Wow! I've been reading other blogs and am amazed at the wide range of bloggers out there! I signed up to follow a blog but they haven't written much, yet. I've really enjoyed the teaching ideas featured in a lot of the blogs. My favorites though are the humorous reflections on teaching. The stories make me think about my own students and classrooms. Teaching brings such joy and meaning to my life that I'm eager to talk about it and read about it. It's great to interact with other teachers and discover that the ups and downs of classroom life are universal!
As I checked/changed settings on my blog, I found the permissions tab. Up to 100 authors?! Awesome! This would be a great feature that would allow my Spanish students from one school to communicate with those from another!
I'm glad to be teaching in such a great time with technological progress moving forward at light speed!
Saturday, March 13, 2010
New Phone!
I've just been trying out my new cell phone. It's amazing how each new phone has so many more features than the last. The helpful salesperson and the store had already transferred my contacts from my old phone to the new one. As I was playing around with the tiny instruction book (I remember when they used to be gigantic!) I noticed the voice command feature. I said, "Call Mom." The phone asked, "Did you say, "Call mom"?" I replied "Yes" and the phone started dialing. Amazing!
I heard about a cool class assignment a Spanish teacher gave to her students. She had them take a video camera home and tape the various vocabulary items while they named them in Spanish. It wouldn't have been too long ago that the need for multiple video cameras would have been challenging. Now, many students would be able to use cell phones for the assignments!
I'm eager to start exploring the many features and applications I now have easy access to! I've already ran the battery down, so most of that will wait until tomorrow!
I heard about a cool class assignment a Spanish teacher gave to her students. She had them take a video camera home and tape the various vocabulary items while they named them in Spanish. It wouldn't have been too long ago that the need for multiple video cameras would have been challenging. Now, many students would be able to use cell phones for the assignments!
I'm eager to start exploring the many features and applications I now have easy access to! I've already ran the battery down, so most of that will wait until tomorrow!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
I'm a privilege to teach!
Today's title comes from a quote from one of my students. He said this yesterday. I'm a day late getting it posted on my facebook page, too! Actually, I really enjoy my students and think that sharing our senses of humor makes the class a lot more fun. Over the years I've developed a very serious persona and students can do and say things that crack each other up, but never get a glimpse of a smile out of me. Once in awhile, though, a student will say something that takes me completely off guard and I let loose with a hearty laugh.
This fall, October 22, 2009, to be precise, one of my students was advocating for his incorrect homework answer. Because I teach Spanish, there is always the possibility that more than one expression will work as an answer to a question. Students are encouraged to offer alternatives and to challenge me on any assignment if they feel their answer is deserving of credit. On this particular workbook page, there was a picture of a floor lamp and a teenager standing next to it. The boy was taller than the lamp, prompting the students to write "El es alto." (He is tall). One student wrote, "El es inteligente." (He is intelligent). So, my student (TC) was explaining why his answer was equally valid. He pointed out the boy was wearing glasses (a definite plus for this, four-eyed, Spanish teacher). Rather than let that stand alone in making his case, however he had to offer more evidence. The boy in the picture was slouching with his hands in his pockets. TC offered, "Smart people put their hands in their pants!" Well, that did it! The whole class started to laugh. I actually had to wipe the tears from my eyes! I knew I wouldn't want to forget this story so I grabbed a piece of paper and wrote it down.
Since then, I've taken to pulling out my pocket calendar to write student quotes/anecdotes. That way they are on the same date I hear them. Students get excited when they've said/done something "quotable". I always post them anonymously and friends get a kick out of stories that remind them of their own school days, either as students or teachers.
That same hour, another student tried repeating TC's famous line. It didn't work, the mask was back on and I sternly informed them that the comment was no longer funny. Of course, I was still laughing on the inside, where it counts!
This fall, October 22, 2009, to be precise, one of my students was advocating for his incorrect homework answer. Because I teach Spanish, there is always the possibility that more than one expression will work as an answer to a question. Students are encouraged to offer alternatives and to challenge me on any assignment if they feel their answer is deserving of credit. On this particular workbook page, there was a picture of a floor lamp and a teenager standing next to it. The boy was taller than the lamp, prompting the students to write "El es alto." (He is tall). One student wrote, "El es inteligente." (He is intelligent). So, my student (TC) was explaining why his answer was equally valid. He pointed out the boy was wearing glasses (a definite plus for this, four-eyed, Spanish teacher). Rather than let that stand alone in making his case, however he had to offer more evidence. The boy in the picture was slouching with his hands in his pockets. TC offered, "Smart people put their hands in their pants!" Well, that did it! The whole class started to laugh. I actually had to wipe the tears from my eyes! I knew I wouldn't want to forget this story so I grabbed a piece of paper and wrote it down.
Since then, I've taken to pulling out my pocket calendar to write student quotes/anecdotes. That way they are on the same date I hear them. Students get excited when they've said/done something "quotable". I always post them anonymously and friends get a kick out of stories that remind them of their own school days, either as students or teachers.
That same hour, another student tried repeating TC's famous line. It didn't work, the mask was back on and I sternly informed them that the comment was no longer funny. Of course, I was still laughing on the inside, where it counts!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Thing 2 First Post
I haven't started a blog because I didn't think I'd have time to keep it up to date! Now, I'll have to see if I can!
I recently read an article about technology in the classroom. The featured school was doing really cool things with ipods and cell phones. Since my schools normally ban these things, I think it may be more realistic for me to start with other tools like blogs and wikis. I have done projects with students where they create the review tools for tests. Changing something like that to a wiki would be an easy and logical place to start.
Because I teach middle school students Spanish, incorporating technology would be a way to add some interest to say, conjugating verbs. I have shared web addresses with students that have games available to practice and alternate explanations for grammar points. I'm always willing to admit that someone else may be better able to explain something than I.
Students have found Google translator on their own! The problem with that is they are not always careful about the information they input and so the answer doesn't come out quite right. I've likened it to using a calculator. If the answer you get is "way off" you might recheck your input. Unfortunately, the answer from the translator is either not "way off" or they just don't have enough knowledge to recognize that it is not correct. They always feel so cheated when the answer is wrong!
Speaking of calculators, I've been teaching long enough (19 years) that they were one of the first technologies I got to use with my students. A 5th grade student came up to me many years ago and asked a simple question, like "What is 73-39?" I answered, "34", then asked, "You have a calculator in your hand, why didn't you just use that?" "Oh, I did," she replied, "But I wanted to make sure it was right!" Now that I teach middle schoolers, I seldom worry that they'll think I'm the source of all knowledge!
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