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Creating Content in The Foreign Language Classroom

8/2/2019

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 Students love projects. They love creating a product and making it their own. I am going to split this reflection into two important parts of this topic. 1. The concept of remixing old products to create new products  and 2.Resources for teachers on technology and web tools that can be used to create projects 
REMIX - 
When we think of remix we think of music that has been remixed or funny youtube videos that have been edited and remixed? But what does remixing look like in the classroom? Let’s take a look at some ideas of remixing first. Here are a couple of videos that help understand the art of remixing. Remixing can help students create new products. It also helps them problem solve. Inventing something is not really about coming up with something out of thin air. It is about acknowledging and problem or a need and then analyzing the situation and coming up with a solution that may use products or ideas that may already exist. It is the way you put them to work together were the new invention comes in. That is a very neat process that most of us, at least I did not think about before. Bringing the problem solving into our classroom only helps our students out in the real world because that is what they are going to have to do their whole life.
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​Creativity is a Remix - Kirby Ferguson - Understanding where creativity comes from and the process really helps when assigning students tasks.
Learning STEM Skills by Designing Video Games (Is School Enough? Series) - This video continues to talk about content creation in  the classroom. One thing big thing I got from this video is the reinforcement that if students are interested in what they are doing and they want to do it well, they will welcome feedback to strengthen their product.
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RESOURCES
So what types of things can we have students create and remix? The great thing about teaching foreign language is that the possibilities are endless. There is so much realia to pull inspiration from: books, movies, youtube videos, songs, poems, ads, menus and theses are just the tip of the iceberg. Below I am listing some website that can help bring inspirations and find tools to bring the inspirations to life. 
  • Digital Remix: The Art and Craft of Endless Hybridization Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel - God Comprehensive article with a lot of great ideas on how and what to remix.

  • Construction and/or Creation of Online Content - Good explanation of what it means to really construct online content. A must read for teachers!

  • 37 Tech Tools for every World Language Classroom - These are great tools to use in the classroom
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  • THE BIG LIST OF TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES FOR SPANISH CLASS - This is a great list of resources, especially if you are looking for tools to use so students can create and remix!

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Digital Research Skills

7/26/2019

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As I approach the beginning of the new year and I am thinking about transitioning into more of a project-based classroom, I can’t help but feel a little anxious because my students are not equipped to research and analyze information found online in a quick and efficient manner. So what am I to do about it? Well.. take matters into my own hands… OF COURSE. 
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Why is this important you may ask? Many students open up google, type whatever comes to their mind, click on the first few links and if they don’t see anything rather quickly they give up and say they can’t find anything. Sound familiar? It does sound familiar to me and I want to equip my students with the skills it takes to 1. Take the time (even if it’s a few seconds) to think about what they are going to search. 2. To look at the links provided and make an informed judgment on whether it may or may not help them. 3. Tell if it is a legitimate 4. Learn how to scan a web page for the information they are looking for.  I have found some resources I plan on using to help my students with these skills.



Let’s start with what activities you might need these skills for. In this link edutopia has listed some really great authentic activities. If your students are old enough you are going to want them to look for some authentic resources on their own. 

The following articles have good strategies to start teaching students how to research and analyze information online:
Best Practices in Teaching the New Literacies of Online Research and Comprehension

Five Steps to Teaching Students How to Research Online and Filter Information

11 Ways to Teach Savvy Search Skills
Teaching students to brainstorm to come with keywords is a critical skill. At first it may seem like it is time consuming and boring but it will help students search more efficiently. Once they have practice that thought process will go on in their heads and they will no longer need pencil and paper but for starters, brainstorming is best. Teaching students how to skim websites, read headings and using Ctl + F will really speed up and make the time they spend figuring out if a website is useful more efficient. When students are equipped with the right tools they are more likely to be successful. This builds confidence in them and that confidence will help them figure out more challenging problems down the road. 
My plan is to start off my scaffolding this information for my students and of course practicing it as much as possible. To be able to participate in a project-based learning environment students have to be fluent in these skills. If they are not they are going to have to rely heavily on the teacher and what we want for the students is for them to be successful in their future endeavors. These skills will help them problem solve for the rest of their careers and lives. 

