Mariomassone. (Photographer). (2010). File name. [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Minkskeleton.jpg

Clausula

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!

A different take...

I was surprised to find that this week's readings looked at the more negative side of technology.  They addressed many issues that I think are representative of some of my big problems with technology, but that I couldn't really have expressed in words.  I find this idea of "seeking" behavior incredibly interesting- probably due to my Psychology background.  What really resonated with me was the idea that we are driven more by the action of seeking than by the tangible reward of what we are seeking.  I am definitely guilty of wasting hours Googling random facts and in the end feeling more dissatisfied than I was before I ever started because at some point I run out of things to seek.  Interestingly, I heard on the radio today that studies have shown that when people are forced to go 24 hours without their smartphone, they experience the same symptoms of withdrawal- depression, lonliness, etc.- that are experienced by patients in drug rehab.  Obviously, after reading the seeking article yesterday this caught my attention.

The article on Generation M's definitions of private and public was also quite interesting.  I noticed that many of the characteristics Klapperstuck and Kearns attributed to Generation M are ones that I too possess.  I often find myself on my phone and/or computer when I'm in the company of other people, and upon reflecting (thanks to this article), I realized that the way people respond to this behavior is extremely generational.  My mom hates it when I am texting during dinner or on my laptop while watching a movie.  On the other hand, when I'm with a group of friends they are usually engaging in the same sort of multi-tasking.  In other ways, though, I think I have more in common with  my mom's generation than with Generation M.  The idea of "privacy" and sharing information on the internet is something that still makes me very uncomfortable and which I am quite wary of.  I can't help but be intrigued by this dichotomy.

After watching the PBS video a second time, I'm excited to Skype with Lauren tomorrow!

Fun and Frustrating

Okay, so right off the bat today Jeff hands us this paper full of little symbols and asks us to decode it. Talk about frustrating! No context, no key, nothing. I get so uncomfortable with tasks like that because there's no way to know if you're doing it right. Which is exactly where our discussion went.  I was SO happy that the first part of the discussion centered around the foreign language folks (sorry all other disciplines).  It seems rare that this happens, so it was exciting for me to be able to add valuable input to a conversation.  In relation to the task Jeff presented us, Mindy brought up this idea of ambiguity in the context of foreign language learning.  She made some very interesting and insightful observations.  But I still have to go back to my point that the ability to be comfortable with ambiguity in a subject presumes, I think, a certain level of knowledge and understanding of that subject.  I can be comfortable with a certain level of ambiguity in Latin because I know the fundamentals of the language, and I know where and how much ambiguity is acceptable.  I do, however, agree with Mindy's point that reading texts in a foreign language is very much like problem solving.  This is something I hadn't really considered before, but it resonated with me very strongly. I love reading Latin and find it so much fun to figure out how all the individual pieces fit together into a coherent whole.

The second half of class was podcasting. Which, again, was frustratingly fun.  It took me a while to figure out how to navigate the aviary software, but definitely worth the struggle.  I enjoyed making the "commercial" for Marginalia- the blog I follow- even though the end product has me sounding like an enthusiastic clown.  Oh well, isn't that the point of commercials? I haven't yet listened to my classmates' podcasts, but I'm sure they are all very entertaining.  I'm still a little apprehensive about the podcast assignment due on Friday, but am ever so grateful to Kristin for sitting through this practice session with us and helping to clear up questions and problems that arose.

Definitely an enjoyable class!

Classical References!

Well first of all, being the Classicist- and I use that term rather loosely- that I am, I loved the references to Heroditus and Plato's Phaedrus.  However, before I got to those references, I was less than enthusiastic and thoroughly skeptical about the topic of this week's readings.  Video games as a learning tool? Really?  Needless to say to anyone who has been following this blog, skepticism has become my go-to frame of mind in this class, which I'm not entirely sure is a bad thing. 

 Elsewhere in Phaedrus, Socrates notes: 

"ἀλλ᾽ εἰ ἀπιστοίην, ὥσπερ οἱ σοφοί, οὐκ ἂν ἄτοπος εἴην"- "but if I were to disbelieve, just as wise men do, I would not be alone.  

So anyway, I reluctantly started reading Gee's article on video games, and the first couple pages didn't do much to alleviate my cynicism about the topic.  I kept thinking saying to myself, "Okay, so this guy knows the names of a lot of video game avatars. So what?"  Needless to say, I was relieved when he finally got to the meat of the article and started discussing the learning principles that "good games incorporate", and indeed found his discussion about how we should fashion education to be more like the virtual game world to be rather interesting.  I particularly liked his notion that the tasks we assign to students should be "pleasantly frustrating".  Tasks should challenge students and force critical thinking, but not be so hard that the student can't ever hope to accomplish them.  

Indeed, I was "pleasantly frustrated" by the TED talk.  As I watched it I realized that I was beginning to understand and possibly even agree that 'gamers' might be able to change and save the world--IF their energy and enthusiasm can be brought out of virtual reality and applied to real-world circumstances.  And it sounds like there are researchers out there performing studies aimed at doing just this.  

To be honest, it's probably going to take a long time for me to throw all caution to the wind and fully jump on the technology train.  But like I said, I'm not entirely sure that's a bad thing.  Anyway, I think Socrates would agree.

Nuntii Latini et Ephemeris!

Class yesterday was great! I really enjoyed finally getting to sort of plan a lesson and do something that I can definitely see being useful in the classroom.  Sue was very helpful in pointing out some of the more important things we should consider when planning a lesson- whether it falls in the beginning, middle or end of a unit; how many kids we are going to have to assess, etc.  In my high-school we didn't really have a "media specialist" or librarian, so I was surprised to find out what a great source of information one can be.  We all agreed that it was a bit of a stretch applying this assignment to World Languages, particularly less common ones like Latin and German, but once we got into it we came up with some really creative (I think) ideas about how to incorporate them into the tsunami project.  

I was also excited to discover (with help from Sue and my classmates) all the online Latin resources that I didn't know about.  I found a couple of websites that have current news articles in Latin, a few blogs and listservs devoted entirely to posting resources for Latin teachers, and I EVEN discovered some really cool PLNs on Twitter that I'm now following! One in particular that I'm really excited about and can see myself using with my own students provides a new Latin vocab word with etymology every day.  I can't believe I'm admitting to being excited about something on Twitter, but I am! Who knew?

Magna Unda

I'm very curious about this activity that we'll be doing in class on Monday. I think it's a great idea and am very excited to try my hand at planning a lesson.  However, after reading the NY Times blog and the Tsunami scenario guidelines, I have some doubts about being able to come up with a lesson plan that connects the earthquake and tsunami in Japan with my field- Latin.  Do I sound like a broke record yet? My apologies if I do, but I really didn't see many ideas on the blog for foreign language teachers.

That being said, I think the WHERETO approach discussed in the other article will be really helpful and I'm excited to use their guidelines and suggestions in this activity and hopefully in my future lesson plans as well.  One thing that resonated with me was to provide clear learning goals and performance expectations for your students.  If students are able to understand the purpose of doing an activity or assignment they are much more likely to appreciate the value of it and to try and do well on it.   I'm hoping that with the help of my group members and the guidance of our assigned librarian I will be able to come up with an engaging lesson for teaching my Latin students about the magna unda that rocked Japan.