Check out my Scoop.it profile by clicking on the widget on my sidebar --->
If/when I have a blog or website for my class I will use this as a widget. I would post supplemental information, for both of my subject areas, that my students might find interesting. I like how Scoop.it allows users to have multiple 'topic' boards, a bit like Pinterest. This means that if I specialize in 2 subject areas (and undoubtedly more as I start my teaching career) for each area I will be able to have a board all still under the same account. This is crucial because as keeping up with sites can be so daunting, this website compacts everything into one! Great!
Thursday, 2 August 2012
Reading #7 - Collaborative Projects (Skillen, 2011)
Group work has always been a major stressor in my life. As a type-A individual, I often have a hard time 'letting go' of areas of projects because I feel like I need to be involved in everything that happens! I believe that group work throughout my academic career has taught me more about trust than about anything else. If anything, group work has taught me to 'trust no one' and to be careful about engaging with certain kinds of people. Isn't that awful? I thought group work was all about meeting new people and sharing ideas.
As a new teacher I will undoubtedly assign my projects with this in mind. During my practicum I was careful to design group projects how I, as a student, would have appreciated them being designed. I allowed students some choice of who they were grouped with, I provided them the opportunity to self-evaluate and to evaluate their peers and had these evaluations play into their final assigned mark. Regardless of these efforts, my students still ran into obstacles and group work wasn't a 'highlight' of their experience in my classroom.
A large part of the reason why group work exists is to encourage leadership, we want our students to be 'extroverted' and engaged with everyone around them. This article made me go back through my bookmarked 'Ted' talks to find an interesting presentation given by Susan Cain on why introverts are so important. Her talk also highlights the way the current school system is neglecting the 'introvert'. Click here to watch!
I am especially interested in the author's idea for groups to create blogs to promote higher-level thinking. Groups can start up a webpage or a blog where they each share, individually and as a group, their experiences as they move forward in a project. I think this is a fantastic idea for a classroom. If I assigned a month-long project I could require that each week, one different member of each group would post a 'reflection' on a major question involving the project's subject. Afterwards, each other member of the group would have to post a comment. If universities are trending towards this style of discussion, I think it is something that high school teachers would be wise to introduce earlier on.
As a new teacher I will undoubtedly assign my projects with this in mind. During my practicum I was careful to design group projects how I, as a student, would have appreciated them being designed. I allowed students some choice of who they were grouped with, I provided them the opportunity to self-evaluate and to evaluate their peers and had these evaluations play into their final assigned mark. Regardless of these efforts, my students still ran into obstacles and group work wasn't a 'highlight' of their experience in my classroom.
A large part of the reason why group work exists is to encourage leadership, we want our students to be 'extroverted' and engaged with everyone around them. This article made me go back through my bookmarked 'Ted' talks to find an interesting presentation given by Susan Cain on why introverts are so important. Her talk also highlights the way the current school system is neglecting the 'introvert'. Click here to watch!
I am especially interested in the author's idea for groups to create blogs to promote higher-level thinking. Groups can start up a webpage or a blog where they each share, individually and as a group, their experiences as they move forward in a project. I think this is a fantastic idea for a classroom. If I assigned a month-long project I could require that each week, one different member of each group would post a 'reflection' on a major question involving the project's subject. Afterwards, each other member of the group would have to post a comment. If universities are trending towards this style of discussion, I think it is something that high school teachers would be wise to introduce earlier on.
Reading #6 - Understanding Content Curation (White, 2012)
This article was one of the more difficult articles to understand so far in this course. I think I have understood the concept between collecting and curating. Collecting being more random and superficial and curating being selective and linked and intertwined to promote higher-level thinking. As a new teacher, this year I have collected, collected and collected tons of resources everywhere I have gone. I have catalogued my course work, filed binders donated to me by my sponsor teachers and even alphabetized PE drills. After reading this article, I am aware now that I have collected but not curated these items. Are all of these items and articles useful moving forward as a teacher? Will they be relevant to my students or to the curriculum itself?
Now that I am moving back in with my parents, temporarily, I will be forced to minimize my belongings. I will need to go through each box carefully and thoughtfully. Having read this article I will be careful to look at each document and binder and question its relevancy when decided its eventual fate.
Now that I am moving back in with my parents, temporarily, I will be forced to minimize my belongings. I will need to go through each box carefully and thoughtfully. Having read this article I will be careful to look at each document and binder and question its relevancy when decided its eventual fate.
Wednesday, 1 August 2012
My First Podcast...
Here you can find my very first Podcast! I chose to adjust my voice to a 'helium voice' because it is a bit more fun to listen to and I think kids would find it amusing!
Enjoy!
Reading #6 - Podcasts (Smart, 2008)
What Mr. Coley has accomplished in his class is very incredible! What an interesting way to engage students in class content and to bring their opinions and knowledge to life.
I am not very familiar, at all, with the Podcasting world. I think I have downloaded a couple here and there but have never really become 'hooked' on them like some of my friends have. I do not think that incorporating the Podcast summary idea as heavily as Mr. Coley has done would be possible for me, at least during my first few years of teaching. I do believe, however, that the Podcast idea would lend itself well to final projects where typically a video, play or poster presentation have been my go-to project formats. If students are able to write a script for a visual or physical display, why not let them create a purely audio project in the form of a podcast? Enhancing their script with sound effects and music (using a program such as Garageband) would help students to create real masterpieces.
