What do students say?

A valuable moment in teaching is having the opportunity to have a colleague visit your class to later share insights on the learning that is occurring in the classroom. This year, I had the chance to learn about a protocol called "Looking for Learning." The focus of the visit is not to "observe" the teacher; rather, it allows to chat informally to students about their learning. The visitor speaks one to one to a student and asks a set of questions; these start a conversation to reflect on what they are doing in the classroom. In the few visits and debrief meetings I have been part of; I have been amazed by the comments, connections and reflections the students came up with. After, the chat with the teacher has not only been a worthy professional conversation, but it has also lead to self reflection to what goes on in my own classroom.

I had the opportunity to have Kim Cofino, 21st century literacy specialist at our school, come and chat with me before and after she observed one of my language classes. Although her visit was geared to the Coetail course; she mentioned she will be using some of the protocol questions from Looking for Learning with my students. She shares her observations in her blog post; where she explains in detail the process to observe my class.

This particular experience went beyond the conversation about the value of integration of technology in a language class; it also enhanced the connections students make from their core classes, and how they value what they do in class. I was able to get a clear insight on why the students think we are doing a task, or if they feel they are learning something new...or if what we do makes sense to them . This; in their own words.

This conversation brought up valuable points to help me reflect if my lesson (shared in the previous blog) was successful; but most importantly how it can be improved for the next time.

Using digital storytelling

My grade eight students go to an academic field trip every year. They visit Chiang Mai; a city about 700 km north of Bangkok in Thailand. In their trip they get to choose different activities: learning about organic farming in an ecological day trip, or learning about Thai rural life by staying with a local family in a small town, or enjoying Thai northern nature; these among other choices. Using this experience allowed me to make cross curricular connections; so I incorporated it in our current unit.

Combining our unit standards and integrating technology standards from NETS we came up with a formative assessment. The class became a tourism agency and using digital story telling students promoted tourism in Thailand; specifically Chiang Mai. Because the students travelled to different areas and experienced different activities, they were able to share facts and experiences.

The organization included checklists which outlined what needed to be included, a rubric which had three criteria: tech use, content and language.Students also created a sketch of their stories, reviewed the use of creative commons, and decided on a digital tool. Interestingly I had most working with photostory3 and a few with imovie. I set up the class in groups which included at least one student who was confident in using creative commons and a student who was confident with using photostory3 or imovie. These "experts" helped their groups with any questions before they came to me. This allowed me to concentrate on supporting my students with the language; as students collaboratively worked with technology.

The highlight of all this task is that it all happened in the target language. Most importantly, it was not only I speaking Spanish to students; it was them speaking among themselves to get their tasks done!

Setting up...a thought

In a pre-observation meeting for this Coetail class; I shared a lesson which did not only focus on language teaching and content, but it also integrated technology in alignment to the standards of the unit.
The pre-observation conference helped me to reflect about the objective of my lesson and the value of integrating technology in my class; with the constant question "how do I support my students to use Spanish? With this in mind;some ideas worth paying close attention came up: the value of teaching about technology in the target language; students are not only learning about the language; it is the means of communication. Also, students adopting new roles to support others who need help with technology and the opportunity for students to show in a creative way; which makes sense to them; their understanding of content and language.
Personally, I found value in a pre-conference to put my thoughts out loud and reflect on the purpose of what I bring to my class.

Reflecting back...and moving forward

Several months ago the idea of integrating technology in my language class was a bit intimidating. It was not only about learning how to use a tool; but also making it meaningful to what my students need, and trying to match it to standards and benchmarks so that it does not become "one more project". It was also overwhelming to think about the logistics of using technology: not enough laptops, the connection, classroom management..!

Technology has become a part of my teaching in different ways. It is a means of communication with my students and parents through our class blog. It is is our connection to other Spanish speakers and learners around the world, or a tool for my students to independently improve their language skills. It is an alternative for students with different learning styles, or a portfolio to show language growth through school years and beyond. I confess at the beginning I spent a lot of time, learning and planning to use technology; but I also have to say it pays off when it works.

To share this experience; my next blog posts will explain a pre-conference meeting for an observation of a lesson integrating technology in my language class, a reflection of the lesson and comments on the post observation meeting.

