Day 17 - Understandings

We are all on project overload at this point - project understanding, webquest, research project - and the final project - self-analysis.

So what have I come to understand during my time here this summer?

My initial musings are about conceptual teaching. I have heard about this in past conferences, but now I believe I have a better understanding of it having lived it for the past few weeks. Tying the reading, writing, and speaking tasks, as well as a cultural focus, to a big concept like nationalism makes every lesson seem more natural. The reading, writing, and speaking take place within a more authentic communicative context; they don't seem artificial as they sometimes can when you approach the lesson with the idea "Today we're going to practice the imperfect tense". So this is definitely something I want to develop in my own classroom.

And how did I arrive at this understanding? This is the more difficult question. My first response is that I arrived at this understanding through experiencing conceptual teaching as a student. My understanding was further developed through the process of project understanding.

These are questions that I am only beginning to answer, and which will require more thought and introspection on my part.

Using Technology to Increase Student Understanding

One of the things I am most excited about this summer is learning how to use so many different kinds of technology. Some of these I already knew about, but didn't know how to create, myself, such as a webquest. Some of these I had never even heard of before.

I am really interested in having my students create blogs in order to practice their writing skills; especially to help them in the writing of their own thoughts and opinions. I am most interested in seeing them read and comment on the blogs of their classmates - would this create more spontaneous communications in the language? Would this allow them to be more free and have fun with the language? Could this be my action research project?!?

I am also looking forward to learning about how to create podcasts. I think this would be a great way to evaluate oral communication.

Although I didn't know that much about webquests before, now I see so many options that it will be hard not to webquest my students to death! I am most excited to see the different webquests my classmates have created, which I can then "borrow" for use in my own classroom.

Day 13 - Fight Against the Mosquito

There is a game of poker going on in the "living room", but I am not into poker. I may mosey on down there, though, just to check things out. I contemplated making some phone calls, but that would mean having to go outside where I would be attacked by 10,056 mosquitos. I have woken up with quite a few mosquito bites in the mornings (there must be a window without a screen somewhere in this building, and of course all of the bloodsuckers find their way to me), so the other night I waged a battle with my issue of Time magazine (bought at the airport the day I flew to VT - hardly touched) against the relentless mosquitos. Victory was mine as I killed almost all of them - I even decided to leave one little body plastered to the wall as a warning to her voracious friends and relatives. It has worked pretty well as I've only received one or two bites since.

Hitting the Technology Wall

I did feel like I hit the technology wall this week in trying to find a valuable podcast in Spanish, as well as trying to create a webquest. I felt very overwhelmed with the huge task of creating a meaningful webquest. In fact, I guess I still do since the webquest my group is working on is not finished, yet!

This is a good experience, though, as it helps to remind me what it must feel like for some of the students in my classes - overwhelmed, unsure of themselves, and feeling that there is no way they can "get it all done".

When we finish the webquest, though, I will definitely have a great project that I can be proud of and can really use in my classes.

Day 11

Today - a gray, rainy day, I woke up tired. Tired from lack of sleep, stress over all the projects I am working on, and not being in my own home.

But then I received a package in the mail from my dear friend K. with a fabulous gift - it really made my day and changed my outlook.

Tonight is "Midnight Madness" in downtown Bennington - street sales and other fun. I would like to go, but will have to work first - more technology homework, webquest project, research project, comprehension project. And if I don't get to go, that's okay. I have my new gift to keep me happy.

Day Eight

Monday, incredibly, we had a vacation! Immediately before lunch, one of the program directors came into our class and announced that it was "Once a Year Day," and that we would be meeting in front of the security booth after lunch for an excursion to a nearby lake. After working all weekend (some of us all night Sunday night) on our big essay, we were very excited!

So we went to the lake where several VERY competitive games of croquet and volleyball were played. Merrie, Lisa, Pam, Christine and I rented paddleboats and paddled around the lake. We had a paddleboat race, which Merrie and Lisa won. It was a very relaxing day, and so nice to sit out in the sun! On the wayback to the college, we even stopped at The Chocolate Barn - a store where they make their own chocolate and other candies, along with maple syrup. I couldn't resist buying a few pieces, which were amazing. If you are ever in Bennington, VT, I highly recommend The Chocolate Barn.

