Happenings

So, I decided to write this blog today because I have been thinking of what I should focus on during my presentation on Wednesday for the 1:1 Conference we are holding in our school. Well, there have been so many things I have done in the past year and a half that I don't know what to choose. My Spanish classes have had to learn how to use a multitude of sites and to collaborate and communicate with students who are not in our building and sometimes not even in our continent. It has been a wild ride and exciting at the same time. Bookr, Glogster, Voicethread, Kubbu and Lingtlanguage have pretty much become staples in our classroom. I like to keep things moving and changing, however the students are not always up for it, so I guess change is difficult for everyone even the young ones.... I sometimes wish the students had as much passion for learning as we teachers do. One of my fellow teachers, Ryan Burkhart, spent over 5 hours working on a video so that the students could get the content while he was away at a conference. The students thought it was cool but I wonder if they can transfer that and actually create cool videos themselves, or cool projects themselves. His video wasn't just a simple recording, he actually put a lot of work into it. I hope students see that as an example of what they can do too. I assign projects every week, and as much as they complain about having to do so many projects they appreciate the fact they don't need to take tests anymore. I sometimes am impressed with the creativity and some of the work they do. Over the past year, I have gotten an array of projects that I was really proud of. My goal is to keep pushing the envelope and keep the changes going. The world is moving fast and we can't just wait and see what happens, I want my students to be part of this change. We are fortunate in our school that we have the 1:1 initiative and all of the students have access to a computer 24/7. The possibilities are endless and my wheels are always spinning. I am not going to lie, it is extremely time consuming, although I think this year has gone a lot easier and less work, since some of the projects and sites are already established. For example: last year I had to create my wiki from scratch, well this year it is ready to go and I just need to add the new things we are working on, the same with the blog, kubbu and lingtlanguage. Therefore, last year I was working around the clock to stay on top of things, this year things are going a little more smoothly. I also don't have to spend as many hours in front of the computer as I did last year. So, those of you are feeling overwhelmed and thinking that this is a lot more work that it was without the technology, there is a light in the end of the tunnel. I have had more time for myself, even though I keep finding new tools and new projects to do with my students. By having the tests online I have more free time because now the tests are checked for me. So I can use this time to check things online and find some new ideas for my classes. The highlight of this year so far was the quinceañera reenactment that we did with South Hamilton. The videos can be found in this blog too.

Newell-Fonda has been a great school to work at and in the short time I have been there I have made some great friendships. Students are great and I can't wait to see what other projects they will create for me. Keep checking our blog to see the amazing things students are creating.

Making of the quinceañera

Making of the quinceañera

Novelas

My Spanish 4 class is going to be working on a long unit about Novelas. They will watch several different telenovelas from different latin countries and eventually they will choose a theme and sub themes for their own telenovela. As a group they will write an entire plot and next semester they will add dialogues. To make things interesting, we will actually submit the plot to a Spanish channel, like Telemundo, Univisión, Telefutura and so on. Students will have a real audience and will learn about the culture as well as get a chance to work on grammar issues. We will also use Facebook or Orkut to create the personalities of our characters. I am very excited about this project and hopefully the kids will get into it too...

Our Quinceañera party.

Newell-Fonda and South Hamilton Spanish 2 and 4 students got together via the internet to plan a quinceañera together. Spanish 2 students were placed in groups together and had to do the research for the party. From the decorations to the ceremony, everything had to be planned by them. They communicated using a pbworks site and had a couple of weeks to talk about their findings and what was that they were going to do. Spanish 4 students were responsible for preparing the dances for the party, including the "vals" and the "baile sorpresa". The students did a great job planning and getting ready for the party. It was a great day and everyone had a lot of fun. I also had the students record themselves talking about their thoughts about the experience and most of them said they were surprised with all the stuff they actually learned by actually experiencing everything first hand.