by laprofe720 on December 6, 2008 at 9:48 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
In reflecting on organizational change, I’m reminded of a recent frustrating experience regarding YouTube use in school. Over the last few years, I’ve heard many school administrators comment that they are skeptical about the value of YouTube in the classroom. While I frequently use YouTube in my classes to show cultural content, I honestly believe that many school administrators think that the only content available on YouTube are wacky videos of teenagers attempting dangerous stunts on skateboards. Fortunately, I’ve been able to simply ignore this misconception and merrily use YouTube as an effective way to engage my students.
Last week our IT department announced that they would be severely restricting the amount of bandwidth that would be available for “entertainment.” Unfortunately, “YouTube” has been lumped into the “entertainment” category. Now, I will likely be unable to show YouTube videos in my classroom with any efficiency. As much as I have tried to protest, the IT department is convinced that students watching goofy YouTube videos in the computer labs are the root cause of our network/bandwidth issues.
Fortunately, I ran across a new site: www.teachertube.com This site is YouTube-esque, but apparently only contains links to educational videos. I am hopeful that I will be able to convince my IT department to allow unrestricted access to TeacherTube. While the variety of content will certainly be significantly less, at least I’ll still be able to post videos for my students and share them in class!
Eva Maria
by laprofe720 on November 29, 2008 at 2:59 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
I’m a big proponent of rubrics. I truly believe that rubrics are beneficial for students in that they clearly know ahead of time how their performance will be assessed, and they can see from the rubric specifically which areas need improvement. There is no guessing as to why a student earned a B versus an A, and rubrics tend to be a great learning tool for students. But, is there any way to use rubrics without it taking so much time?
I teach six classes of 24 students each. When I assign a composition, it takes hours for me to grade all of my students papers in the traditional sense, without a rubric. When I have tried using rubrics, and have to select between different ratings for different components of their work, it multiplies the time required to assess their work. I can spend an entire weekend using rubrics in an attempt to effectively assess my students’ compositions, and still not finish. Help!
Are there any strategies for using rubrics effectively while still making the task of assessing students’ work manageable?
Eva Maria
by laprofe720 on November 22, 2008 at 10:18 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Well, I went out exploring the blogosphere this evening, and found some very interesting posts!
I ran across the “Speed of Creativity” blog, and interestingly found a post about grandparents using videoconferening to stay in touch with grandkids. I frequently use iChat to videoconference with my grandkids, so this gave me the courage to post a comment on the blog at http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2008/11/18/videoconference-with-your-grandchildren/#comment-61688
I then found the “Adventures in Educational Blogging” blog, and read a great post on a Search Cube technology, which displays results of a Google search in pictures, rather than lists of words. I thought this was a great idea, so I posted a comment at http://ssedro.blogspot.com
It’s fun to be able to instantaneously share ideas with the blog authors! I wonder if anyone will comment on my blog…
Eva Maria
by laprofe720 on November 20, 2008 at 12:09 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Welcome to my blog that I am developing for my PLS class. I will share reflections on my use of technology to enhance my Spanish courses at McHenry County College.
by laprofe720 on November 19, 2008 at 12:21 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
I really think it’s important for students studying Spanish to begin reading actual texts in Spanish very early in their studies. I require my second semester students to read leyendas mexicanas, which my students thoroughly enjoy. However, some of the vocabulary is very challenging for them.
So, I have created a webpage with the text of one of the legends that are asked to read, with hyperlinks to key vocabulary words. When a student clicks on a vocabulary word, a definition of the word, often with a picture, appears.
Take a look! http://www.mchenry.edu/faculty/ebill/solyluna/index.html
Eva Maria
by laprofe720 on November 18, 2008 at 12:15 am · Filed under Uncategorized
In the past, I have developed a series of videos to support online courses in Spanish. While I have chosen to no longer teach Spanish online, I have found that the videos I created are very helpful to my current face-to-face students. I have found that students enjoy studying a topic in class, and then having the opportunity to review the topic online, at their own pace. Examples of some of the videos I have created with a colleague include:
I love how YouTube makes these videos so accessible to all. I used to create a CD-ROM for students with these videos, but YouTube is so much more convenient. In addition, it allows individuals from all over the world to review the videos. I can’t believe how many hits the video on the Spanish alphabet has gotten!
-Eva Maria