Another aspect of the article that I found very interesting was the point that creating Podcasts allows students to be content producers and content consumers. At an early age Mr. Coley has helped show his students the power of knowledge networking. He has empowered his students by sharing their opinions and work with the world. What they have to say 'matters'.
I am not very familiar, at all, with the Podcasting world. I think I have downloaded a couple here and there but have never really become 'hooked' on them like some of my friends have. I do not think that incorporating the Podcast summary idea as heavily as Mr. Coley has done would be possible for me, at least during my first few years of teaching. I do believe, however, that the Podcast idea would lend itself well to final projects where typically a video, play or poster presentation have been my go-to project formats. If students are able to write a script for a visual or physical display, why not let them create a purely audio project in the form of a podcast? Enhancing their script with sound effects and music (using a program such as Garageband) would help students to create real masterpieces.
Another aspect of the article that I found very interesting was the point that creating Podcasts allows students to be content producers and content consumers. At an early age Mr. Coley has helped show his students the power of knowledge networking. He has empowered his students by sharing their opinions and work with the world. What they have to say 'matters'.
Using Wordle...
This Wordle was fast and easy to make. I have created a Wordle using vocabulary from a Grade 9 FSL unit on clothing and style. Some of the ways in which I could use Worlde in the future might include...- reviewing unit vocabulary by compiling all relevant words
- creating title pages for new units
- have students present themselves to the class (in target language) by creating a Wordle and preparing 1-2 sentences to describe how each word is relevant to them
Monday, 30 July 2012
Reading #5 - Online Translators (Polio, 2008)
As an L2 French learner myself, I often use online translators to help myself with writing here and there. I most commonly use Word Reference and Bon Patron to help me with my writing. I have an adequate language level in the target language to determine which online translators I use regularly, however, my students do not have the language level necessary to make informed choices.
During my practicum, I only sent home one writing assignment. It was a group project where students had to write a script of a regular interaction between a customer and a clothing sales clerk. Most of the students were used to writing the script in English and then translating it into French. My personal philosophy is that L2 learning cannot occur as quickly or effectively if the L2 learner's learning process is primarily word ford word translation. At the start of language acquisition it is important that students are translating, however, as a student progresses they should try to rely less and less on translation. In authentic situations, speakers of a foreign language will seldom have the time to consult a dictionary or online source word ford word. In class I encouraged the students to write the script FIRST in French. I noticed that as we progressed through the assignment, many groups would have elaborate French sentences including various grammatical errors very typical of online translation tools. I chose to address this issue with the entire class where we discussed the kinds of errors that can be made using solely online translators. We also discussed when it is appropriate to use them (i.e. editing work).
Another issue that I found particularly interesting was the fact that students in Grade 9 and 10 in my classrooms were almost completely unfamiliar with how to use an actual print dictionary! As I grew up this was the only tool I used so it was a completely foreign concept to me that dictionaries would go untouched in a language classroom. I frequently distributed dictionaries during group exercises and in-class writing assignments. If students use a print dictionary as a primary source the lengthy time it takes to look up words will grow tiresome over time. I believe that using a print dictionary emphasizes the need to pay close attention to spelling and vocabulary during class exercises so that students don't have to spend a copious amount of time looking up every single word. Technology is so quick and gives feedback so immediately that students depend on it too much. I think accountability towards knowledge of class content (by students) would completely change if online translators did not exist.
During my practicum, I only sent home one writing assignment. It was a group project where students had to write a script of a regular interaction between a customer and a clothing sales clerk. Most of the students were used to writing the script in English and then translating it into French. My personal philosophy is that L2 learning cannot occur as quickly or effectively if the L2 learner's learning process is primarily word ford word translation. At the start of language acquisition it is important that students are translating, however, as a student progresses they should try to rely less and less on translation. In authentic situations, speakers of a foreign language will seldom have the time to consult a dictionary or online source word ford word. In class I encouraged the students to write the script FIRST in French. I noticed that as we progressed through the assignment, many groups would have elaborate French sentences including various grammatical errors very typical of online translation tools. I chose to address this issue with the entire class where we discussed the kinds of errors that can be made using solely online translators. We also discussed when it is appropriate to use them (i.e. editing work).
Another issue that I found particularly interesting was the fact that students in Grade 9 and 10 in my classrooms were almost completely unfamiliar with how to use an actual print dictionary! As I grew up this was the only tool I used so it was a completely foreign concept to me that dictionaries would go untouched in a language classroom. I frequently distributed dictionaries during group exercises and in-class writing assignments. If students use a print dictionary as a primary source the lengthy time it takes to look up words will grow tiresome over time. I believe that using a print dictionary emphasizes the need to pay close attention to spelling and vocabulary during class exercises so that students don't have to spend a copious amount of time looking up every single word. Technology is so quick and gives feedback so immediately that students depend on it too much. I think accountability towards knowledge of class content (by students) would completely change if online translators did not exist.
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