Friday marked the end of the first semester of EDUC 504 and of the MAC program in general! I can't believe an entire semester has passed- granted it was an extremely abbreviated and intense semester, but still, it flew by. As far as Friday's tech class, it was a great idea to have previous Macers talk to us about how they're implementing technology in their own classrooms. I'm really bad with names, so i'll just refer to them by description. The girl who we video-conferenced with in Paris had a lot of great resources, especially different ways for how us world language people might use technology in our classrooms. I had heard about freerice.com before, but I hadn't heard about Moodle, and upon checking it out I found that they offer a Latin option! How exciting! I was also really interested in what the guy from the IBO school had to say. I didn't know anything about these types of schools, so it was very interesting to learn about them.
I enjoyed our discussion on the readings- it seems like many people picked up on the same points I did as far as seeking behavior and privacy issues with teens today. It was also really cool to Skype with Lauren and her students, and hear their take on technology in the classroom. I found it really interesting that there is a school rule that students aren't allowed to have their cell-phones, but clearly that isn't very strictly enforced. It makes sense, though, as Lauren explained that the school is in the Bronx and a lot of the parents want to be able to stay in contact with their children throughout the day.
I definitely learned a lot this semester about technology and its possible uses in my teaching practice. I also learned that I have a whole lot more to learn before I decide when and how I want to use it in my practice. On that note, I'm glad we will be continuing the course in the fall!
Oh man, Moodle has a German option too! Isn't it exciting when our languages are actually included?
ReplyDeleteIf I get a job in a school with a strict phones-off policy, I don't think I'll really enforce it either. People have to learn to be responsible with phones sometime, so why not in my classroom?
This whole issue with cell phones in the classroom is very interesting- I'd love to have a class poll on if we believe students should be able to use cell phones in class or not. I'm still undecided. Students need to learn to be responsible and realize that if they're not paying attention, they'll miss information. But I'm also not sure if high schoolers are mature enough yet to recognize the consequences of their actions.
ReplyDeleteAh, this is such a frustrating issue! I hope we discuss it more in the fall. :)
Mary,
ReplyDeleteFreerice sounds like a place I should visit when I am virtually starving, and Moodle, well that sounds like either a little dog that got run over or a 70s nostalgia store. Okay, as you can plainly tell I really don’t know what I’m talking about but similar to you, I do know I would like to know more – it’s an appreciation thing, see? If there is stuff for assisting with Latin and German learning, surely there must be for French too n’est pas? In all seriousness, of course, the amount of support networks both in the technology and people fronts that we have been exposed to in, as you noted, such as short time, is mind boggling, intimidating and incredibly helpful all at once. I’m just trying to keep my head above water at this point, but if I can learn to crawl on outta here at the end and grab on to and use some of these sources than it will all be quite worth it. Something tells me I should start at the free rice depot.
PS Clausula is Santa’s mean ol’ aunt isn’t she?
Moodle has language options?!?! Awesome. I will definitely have to check that out.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that it was great to get to talk to Lauren and her students. It's always nice to talk to real teachers, which we've done a few times this summer, but that was the first time we got to talk to some students - and that it was nice to get their perspective.