On NOT Becoming Obsolete...

A teacher is like an extension cord: plugged into two different outlets, bringing energy and power to each one.  On one end is her students; on the other is the rest of the world.  Her students are like the power source; if they aren't "plugged in", all of the power and energy is lost.  At the other end of the cord is the rest of the world, which is where her students appear to be connected.  This could be through a computer, in books, on a cellphone, or even face-to-face with each other. However, I believe that if a teacher isn't there to link the two sides, the connection is lost.


I found many interesting statements in George Siemens' article Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, but this really resonated with me:

"The starting point of connectivism is the individual. Personal knowledge is comprised of a network, which feeds into organizations and institutions, which in turn feed back into the network, and then continue to provide learning to individual. This cycle of knowledge development (personal to network to organization) allows learners to remain current in their field through the connections they have formed."


In the same line of thinking, one of the things he says in his video The Network is the Learning, is:


"If I'm not continually learning, I'm becoming obsolete in my particular field or knowledge space."


He then goes on to talk about how taking courses can only do so much at extending our knowledge and helping us continue to learn.  By being a part of a NETWORK of learners who share our interests and passions, our personal knowledge will continue to evolve.  


I, for one, do not plan to (as Dylan Thomas once wrote) "...go gently into that goodnight" as an educator.  Many of my peers are doing their countdowns toward retirement rather than keeping up with technology and creating meaningful learning opportunities for their students while at the same time, "speaking their language."  It's so important for me to keep my connections viable to feel like I'm doing right by my students, my district and myself.  I do not and will not pretend to be an expert on anything and enjoy being a lifelong learner in any form.  By staying plugged into what's going on in my field and adding my two cents where it might be needed or wanted, I will NOT become obsolete!!

Who needs to travel when you have TECHNOLOGY?

In reading Brave New Digital World, by Robert Blake, I was touched by one single quote: "Technology, then, if used wisely, could play a major role in enhancing L2 learners' contact with the target language, especially in the absence of study abroad" (2).


I re-read the quote a few times and looked at it from differing points, before I really saw the word ENHANCE and not read it to mean REPLACE study abroad.  Obviously, nothing compares to standing on top of a hill looking down at a village in Guatemala that sits at the foot of a volcano or ordering in an ACTUAL (and not just authentic) Mexican restaurant.  However, I teach in a high-need urban area.  In reality, how many of my students are going to be able to afford to study abroad when they're worried about meals for the week?  By my curriculum being enriched by the sights, sounds and possible interactions with people from other cultures, maybe my students can escape their own reality for a bit and gain some of the innocence they seem to have lost by experiencing some things for the first time! Skype has proven to be quite the tool for this type of interaction and I hope when the time comes, my students are as receptive and excited as I am!


I see teaching a LOTE as one part communication and one part culture.  You can't truly understand one without the other.  For my students to be able to see even a bit of the life outside of their sleepy little town could mean the world to them. It's essential to me to learn about other cultures and I want to help them not to be so ethnocentric and see that it's okay that people do things differently.  After all, if we were all the same, what fun would that be?

Pay Attention!

This video, from http://t4.jordandistrict.org/payattention moved me to think about a few things.  I know in a class of 30 high school students, that it's likely that 25 of them have cell phones and of those 25, it's possible that 20 of them have smartphones or internet access.  Why am I not using them?  Recently, some forward thinking administrators in my district have left the decision to allow their use (or not) up to the individual teacher. I LOVE that and I'm excited to try something using a medium that so many of them find necessary to their daily lives.  I had never thought about the SMS texting use that is mentioned in this video.  A class set of laptops can run into problems - but a student's phone?  SO much more reliable than a network or equipment that may or may not work at any given point!

Blogging in the Classroom

While there are many blogs that I enjoy reading for leisure and information, it was only recently that it occurred to me that I could potentially use them in my own classroom.  I have a colleague who frequently used hers for her AP English class writing prompts, but I worried that my use might be a little too simple.  That was BEFORE I read, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, by Will Richardson.

After reading his chapter on blogs, lightbulbs started to go off in my head.  My curriculum standards are deviating from the TWO state standards and are embracing the national LOTE standards. The FIVE C's are Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, Communities (http://www.actfl.org).  These standards are perfect for the blogosphere.  I see myself using them for communication with my students, to help them make connections and comparisons between cultures of Spanish-speaking countries and how they can help in their own communities. All the while, they would be making their world smaller AND larger at the same time!

My students love to give feedback, whether it's positive or negative.  By encouraging students to own their opinions and feedback in a blog format, it's a win-win situation for me as a teacher.

Is Technology Making it a "Brave New World" for Teachers?

I find myself uniquely entrenched in this type of debate smack dab on the middle of the fence.  On one hand, I'm a classroom teacher who has historically used technology in the classroom to augment my instruction, but never use it in my place.  I'm always physically there, encouraging and managing my classroom.  On the other hand, I'm fortunate to be an online course instructor for high school students.  I helped create the curriculum for some of my classes and I supplement the others with other unique opportunities for students.  I skype (now there's a verb for the 21st century!) with them whenever we're able to make that work.  In addition, I use podcasts and record my notes for them so they can SEE, HEAR and READ them.  Does it replace my work as a teacher?  No!  Is it more difficult for my students to get my immediate feedback? Most definitely.

One of my major frustrations as a language teacher is the use of online translators (or apps) in the classroom.  Can I equate them with the introduction of calculators in a Mathematics class?  I'm trying, but it isn't easy! I think learning a language is just different than managing numbers, because they don't seem to change no matter which language you speak!.