This past weekend, May 1, Oklahoma Foreign Language Teachers' Association (OFLTA) held its annual spring conference. The conference was held at West Moore High School in Moore, Oklahoma. My thanks to Elise Robillard, World Languages Department Chair and OFLTA President, and all teachers, staff, and administrators of WHHS for hosting our
organization. Your facility is impressive.

In attendance were almost one hundred fifty world language teachers from around the state. Several Native American, Chinese, Latin, Spanish, French, Russian, and German languages were represented by educators who teach in elementary, middle, and high schools, tribal language revitalization programs and universities. A core group of
dedicated public servants. Good people.

Thursday night, prior to the conference, Elise called me with a problem. One of the presenters had just canceled. His baby decided to greet planet Earth a little earlier than expected. Congratulations to you sir. I hope all is well with your family.

So back to the problem...Elise asked me to fill the void...HMMM Why did I answer the phone? After a brief discussion, the deal was done. I would give a presentation at the conference. What would be the topic?

It was late, I was tired. Friday seemed a good day to ponder my predicament.

I taught classes all day. As the final bell rang, I hurried to WMHS to help with preparations for the conference. Elise and I decided on a title for my presentation. I will call it...Implementing Standards Based Technology in the World Languages Classroom. The words spilled out like skim milk from a sippy cup with the wrong lid. Sounded good but what do they mean? Individually and collectively, what do they mean? With my final duty done, a trip to Sam's Club for refreshments and potato chips, (I knew being a board member would be prestigious) I arrived home just in time to help my intrepid, beautiful, and most wonderful wife put our beloved children to bed.

It was late, I was tired. Saturday seemed a good day to ponder my predicament.

Six a.m. up and sort of at'em. OOF! Off to WMHS.

More to come....same bat time, same bat channel.

Problematic ITSE Standard 2

I think I have my PD plan as it relates to Standard 2 all wrong. I like different components of my goal. However, my goal isn't completely consistent with my long term and short term plan. Neither are completely consistent with the standard. Much of my plan is too vague.
In order to achieve better alignment among all strata, I much address my need to understand what assignments and strategies are age appropriate for my new students. (I begin teaching lower school students, for the first time, next fall.) I need to contact the media specialist and/or librarian to assess technology access and capabilities. I think developing units that integrate comprehensible input methods (a teaching method that I use) and technology fits better here. Then I can develop a wiki page for each. Assessment seems to be the most difficult component for each one of my plans for each one of the ITSE Standards. I need to think about methods through which I achieve success. How do I measure it and how do I modify it/them.
This has proven difficult for me. It seems, on the surface, sufficiently straight forward. However, moving all the pieces into the correct position and sequence are challenging.
Below is ITSE Standard 2 and my PD plan as it sits idle, waiting for direction and inspiration from the talented and capable hands of the 5513ers I have come to know and respect. Thank you for taking time to read this mess. Please comment. (with hatchet in hand is okay)

2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
Teachers design, develop and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes identified in the NETS S. Teachers:
a. design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools to promote student learning and creativity.
b. develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress.
c. Customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies and abilities using digital tools and resources.
d. Provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching.

Current Abilities: I use google maps and video clips to promote cultural and geographic knowledge. I use differentiated instruction strategies.
Need: To learn what is appropriate for elementary age students.
Goal: To produce video of culturally authentic subjects. To provide summative assessments.
Short Term Plan: Before the end of this summer, I will discuss my plan with native Spanish speaking friends.
Long Term Plan: I will produce one cultural authentic video using imovie.
Assessment: I will be successful when I have used the video to assess students. I will check to see the number of times I have assessed students in this way each quarter.

Old Dog views future...present

How did people of the generation who were born when horses were the most efficient mode of transportation and lived to see moon landings and cellular phones handle that shift in the world?

I wrote a web address on the chalkboard of my classroom. (yes, I know) I asked students to copy it down for future use. Then, in a moment of clarity, I announced," However you save information is fine with me. You may use your phone or any other devise." Wow, that was something that only this semester have I said before. Some students entered the address "the old fashioned way" in their phones. It was quaint. Then something new for me happened. A few students tried to photograph it but it was a long address and I had written it big enough where it spanned the entire length of the board. So they side stepped along its length shooting video. I saw it. I felt it. It frightened me.

When events like this occur, we should learn from them. I hope to get there. I will get there. For now, I'm still nervous.

The Hardest Thing...

Teaching second language involves teaching the target culture. I have vacationed and traveled in Mexico since I was in high school. (vacationing and traveling are different) I have traveled in Colombia. I honeymooned in Costa Rica. I lived in Venezuela for a while in the 1990's. I have native Spanish speaking friends here in the US. I read books on the culture and history of Spain and Latin America. None of these experiences give me the level cultural competency I feel needed to be an upper echelon second language teacher. The seemingly, only way to address this deficiency is to move to a Spanish speaking country for a prolonged period. I just cannot see how to achieve this goal at the present time. I have a wife and two young children. I have professional responsiilities. Please share any ideas you may have. Thank you.

Target Audience Strategy

My focus for this assignment is placed on my Spanish 2 students. A webquest, found on page 138 of Teaching ELL through Technology, is the strategy I believe best suited for my lesson plan. I will build a webquest for students to research Diego Rivera,a Mexican muralist. Students will use information found in the webquest to produce a power point which will also contain examples of Rivera's work and photographs or video of student artwork based on the artists work. Students will work in collaborative groups.

