My favorite discovery in this course, was the discovery of Wiki sites. A website that you can change, add too, be part of, was just an interesting concept to me! I had fun making my site, however, I found myself a little frustrated at times, just because I had never created such a thing before. I will definitely use this in my teaching and as a possible project choice for my students. Having them create one, and add to each others would be a really neat idea! I can come up with many many ideas of content I could have them create Wiki sites for!
This course provided me with a plethora of new ideas to incorporate technology into my course. I teach high school and I know that the kids of this generation are technology wizards! Often times, I need to ask students for help when something malfunctions with technology in the classroom. These kids really do enjoy the hands on learning experience, and using technology to let them display what they know, understand, and are able to do with the class content/skills, helps keep their interest.
I will take away new ideas and ways to incorporate technology into my classroom, from this course. I love learning about new technology as it is changing everyday! It is vital to keep up with what these kids are doing outside of school (facebook, myspace, blogs, etc.) and bring some of that into the classroom. Kids are on facebook all the time at home, why not have them create a facebook page for a famous Spanish speaking person, they would love that! That is NOT work to them, however they would be learning by creating the site. I think I may have just stumbled upon something here! haha
I would not change anything about this course. There was plenty of time given to complete assignments and I enjoyed creating each assignment.
If there was another discovery program like this in the future, I would gladly sign up to take it. I would not hesitate to participate in learning new things about technology. It is a MUST to keep up on and stay current with!
Friday, August 6, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Important Internet sites for Teachers! :-)
http://www.wordreference.com
This is the only translator site I allow and encourage my students to use. It does not allow students to translate whole sentences or paragraphs. They can look up a single word, which I am alright with. This is one of the most accurate word referencing sites I have ever encountered. I highly recommend this website to other teachers. You can also submit questions and ask how a certain group of people would say a word or expression.
http://www.uni.edu/becker/Spanish3.html
This site offeres a bucnh of different links to things such as lessons, how to travel abroad, games, food, dance, traditions, etc. It is a wealth of information and I could spend days linking from it. It is a ton of information all in one website. It also has links for teachers, not just for students and their own personal practice.
http://www.edhelper.com/vocabulary.htm?gclid=CN64mJmKz5ECFQkSagod-29c1A I have used edhelper a few times. It is a great site for lower levels, to find worksheets and other class materials when you are in a pinch. I like to use the templates they offer and some of their worksheets that are age appropriate. The only think I do not like about this site is that you have to pay for it. Although, it is not too expensive. I am thinking about purchasing this for this coming year.
http://www.uni.edu/becker/educators.html This site provides teachers with some helpful links to sites for teaching foreign language. It offers teachers some aids to help them in their classrooms. One link gives you tips and ideas for integrating technology into your classroom too. This site offers lesson plans, thematic units, clip art, internet activities, and much more. This site is very useful for teachers of foreign language. The only down side to this website is that some of the links do not connect anymore, this site could use some updating.
www.wordpress.com
This site allows teachers (or anyone) to make web quests to use in their classroom. I have worked with this website several times and it is very user friendly. Making web quests is a lot of fun, and this site makes it super easy to create a beautiful layout for any web quest idea you may have. I highly recommend this site to someone who would like to make a website or web quest.
www.youtube.com
I personally use this website a lot in my classroom. It helps to show cultural videos, music videos of Spanish artists, interviews with famous Spanish speaking people, etc. The downside to this website is that you MUST preview videos before you show them to the kids to make sure they are appropriate for school. So using this website takes some planning.
http://www.quia.com/web This site allows teachers to create review games and materials for their use in their classroom. You have to create an account which does not take that long. Quia offers the Web's most extensive collection of educational tools and templates. With Quia, you can create 16 types of educational games and activities, quizzes with 10 different question types, surveys, Web pages, and much, much more! A one-year individual subscription to Quia costs only $49.
