I thought our last session was awesome. It was great to hear from so many people currently teaching in the field. One of the things that I noticed was that they all had their own favorite technologies that they like to use in and out of the classroom. A few times over the course of this class, I have felt a bit overwhelmed - I would think, "I'm supposed to use Twitter, Google Docs, Google Reader, podcasts, Facebook, and all these technologies all at the same time in the classroom???" It seemed like a bit much to be taking on in a classroom setting (however, don't most of us already use all the things together regularly in our personal lives?), but it was helpful to see that the teachers we talked to pick and choose what technologies they like using.
One of the things that was brought up a few times by the teachers was Moodle. It sounds like a great tool, and I hope we'll get to cover it in class later this year. It was what I wished for on Wallwisher (another great tool!). Moodle sounds similar to a Google site (a few of which I've made before), but I'm very interested to find out the testing options through the site.
Overall, I've really enjoyed the first part of this class. I feel like I've learned about a few great new tools to use, and have become more familiar with the things we covered that I had already been using. I'm looking forward to the point/counterpoint projects, although not quite as much as I'm looking forward to having a month off to relax.....who am I kidding? I have a wedding to plan, there will be no relaxing this month! Oh well, maybe next June.
Anyway, happy August, everyone!!!!
Monday, August 1, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Generation what?
What generation am I? The Klapperstuck/Kearns article made me question whether I am part of Generation M. If I had just read the first two pages, I would have been like "YEAH! GENERATION M! WOOOO!", but as I kept reading, I felt more and more like I don't want to be a part of Generation M if that's how older people view them. Maybe I'm mistaking their tone, but it really seemed to me that Klapperstuck and Kearns and all their friends they quote don't think too highly of Generation M. Yeah, all the ways we're connected is great, but it seems that Klapperstuck and Kearns don't think too much about what that connection does for us...but I take issue with some of their points. Here are issues I have with the article:
1. It seems that Klapperstuck and Kearns consider all of Generation M to be narcissistic, self-centered teens. Ok, so according to Wikipedia, I'm one year too old to be a part of Generation M, but I still feel a part of it, and I don't really consider myself to be a narcissistic, self-centered teen (but maybe that's just me being narcissistic). Maybe it's because this article was written in 2009, but Generation M is growing up, and I feel like our connectedness makes us less self-centered. Yes, there's the occasional jerk who posts youtube videos of himself flexing, and Facebook is filled with teenage girls making kissy faces and taking 1000 pictures of themselves in bathroom mirrors, but aren't there people like that in every age group? But for us older Gen M's, I feel like begin connected makes us think less about ourselves and more about others. I use Facebook primarily to see what my friends are doing, not to tell them every single move I make. I use Twitter to follow the news, not to follow celeb gossip. I feel like the technologies I use make me more concerned about the world around me, rather than making me more self-centered, as Klapperstuck and Kearns suggest (although they do give social activism a nod, which slightly redeemed them in my eyes)
2. Yes, as Klapperstuck and Kearns said approximately 700 times, Gen M has a different sense of the difference between "public" and "private". I would argue that yes, we have a different sense of it, not because we're sensory challenged, but because the line between what is public and what is private are actually changing...and I'm not convinced this is a bad thing. Do I want to know every time my 14-year-old cousin gets a strawberry smoothie or see pictures of my friend's dog in surgery? No. I could care less. But I do think that the blurring of private and public material forces us to be more honest. The more people share their private lives online, the more honest they have to be in public - just look at Anthony Weiner and his weiner pics and a hundred other celebrities and politicians who have had secrets revealed through social media. And now, I'm definitely more careful about my behavior in places where pictures might be taken that end up on Facebook. I think the interconnectedness causes us (or at least the smart ones of us) to be more cautious in all areas of our lives, public and private.
Those are just some of the issues I have with the article. I'm slightly disappointed - I had such high hopes for a reading from someone with such a German last name as Klapperstuck.
As for the other readings, I found the Seeking article to be very interesting. I liked that a lot of the information was from a UM psych professor (Go Blue!), and thought the concept of seeking/wanting in contrast to liking is interesting. I can definitely identify times where I have looked up information without actually caring what it was or remembering it after I look it up. I also thought it's interesting that Dopamine controls our sense of time. If seeking/wanting raises levels of Dopamine, which causes people to think they've spent less time seeking than they actually have, I understand why I can be on Wikipedia for hours when I only intended to look up one article.
Also, I think Lauren Fardig's lesson was really cool. I'm excited to talk to her.
