Feeds

I found the feeds interesting to say the least. As I searched through the various feeds, I found one that caught my eye, "Noticias Locas." I thought it would be interesting to share funny news stories to break the monotony of language teaching and bring in an aspect of humor. I decided to look through some of these and read "Los Diez Sombreros mas ridiculos." ( http://www.noticiaslocas.com/EkkkuFZEAp.shtml) It was definitely funny and something students would enjoy reading but most of all viewing. News stories like these could help motivate students and show them another perspective of Spanish cultures and events.

Social networking group

I searched the ning website and found a group that seemed interesting. It's called teaching with ning. As I looked at the comments it seems like there could be a wealth of information that can be exchanged with the members. I specifically liked the post on "how to reach kids?" If this is a group with a lot of activity, it can enhace and expand on what I provide my students with, referring to Spanish learning and technology. The url is: http://networkcreators.ning.com/group/teachingwithning

A learner is like a ...

A learner is like a mediator. For learning to take place both within the learner and in his surrounding, the learner needs to get a perspective of both sides he is mediating -- himself and everyone else. It is the mediator's responsibility to take a situation and bring both parties to a resolution, without picking sides. If we view learners likewise, as a mediator, he/she needs to look at both sides of the story (information in this case) and analyze these. The mediator brings information from one party to the other (him/herself to the community and vice versa) and lets them ponder what has just been exposed. The mediator's job is to bring some kind of compromise -- new views, ideas, etc. In his article "Connectivism: Rethinking learning in a digital age" Siemens states the role of the learner's knowledge as "a network, which feeds into organizations and institutions, which in turn feed back into the network, and then continue to provide learning to individual." The learner himself is that network that negotiates new ideas and loose thoughts, analyzes these and comes up with a "new" set of knowledge for the whole. In the digital age, this role is crucial but it must not just occur with one learner, it must continue to occur with all of the participants of a community. If not, learning is stagnant and the entire learning process is limited for all. The effectiveness of the whole community will never reach its prime and may in fact fail. As learners, we must continue this process in our lives and within the network, it must be a never-ending cylcle. "Information flow within an organization is an important element in organizational effectiveness." (Siemens)

Top 3 ways to use blogs in my own teaching

Blogs are the new wave of communication with students. In my teaching, blogs could be easily implemented to...

1. create a new venue of communication in addition to the in-class face-to-face encounters. Many students are afraid to speak their target language in front of others. Blogging could be a way to lessen the shyness and anxiety since pronounciation would not matter, the focus now is on written not verbal communication.
2. foster greater communication among the students and myself. Through blogging, important announcements can be repeated, homework assignments can be posted and additional help via the internet can be given through links.
3. upload samples and actual student projects or work and make it available for others to view (parents, administrators, friends, etc.)

Bienvenido

Bienvenido a mi sitio de Blog!!!

Welcome to my blog spot!!!