When we returned we immediately got back to work by going to the library for a research presentation, then returning to finish our homework (reviewing a novel to discuss in Tuesday's class, and reading another chapter about foreign language acquisition).

Day Seven

We are beginning to take our first steps into the world of action research by working in groups to research something we observe happening here during our stay. Last week I was very worried about this, but am now very excited about the process.

We practiced taking scratch notes and field notes in our classes this past week, and today we analyzed them - looked for patterns, from which we could generate hypotheses. This was very interesting and I enjoyed trying to put the pieces together in new and different ways, and finding patterns that I never would have seen, otherwise.

We also saw the action research presentations of the second year students. It was very helpful to see these examples and to hear about the process they went through. And of course, I heard some interesting ideas about connecting through collaborative writing, conceptual teaching, and peer editing.

Day Five - Fiesta

The big news for today is the homework assignment - a 3-page essay due Monday based on a quote from another essay. Our essay must also include references to works we have studied to date. ¡Uf!

The other news is the party we had tonight. Dancing, singing, a birthday cake for Nadia, wine, cheese, and croquet - a good time was had by all! One of our professors even showed up. The best dancers, without a doubt, were Marilyn and Shakita, although Merrie gave them a good run for their money! Lots of pictures were taken and should be fun additions to the wiki, web pages and blogs.

Intensive work awaits tomorrow...

Day Four

Today began with my thinking I had a pretty good handle on everything - that is until we began discussing the final comprehension project. I vacillated between feeling like I understood, and suddenly feeling like I had no clue about what this project was.

Then, in the technology class today, I tried doing too many things at once, which resulted in my not getting anything accomplished. After learning abut what webquests are and aren't, I have found it difficult to find good examples of real webquests; most of what I find under the label "webquest," is really just a treasure hunt or hotlist.

On a different note, we watched a very interesting movie today, "Un lugar en el mundo." It dealt with friendship, trying (sometimes in vain) to effect social change, the power of beliefs, and adapting to a changing world. This is definitely a movie that could be used as part of a lesson on many different themes.

Brainstorming Technology Uses

Instead of having students write in journals to turn in to me, I could have my students create a blog. This would be more interesting as the students could read and comment on their classmates' entries. It would also probably make the journaling process more fun for the students. Another benefit would be my not having to carry all those notebooks back and forth!

I also like the idea of creating a class wiki where I could create internet assignments or webquests for the students to do, language games for them to play, and where they could create a resource list for themselves, thereby empowering them in their language learning.

Internet Detective

Being a teacher of Language Arts as well as Spanish, I was already familiar with much of the information here. I did have some "a-ha" moments, though. My first "a-ha" moment was when I discovered that the most fundamental part about the academic publishing process is having your work peer-reviewed. I am now better equipped to be a better "internet detective" during the research process.

My other "a-ha" moment was when I discovered that most academic work is "hidden" or "invisible" to regular search engines. This made me think back to my hours of endless (and sometimes pointless) searching on the internet, and reinforces the need for more purposeful searching with the use of academic tools found in the library.

Day Two

Today was less stressful as I knew where I was going and what to expect...It was probably also helpful that I got more sleep!

We had an interesting lesson about Los Gauchos today in Spanish. We read parts of Martín Fierro, discussed it, and created our own poems in the same style in groups. Luckily I was working with Pam, who was inspired by the idea of the last gaucho. Listening to the poems of the other groups was great fun!

Everything we read and discuss in our Spanish class, we study within the context of el nacionalismo. This has been very interesting and thought-provoking.

I am also excited to be learning about and contributing to a wiki (matsl.wetpaint.com), as well as improving my own web page.

I have a fair amount of homework to finish tonight - and am hoping against hope that it cools down. I never knew that Vermont in the summer was so much like the rain forest! Technology class at the end of the day is definitely a relief as it is air-conditioned.

Day One

Today is really the first day of classes, and here I am creating a blog. It already feels as though I've been here for about a week - probably because of all the thinking I have already had to do! In fact, in my Spanish language class we already had a "pop" essay we had to write. Every one of my classmates felt as though they had written the worst one. I guess there is some comfort in that - the mutual lack of self-confidence.

Today I feel much like a foreign exchange student, doubting myself and whether I am really capable of "doing it".

I am excited to be here, though.

I know that my language skills and my teaching will improve from the experience.