Reflection

The unit I am designing includes the use of technology in the summative assessment.My grade 8 students will be creating digital storybooks for children using voicethread and sharing those with the ES students in our school and other audiences in the web.

The idea is to give a chance to my 8th grade students "teach" the young ones through a book. They will be focusing on the "pillars" taught in ES/MS and presenting the concept to ES students through a story.

The unit offers the students the opportunity to use the target language to interact and come up with an idea, to read in the target language and look through examples, and to write and make their story age and language appropriate. They will also practice presentational language to make sure their story impacts their audience in the most efficient way.

The highlight of this project is the sharing. A few years ago, my students (in a different school and country) did something similar. We shared the books face to face in a classroom setting with the younger students. Nevertheless, I look forward the interactive part of this "new" version where the audience is able to interact and comment through voicethread. We will attempt to share with students from other schools and post the projects on our blogs to share with the world. A greater audience will allow my students to continue to share, practice and improve their language skills with others.

Technology Peripherals in the Language Classroom

Using technological tools in the language class requires a positive attitude to learn and try something new. A project using technology could work smoothly and enhance language learning; or fail and be frustrating. Anyhow, using technology in my Spanish class has been a constant learning process. I have learned some useful tips by failing and by listening to other teachers share their failures as well.The tools I use frequently are laptops, cameras, smartboard and videocameras. I will explain how I used laptops recently and some ideas which helped to organize a project better.

About a week ago my Spanish students used Photostory3 to complete a project as a unit assessment. To help my students with the project, I broke it down to small parts trying to avoid chaos. For the first step I asked students to bring a project sketch. Using paper and pencil, they had to organize their ideas, scripts and images.The paper I created for them was a simple table which included key words for them to keep in mind what I expected. Then, I presented a short lesson to use "creative commons" and asked my students to bring all their images ready on a flashdrive for the next class. After, our MS tech expert came in to help my students with the tool; she prepared a digital tutorial which helped them to know how the tool works. I helped with the tool myself; but using only Spanish. My students then worked during two full periods and had very good projects; with their voices, images, music...they used only Spanish and highlighted the theme, the characters, setting and other elements of a short modified novel we read.

As I learn how to use more technology and decide where it fits best to help students learn Spanish; I continue to speak to my students on different ways they can show me and others what they know. I believe one important learning I have had is the value of allowing my students to show how they can use Spanish in ways that make sense to them. As long as the class outcomes and expectations are clear, the variety of ways they can show language learning is fascinating.

Managing laptops

Laptops in the language class can be quite useful and fun. Things do not always go as planned...of course there are times where the connection to the web is slow or the laptops were not charged correctly, or a student has been playing around and the text on the screen is upside down! In general I have had good experiences with laptops. These are some things I do to make sure we use them efficiently:

- Every time we use laptops - I write the following on the board:"get your laptop, log in, go to...and wait for instructions with screen down" This has created a routine; so when we need to be efficient with time at the beginning of class; this usually works.

- In every class two students are in "charge" of checking the carts to make sure all laptops are plugged in correctly and to take the cart to the next location. I rotate the students so that all get to help.

- When working in a project and using a tech tool (voicethread, photostory,blogs...)- there is always at least one student who knows or is familiarized with the tool. They become my helpers with the tech part so pair them up with other students or have them working in small groups. My students know my role changes; I am not necessarily a provider of information; I guide them and together we figure it out. I learn with them.

- The "screen downs" and "ojos para mi" (eyes on the teacher) helps to get their attention for instructions.

- Yes; students are great at having various windows open on their laptops; so I make my expectations clear. I believe that if they are engaged and interested then they will be on task.

- With language learning; especially in the lower levels, the challenge is to use these tools AND keep the target language going. For this reason; I choose carefully when I use laptops; I check how much the students know already about the tool and make sure the task is broken down as much as possible to continue to use only Spanish in class. I have also tried to have students who have stronger language proficiency work with others; as with the students who are more knowledgeable with technology.

These are some ideas...I am not saying it always works perfectly; it can be intense, but it is worth trying!


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