I thought the Backward Design reading was interesting. It seemed a bit odd at first that this way of planning lessons involves going "backwards", but I think that's just because I'm super tired and backwards is not forwards, which is generally the direction I like to go. After reading it, it totally makes sense that we should start with our goals of the lessons first and work backwards from there - otherwise we'd just be planning lessons with no point and no relation to each other, hoping that our students would maybe magically learn something.
Like Brianne and Diane, I had some mixed feelings about the NYT Learning Network. At first glance, it seemed like an awesome resource for some current, applicable, and possibly fun lesson ideas. While I'm sure I would find a lot more of these if I spent more time on the website, the lack of material on my specific content area bugged me. I know that foreign languages are tricky because FL teaching includes material from other disciplines like history, social studies, and linguistics. I wasn't expecting a "German teachers click here" link, but it would be nice if there was a foreign language section of the website - to avoid searching through the others (Current Events, Global History, Geography) hoping for a match.
Also, it bugged me that the first 3 things I found that were related to anything German were about WWII/Hitler/the Holocaust. I completely understand that those topics are a big part of Germany's history and need to be covered in a German class. However, one of the reasons I want to be a German teacher is that I feel many Americans only see Germany in the context of WWII, and I think German history and culture have much more to offer. Why don't people talk about Arminius, the awesome Germanic chieftain who kicked the Romans' butts? Or Otto von Bismarck, the guy who basically designed and unified Germany? Or so many other awesome, non-Hitler, non-Nazi Germans who did awesome things? It would be nice to see more information about the whole picture of Germany...that's all I'm sayin'.
I apologize that this may seem a little ranty, and I sincerely hope it all kind of makes sense. I've been moving all weekend, and I'm super tired...but what can you do?
Hi Caroline~
ReplyDelete"... the lack of material on my specific content area bugged me."
Moi aussi (ich auch)!! I could not agree more with your sentiments (as well as those of Diane and Brianne) . It was disheartening that such a globally preeminent news source resource such as NYT would exclude lesson plans and resources for world languages. I suppose we'll have to be creative in developing our own...
~Mindy
I know we talked about this in our lesson planning activity today, but I was also very frustrated by the lack of resources for my content area. I was really excited, though, when we started looking, about the number of valuable resources that are out there. I had a great time figuring out ways to make this activity apply to us and our forgotten languages!
ReplyDeleteOne of my mentors used to say to me when I said something similar to you guys, "You see the problem -- now go out and fix it." (Yeah, yeah, I know. One more thing to add to your MAC plate!) If you have the concern, there's no doubt in my mind that others do, too. Try joining the state world languages association so you can meet others who teach what you teach. It will make a HUGE difference!
ReplyDeleteAlso (not to beat a dead horse), you can always say to your librarian, "You know, I can't find anything about ______. When you have a minute, could you poke around and see if you can find anything?" Librarians love to be busy and helpful! Your two languages groups might like to pool what you learned today!
Kristin