Wicked Problem Project Part A : Description of Need or Opportunity

In the foreign language classroom, it is essential that students communicate with each other in the target language and practice communication in the target language through reading, writing, speaking, and listening. For the Wicked Problem Project, I am looking at addressing collaborative group work in the foreign language classroom for performance assessments (how we evaluate communication skills through writing, speaking, listening, and reading). Group projects and performance assessments are a great way to evaluate foreign language skills students are learning, however, working with group members and schedules seems to always be a problem.

There are two tools I am planning to use to help address this problem, Google Docs and VoiceThread.

Google Docs will allow students to collaborate on projects and writing assignments, by allowing them to work remotely on the final product. They can all be working on the document at the same time or at a time that is convenient for them. This alleviates the need to have a common meeting time to work on a project or performance assessment when schedules can be conflicting. Also, by uses a program like Google Docs that essentially stores all the information in the “cloud” students can access their documents from any computer, at any time, without any worry that they left it at school, they don’t have the software, or they left it at home. This program will be primarily used for the writing and reading performance assessments.

VoiceThread is an interactive slide show that allows users to interact with what is being presented. Users can create a VoiceThread that presents information such as writing or reading assignment, however, VoiceThread allows for additional layers. With VoiceThread, users can respond to questions or prompts within the VoiceThread, leave comments about the slides, or interact with other users and their comments.

There are also other tools available for collaboration that may be included, however, these two programs will be the focus for this project.

These tools can be used at anytime in the foreign language classroom for a variety of tasks. Google Docs will be primarily used to facilitate group work and the creation of a final writing product in the target language. VoiceThread will be used to practice and assess speaking and listening skills, as needed depending on each unit. Students will be the primary users of these tools, however, the ability to share the documents or VoiceThreads with the instructor will allow for valuable feedback throughout the process of creation. Also, with VoiceThread, there is the opportunity to share with others and gain feedback from those outside of the classroom.

Some resources for VoiceThread can be found at the Speak It To Me Diigo group : http://groups.diigo.com/group/speak-it-to-me . I worked with a group to do an overview of what VoiceThread has to offer for Foreign Language teachers for CEP 810. Google Docs is very similar to any productivity software from Microsoft of Apple. Resources or help for Google Docs can be done by searching www.google.com

During CEP 812, I plan to implement the how portion of how we will specifically use these technology tools and ways to introduce students to the technology so they will have the know how to use the programs and the features they have to offer. In this course and in the future, I am hoping to develop specific performance assessment tasks that will use each aspect of this technology in French and put them into practice in my classroom.

In order to be successful, students will need to become proficient in using these tools to collaborate with other students on performance assessments as they are assigned. Also, in order to be successful, using these tools should allow for easy communication through reading, writing, speaking, and listening in the French classroom. This communication is essential for any foreign language learner.

CEP 812 Podcast Introduction

MERLOT Resource Evaluation

MERLOT Resource Page

Le Point du FLE. Apprendre le français

Here is my evaluation of this Foreign Language Education Portal:

Quality of Content:

The resource I looked at in MERLOT was “Le Point de FLE” which is a Foreign Language Education learning portal for the French language. It is a website that provides an extensive collection of links to French language activities, grammar explanations, exercises, audio, video, civilization activities, and songs among many other valuable resources for French educators and students. The content within this site provides valid and significant concepts, models, and skills for French language learning. As an educator, it would be wise for educators to keep the main link for the website and give students specific links for specific tasks so it is not overwhelming and the educator can pinpoint the best use for any given lesson or skill.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching-Learning Tool:

These resources can be used at any point during the learning process or at any level of language learning. Even if an activity is above a student’s particular ability level, the resources can be modified to fit the students. This resource is a huge collection of resources that is truly beneficial to the instructor. It will be important that the instructor choose the best activities to use in the classroom or use to enhance any given lesson. Students will be able to use the resources to practice skills outside of the classroom, reinforce what is being taught, and interact in the target language by applying their skills in different activities. It also takes a subject where communication is key, not only in reading, writing, and speaking, but brings in a technology aspect as we enter the 21^st century where they communicate digitally and interact via the web with activities, video, or audio, among other things.

Ease of Use:

As the teacher, I feel that the site is user friendly and it is easy to navigate. However, for a student just starting to learn a foreign language (French), this site would be extremely confusing and difficult to navigate, as it is totally written in the target language. It is for this reason, why the teacher would need to select the best links or activities for the students and only share those as it fits best with the lesson or activity at the time. The activities and various links allow for expanded teaching and learning, feedback, and a new way to interact with material via technology. I think it is and will be a valuable tool in my classroom because it presents information in a new way and the students can interact with the material in a variety of different contexts.

Personal Learning Reflection in CEP 810

I must admit at the beginning of this course, I did not integrate a lot of technology into my teaching. I did regularly use a smart board and integrate text, images, and video into my teaching, but that was it. When creating lessons, adding technology was not one of the first things on my mind. If it could fit in great, but if not, I did not go out of my way to incorporate it.  However, now my vision has changed. Through this course, I have learned about many technology tools, how to use them, and how to incorporate them into student learning and promoting 21^st century learning. Towards the end of this school year, I was trying to incorporate technology and promote digital learning if everything I did with my students.

