One down, three to go...

So I have one of three presentations done as of today. Christine and I presented our WebQuest to the class and to our teacher, Lisa B., this afternoon. It feels so great to a) have it done, b) to have presented it to the class... I was really proud of what we did, even if it took SO MUCH WORK! Now that it's over, I am actually thinking that is was fun... crazy after all the late nights and fretting over all the language (it's all in French). The final product looks really professional, and wasn't really that difficult, just time-consuming. It was really great to have the time in class to work on it, and to actually have it required of us. It's one of those things as a teacher that you always plan to do sometime but never really find the time to actually DO. Well, now that I've done one, I am excited to try and create another one for the beginning of the school year. We'll see if I really get it done, but at least I know that I have to intellectual tools in place to do it.

Here's the WebQuest link, if interested:

www.lcmatsl.googlepages.com

Off to finish the other two final projects, one due tomorrow morning and one Saturday. Ciao!

Kids and TV

Lisa B. mentioned her feelings today about kids and TV/video games, and how she thinks that those who grew up in the late '70s-'80s can multi-task well, but also need much more stimulus to keep their attention. I very much agree. When my first son was born, I did some reading about the effects of television, video games and computers (basically, any screen time) and learned that before the age of three, viewing normal television, with the fast pace at which it moves, literally rewired the connections in the brain in a way that would not happen without tv time. It is recommended that children under 3 years old have no screen time so that they may develop these brain connections using real objects and people.

I see implications in my classroom when my students cannot sit still or focus on a task or listen to a set of instructions that last more than a minute. It is interesting to look at the statistics on learning and attention issues (ADD, ADHD, etc.) that have mushroomed over the past decade. It must be caused by something, and to me, the corrolation between screen time and alterations in attention seem logical. It will also be interesting to follow what case studies emerge and what research will end up substantiating regarding this connection in the next few years.

Disclaimer: though I know that it is better for children to have no screen time before the age of three, I do admit that my sons watch some TV. They usually watch things such as "Thomas the Tank Engine" and "Peter Pan", and not commercial television. Ideally, I would prefer no screen time. But the reality is that sometimes the ease of things like television take an enormous effort to avoid. I fully admit to not putting forth that effort necessary, and try to keep their screen time to a minimum...

Chat rooms

Okay, so the beach picture below and the beach excursion feel like such a long time ago. It's been an incredibly long week, and we have one to go. I had a fairly big presention on Sartre and the Resistance on Thursday morning, for which I stayed up late on Wednesday. I think it went okay, but I ran on adreline the rest of the day yesterday and have been dragging today. I really love the content of our French class this week, and got really involved in the whole Sartre thing, which took me by surprise.

For our tech class today, we all had to meet in a chatroom and chat about topics our professor gave us. She didn't come to the school but managed it from her home. It was really crazy - all those messages flying all over the place - but I can definitely see great ways to use it in my classroom. One of the other French teachers and I have tentatively set a date to get our middle school students together virtually to chat in French. We'll see how it goes.

Les Babes à la plage...

Here is a quick photo of our lake excursion yesterday. I'm hoping for more to come...

Photo op

Here is a picture of the commons which we pass several times a day on our way to our classes... (I thought I needed another picture to brighten things up on my blog. Okay, really I'm just procrastinating...)

Hitting the wall

Okay, so we are to blog about 'hitting the wall' regarding our tech class or the MASTL program in general. There have been times in the last 10 days when I've hit a fence, but I'm not at the wall right now. I am, however, and have been numerous times, completed blown away by how much material there is on the web. Many times I sit in front of my computer, dazed at where to begin. When we are told to explore websites, podcasts, blogs... it's like giving someone a telescope and saying 'go look at a star' (Rob, you'll appreciate the analogy). There is a universe of information out there and to try and go see what's out there, as our tech prof says, is such an immense task.

I have also gone through several series of hitting mini-walls with all the information we are held accountable for here in MATSL, and all the final products we are expected to produce by ... holy cow! ... NEXT FRIDAY?!?!? That's like 10 days!! Okay, no more blogging today, I've hit a concrete wall of panic and must go work! (notice my fire/panic red font of today)

Oops, I just realized that I was supposed to be blogging for my tech class about how my students often hit the wall in their languages and how that must feel. I can certainly relate in that when I am bombarded with too much information here at MATSL, I've found that I very much need reassurance that I'm doing alright, that it's supposed to be this hard, that I will not fail out of this program -- all irrational places that my mind has tended to go this past week. And I also learned how my mind and psyche respond when I do not receive the reassurance that I am seeking. It's completely crushing to call out for help, maybe just a little word saying that I'm doing okay and to keep going, and to not receive what I think I need. It's a valuable learning process about how I function and work through this kind of pressure. If my own students aren't having a strong self-confidence day or have been through things that push them beyond their perceived limits, and reach out for a little reassurance, I will very well give it to them, in piles, so that they are able to get beyond that self-doubt, and are able to continue with the difficult, seemingly impossible tasks at hand.

Whew. Okay, outta here. :)

On est en vacances!! (vite, vite)

So today began like the others here at Bennington, wake up (relatively) early, shower, breakfast, off to class. We have quite a few assignments raining down on us over the next few days so this morning's class was heavy with information. We knew we needed lots of explanation time with Noelle and Isabel, and were running a bit behind in the morning, but didn't fret because we had three hours of classes with them this afternoon. The teachers, as usual, wanted to get through lots of material, and we'd done a good portion of it, but were not finished (as usual) as noon approached (which, again, was okay, because we had this afternoon - see where I'm going??) Nancy, the assistant director of the MATSL program came into our classroom at five minutes before noon to tell us to pack up our things, go to lunch and then to change into our bathing suits because we were all heading to the lake for a 'relaxing' afternoon. Now you'd think this would make us happy (it sure made the Spanish folk sing!), but most of us (at least Nadia and I) were actually really frustrated and a little stressed out at the thought of not having our classes - or our resources, namely our teachers - to help us with our assignments. Also, think of the time we would be 'wasting' not working! But this wonderful outing was obligatoire, so after a few moments of grumbling, we headed off to lunch (more grumbling) and then traipsed up the hill (still more grumbling) to get changed.