Here is a video on Teaching Students how to research:
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Reflection On Connected Learning

7/24/2019

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In my classroom, I can say that for the most part, my students are engaged and using technology to create products. That is all good and well but I always want to push myself to make a more authentic language learning environment. I have no problem with TPACK. I think there are great ways to implement it into language learning. I did find a great lesson while researching around. Check it out if you need an idea. The same or similar idea can be used in different contexts. My issue is finding connected-learning for all Spanish 1 topics. This year I am trying out a curriculum that was made by teachers using relevant materials such as pop-culture, social media and youtube. There is not a lot of literature about connected learning in the language classroom so I am wondering if this is a good place to start. Will the students feel like they are connecting with the information because it is delivered in a way that is relevant to them? I am excited to find out and do hope they connect with it. 
    To add to the curriculum, I have found a couple of resources but the best one I found is an edutopia blogpost about ways to connect the language classroom. I do like the idea of connecting with native speakers but the problem I see is trying to find a safe way for students to connect with them. One of the safest ways that is mentioned in the blog is through pen-pals. And I think it is a great idea. Students can get excited about actually using the Spanish they know and practice with someone in a real life situation. If your school is big enough to have a large class size of ESOL students you could do pen pal letters to and from the Spanish to ESOL Classroom. 
    Students don’t only have to interact with people, they can interact with published materials. The internet is great for finding these if the students are trained to do so. For example, I taught my students how to find McDondald's website from different countries so they could compare the menus to their favorite items here. Here is a great video on different digital authentic materials that can be used in the language classroom. ​
With these resources language teachers can create inquisitive units that can inspire ownership of the material in students. When the students collaborate with each other on creating materials or solving problems they also get the real-life experience that many work environments require nowadays. 
Even though there is not a lot of material on the connected language classroom, keeping the classroom connected by creating a collaborative environment where students use realia to actively engage with the language and giving the students a voice in their learning can be the key. Opening the doors for them to take ownership of their learning is our job. We must step aside and let them take the steering wheel. We are facilitators of their learning.

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Reflection on diGital Literacy

7/17/2019

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I want to talk about a very important literacy that we must integrate into our language classroom (not saying that a of good teachers don’t already), Digital Literacy. Let’s dive right in…
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​For example, copyright infringement, finding information from reliable sources, how to behave on social media, how to behave on professional social media and the list goes on. How to protect themselves and keep their privacy. Here is a great little read called
 Knowing the Difference between Digital Skills and Digital Literacy and Teaching Both. We should always try and practice what we preach, so letting the students know your use of digital literacy is a great way to get them to start thinking about it.  Check out the infographic on a couple do’s and don’t when it comes to protecting student privacy. Click on this link to check out others helpful infographics from the same source.
Digital Literacy
The great thing about teaching a foreign language is that in an increasingly digital world, access to authentic materials is right at our fingertips. Not only are materials readily available but people and places are as well. We can pen-pal electronically, Skype with other classes around the world, take a digital tour in a different location or shop at stores in different countries.  We are more connected than ever. What does that mean for us as educators? We need to be aware of digital literacy and how to facilitate implementation by our students. We are teaching our students how to use digital resources but sometimes forget to teach them how to really use a resource. For example, copyright infringement, finding information from reliable sources, how to behave on social media, how to behave on professional social media and the list goes on. How to protect themselves and keep their privacy. ​ 
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   Some of us might think that it is just more to add to our teaching plate but this is something that is very important. Here is an article that talks about Integrating Digital Literacy and Language Instruction. We are headed in a direction where digital literacy is a must and we should be prepared. Mozilla has compiled some great Teaching Activities that can be used in any classroom. On that page there is also more on digital literacy and helpful tools. It makes me happy that a company that is so heavily invested in the internet is taking responsibility by having these resources available. BBC has also taken the initiative to make youtube videos about digital literacy. I have linked the first one in the series here: Digital Literacy – What is digital literacy?. ​
​ If we want our students to be connected and learn about different cultures, see different countries and people and really connect with the outside world, we need to teach them to it responsibly. I am getting ready to start this new year with a lot more digital literacy lessons, especially since I have scrapped my textbook and I am going to be following a different curriculum made by other teachers that is very heavy on realia ( objects and material from everyday life, especially when used as teaching aids). I want my students to be safe and I want them to be responsible citizens in the digital world as much as they are in their everyday life. A lot of students think that hiding behind a screen grants them the power to do things they otherwise would not, but that is simply not the case. Let’s make sure our students are aware and prepared for their future. 


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FINAL MULTIMEDIA PROJECT: SCHOOLOGY

10/8/2016

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FINAL VIDEO

Here is the final video, if you would like to the process I went through to make it please scroll down.

