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Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Reflection on Final Project
Once again the need to collaborate around a course project showed how effective it is to create specific times for teachers to work together on curriculum. It would be really useful to build these times into professional development days as they allow time for teachers from different sections and, potentially, different subject areas to develop projects together. The digital tools at our disposal have opened the door to significant opportunities for multi-disciplinary and multi-age collaboration. Scheduling conflicts matter much less when students do not have to be in the same place in order to work together.
I know, I know...it is tempting to say the same for teacher collaboration, but we need the time to sit down and TALK in order to discover the points at which we can bring our different interests, disciplines and curricula together. Professional development days could give us the time to find the points around which ideas can coalesce. They could be the catalyst for innovation.
In this case, Gabi and I had already used voicethread separately in our respective classes and we had already done some collaborative work between our classes. Thanks to Robin's chat with Jeff, we were able to adapt the final project and use our experience as a tool for others. For both of us, voicethread opens up myriad possibilities for students to use language authentically. That may sound kind of obvious (it is called voicethread, after all), but it is genuine challenge for language teachers to create the opportunities to make language truly their own. Students learn vocabulary and language strucutures but they only truly internalize them - that is make them a tool for their own REAL communication - when they start to use them independently. For both of us, voicethread is one of doing just that.
I often feel a twinge of guilt when I see the writing and analysis that some teachers are drawing out of their students using these tools I love. I have to remind myself that our students' most basic tool, language. is just in its earliest stages of development. Analysis of historical and current events is a few steps away but it is incredible to see our students' language development. Digital tools like voicethread provide a platform that both showcases student growth and encourages them to push their own boundaries of vocabulary and structure. I remind myself that our students were, not very long ago, learning how to introduce themselves. Now they are recording recipes, instructions and explanations of their personalities.
¡Viva la colaboración!
I know, I know...it is tempting to say the same for teacher collaboration, but we need the time to sit down and TALK in order to discover the points at which we can bring our different interests, disciplines and curricula together. Professional development days could give us the time to find the points around which ideas can coalesce. They could be the catalyst for innovation.
In this case, Gabi and I had already used voicethread separately in our respective classes and we had already done some collaborative work between our classes. Thanks to Robin's chat with Jeff, we were able to adapt the final project and use our experience as a tool for others. For both of us, voicethread opens up myriad possibilities for students to use language authentically. That may sound kind of obvious (it is called voicethread, after all), but it is genuine challenge for language teachers to create the opportunities to make language truly their own. Students learn vocabulary and language strucutures but they only truly internalize them - that is make them a tool for their own REAL communication - when they start to use them independently. For both of us, voicethread is one of doing just that.
I often feel a twinge of guilt when I see the writing and analysis that some teachers are drawing out of their students using these tools I love. I have to remind myself that our students' most basic tool, language. is just in its earliest stages of development. Analysis of historical and current events is a few steps away but it is incredible to see our students' language development. Digital tools like voicethread provide a platform that both showcases student growth and encourages them to push their own boundaries of vocabulary and structure. I remind myself that our students were, not very long ago, learning how to introduce themselves. Now they are recording recipes, instructions and explanations of their personalities.
¡Viva la colaboración!
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