Fenomenal Flickr Fotos

The possibilities are endless when it comes to creativity with digital photos.  I have been using Kodak Gallery (formerly Ofoto.com)  for the past 8 years to share pictures monthly with my family and friends.  I often use my own digital pictures in the classroom when I am teaching about a country I visited.  However, there are so many countries I have yet to explore and flickr is a great tool to bring to life those places, that I personally have not experienced first hand, like Machu Pichu, Peru.

Image Citation: Machu Pichu by cudinski. Retrieved November 8, 2011 from http://www.flickr.com/photos/cudinski/290974450/lightbox/

Blog using Wikis 4-D-1

After having completed the assignment in the wiki, I can see many useful activities that would benefit from this type of collaboration.  This was my first experience with a wiki apart from the one time I did actually make a correction on Wikipedia. 

One activity, in particular, that I would like to try would be a class Chain Story in Spanish.  It would be an online version of passing a paper around the room and adding a sentence to create a fun story.  This would help students practice connecting words, using synonyms and editing grammar.  I think it would be a nice method to use a particular set of vocabulary words in context to create meaningful communication.

Where do we fit?

As a language teacher, I feel my department is constantly struggling to fit "in".  We seem to be caught in the middle between required courses and electives.  Students are required to take 2 years of a foreign language in High School if they are planning to attend college.  Sometimes we are considered to be a core subject because the grades earned in language courses count toward the GPA and the courses are weighted as College Prep, Honors and Advanced Placement.  However, there is no language requirement for graduation.  

In other countries, the children begin to study English at an early age.  Why is it that my district only begins to offer foreign language in 7th grade?  Research shows that learning a foreign language improves critical thinking skills and creativity.   Students also generally score higher on standardized tests and perform better in other subjects.  The study of a world language and culture prepares students to compete in a global society and provides them with insight into the diverse and complex world in which we live.

Technology is bringing the world closer together.  We can Skype with friends and family around the world, send messages instantly circumventing the globe and yet we don’t see how important it is to learn another language.  It is just an “extra”.  So my question is: Is English enough?  Wouldn’t studying another language help us compete in this global society?   What skills do you feel are necessary for our kids to have as the world becomes a smaller place?

 

Learning Activity 3-D-2 Social Bookmarking Plan

I plan to use Diigo as my social bookmarking platform for the World Language Department teachers at my school.  All too often, our department meetings are filled with required discussions about school events, surveys that need to be completed or topics relating to school policies.  We rarely get a chance to collaborate about things pertaining to what we teach.  By creating a place where resources can be shared among our department members, we will be able to more efficiently access new ideas and technology that will not only enrich our teaching by also prove to be beneficial to our students.

3-C-1 Pageflake

Here is my  Pagecast resource page.

RSS Feeds

As a novice to RSS feeds, I can see how it helps to have the information and posts delivered right to one place.  However, I feel as though I just created another email account that has more information than I can handle.

I think the most important and useful part of RSS will be for me to monitor my student blogs and for the class to keep up with posts made by their peers.  This will save quite a bit of time.  This activity will replace the journals my students previously wrote in composition books.  Instead of adding more to a packed curriculum, this will change the activity to make it more pertinent to my students' lives by incorporating 21st century skills.  

Comment on Blog- Learning Activity 2-D-1

Here is the link to my comment if it is accepted.