1. It seems that Klapperstuck and Kearns consider all of Generation M to be narcissistic, self-centered teens. Ok, so according to Wikipedia, I'm one year too old to be a part of Generation M, but I still feel a part of it, and I don't really consider myself to be a narcissistic, self-centered teen (but maybe that's just me being narcissistic). Maybe it's because this article was written in 2009, but Generation M is growing up, and I feel like our connectedness makes us less self-centered. Yes, there's the occasional jerk who posts youtube videos of himself flexing, and Facebook is filled with teenage girls making kissy faces and taking 1000 pictures of themselves in bathroom mirrors, but aren't there people like that in every age group? But for us older Gen M's, I feel like begin connected makes us think less about ourselves and more about others. I use Facebook primarily to see what my friends are doing, not to tell them every single move I make. I use Twitter to follow the news, not to follow celeb gossip. I feel like the technologies I use make me more concerned about the world around me, rather than making me more self-centered, as Klapperstuck and Kearns suggest (although they do give social activism a nod, which slightly redeemed them in my eyes)
2. Yes, as Klapperstuck and Kearns said approximately 700 times, Gen M has a different sense of the difference between "public" and "private". I would argue that yes, we have a different sense of it, not because we're sensory challenged, but because the line between what is public and what is private are actually changing...and I'm not convinced this is a bad thing. Do I want to know every time my 14-year-old cousin gets a strawberry smoothie or see pictures of my friend's dog in surgery? No. I could care less. But I do think that the blurring of private and public material forces us to be more honest. The more people share their private lives online, the more honest they have to be in public - just look at Anthony Weiner and his weiner pics and a hundred other celebrities and politicians who have had secrets revealed through social media. And now, I'm definitely more careful about my behavior in places where pictures might be taken that end up on Facebook. I think the interconnectedness causes us (or at least the smart ones of us) to be more cautious in all areas of our lives, public and private.
Those are just some of the issues I have with the article. I'm slightly disappointed - I had such high hopes for a reading from someone with such a German last name as Klapperstuck.
As for the other readings, I found the Seeking article to be very interesting. I liked that a lot of the information was from a UM psych professor (Go Blue!), and thought the concept of seeking/wanting in contrast to liking is interesting. I can definitely identify times where I have looked up information without actually caring what it was or remembering it after I look it up. I also thought it's interesting that Dopamine controls our sense of time. If seeking/wanting raises levels of Dopamine, which causes people to think they've spent less time seeking than they actually have, I understand why I can be on Wikipedia for hours when I only intended to look up one article.
Also, I think Lauren Fardig's lesson was really cool. I'm excited to talk to her.
Monday, July 25, 2011
"Ding" is "Thing" in German
Was the story made up of webdings or wingdings? And what's the difference anyway? Regardless of my confusion on this matter, I thought the activity we did was very interesting. I was super confused at first because I thought that each symbol stood for a letter, instead of a concept. After my buddy Kyle kindly helped me see the error of my ways, the activity because much easier, and much more fun. The conversation that followed was interesting, and I particularly appreciated that we spent a bit of time discussing foreign languages. I often feel like we FL people get sort of forgotten when we're talking about literacy and standardized testing in our other classes, so it was nice to get a little recognition.
Also, I was reservedly excited about the whole podcast activity. I really like podcasts, but I don't like listening to myself...but I think that's just something I'm going to have to get over because it sounds like I'll be doing a lot of that this year. My own insecurities aside however, I think podcasts are an AWESOME tool, especially for language classes. Think of all the great applications! You could provide audio to texts that your students have to read so they get used to the cadence of the language. Students learn proper pronunciation when they listen to you or a native speaker on a podcast. Think how fun a lesson in dialects could be using podcasts! You could have students create their own podcasts and greatly increase the amount of speaking practice each student, not to mention speaking practice that can be heard by the teacher and evaluated. I feel like I could find 100+ ways to use podcasts in the classroom, and I think at least 99 of those ways would be ones with which students could have lots of creative fun.
Also, this is completely unrelated, but I was just thinking about how words have changed with the emergence of new technologies. For example, we all know what "click and drag" means now, but what would the meaning of those words together have been 50 years ago? My guess is that it would have been some tap dance move. YAY SEMANTICS!
Also, I was reservedly excited about the whole podcast activity. I really like podcasts, but I don't like listening to myself...but I think that's just something I'm going to have to get over because it sounds like I'll be doing a lot of that this year. My own insecurities aside however, I think podcasts are an AWESOME tool, especially for language classes. Think of all the great applications! You could provide audio to texts that your students have to read so they get used to the cadence of the language. Students learn proper pronunciation when they listen to you or a native speaker on a podcast. Think how fun a lesson in dialects could be using podcasts! You could have students create their own podcasts and greatly increase the amount of speaking practice each student, not to mention speaking practice that can be heard by the teacher and evaluated. I feel like I could find 100+ ways to use podcasts in the classroom, and I think at least 99 of those ways would be ones with which students could have lots of creative fun.
