Online Teaching Experiences

A WebQuest would be an online experience that would be very beneficial to students learning Spanish.  A WebQuest guides students while they are online to discover information about a particular topic.  

I recently created my first WebQuest and I am so excited to use it in my classroom.  The WebQuest I created has students explore Spanish speaking countries and their typical eating habits and types of food.  It also has students create a restaurant skit and learn about World Hunger.

A WebQuest can help a language teacher cover a variety of content including communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, and communities.  It can help students improve their communication skills interpersonally, interpretively and presentationally.  It is a great way for students to learn about different cultures using online resources.  They are able to explore great sites that have awesome information about the Spanish speaking world.  They are able to connect their Spanish skills and knowledge with that of other content areas, whether it be history, geography, science or math!  They are able to make comparisons not only between English and Spanish, but also between the lifestyles they live and those of other countries.  They are able to reach out into the community and find websites that offer Spanish resources.  Overall, it connects their learning with Spanish in a variety of beneficial and useful ways.  They can become GLOBAL LEARNERS!

Pedagogical strategies that might be used within a WebQuest are scaffolding, critical thinking, role-playing, group work, hands-on learning, active learning, and experiential learning.

One technology that I tried which was not very beneficial with language learners was creating an e-portfolio.  Partially it was difficult because students have different teachers throughout the year because we are on a trimester schedule.  It started off as a great idea because I had students use google sites to prepare their e-portfolios.  They created different sub-categories and even wrote in Spanish!  I found it difficult to keep all of the students on track, some were way ahead and some were way behind.  Overall, I had a challenge as a teacher because it was difficult to keep up consistently and perhaps it was difficult as a student because it is not their first language.  Any suggestions?

Merlot

You may also view my StAIR project on Merlot's website. It has great resources for educators!

StAIR Project

This is a StAIR Project that I created for my MSU online class.  It is geared for Spanish 1 students in grades 6-12.  It will go well with noun-adjective agreement and description vocabulary.  Please visit the following link if you would like to view it or use it in your classroom.  StAIR Project

I signed up for a Wikipedia account today!  I didn't realize how easy it was to add and delete information.  On the Clarkston Community Schools Wikipedia page, I added a link to Clarkston Junior High School's website.  There was not a previous link, so now people can find out information about CJHS!

UDL Guidelines for Food Unit Lesson Plan

I am evaluating a Spanish 2 lesson plan using the UDL guidelines. The lesson is on my blog if you would like to view it. It is a lesson using assistive technologies to create a video ordering food in the target language, google apps to add to online portfolios, and Web 2.0 tools to discover information about world hunger in Spanish speaking countries.  My original lesson plan features some standards of the UDL guidelines, but after learning more about UDL, I see that my plan also has barriers for students.   I would like to break these barriers in the future so I can reach a wider range of learners in my classroom.

UDL Guidelines- Educator Checklist