Shouldn't it be easier?

Have you ever had that feeling that you're just fully missing something? That you've been working just too much and there is that sinking feeling that somewhere out there... someone has already figured out exactly what you're struggling with? In fact, maybe a TON of people have already figured out how to deal... how to do it and how to do it well (and easily).

Hmph.

That's my fear.

I started playing around with my Moodle again a bit tonight... added one assignment... and then realized that some of the differentiation I need for my 3/4/5 class can be used right there within Moodle... just create the different class... share some assignments... and create some new and different when they need to be! It *should* be that easy, right?

But then the realist set in.


Even if it IS that easy (which it almost never is because doing something new for an extended amount of time seems to be out of the realm of possibility in my world... but I digress...), my students will never get enough time to be on the computers to actually utilize it!


Ugh.


So do I give up?
Or do I trod on?


I think I'll go to sleep for now. Figure out the plausibility on Monday.

But before I hit the sack, a quick thought I want to get down.
Thematic teaching: Yes.
First 1/3: Ich
Second 1/3: Die Welt
Third 1/3: Meine andere Kurse

Focusing in each on the skills necessary for them to move novice/intermediate/advanced... with the use of the linguafolio(?) and snapshots of learning...vocabulary built in as needed.

The conference...

On Thursday and Friday I went to the Minnesota language Teacher Conference. I went Thursday night, even though it was only from 3 PM - 6 PM. I went to a college in the schools meeting as well as one about the virtual item bank and also a German Idea Share. The CIS was good information to get and good questions to have answered. It was a panel presentation. The idea share was the beginning of a tradition and should be very exciting when it is used often. Overall, it was very very nice to hear German from adults again. It has been so long since I've heard a real level of German. Other than that, I was a bit disappointed at the conference. But I was looking forward to the next day.
Friday morning I was the only one from the district at the first meeting. It was about reading strategies for German music. There were some great ideas and it helped me realize that I can go further into analysis with the music before hearing it... AND that I should never ever, ever show the full text of the song... because WOW that is overwhelming! That is a great thing for me to remember. Do analysis and listening and everything with pieces of the song/text. Wait to give the entire text until you absolutely have to... if ever. I like the discussion about reading the text and then guessing what kind of song it is.
Then, before the keynote speaker, I saw the remainder of the district people. Almost none of them were planning on staying until after lunch (and some were leaving before lunch). That means that the district has paid $75-$100 per person for them to come for one session, lunch, and leave.
I finished the German music session and then was off to lunch and then a major letdown: "Bonding with technology". I was going there expecting to see/learn new ways of bonding with technology for foreign language. Instead I got to see an overview of a survey they have been taking of teachers... and was asked (not personally but very generally) what might help increase technology. It was hard for me to not be cynical and say that meetings like this that actually TAUGHT technology instead of just talked about it.
Then one that had ideas from various teachers from the Apple Valey/Eagan/Rosemount district. It was really nice and things that I can bring back and USE!
Finally one about iPods. Now this is what I'm talking about. She was a wonderful presenter and told her own story as well as talked pedagogy and gave ideas for technology/iPods in education! Way to go!! It made me leave with a good taste in my mouth.

Overall, I don't know if I will go again. I felt like, for the time spent, I got little out of it. It reminded me of how, in Champlin Park, I need to be excited and exciting... just like I am in class. I need to give the relevant information and tips that they came to hear and focus on what's useful. Make it and keep it interesting and useful!

A sad note: one of the really cool technologies I learned about in the final session doesn't work on PC's! Does anyone know of something that is similar to ProVoc for the PC???

I can hear you...

We got our microphone/voice amplification system today (or really last night). Mine didn't work for the majority of the day. Finally, it began working and I was kind of screwing around with it "talking whale". It was interesting.

Students didn't think it was necessary.

But then I did the "cover the mic" test and the kids in the back said it did make a difference after all. So we'll see.

I want to putz around with it for a while and see if I can figure out how to do the podcasting of the entire class.

Technology reflections...

Week one is done and the UbD has been going well... I planned too much for especially the first day... so I've had to do some rearranging... but otherwise it's good. In reflection, though, I'm seeing that until this point, it is heavily focused on technology and learning and perhaps less so on language usage. This will be a place for improvement for the unit, and those to follow.