Outline

Intro- A short introduction about myself and what I do and why this is an important topic to me. Identify my target audience and get them hooked. Introduce them to a day in the life of a techie teacher. How I use an MLS to reduce the amount of papers I take home!  
Get into the apps and MLS – Schoology between each mini tutorial have student feedback and their perception  
  Bellringers and success starters – Explain how to start a discussion board, give a couple tips and tricks on how to prevent students from copying each others answers.  
  Classwork – Show how classwork can be self graded and students can have immediate feedback.  
  Uploaded work – Homework/classwork/Projects – not all students have access to a computer or internet at home. Some items will be done by hand, even in the classroom. Some students prefer to draw and write than to use an ipad or computer. Some apps don’t have good exporting options. Students can take pictures of their work and upload it. If they upload a paper you can easily write notes on it and give them feedback and send it back to them for revision.  (no more stacks of papers and projects to take home, they can decorate your classroom)
   Rubrics- Rubrics are simple to create and simple to use. You can give feedback very easily.  
  Quizzes/Test – Show how to differentiate quizzes or simply create a question bank to create randomized quizzes, this reduces the chance of cheating and helps teachers not have to create a quiz every time a student needs to make one up.
      Exit Tikets – With a quick google form you can have students fill out a google form 5 minutes before the bell rings and have all student opinions, questions and concerns in a quick and easy to access excel file. Schoology works great in foreign language classroom because it allows for all input and output needed. Listening activities are seamlessly uploaded, Students can record their voices and videos and upload for you to listen and watch. You can upload authentic materials for students to read and write about. If students have a way to write on PDFs, they can export the PDF to the PDF writer and then export back into schoology.
​  Schoology also integrates very easily with other apps and the best part is that is all free!! There is a paid version but there isn’t much that the free version doesn’t do when compared. I have had both and I can say I am very happy with the free version! In the end have student's general opinion about schoolgy and what they see is the best part. 

VISUAL PLAN

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REFLECTIVE NARRATIVE

​I really enjoyed making this video. I liked the steps we had to take in the development of the video. I think outlining, mapping and storyboarding are important steps to making a successful video. I liked receiving feedback and even though at the beginning I had not been inspired on what my video was actually going to be I think the process got my gears turning. It got me thinking about what I wanted the video to be.
I am really glad the video turned out well and I enjoyed your feedback. I learned how to work with a green screen, which is a lot easier than I thought. I also learned how to put in a picture within a picture. And to make my boxes full screen is a very simple switch. I think what I mostly took away form this are ideas to use in my classroom. My students always have trouble pronouncing words so I can have the word or a picture flash up on the screen while I record myself saying the word and a close up on my face.
I learned that it takes a lot of edit and patience, either you record perfectly and put those clips together or you just record and take out he bad clips. I learner that if you have one long reel you should work with white balance and color before editing. I forgot to that and then I spent a couple of hours editing and then I realized that I could not get the white balance to match so I had to just leave it all with the yellowish hue.
I saw a couple of my classmates videos and there is not much I would change about my video in comparison to theirs. I really liked what I did and I though it was different. Two videos I saw where just powerpoints and the one I liked better was Rebeca Helms’. I liked how she did have her tutorial parts as full screen. I could have put the tutorials in full screen and have a Picture in picture box of myself. This woud have made those parts more effective. 
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WEB 2.0 TOOLS for the World Language Classroom

9/2/2016

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 Here are some web tools I believe can be useful in a World Language Classroom. I have categorized them int, General Use, Games, Websites useful for language help and websites that could be used by students to make projects will call that category Projects. 
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GENERAL

​ www.zamzar.com
The website Zamzar is a great tool for converting any kind of file into another. It works for pictures, videos, music and much more. This page can also be used to download videos and pictures from the internet. This could cause copyright infringement so be aware if you do decide to use it for those purposes. This is very useful when a teachers want to change a file to fit into a certain program or to use on a certain computer or tablet. 

www.gnowledge.com
Gnowledge is a free platform that allows teachers to create, publish, share and take tests. This can be a good way for teachers to share with other teachers. This can also be used for practice tests or just practice. 



​nearpod.com
Nearpod is an engaging way to give presentations. While you are presenting you can have students actively engaged but throwing in a random question or having drawing activity. Nearpod can be used in any classroom with any topic. The best part is all of the student worked is saved on your account so you can see who did what and when. 

Language help

lingro.com
The website Lingro by Artur Janc and Paul Kastner is a good tool for language teachers because it allows teachers and students to access sites in different languages. This tool makes it easy to translate whole pages and learn new words in the language. Teachers can use it to challenge students' reading levels. It can also help teachers look for more authentic material on the internet without having to worry too much about the level of the language. 