Also, this is completely unrelated, but I was just thinking about how words have changed with the emergence of new technologies. For example, we all know what "click and drag" means now, but what would the meaning of those words together have been 50 years ago? My guess is that it would have been some tap dance move. YAY SEMANTICS!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
"Game" and "German" both start with G.
I'm pretty excited to talk about video games. As a kid, I played quite a few video/computer games, and I feel like most of them helped me in one way or another. Because I feel like reminiscing, here's a short list of some of the games I played and what I feel like I learned from them.
- Anna Tommy was an action game that taught me about anatomy (get the name?), this was one of the first computer games I played, bought for my brother and I by our veterinarian father.
- Oregon Trail taught me about that part of history and also that you should never start trekking across the country with ammo as your only cargo.
- Mario Kart taught me some fine motor skills and that you have to brake before you turn so you don't crash.
- Sim City taught me what you need to make a city function well and that people don't like living by coal power plants.
- Pharaoh/Caesar were both like Sim City, but also included some information about ancient Egypt and Rome, like that you need to irrigate crops if you live in the desert, and that the Gods don't like it when you don't pay tribute to them.
- The Sims taught me some valuable life lessons like you need money (or cheat codes) if you want fancy things. It also made me an expert furniture arranger.
-Tetris taught me how to plan ahead, like you can't always count on one of those long pieces to come and bail you out.
Anyway, enough reminiscing. While reading the Gee article, 3 of the learning principles stood out to me:
The first one was #4: Risk taking - I think this is a great thing about video games. A lot of schools put a lot of pressure on kids to get the "right answer" all the time, which I think discourages some kids from taking chances because they're afraid to be wrong. The fact that you get a lot of do-overs in games encourages risk taking, and through risk taking, kids can come up with some pretty creative solutions. I'd like to encourage more risk-taking in my classroom. In learning a foreign language, I think kids get held up from participating (especially in speaking) because they're worried about getting the grammar 100% right. I think it's important to let kids know that a language classroom is a low-pressure environment, and that content is more important than grammar. This would hopefully encourage more participation, more risk-taking, and more creativity.
Risk taking, especially in the context of a language class is related to #16: Performance before competence. Again, in creating a low-pressure environment, students should know that it's important that they try to speak/write in the language they're learning, and that they can do so even if they aren't 100% familiar with grammar or vocab. It's important to get kids talking, and build competence (or in this case, fluency) along the way - rather than waiting to get kids talking until they feel 100% competent (which probably isn't likely to happen in a beginning German class). In my opinion, a student actually trying to say something in German is way more important than if they said it correctly.
The last principle that struck me was #10: Situated meanings. I think this is very relevant to foreign language classes, and this is a reason some games could be very useful in language classes. As Gee said, students learn words better when they can associate them with an experience or situation. No one learns to be fluent in German by simply studying a German-English dictionary. Fluency comes with experience and through interaction. This is where I think games that create virtual worlds are great for language learning. You can create experiences and interactions online, and use those to help students learn.
Lastly, I thought the video from Jane McGonigal was fascinating (although I was slightly disappointed her last named isn't spelled McGonagall...sorry - Harry Potter moment). I think gamers are a great human resource, like she said, but I guess my big question is "How do we use this information in the classroom...specifically a foreign language classroom?" However, I'm sure Jeff will enlighten us all tomorrow, and I am looking forward to that.
The end.
Oh, also, my power went out today and it is crazy hot. Boo.
- Anna Tommy was an action game that taught me about anatomy (get the name?), this was one of the first computer games I played, bought for my brother and I by our veterinarian father.
- Oregon Trail taught me about that part of history and also that you should never start trekking across the country with ammo as your only cargo.
- Mario Kart taught me some fine motor skills and that you have to brake before you turn so you don't crash.
- Sim City taught me what you need to make a city function well and that people don't like living by coal power plants.
- Pharaoh/Caesar were both like Sim City, but also included some information about ancient Egypt and Rome, like that you need to irrigate crops if you live in the desert, and that the Gods don't like it when you don't pay tribute to them.
- The Sims taught me some valuable life lessons like you need money (or cheat codes) if you want fancy things. It also made me an expert furniture arranger.
-Tetris taught me how to plan ahead, like you can't always count on one of those long pieces to come and bail you out.
Anyway, enough reminiscing. While reading the Gee article, 3 of the learning principles stood out to me:
The first one was #4: Risk taking - I think this is a great thing about video games. A lot of schools put a lot of pressure on kids to get the "right answer" all the time, which I think discourages some kids from taking chances because they're afraid to be wrong. The fact that you get a lot of do-overs in games encourages risk taking, and through risk taking, kids can come up with some pretty creative solutions. I'd like to encourage more risk-taking in my classroom. In learning a foreign language, I think kids get held up from participating (especially in speaking) because they're worried about getting the grammar 100% right. I think it's important to let kids know that a language classroom is a low-pressure environment, and that content is more important than grammar. This would hopefully encourage more participation, more risk-taking, and more creativity.
