Sarafina's+Journal


What are some effective methods of using the Internet in your classroom?  I think that before I can answer the question about how I would use technology in a Secondary Ed. Spanish class that I should really pose the question how do I teach Spanish? This is a question that I have not yet answered as I am a new student at Peabody. Although my undergraduate degree was in Spanish, I have only written one lesson plan so far. I guess I will have to figure out something to teach first, and then I can brainstorm from there to determine how I can use the Internet or a wiki in my class. I know that this journal entry is not that impressive right now, but so far I don't really have much to work with.


 Reflect upon the process of learning and using the web as a classroom tool.  Use of the Internet would be helpful at all levels of Spanish education. At the senior level it can be used when students start to engage other cultures in a more integrated way linguistically, culturally, historically, politically, etc. It can be used in in projects that involve research about Spanish-speaking cultures for term papers or group projects such as the one for making a menu in the lesson plan that I did. At the freshmen level, it can be use for practice in learning to new vocabulary, to find online dictionaries, translators as well as for finding information about other cultures.


 What are some effective methods of using the Microsoft Office Suite in your classroom?  This question begs the same question again. How does my content fit within the framework of this technology stuff. For me these activities do not amount to learning because I don't know in what practical way I can adapt my content area to use with technology. This class is not offering me any real options, and I feel like I am wasting my time. I feel like the activities that I do are disconnected from anything meaningful that has to do with my content area. I wish that I could see in some meaningful way, or have it demonstrated to me how technology corresponds to my content area. I believe that I express this same concern in class today to the instructor. I don't have any problem with thinking, but until I've had some more classes or technological experiences that help me to connect my content area, Spanish, with teaching, which won't happen till the fall, I find it really difficult to connect the dots. As I stated in class, I am a really concrete person, and all this is really abstract as it relates to the classroom for me because I haven't been in one. What I enjoyed about learning foreign language had nothing to do with technology. It had everything to do with listening my professors talk. I have no recollection of foreign language at the high school level. My more recent undergraduate college experience is all that I bring to bear on this learning experience. Being a recent graduate doesn't qualify me in my mind to teach anyone anything about Spanish, that's the reason why I'm in graduate school to learn how to teach students and not bore them to death. The project that I have in mind is boring. If I were I student, I don't think I would like it. I would love to be creative, but I don't know enough about this technology stuff to be creative. I'll have to look at the lesson plan again to see if there is a way to make it interesting and to see if I can do all that voice recording on my computer. If not, I'll do the grade book, which is boring too.


 Reflect upon the process learning and using Microsoft Office as an effective tool.

I know that Microsoft Office is an amazing tool to use because I took a class about it right after I got out of the military in 1998. I learned a lot in that class. I am realizing that my greatest challenge is using a Mac instead of a PC. Everything looks different, and I guess I am a creature of habit. Using the Mac makes me want to get a Mac, even though I can't afford one, just so I can get over the Mac anxiety. I probably need to upgrade to Vista too for the same reason. I like the grade book exercise because I learned some new functions. I see how it can be useful for school especially in the area of organizing and managing my time. I think I might invest some money and time in some of those dummy books for Office like //Excel for dummies//. Once I become a teacher, I will try to figure out ways to use technology to organize and make my life easier. In time, I will be able use it in class after I figure out how to teach.


 What are some effective methods of using digital imagery and video in your classroom?

I really like the idea of using digital imagery for making Collages. I think it would be a good assignment especially for students who may be intimidated by writing in a foreign language. It would offer those students who are visual learning an opportunity to show case their skills and practice research skills on the Internet. The video portion would be good for a group activity, and it could be fun. I think that the teacher would be important in this assignment because they would need to give good directions, and assign roles, so a lesson plan with a clear rubric would be in order. The instructor could also use it to make instructional fun videos to help students learn new vocabulary words in a unit.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> Brainstorm other effective uses of technology not discussed thus far in class.
Technology can be used in a variety of ways in class. In the foreign language class, I think one of the strongest uses would be use of audio visuals to help students with learning new vocabulary word, grammar, etc. The challenge would be finding a course that is well designed and supplemental to lesson plan. For the advance levels in the foreign language class, it may be used as a form of online blogging or journal that would allow students to practice writing in Spanish. It would also be useful for research projects.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">Brainstorm other effective uses of technology not discussed thus far in class.
====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> I made it clear to my instructor at the beginning that I have not taken a methods class in Spanish education, so I find myself at a disadvantage because I don’t know how to teach Spanish. Most of my experiences with language did not include the use of technology. I can only draw on the experience that I have had thus far. ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">In my Teaching Advance Secondary Ed. class, my professor had a non-linear PowerPoint made up of Greek morphemes that taught the students how to learn word parts. I think that it would be a good tool to post on a teach website. It would have been nice to learn how to do this in this class step by step instead of the randomness so that we could all benefit from it, not just those students who are experts with technology. I think I would have loved to have learned how to create one of these. I will try to create one before I leave Peabody for Spanish. ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> Another technology that my professors utilized a lot was movies and documentaries to highlight certain things in the target culture and/or language. ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> We also listened to music and online language tutorials were frequently a part of homework practice, especially for my French and Arabic classes. ====

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">Reflect upon this class, it's effectiveness, it's content, and your place in it.
This class was not a pleasant experience for me for a different reasons. I like technology a lot. I have been working with computers since 1991, so I don't have a problem with using technology. I own a personal computer, I have a cell phone, I drive a car, so I embrace technology. My biggest challenge in this class was doing what I normally do on a PC on a Mac computer. The differences between the two types of computer in the following areas: the mouse, the screens, and the commands were enough to make this class a bit harder than it would have been if I used a PC. It would be helpful to use the skill set offered in this class in conjunction with content learned in a methods class, so that I could have hands-on application of what I am learning while using technology. A suggestion is that the things learned in this class might be embedded along the way in other classes. This may not be feasible, but it's an idea. This class was effective to a degree, but not as effective as it could have been for me. Perhaps it is the time constraints of summer school plus being a new graduate student to Vanderbilt. I definitely believe that the instructor could have created a more positive learning environment at the beginning of the semester by setting clearer goals. The instructor made efforts to be responsive to my request, but not in a way that was meaningful to me. I had to ultimately seek mediation because I didn't seem to be able to get my point across even though, I communicated with the instructor via e-mail about my concerns. In class, I felt rushed and or ignored, which didn't help with my confidence. There were other factors that made this class difficult that had nothing to do with the instructor. They probably played a bigger role in my inability to really engage in learning in a meaningful way than anything else. My place in this class was that of a student and teacher. I think a key component to my place in this class had very little to do with the content, and everything to do with teaching-student relations for me. I take away from this class some things that I will definitely try to use in my classroom (video, collages, grade book) as well as some things that I won't use in my classroom (the introduction at the beginning that set a negative tone for me).

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> = = Sarafina's Page Spanish Menu Lesson Plan Grade Book Colombia Collage Sticks and Spanish Stuff Safe Feedback

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