GAmes

hotpot.uvic.ca
​Hot potatoes is an interesting tool it was developed but the University of 
Victoria and it is a freeware that allows you to create different types of web games. Teachers can create crossword puzzles, multiple choice, short answer, matching and others. This can really motivate students because it can be something different than what is used daily. 
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jeopardylabs.com
Jeopardy Labs is a great and easy way to make review fun and engaging. You can quickly make Jeopardy games and review vocabulary grammar and culture.
www.purposegames.com
Purpose games is a great tool created by David Andersson. I think educators can really use this tool to motivate students to practice vocabulary, grammar and culture. The tutorial shows you how to create a dot quiz but there are many others you can choose from and have students race against the time and each other. 
www.classtools.net
Students are obsessed with social media, so why not have them create a fakebook page for a famous person you are studying. The tutorial I choose shows you exactly how to do that. This is not all class tools has to offer. IT has a wide variety of tools that can be used for an infinitive amount of projects and review games. You can watch another tutorial I madding he vocabulary games section of my webpage. 


Projects

 www.comicmaster.org.uk
This website is a great tool for teachers to assign writing projects. Students can practice writing and conversations through comic books. They have a lot of creative freedom with simple navigation tools to create a comic strip. 


www.voki.com
​Voki is a web tool that can really be of great use in the language classroom. A lot of students in the lower levels do not like to give presentations or speak infant of people. To give them a break sometimes they can create a voki and give their speech through an avatar. This give the student a sense of security, specially if they are just starting out.
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EDET 603 Audio Activities

8/29/2016

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Graphic Activities

8/25/2016

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I have never really worked on editing pictures. I used GIMPshop and I did not find it difficult to learn how to use it. I was able to quickly find easy to follow tutorials online. I decided to take a picture of my son and I and edit it into what I was feeling when he was about one month old. I felt good and warm inside, I felt like everything was good, like as if I was on a beach. So I cropped our image out and set it in a beach background. I learned how to crop an object out of a picture (using the lasso tool) and make the rest of that picture be a transparent layer so I can layer pictures (useful when making a collage). I was very tired in the picture as I did have a new born so I decided to some editing on my face and I blurred the wrinkles and dark circles under my eyes.
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I took pictures of s stuffed koala and I uploaded them as layers onto GIMP. I arranged the layers in the order I wanted them to appear in the GIF. After that I went into Filters/Animation/Optimize for GIF. Next I went to Image/Mode/Indexed and choose color dithering :Floyd-Steinburg (reduced color bleeding). Finally I exported the file as .gif and it gave me the option of animation so I clicked it and exported. I had never made a GIF before so this was a learning experience, again a simple tutorial made things very simple and explained why I took the steps I did in creating the gif. At first I tried to make the gif with GIMPshop but it would not export correctly so I switched to GIMP and it worked fine. ​

The only online editor I have ever used is shutterfly. I am not big on editing. I used Phixr and PicMagick because I did not have to sign up for them and I was curious to see what I would get for that price. I used Pic Magick first. It was not very complex. It had simple commands and there weren't many. Most had to do with colors and hues. There was not much to do with editing or adding to the picture. On the other hand Phixr was a lot more like a real photo editor were it has more options on what you can and can't do o the picture. The Phix button is the key feature in this editor. It has a lot of presets. I also liked how this editor has a preview screen before you apply the edit. I think this could be used to make memes and if need be or quick posters for Standard Operating Procedures or things of that nature. I don't think PicMagick would be as useful in a work environment. Phix also has a collage tool which could come in handy in a work environment. I think overal Phixr is a good program to use if you are in pinch and need and online program to edit a picture. It is easy to follow and if you don't understand the icon you can hover the mouse over it and the description pops up. 

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Original
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PicMagick
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Phixr
I choose to create a collage. I had an idea of creating the word Jazz using notes and making them sparkle but I was crunched for time. I try to mindful everyday but as a teacher sometimes we get caught up in the daily hustle and bustle and we forget to stop and smell the roses. Recently I have been having a lot of conversations with my colleges about how since the beginning of the school year we have not has any time to be real people. Right now I think is a time to be mindful and to see the potential that is there and what we already have in our lives so I choose the quote: "If we could see the miracle of a single flower our whole life would change" -Gantama Buddha I choose the picture of one of my favorite flowers and a vector of glasses and I was able to put them together and put the quote on top in different colors. I think the colors make each part of the quote pop out in a distinct way. I choose the glasses because sometimes some of us need help to see things in a different way. Like I said before I am not big on editing images and every time I tried to think of something to do I thought of something that was moving or in a clip or could be a GIF. I will now do more picture editing. I think it can be beneficial and it is not as difficult as I thought it was at first. Also GIMP has changed a lot since the first time I tried to use it and it is a lot more user friendly now. 
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    Education Blog

    Here are some reflections and ideas that I am incorporating into my class. Comment and let me know what you think!

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