www.freetranslations.com
This website is an online translator and I find that students use it a lot. This site allows you to type whole paragraphs and get a “free” translation. The translations are not that accurate and it makes several mistakes. When students use this website it is very easy for a teacher to tell. They claim they are professional translations, however, I have found several mistakes when you use it. I would not recommend this website for translating. The only one I would is www.wordreference.com which I’ve touched upon up above.
http://penpals.com This site could be a cool site to incorporate into your classroom. If the students had penpals from Spanish speaking countries they could exchange letters and be able to practice their Spanish. I hope that students would still love to get a letter in the mail, I know I do. I think this might work better now a days if they were e-mail pals.
http://www.spanishnewyork.com/spanish-newspapers-in-spanish.html I fell in love with this website. They give you links to a ton of Spanish newspapers and from there you can access some online and are able to read them. This could be great for a current events unit or to keep up with what is going on in Spanish speaking countries around the world! I give this website two thumbs up!
This is the only translator site I allow and encourage my students to use. It does not allow students to translate whole sentences or paragraphs. They can look up a single word, which I am alright with. This is one of the most accurate word referencing sites I have ever encountered. I highly recommend this website to other teachers. You can also submit questions and ask how a certain group of people would say a word or expression.
http://www.uni.edu/becker/Spanish3.html
This site offeres a bucnh of different links to things such as lessons, how to travel abroad, games, food, dance, traditions, etc. It is a wealth of information and I could spend days linking from it. It is a ton of information all in one website. It also has links for teachers, not just for students and their own personal practice.
http://www.edhelper.com/vocabulary.htm?gclid=CN64mJmKz5ECFQkSagod-29c1A I have used edhelper a few times. It is a great site for lower levels, to find worksheets and other class materials when you are in a pinch. I like to use the templates they offer and some of their worksheets that are age appropriate. The only think I do not like about this site is that you have to pay for it. Although, it is not too expensive. I am thinking about purchasing this for this coming year.
http://www.uni.edu/becker/educators.html This site provides teachers with some helpful links to sites for teaching foreign language. It offers teachers some aids to help them in their classrooms. One link gives you tips and ideas for integrating technology into your classroom too. This site offers lesson plans, thematic units, clip art, internet activities, and much more. This site is very useful for teachers of foreign language. The only down side to this website is that some of the links do not connect anymore, this site could use some updating.
www.wordpress.com
This site allows teachers (or anyone) to make web quests to use in their classroom. I have worked with this website several times and it is very user friendly. Making web quests is a lot of fun, and this site makes it super easy to create a beautiful layout for any web quest idea you may have. I highly recommend this site to someone who would like to make a website or web quest.
www.youtube.com
I personally use this website a lot in my classroom. It helps to show cultural videos, music videos of Spanish artists, interviews with famous Spanish speaking people, etc. The downside to this website is that you MUST preview videos before you show them to the kids to make sure they are appropriate for school. So using this website takes some planning.
http://www.quia.com/web This site allows teachers to create review games and materials for their use in their classroom. You have to create an account which does not take that long. Quia offers the Web's most extensive collection of educational tools and templates. With Quia, you can create 16 types of educational games and activities, quizzes with 10 different question types, surveys, Web pages, and much, much more! A one-year individual subscription to Quia costs only $49.
www.freetranslations.com
This website is an online translator and I find that students use it a lot. This site allows you to type whole paragraphs and get a “free” translation. The translations are not that accurate and it makes several mistakes. When students use this website it is very easy for a teacher to tell. They claim they are professional translations, however, I have found several mistakes when you use it. I would not recommend this website for translating. The only one I would is www.wordreference.com which I’ve touched upon up above.
http://penpals.com This site could be a cool site to incorporate into your classroom. If the students had penpals from Spanish speaking countries they could exchange letters and be able to practice their Spanish. I hope that students would still love to get a letter in the mail, I know I do. I think this might work better now a days if they were e-mail pals.
http://www.spanishnewyork.com/spanish-newspapers-in-spanish.html I fell in love with this website. They give you links to a ton of Spanish newspapers and from there you can access some online and are able to read them. This could be great for a current events unit or to keep up with what is going on in Spanish speaking countries around the world! I give this website two thumbs up!
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