It is important for educators to promote 21^st century learning. Our students already used e-mail, Facebook, cell phone, and iPods in their daily lives to communicate and share information. Why are we as teachers not tapping into their digital skills in the classroom and utilizing their skills and talents with these technology tools to help promote better learning?  This course has helped me to reflect on my own teaching strategies and the tools that I use in my classroom. I have learned so much that I can take back with me as I plan for the future.

The whole world is using the Internet as a tool for things such as communication, information sharing, collaboration, and the like. It is important to teach students how to properly use the tools available to them and to introduce them to the tools that are out there to promote success as they try to achieve their personal best in the classroom.

Throughout this course, I feel that all of the portfolio assignments and participation assignments have given me ideas of how good teaching can occur with technology. I have had the opportunity to learn first hand many of the tools out there. It will take time to learn all the in’s and out’s to each tool and to see how they work with a group of students. I now have the start to a magnificent digital toolbox that I can use for the years to come.

Based on my personal growth plan that I wrote at the beginning of this course, I have grown in many ways. First and foremost, I have looked a technology in a different light and have made it a bigger priority in my teaching to help promote better learning and promote 21^st century learners.  I have learned to create a blog and use it as a tool for communication and information sharing. I have yet to learn the way to create a website, but hope to do so in future courses. I have gathered and used many tools to help promote communication, which is one of my goals as a French teacher. I have successfully learned how to use Skype and VoiceThread, which will be useful to me for years to come. In any case, the tools that I have learned to use will help me integrate new tools for students and hit a variety of learning styles as I present new information to my students.

In the end, I have increased my skills of using technology, added tools to my repertoire for teaching, and through all of this my students will have a well-rounded experience in the classroom where they learn the material and can apply what they know to the world around them.

As for the future, I hoped to continually add to my technology toolbox, integrate technology into my teaching, and promote the use of technology not only to enhance what is going on in the classroom, but to take our future students into our digital world in the 21st century.

Personal Technology Plan

Personal Technology Plan on Prezi

Learning Styles

My Learning Style Quiz Results
Quiz can be found at http://www.edutopia.org/mi-quiz

Reflecting on my results, it seems that my two highest areas are Visual-Spatial and Interpersonal. This is a pretty accurate representation of how I feel that I learn best. Throughout school, I have also been a hands on learner, needed to see something and experience it to learn best. I tend to be able to manipulate and visualize things in my head or see a picture of the final outcome. I also tend to thrive on social interaction, which I think is one of the reasons that teaching is a great fit for me. Being able to interact with students and staff, present information that I am passionate about, and share my opinions is something that I truly enjoy and look forward to everyday. A close third in my results was logical-mathematical. While math is not one of my strong suits, the sciences are. It is interesting to see that many of the learning style results are fairly close with one another, which in my mind means that it is important to incorporate all types of learning in the classroom because each learning style has their own benefits and may allow educators to present the information in the best way.

In looking back at my educational past, it seems that the naturalistic and interpersonal learning styles where the ones that were the least effective for me. Despite the results of this quiz, I am not one with nature and do not care about the organization or classification of plants or animals (even though I am a Biology teacher, those are some topics that I have little interest with). As far as interpersonal learning, I am not one to like working alone or in a quiet environment. I tend to like many things going on at once, noise in the background, and multi-tasking. 

As an educator, I feel that it is important that we reach out to all of our students and all of their learning styles. While it is difficult to incorporate every learning style into every lesson, it is important that our lessons are not presented in the same way everyday. By incorporating lessons or activities that hit each different learning style, we are able to present and work with information or course content in a way so that every student is able to learn and retain information in a way that suits them best. It is also important to incorporate all learning styles so that all students have opportunities to work at their personal best. If we only focused on one or two learning styles in every lesson, many students would be left in the dark and would not have the opportunity to do their personal best. 

Creative Commons

Photo Attribution:
Original Image: "Louvre"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoetnet/4851100053/in/photostream/lightbox/
by: zoetnet

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.

Photo Attribution:
Original Image: "Focus"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoetnet/4851102357/in/photostream/lightbox/
by: zoetnet

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.

Photo Attribution:
Original Image: "P1040866"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoetnet/4851719100/in/photostream/lightbox/
by: zoetnet

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.

In the foreign language classroom, images play a pivotal role in learning vocabulary and giving students insight into the language, culture, history, art, food, etc. Using creative commons give teachers and students the opportunities to use images properly giving the creators credit. The images I have included above, could be used to take students on a virtual field trip to the Louvre, one of the world's best art museums. It gives students the opportunity to experience the museum and its art. This virtual field trip can lead to many different lesson ideas, such as a culture/art introduction, discussing an individual piece of artwork in the target language, re-creating artwork in class, among many other ideas. This is not something that has to be limited to a museum, but it could give teachers the opportunity to take students on a tour through the city, look at famous monuments, experience the target culture within the classroom. This is beneficial especially when school districts have had to limit field trips and study abroad trips due to budgets. Even if schools were supporting field trips or study abroad trips, not every student can afford to travel. This is a great way for all students to experience a world outside of their own.


Here is a link to my Flickr Page. Please enjoy the photos posted there. You will find many with Creative Commons Licensing and some with All Rights Reserved.