Monday, February 3, 2014

1. After viewing this video, I think that the issues in education are really complicated. On the one hand, students enjoy being entertained and lessons that include videos, podcasts, and games help students learn and enjoy learning. On the other hand, constantly having to entertain my students while I teach is really difficult. It is hard to keep up with every new technological advance. 8 years ago, Facebook was the popular media outlet, now my students are using sites I have never heard of. My knowledge of the internet and technology is vast but not as vast as theirs. 


2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKRjQho1uWw

This blog would be perfect as a listening comprehension. First the students would listen to the video and write down all of the information that they took from the video. At the end of the video there are questions about what the people in the video are doing, what they eat, the different clothing and sleds they use. The video requires the student to remember weather, food, clothing, and leisure activities.  Then I would have students create their own presentation of what they like to do in different types of weather here in Memphis.

3. The White blog talked about how much students enjoy media. The way I can reach my students is to have them engage each other while using media. If I have my students work in groups and collaborate together they will be more likely to succeed. Class discussions can be moved to online forums, blogs, or other types of media. Students can express their likes or dislikes in an online forum and talk to each other using in my case the target language.

4. The Khan Academy's post on the future of education was really interesting.   First, I must say that I love Khan Academy and think they do awesome things! The video talks about how learning becomes personalized. Students can learn at their own pace, they can take different classes that interest them. They can also listen to things more than once if they are having issues. I think the future of education cannot only include online videos. Teachers are there to help students who struggle and to see when students do not understand. They then adjust the lesson to accommodate for the students who do not understand. A video online cannot do this. I think these sorts of things should be used in the future but if the future only contains the videos like in Khan academy there will be problems for any students.

Monday, January 27, 2014

Deutsch zwei

Du bist Krank. Du muss zum Arzt. Was sagst du zu der Arzt? Was sagt der Arzt zuruck?

Write your dialogue in the comment section.

Deutsch Eins Familie Aufgabe

Beschreib deine familie. Wie sehen sie aus? Hast du geschwister? Hast du cousinen?

Please answer in the comment section.

Class Assignment

 The first site that had ideas that I really enjoyed was Sandra Childs' Franklin High School class blog. Mrs. Childs created a very interesting blog that was easy to understand. There was information presented for each section that she taught and there was information for each class. I like the way she organized her blog and the way she listed assignments and topics that would be covered. The blog looks like a great resource for her students. This makes it clear to me that organization is key when establishing a classroom blog.
The next thing that I thought could be really great for a classroom blog was something I took from Frau Warren's blog and Hooda Math blog. Both of these blogs had many games that students could play to help them learn their subject area. Games make learning fun and students will be more likely view a blog if there was something interesting to do.
One thing from Senora Clark's blog that I liked is that assignments were due on the blog. Students had to comment on assignment posts. If the assignment was to introduce yourself the student had to write their introduction in the Spanish. I like this because it requires the students to get on the blog and write posts. According to her site their homework grade comes from this.
The last thing that I liked about the blogs I looked at was the amount of videos on the blogs. There were videos for vocab, videos for topical themes, funny videos, serious videos, and all of the videos were interesting. I think that students feel like they need to be entertained. Having something for them to watch makes the blog more entertaining. Mr. B-G's blog had a lot of videos and they were interesting and educational.
I could use my blog for assignments. I like the idea of having my students do assignments via the blog. I can post videos and have them use the comment section to discuss the video. I can have them do homework via the blog. I can also use the blog for announcements and to remind them about tests. This also answers the third questions because my students would have to post for assignments instead of turning in paper assignments. Students would be required to post regularly to receive points towards their grade.