Next year our high schools will be encouraging students to bring their own device (laptop, iPad, tablet) to school for educational purposes. This is a very big step for any district, and can be very daunting for everyone involved. Tomorrow I will be sharing what I have been doing in my class with my colleagues. I have been writing about my own journey with technology in my Spanish classroom since 2009, and I have picked up a thing or two along the way.
- Technology should enhance and not distract from the lesson.
- Web 2.0 tools & devices allow students to collaborate from multiple locations & with different schedules.
- If the tool is not user friendly, it's not worth using. However, all technology has a learning curve, and the teacher needs to incorporate this into his/her expectations.
- Technology allows for differentiation in the classroom, but this doesn't mean we get rid of methods or lessons that work without computers or devices.
- Learning a language takes time and practice. The Internet is filled with resources that will support a language learner to develop fluency. It's our job as a language educator to expose our students to those resources, but the students need to actively engage in the language to actually learn it.
Here is the Google Doc I created to share resources and student examples. I am thankful for a great group of students over the past three years who contributed to this document by producing quality work. Please feel free to view, and add your thoughts about language learning and technology in the comment section.
