The development of knowledge construction skills for K-12 students is a topic of importance in our current educational climate. If schools begin to teach research skills, digital citizenship and about plagiarism, it will continue with students throughout their lives.
However, the nature of my courses (high school German & Spanish) requires little research, as most all content is delivered in the target language and research-based projects are not possible until the highest levels of language instruction (level 4, AP/IB). Typically I allow students to use Wikipedia as needed when researching a German city or person, because of the nature of the assignment, and the small likelihood that information will be incorrect. I also instruct very little on research or citation expectations. I expect (perhaps incorrectly) that my 9th grade and older students get that type of instruction in ELA, and that it's redundant for me to cover. I now believe it to be worthwhile to spend 5-10 minutes before beginning a project instructing students on where best to find their information, how to organize it, and how to cite it. Also, if I teach these skills in German level 1, they can carry them through the rest of their levels.
In the Oct/Nov 2016 edition of The Language Educator, published by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), one of the focus topics involves the discussion of connecting literacy and language learning. “Accomplishing this standard of learning in the language classroom becomes more accessible by combining the use of online search engines and social media platforms, as the former allows students access to digital texts and the latter enables online self-expression” (Morgan, Miller, & Koronkiewicz, 2016). This article really helped me to see the value and application of such skills in my world language classroom. Here are a few ways that I feel I can improve upon my instruction of knowledge construction skills in my high school WL classroom.
Diigo
I am a big fan of Diigo for personal academic use. I like the ability to annotate articles and keep them in one organized location. Highlighting with various colors and adding comments helps me to process what I’m reading and more easily reference it later. I believe that my students can also make use of this during their research, whether in English or German. Creating an additional requirement on project assignments of using 2+ resources other than Wikipedia would help them to broaden their variety of resources also.
EasyBib
In terms of citation, I used to just require students to keep a running list of resources that they use. But, since I require them to write for me using MLA format, as is practice in their ELA classes, I see value in asking them to cite appropriately also. Unless they are already using a preferred citing tool, I will ask them to use EasyBib because it links directly to their district-provided Google accounts and will be a consistent tool to use throughout high school.
In an article published on integrating digital literacy in language instruction, three key reasons are given: digital literacy is an essential skill for participation in today’s digital world, teaching digital literacy involves teaching vocabulary, and students learn by practicing (Webber, 2018). I believe that increasing expectations for research, organization and citation in my classroom will give students digital literacy skills and help them to develop knowledge construction skills simultaneously.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
References
Morgan, W. J., Miller, A., & Koronkiewicz, B. (2016, October/November). Digital Literacy and Social Media in the Language Classroom. The Language Educator, 11(4), 32-35.
Webber, A. A. (2018, June 04). Integrating Digital Literacy and Language Instruction. Retrieved July 3, 2018, from https://edtech.worlded.org/digital-literacy-second-language-instruction/
However, the nature of my courses (high school German & Spanish) requires little research, as most all content is delivered in the target language and research-based projects are not possible until the highest levels of language instruction (level 4, AP/IB). Typically I allow students to use Wikipedia as needed when researching a German city or person, because of the nature of the assignment, and the small likelihood that information will be incorrect. I also instruct very little on research or citation expectations. I expect (perhaps incorrectly) that my 9th grade and older students get that type of instruction in ELA, and that it's redundant for me to cover. I now believe it to be worthwhile to spend 5-10 minutes before beginning a project instructing students on where best to find their information, how to organize it, and how to cite it. Also, if I teach these skills in German level 1, they can carry them through the rest of their levels.
In the Oct/Nov 2016 edition of The Language Educator, published by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), one of the focus topics involves the discussion of connecting literacy and language learning. “Accomplishing this standard of learning in the language classroom becomes more accessible by combining the use of online search engines and social media platforms, as the former allows students access to digital texts and the latter enables online self-expression” (Morgan, Miller, & Koronkiewicz, 2016). This article really helped me to see the value and application of such skills in my world language classroom. Here are a few ways that I feel I can improve upon my instruction of knowledge construction skills in my high school WL classroom.
Diigo
I am a big fan of Diigo for personal academic use. I like the ability to annotate articles and keep them in one organized location. Highlighting with various colors and adding comments helps me to process what I’m reading and more easily reference it later. I believe that my students can also make use of this during their research, whether in English or German. Creating an additional requirement on project assignments of using 2+ resources other than Wikipedia would help them to broaden their variety of resources also.
EasyBib
In terms of citation, I used to just require students to keep a running list of resources that they use. But, since I require them to write for me using MLA format, as is practice in their ELA classes, I see value in asking them to cite appropriately also. Unless they are already using a preferred citing tool, I will ask them to use EasyBib because it links directly to their district-provided Google accounts and will be a consistent tool to use throughout high school.
In an article published on integrating digital literacy in language instruction, three key reasons are given: digital literacy is an essential skill for participation in today’s digital world, teaching digital literacy involves teaching vocabulary, and students learn by practicing (Webber, 2018). I believe that increasing expectations for research, organization and citation in my classroom will give students digital literacy skills and help them to develop knowledge construction skills simultaneously.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
References
Morgan, W. J., Miller, A., & Koronkiewicz, B. (2016, October/November). Digital Literacy and Social Media in the Language Classroom. The Language Educator, 11(4), 32-35.
Webber, A. A. (2018, June 04). Integrating Digital Literacy and Language Instruction. Retrieved July 3, 2018, from https://edtech.worlded.org/digital-literacy-second-language-instruction/
No comments:
Post a Comment