Risk taking, especially in the context of a language class is related to #16: Performance before competence. Again, in creating a low-pressure environment, students should know that it's important that they try to speak/write in the language they're learning, and that they can do so even if they aren't 100% familiar with grammar or vocab. It's important to get kids talking, and build competence (or in this case, fluency) along the way - rather than waiting to get kids talking until they feel 100% competent (which probably isn't likely to happen in a beginning German class). In my opinion, a student actually trying to say something in German is way more important than if they said it correctly.
The last principle that struck me was #10: Situated meanings. I think this is very relevant to foreign language classes, and this is a reason some games could be very useful in language classes. As Gee said, students learn words better when they can associate them with an experience or situation. No one learns to be fluent in German by simply studying a German-English dictionary. Fluency comes with experience and through interaction. This is where I think games that create virtual worlds are great for language learning. You can create experiences and interactions online, and use those to help students learn.
Lastly, I thought the video from Jane McGonigal was fascinating (although I was slightly disappointed her last named isn't spelled McGonagall...sorry - Harry Potter moment). I think gamers are a great human resource, like she said, but I guess my big question is "How do we use this information in the classroom...specifically a foreign language classroom?" However, I'm sure Jeff will enlighten us all tomorrow, and I am looking forward to that.
The end.
Oh, also, my power went out today and it is crazy hot. Boo.
Monday, July 18, 2011
A Librarian Named Sue
I thought class was really interesting today. As I mentioned in my last post, I was pretty skeptical about how possible it would be to talk about the Japan tsunami in a German class, let alone plan a whole day of activities for it. And then, when we were assigned our groups, it was me, Brianne, my fellow Germanophile, and Mary, our resident Latin expert. This is what went through my mind: "Are you kidding? We have the three people with the subjects least related to Japan." But after sitting down and putting our heads together, we actually came up with some good ideas and I think we all got excited about some of our findings. I guess I need to not get pessimistic so quickly...and now that I really think about it, I'm pretty sure you could make connections between any two countries or more in a foreign language classroom. It's just about looking beyond grammar and vocab and looking at culture and history...which is really what makes a language fun to learn (for me).
I also learned a lot from Sue, the librarian we were working with. She had some good ideas about looking for resources that went beyond google. She also had a lot of good tips for how to design a lesson plan and how to assess what we wanted students to learn. The thing I appreciate most about her was her willingness to help and share ideas. I hope that the school I'm placed in and wherever I end up working has a librarian who is as open, friendly, and helpful as Sue was.
Also, the Brandon Center is pretty awesome.
I also learned a lot from Sue, the librarian we were working with. She had some good ideas about looking for resources that went beyond google. She also had a lot of good tips for how to design a lesson plan and how to assess what we wanted students to learn. The thing I appreciate most about her was her willingness to help and share ideas. I hope that the school I'm placed in and wherever I end up working has a librarian who is as open, friendly, and helpful as Sue was.
Also, the Brandon Center is pretty awesome.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Readings for 7/18
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?
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?
Friday, July 15, 2011
Twitter, Reader, and Product Reviews
I thought today's class was quite interesting. We talked extensively about Twitter and Google Reader - two things that I've been using for a few years and love to use. I thought the Twitter discussion was really cool. I already felt like I knew how to use Twitter really well, but it was eye-opening to see how it could be used in different (and perhaps more productive) ways than I already use it. Like Kristin mentioned in class, the hashtags I typically use on my personal account are quite snarky. It was interesting to see hashtags actually used as a handy tool.
I'm also pretty excited that we're using Google Reader. I go on Reader multiple times a day, so I'm looking forward to using something with which I'm familiar for an academic purpose. I like to think of Google Reader as my own personal newspaper filled with information that I actually care about.
This product review deal should be interesting. I'll be reviewing Adobe Acrobat X. On one hand, I'm excited because I used to use Acrobat all the time at my old job to make fillable forms, and I actually had a lot of fun doing that. On the other hand, I'm not sure I feel "qualified" enough to be reviewing computer software...that seems like something engineers or people who program for fun would be good at, not so much me. We shall see how this goes...
I'm also pretty excited that we're using Google Reader. I go on Reader multiple times a day, so I'm looking forward to using something with which I'm familiar for an academic purpose. I like to think of Google Reader as my own personal newspaper filled with information that I actually care about.
This product review deal should be interesting. I'll be reviewing Adobe Acrobat X. On one hand, I'm excited because I used to use Acrobat all the time at my old job to make fillable forms, and I actually had a lot of fun doing that. On the other hand, I'm not sure I feel "qualified" enough to be reviewing computer software...that seems like something engineers or people who program for fun would be good at, not so much me. We shall see how this goes...
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