I am eager to learn "The 23 Things" that will be discussed in this class. I know that they will contribute to the excitement and motivation that I want to instill in my students as they learn Spanish. Learning a foreign language is all about communication, this means that they need to collaborate. I want this collaboration to go beyond the walls of my classroom. What better tool than the Web to do this? In Teaching with the Internet K-12: New Literacies for New Times, Leu Leu and Coiro (2004) state,"The Internet allows students and teachers to explore new models of collaborative learning that transcend national and cultural borders" (p.13). If you would like to check out the website for this book you can click on http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~djleu/fourth.html . It has great ideas on how to integrate technology in all content areas.
It was clear by the instructional videos that the Internet has changed how we communicate and react to what is happening around us. Keepin up with this technology will help my content area come alive. I do not want my student's learning learning to be stagnant.
I recently had my Spanish for Native Speakers class participate in a contest. They had to write a love poem for Valentine's day (the pre-requisite was a 20 words or less poem). The contest was hosted by Mundo Hispanico, a local newspaper for the Hispanic community. I can not tell you how excited they were to write and send their poems through the newspapers' site! We hope to see the poems published next week. I will let you know if one of them wins "the special prize!"
Students of the 21st century must be able to be literate on the use of the Internet. Being able to identify, navigate, evaluate, synthesize and communicate information found on the Internet will be a tremendous advantage as they prepare to become members of the work force. It will also be helpful in their personal and social lives.
Happy learning everyone!
Mrs. K
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"The Internet allows students and teachers to explore new models of collaborative learning that transcend national and cultural borders"
ReplyDeleteThe Internet "flattens" everything! Basically, we now have the opportunity to connect and collaborate with anyone with a click of a mouse. These opportunities are what really excite me and I would love to see our teachers participating in some global collaborative projects!
I'd also like to touch on your literacy comment as well. I think when many people read the word "literacy" they only think of reading skills, but so many other literacies exist now that need to be addressed in education, information literacy being among them!
Thank you for your comment Caroline. I would love to have my students participate in a collaborative project. It has such relevance in a foreign language class. I feel more comfortable with technology than I did a few years ago. After this class I am confident that I will be able to provide my students with the opportunity of working in collaborative projects.
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