not possible to take all of my students somewhere.  I must bring those cultures and the language to them.

This was my first attempt at using Prezi.  Wow!  After much experimentation, it all clicked and I realized what an amazing presentation tool this was.  For this assignment, I created a Prezi on bullfighting.  In the past I would print out a short packet with a written description of a bullfight that we would read aloud as a class and then post a few pictures on a power point.  Students sat and listened while I simply regurgitated the information.  There was no interaction. With Prezi and the ability to embed video, sound, text, and images I was able to create a step by step interactive presentation that enables the viewer to feel as if he is sitting right there watching the fight in Spain.   In discussing the disciplined mind, Gardner suggests “Any lesson is more likely to be understood if it has been approached through diverse entry points” (p. 33).  Prezi enables me to present the content through a variety of inputs.  Bullfighting is not a particularly pleasant topic to study, but hopefully through this presentation my students will develop a deeper understanding of the culture behind it and a respect for the tradition; not necessarily the act.  I will use this project as a cultural catalyst because I agree with Gardner that students should enjoy and become passionate about the process of learning about the world (2006).

I see Prezi as a wonderful tool for students to present their synthesized understanding of a particular topic.  Gardner’s components of an effective synthesis form the perfect outline for students to follow:  state your goal, start by connecting it to something familiar, select your approach to share the information, confirm through feedback that your goal was met (pgs. 51-52).  I am now eager to return to the classroom next year to share this with my students. 

 

Resources:

Gardner, H. (2006). Five minds for the future. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press.

Here is the link to my Prezi Presentation.


Bullfighting

Mi familia (U2a1)

Although it doesn't sound too difficult, one of the hardest topics to teach my level 1 Spanish students is the family.  I try to make everything I teach visual in one way or another to reach my visual learners.  Aside from bringing in my entire family, how do I help my visual learners understand the not only the terms in Spanish, but the relationships between the family members?  I normally have the class form a family by inviting students to come forward as I hum the wedding march or cry like a baby, but many times they get lost in the fun of the activity and miss out completely on the presentation of the new vocabulary.

For this assignment, I went into Discovery Education to see if I could find something to assist me in introducing the key family members and their relationship amongst one another.  I never realized how many instructional videos in Spanish there are on Discovery Education.  I choose a short video that introduces family members on a family tree.  This quick clip will not only help my visual learners to connect, but my auditory learners as well. 

La Familia

I see myself introducing the topic with this video clip, then going over the vocabulary list while having students pronounce the terms, and then finally having the class create an "in class" family.  I could then do a presentation with pictures of my family members.  For practice, I would have students then create some sort of presentation to share their families.  This presentation could be through video, through a presentation tool, or through a poster.  Whichever means works for them.  Students would be welcome to "create" their dream family with athletes, stars, animals, cartoon characters, etc. if that would be more comfortable for them. 

Quien soy yo?

Bienvenidos!

1. Who are you and what do you do?

              I am Alaina Wert.  I teach Spanish I-AP in grades 10-12 at Quakertown High School in PA.  I am also the mom of 4 amazing kids.

     2.  What is your primary goal for taking this course?
              Time to teach an old dog new tricks.  With 20 years in the classroom, it's time my teaching reflected skills of the 21st century.

     3.  What is your philosophy of education?
              Teach with passion and your students will learn with passion.  Mutual respect gets you everywhere!

     4.  What do you see as the greatest benefit of using technology and/or digital media in the classroom?
          How quickly you can find the information you need.  How engaging many programs are.  It makes learning creative.

     5.  What is your biggest concern or challenge with using technology and/or digital media in the classroom?
           My students know more than I do.  Don't want to look like I don't know what I'm doing when using technology. 

     6.  Provide an example of how you currently use technology and/or digital media in the classroom.
          I have mastered Power Point.  On sabbatical this year, but plan to use so much more when I return to the classroom next year. 

     7.  How does your classroom today differ from when you were the same age as your students?
          Everything my students need is right at their fingertips.  I am much more now a facilitator than an instructor.