So some quick notes on technology:
*PowerPoint: as we still don't have our "smart classrooms", I checked out an LCD projector from the media center. I have been doing the notes, agenda, city presentations and a bit of internet on PowerPoint. It has been beneficial to kind of keep me on track, and one student mentioned on the first day (before we even talked about learning styles) that he really liked the PowerPoint things because he is a visual learner... so he hoped we would have more of these. :) I think it's going well. It forces me to at least preview the plan for the next day and get things together and going.

*Audacity: We recorded our voices for the audio vocabulary section of the UbD. I exported it to mp3 and published it online. It took a bit of time to do the recording (just because there were so many people who needed to get up and to the microphone)... but once I had the file cut and exported, it was about 4.5 minutes. Everyone's voices sounded really good and I was inspired to do more with this because it truly is an authentic means of assessing their pronunciation and understanding (especially if they recorded conversations on it). I loved it. The kids liked to hear themselves and many mentioned that they downloaded it and "didn't sound as stupid as I thought I would". This is good. Step one in preparation for the podcasting. It should prove to be super beneficial for me... and they like it too! What else can you ask for? Great for step one!

*StudyStack: For our visual practice, I inputted the vocabulary into StudyStack for the students to be able to interact with online. We'll see how many actually put this to work and how seriously they are taking this.
Which brings me to some reflection about the quizzes...

Will the students actually take this seriously if they are not being graded on the quizzes? Do we need to have a discussion about the purpose? Is the purpose meaningful enough for them? I think it is interesting and good, but do they? And will a grade motivate them anyway? Should we have the discussion that a language is nothing without vocabulary?

I don't know. I was a little concerned about all of this tonight as I was thinking about the 120-240 words they will be studying for tomorrow... and how some might remember that just tonight... and then, instead of studying, just tell themselves that it doesn't matter anyway because they won't be graded...

that just might break my heart.

My newest technologies...

After much procrastination, I started futzing around with Audacity today. I was perhaps a bit afraid of hearing my voice on the software... unsure of what it would sound like... and perhaps worried that it would take SO much work to make it sound good that it wouldn't even be worth it. But alas. That was not the case.
After figuring out the crazy new way to do audio inputs with Vista, I first tried the Bluetooth. It worked! However it did not work well. So then I tried working with Shawn's Plantronics headset. It was most amazing. I sound like I'm in a sound studio and my voice sounds, excuse me saying so, amazing! It is actually so much fun! I've figured out cutting the audio file (to get rid of those onesie-twosie words that clutter an audio file), how to record:pause:record and how to place underlying audio tracks with other words or even music. Very exciting stuff. I think I will be doing the "audio track" for students to use for studying as their first podcast. Then they can see how easy it is. That way when it's their turn to record podcasts, they can do it super easy and should enjoy it! I'm excited. Now I just need to get something worthwhile recorded as my first podcast... and then work with uploading and publishing it so I can seem like a seasoned veteran when I do it in front of the kids. This is SO exciting. I find it exciting to hear my voice... I can only imagine how this excitement can spread when 25-35 kids have the same opportunity!

Well, once I had Audacity figured out, and had all of the audio input devices figured out, I figured I might as well sign up for Skype as well! So I did! Whew!

I'm pretty excited about the idea of "getting a Skype call" at any point (like I often hear happens to speakers at the educational technology conferences). Okay, I know that I probably won't have people calling me "at any point"... but the dream is there!

SO here's the exciting part: I was futzing around on Skype and found "Skypecasts". These are opportunities to set up a time (or find a "cast" of interest) and talk with people from around the world! I see definite possibilities in this for my German students. How cool would it be for them to talk with real Germans in this venue! Also, I could set up a Skypecast, plan it ahead of time and students could join as we talk. What would we talk about? I don't know... How to change the world? What about a "Stammtisch"? That's cool! How about a review session from our homes? I wonder if I will want to create a school account if I'm going to do that...

Nah.

Very exciting stuff. I hope I remember to use it all! (And I hope I get technology IN my classroom one of these days!)

UPDATE: I set up a Skypecast for Monday, September 17 at 8:00 PM! Everyone can log in and speak/practice German! Is this going to be a cluster...? Who knows! It's all worth a try!