Collecting Resources with Diigo

I started collecting and organizing sources by using Feedly, which was recommended to me. I then decided to switch to Diigo, because I like the chrome extension option and ease of adding sites. I also like the feature that you can annotate what you're reading directly through Diigo.

I have chosen the following sites to follow. I am always looking for German ideas, so I chose sites that were either language learning in general or specific to German or multiple languages.

The subtitle of this blog is “Promoting Rich, Relevant and Rigorous Teaching and Learning.” This alone intrigued me. In addition, I like that this blogger has some fairly recent posts, meaning that he or she is still actively blogging.

Language Teachers’ Café hosts resources on German, French and Spanish, so that is appealing to me since I teach both German and Spanish. In the most recent post (from April), there are several concrete project ideas.

Although the most recent post on this site is from 2015, there are many different German and technology focused posts to browse. I hope this blogger decides to start blogging again.

The Language Teacher’s Toolbox also provides examples specific to German, French and Spanish, including culturally relevant and inclusive lessons.

The Language Gym intrigues me based on the organization of the blog and the background of the blogger. I feel there is much to learn from him.

I decided to further explore whether I could find German specific teaching blogs, and I came across this link, which led me to this blog, which is written completely in German, and shares ideas on teaching German as a foreign language (Deutsch als Fremdsprache).

I now have a simple way to add sites to my organizer via Google Chrome and Diigo!

ACTFL standards and other skills

After reading the ACTFL stance on technology in language learning, one statement that I connected with is: “The use of technology should never be the goal in and of itself, but rather one tool for helping language learners to use the target language in culturally appropriate ways to accomplish authentic tasks.” This statement should be at the center of all content area teaching. If we get so caught up in using a technology tool that we forget what our end goal is, then we shouldn’t be using it. I also believe that if the time to complete the task more than doubles, it is also not worth it.

I feel like the position statement is thorough and comprehensive. It highlights that a qualified language teacher cannot be replaced with technology, but still must play a pivotal role in facilitating learning. The stance also recognizes the benefits of technology to differentiate and enhance instruction. In the end, the recommendation is for qualified language teacher to own the responsibility for language instruction, rather than technology programs alone. There is nothing more that I would want to have included at this time.

My goal for the role of technology in my classroom is as an enhancement and tool. Because my classroom is 1:1, I see it as a great way to conserve paper resources, in addition to hosting a wealth of authentic resources and preparing my students with 21^st century skills. Using technology keeps instruction relevant to students. It allows them to make, create, collaborate and connect with others. I also believe that technology should only be part of instruction, not the goal alone.

Connected learning is a model of learning that combines a student’s interests in a socially meaningful way with peers while recognizing the need for academic success. It encourages actively creating and producing with a shared purpose using technology tools.  

One activity that do in my classroom is expository writing about interests. I feel like I could incorporate a connected learning framework by using a networking site like epals to connect my students with students in a German classroom, where they practice their writing (and reading) skills in a meaningful context. They would also learn e-mail jargon and etiquette, in addition to sharing interests with a peer in another country.

21^st century learning is a framework for education that emphasizes the 4 C’s of learning: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity, while integrating career and technology skills with 21^st century themes to ensure a lifetime of student success.

An activity that I complete in class has to do with the theme of weather. My students watch/listen to and interpret a weather forecast in German. As an extension, utilizing technology literacy, I could have students listen to an emergency weather report about an approaching storm (which might be shorter than a typical forecast) and then write a text message in German to a friend as a warning.

In terms of an online tool that I would use, I would have students send me a direct message (via text message) through the free program, Remind, which I already use to communicate with students and parents. Adding this text message activity to my lesson would add no more than 1-15 extra minutes of instructional time, or could be assigned as a homework assignment. The only issues that I could foresee arising are accent codes, or text jargon, so a mini-lesson in advance of this assignment would work well.

Tea with BVP - Episode 4

As an alternative to assignment 3, tech assessment at your school, I decided to listen to a podcast on second language acquisition, Tea with BVP. The podcast is run by professors at Michigan State University, and they describe their podcast as “car talk meets second language acquisition.” My topic of choice was Episode 4: Should we get rid of grades for language learning? This topic is of particular interest to me. I struggle with helping my students to find a balance between earning points towards grades and learning to gain proficiency.

I would support doing away with grades for a norm-standard approach. I realize that our educational system would have to change from the top down; colleges and universities would have to stop requiring grades for entrance and then it might trickle down to high school and then middle school. Early elementary school already has a standards based approach, as opposed to assigning letter grades. We could learn a lot from following such a model.

Bill VanPatten, aka BVP, runs the podcast. He wonders whether we are doing one thing and saying another in our classes; whether we encourage practical skill building, but yet put so much emphasis on objective grammar and vocabulary assessments and subsequently grades.

Bill VanPatten promotes using the ACTFL can-do statements to evaluate proficiency, even assigning point values to each statement in a 2-1-0 format, “2” indicating can do with ease, “1” indicating completion with some difficulty, and “0” indicating no proficiency. He also wrote an article on this topic along with his colleague, Walter Hopkins, in the Fall 2015 edition of Clear News, a publication of Michigan State University. The ACTFL-published can-do statements reflect general proficiency guidelines and levels. He created his own statements, based on ACTFL’s guidelines, in an effort to create doable classroom assessment tasks. The statements should include topics and abilities that form part of a larger picture of what it means to be at a certain level of proficiency. Students self-assess first and then practice. When it’s time for a class assessment, they record themselves completing the task and send their instructor the recording for a 2-1-0 scale grade.

This approach seems very doable for me as a teacher, and would promote proficiency as a goal instead of just test results. I feel that this approach would encourage more intrinsic motivation and also address ACTFL’s 5^th standard of community, encouraging language use outside of the classroom and for life-long learning.

Welcome to my Blog!

Greetings! Liebe Grüße! ¡Saludos! 

"Hello" in American Sign Language

My name is Frau/Señora Campbell and I teach German, Spanish and a bit of American Sign Language at Manheim Central High School, in Lancaster County, PA. I teach levels 1-4 of German, level 1 Spanish, and ASL in a club environment.

I love to incorporate technology into my lessons! I teach daily using my Promethean (Interactive White Board) and ActivInspire. I utilize the Learning Management System Schoology. I enjoy conducting formative assessments using Kahoot and Pear Deck.

The most techie lesson I've done so far is using EDpuzzle. After learning how use the site, I was able to embed videos with questions throughout to engage my students and hold them accountable. They seemed to like it and even scored better than if they had watched the video and then answered the questions, due to the nature of the content being in German.

My goal for this program is to continue to expand my repertoire of tech tools to enhance learning in my classroom and also to refine and deepen the use of programs with which I am already familiar.

I love to travel and look forward to more adventures this summer in Great Britain and Montréal, Canada. Last summer I spent a month in Spain with my family. Below is a picture of one of our adventures in the city of Zaragoza.