It actually turned out to be a lovely afternoon, and, once we settled into the idea, quite relaxing. We stopped off at the "Chocolate Barn" on our way home to drop $8 on little speciality chocolates which should last me through the rest of this week. I will hopefully be able to post some pictures from our afternoon excursion tomorrow...

The other result from this afternoon (aside from relaxation) is that I'm still up at ten past midnight finishing my homework... should be able to sleep in half an hour or so...

Zzzzzzz.......

Ahhh...

Much better day today. We had our second action-research class today, and though I cannot say things were much clearer after the class, I was at least able to follow the conversations going on. This afternoon we saw three presentations from second year students that provided a bit more clarity as to what we are required to do a year from now. One of the presentations was so inspiring and well-done that I had two overwhelming feelings: the first, complete admiration for the work she had done and the way in which she presented and expressed her experiences, and the second the compelling urge to pack up my things right now and head for home, because I feel I will never have a presentation as good.

It was reassuring, however, to see an end result (and one that, after seeing the following two presentations, seemed quite feasible) and to fill in the picture a bit more by hearing their steps along the way and the final product. I need to constantly remind myself that I will do my best, and that that will be enough.

(The picture is where we have the majority of our classes, and where the presentations took place today.)

Whew...

Well, I had my first cry today... we had just come from our action research class and things were very unclear. I know everyone has warned us that this program is intense and can be overwhelming, but I felt so incapible this morning, and was extremely overwhelmed by all that is expected of us. I didn't sleep well last night, so I'm sure that played a part in it, but it really is mind-boggling just how much we need to accomplish both here in this three-week period, and throughout the academic year. One of my concerns is that if I feel overwhelmed here, in this environment, with no distractions (far from family, not teaching until the fall, not even meals to prepare) how on earth am I to survive the year??

The people here were very nice, two of them coming to see me to make sure I was okay. I guess I function much better with explicit instructions, and here you are so much on your own.

Tomorrow will be a better day!

Ah, Vermont...

Here are some photos of where I am spending an extremely intense three weeks this summer. The "Barn", the red building, is where we have most of our classes. It's a beautiful campus that I see early in the morning and late in the afternoon...

How We Learn: Ask the Cognitive Scientist (comments on the article)

La première chose que j’ai remarqué dans cet article était que les élèves d’aujourd’hui (les miens, en tout cas) se concentrent beaucoup sur les notes, ce que veux dire qu’ils n’apprennent que pour obtenir de bonnes notes. Après avoir fini une épreuve, la plupart de temps ils oublient presque tout. Je vois ce problème comme un problème culturel de notre époque, car on donne énormément de valeur aux ‘performances’ – dans ce cas, les notes – et non a l’apprentissage de qualité. C’est pour cette raison qu’il est si important de réfléchir avant d’enseigner. Les professeurs ont une grande tâche, ce qui est de trouver un moyen d’engager les élèves a un niveau plus élevé pour qu’ils puissent comprendre vraiment, puis retenir qu’ils apprennent.

J’ai trouvé beaucoup de connections dans l’article à la taxonomie de Bloom – l’application, l’analyse, le synthèse et même l’évaluation. Les techniques notées dans l’article, comme obliger les élèves à réfléchir aux objectifs de la leçon avant de l’apprendre, l’examination de soi pendant l’apprentissage, faire les connections pendant l’apprentissage, amèneront les élèves dans le domaine de higher level thinking, de réfléchir à un niveau supérieur, pour qu’ils puissent d’abord comprendre, puis retenir l’information.

SO MUCH STUFF!

We've been working in our tech class for four days now, and the amount of information and the possibilities one can glean from them are mind-boggling! Every time I play around with the things we are asked to do in class I have several ideas that I can't wait to try out in class. Throughout the school year I receive suggestions from others as to a great site or blog, or that I should create a website for my class, and I never really have enough time to dedicate to work out how to integrate them. These three weeks I get the gift of time in a technology class meant to be used in my own classes - how wonderful!

Specific things I will definitely use this fall:

- a website for the class where I will [attempt!] to post homework each night, links to my favorite sites, helpful sites for tools essential to learning French, fun French culture sites, etc.

- a wiki where my kids can comment and add their own things,

- a webquest on a certain subject I have yet to choose...

The more I discover on the web, the more I want to try!

Ah, technology! (gotta go, more exploring to be done!)

Internet Decetive -- aha!!

We had to read a website based in the UK regarding internet sites and the ability to effectively evaluate them and see them with a critical eye in terms of their validity. The site was called Internet Detective (www.vts.intute.ac.uk/detective) and offered a tutorial with many levels that even included the topics of plagiarism and properly citing resources. Though the process of going through the tutorial was a bit dense (I did it in two sittings), there were enormous amounts of information that I will most certainly use in my classrooms. My students do research projects in 7th and 8th grades where they must write research papers and include a bibliography. I will also use certain pages from the site in classes to continue to drive home the idea of what constitutes plagiarism and what is their own work.

I have already e-mailed the link to the language arts teacher at my school knowing that she will find it extremely useful as well.

Time well spent!!

Here is my very first posting! Lots of learning to be done... very exciting prospect to have access to and learn about all this technology.