Reflecton after Peer Review

Thank you to everyone who reviewed my lesson on how to use K7.net. I was fortunate in that my technology was so simple to use that it was easy to describe a clear, step by step set of instructions on how to set up and use k7.net. (a voice mail box that sends voice mail and faxes to your email) No significant lapses were found in my instructions and thus no editing was necessary. The only difficulty was when Tracy first gave it a test drive, the email confirmation that K7.net sends to the user was delayed. When Clarise tried, the email was sent to her immediately. Again thank you to all. I find k7.net to be a great tool which I have already begun using in my classroom. Student voice samples can be analyzed at the teacher's leisure. Teacher and student can review samples for an excellent source of feedback.

Not on an island...anymore

History, planet Earth, mankind, civilization, by whatever moniker has been changed by the actions of singular human forces many times. The individual human has that potential. Today with the ease of information exchange, that said individual must still possess massive moxy but can more easily reach a wide audience with a message which contains that potential for change. From Caddo through Custer counties turn left at Konowa and hello Kilimanjaro, Calcutta, and Caracas. I want to put a message in a bottle...now to think of one.

Reflection on Overlapping Technologies

I enjoyed our conversation on this and associated topics in class. Thank you to all members of 5513. I feel as though I have only dipped my little toe into a vast sea. I truly am at peace with saying I don't know what I don't know. There of course seems to be multiple replications, duplications,permeatations,combinations, and mirror images of versions and forms and models and brands of software, hardware, information sources,technology doodads and doohickies.Do I think we need them all? In short no. They exist due to a free market (sort of free) and will most likely take care of themselves in due time. I am content to find something that works for me and ride that pony until something that better serves me crosses my path. I most likely won't spend too much time actively bird dogging something to replace what I already have. Its overwhelming and seems dumb to have so much choice....beats the alternative. Gluttony and starvation both drive you to the same party. One is just a more pleasant ride.

Grammar Safari

I found a support site called Grammar Safari. This site provides "grammar safari" activities wherein students "hunt' and "collect" specific common words as they are used in documents accessible on the internet. The process begins with a choice of either finding vocabulary or a grammar structure by one of two ways: 1.begin with a certain text and search for the vocabulary or grammar structure or 2.begin with the vocabulary or grammar structure and find a text in which it is contained.Then students can copy and paste the structures to a word document where they can be saved and tagged so that the source can be found later. The Grammar Safari website which is a project produced by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champlain. Within the site are helpful hints on how to produce activities and already produced activities.
I played around with the site and found it interesting. I think that teachers can use this site for almost unlimited authentic text sources for ELL students. Student can view multiple examples of how structures are used in context to better gain understanding of proper usage. The activities make a game out of the search. Try it and let me know if this is something you feel you can use. I also see how teachers can customize lessons using Grammar Safari.http://www.iei.uiuc.edu/student_grammarsafari.html

So...the biggest problem with technology and children

Problems. Hmmmm... This search did not take me to the place I at first expected. As Dr. Cullen announced the assignment fresh on the heels of the Frontline video which documented a young girl's attempt to gain identity through technology, my initial thoughts were of problems with safety. Safety in a physical sense. While I did find evidence of such danger in my search, I also encountered articles on developmental and social problems caused by excessive and sometimes not so excessive techno usage of young children and adolescents. Some of the information seems to lead me to more questions. Questions which I believe will be asked in evolving forms over many years; in my home and across the globe. How much is too much? What is good use versus bad? How do I protect my children from weirdos who could do physical and/or emotional harm? As a digital immigrant, how do I maintain a level of techno competency to even understand what my children, who will no doubt be natives, are doing with technology?
In certain cases the research is suspect. Researchers also seem to be at odds with each other of findings. There seems to be no shortage of opinions on children and how they use and relate to technology. Many of these opinions are posted as if they are research based, when no such basis is present. I did however, find the information on the following three sites interesting and useful.
The microsoft child safety article gave some great, concrete ways to protect children when on line. Step 1. Decide where your child can and can't go on the Internet. Step 2: Increase your security and privacy. Step 3: Monitor where your kids go online. Step 4: Remind kids not to talk to strangers online.
The Tech News World story offers differing opinions on social and developmental issues regarding children and adolescents and their use of technology.
The CUNY (City University of NY) site is a research paper on children's time spent at home on computing and its correlation to cognitive and other measures of well being.

http://www.gc.cuny.edu/faculty/research_studies/attewell03.pdf
http://www.microsoft.com/parents/childsafety/steps.aspx
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/52677.html?wlc=1266108138&wlc=1266207826

Snow Day Engagement

I know there are several obvious answers to this question of how to engage students on snow days. Lets see if my myopic techno vision can find any of them. Wikis, blogs, websites, and webquests come to mind first. If students have access, they can complete assignments which can take many forms. I look forward to becoming more familiar with wikispaces in particular to use in my classroom. Are any of you 5513ers already using any of these resources? Please share any ideas.

WebQuest 1.0 or 2.0?

It seems that WebQuest is something that has roots in 1.0 and is branching into 2.0. It has elements of 1.0 that are static for finding information but it also allows users to create and edit content which is indicative of 2.0. I have used WebQuests that I have found through other sources. I am excited to use this source to create my own.

Greetings EIPT 5513

I have just entered a new and hopefully brave world. Many will not believe birdchief is blogging. I am so looking forward to what I hope is a semester of amazing growth. I hope to learn and collaborate with what already seems to be a dinamic group. Hanta yo! Aho