Open Study
Open Study is a platform that allows students to seek and give help from/to each other. It doesn’t look like we have a spot for Spanish yet, but there’s an open part. Find a friend somewhere, anywhere in the world to work with! Technology at its best.
Oooh, infographics
Kathy Schrock just keeps bringing out the coolest things. Check out her helpful links/work with Infographics here. Her idea is to use them for assessments–what a beautiful way to present our information!
If you’re unsure about what an Infographic is, check out these awesome examples.
Blommin’ Google
Kathy Shrock “created this chart of Google tools set in the hierarchy of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy after spending lots of time investigating all that Google has to offer.” Check out the programs we can use to enhance levels of thinking:
http://kathyschrock.net/googleblooms/
Get her updates via email or peruse other parts of her guide at: http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/
Khan Academy
Holy Cow. I know that I don’t teach math, science or social science; but this concept is incredible. I see so many possibilities and implications for the way our foreign language classes could one day be, and it excites me!
Check out the Khan Academy! http://www.khanacademy.org/
Silly Google Translator
http://www.demoslam.com/#/bracket/wxDRburxwz8
Check out this video from the Google Slam Competition (called Extra Spicy Slam)
Wicked Deception
Ooh la la, have we hit the jackpot. I’m working on ways to share with students the benefits and drawbacks of available online materials. Typically I have no trouble with dictionaries, but the translators make some cheating possible (usually noticed though–use of advanced constructions etc.) and/or botch up whatever it is they’re trying to communicate. If anyone has ideas for dictionary activities etc., I’m so interested!
Here is a youtube minimovie that I love. It uses online translators to give us an eventual (Eng-French-German-French-English) dialogue in English that is quite hilarious. (Subtitles let you know what the original was.)
Information Overload?
Do you ever wonder if you spend too much time online or find that multitasking makes homework feel like it takes forever? Do you end up getting less sleep because you’re texting, chatting or surfing or because you find that your brain can’t seem to shut itself down for the night?
The NY Times has an entire series devoted to such topics called “Your Brain on Computers.” In An Ugly Toll of Technology: Impatience and Forgetfulness, a Dr. Kimberly Young is referenced for comparing net addiction to eating disorders. Even adults are at risk for various problems involving our ability to parent and nurture as is highlighted by The Risks of Parenting while Plugged in –there was a comparison between said addiction and alcoholism the way a parent might say to an objecting son/daughter “just one more text” while driving.
In Attached to Computers and Paying a Price, we read of families missing big business deals, family problems and lower grades. According to the article, “At home, people consume 12 hours of media a day on average, when an hour spent with, say, the Internet and TV simultaneously counts as two hours. That compares with five hours in 1960, say researchers at the University of California, San Diego.“
If you’d like to test your own ability to focus, the NY Times features this test. If you think you might be addicted and would like to find out more, check out the Net Addiction site.
For what it’s worth, I think technology can be helpful for practicing Spanish and staying up to date on your progress at school. It’s even useful for contact between teachers, students and parents (at times). What I take away from the NY Times series is how essential boundaries are in terms of when/where my family and I are plugged in–there have to be concrete limits for us not to get lost and fragmented.
NB: Richtel also did the 2010 Pulitzer Prize Winning Driven to Distraction series about driving and devices. Check out the online game/simulation to test your driving/distractedness.
Vocabulary Powerpoints Realidades 3
And what do ya know!?, Sra. Shirley has made powerpoints for vocab in Spanish III, using our Realidades 3 text. Check it out!
want to practice with videos/youtube?
http://www.youtube.com/user/languagenow
http://www.youtube.com/user/esaudio
learn a foreign language for free
Mango offers several foreign languages. I suggest we all consider more than our traditional Spanish. I heard a report on the CIA and their influx of new agents etc. It was hard to hire the right people because only 12% were proficient in a useful language to them like Arabic or I daresay Chinese. You might want to consider those other languages when you do your foreign language requirement in college.
