Effective use of technology

Spring Break is so wonderful. Not that I am really on vacation; I have been working pretty much everyday. Yesterday, I planned my whole day around a webinar I found on www.eschoolnews.com. The title of the webinar was "Powering the Digital Classroom, It takes more than computers." I was intrigued.

The webinar looked at a study where the success of students correlated directly to the student to computer ratio. The best part of the webinar was the nine key implementation factors. (Here is a link to the slides http://www.eschoolnews.com/files/2012/03/TimetoKnow.pdf. It was a free webinar, so I don't think I am stepping on anyone's toes.) Two of the nine really caught my eye: virtual field trips and online formative assessment.

Online formative assessment is something that I have been thinking about and really wanted to incorporate into the flipped classroom, but my time has limited me. I have done quite a bit of research, but had never taken the plunge. I am proud to say that today, I finally sat down and figured out how to use YouTube annotations so I have a little mini quiz in my latest video. (Check it out http://youtu.be/8O0Hte3vapc).  If you are going to work on annotations, some words of advice. First, set aside some time so that you can really figure it out in one sitting. Second, I found it easier when I made my Power Points to have the wrong answer first, and keep the language on the right answer general. If you watch it you will see. I watched 2 or 3 different YouTube videos by josephbison one of which can be found at http://youtu.be/O46Lfz4ekH0.

Yesterday I finally figured out how to implement flubaroo, which is a Google script that can correct online quizzes for you. If you are a Google apps user, I recommend you check it out. It really didn't take very long, and there are plenty of videos to walk you through using it. www.flubaroo.com I had never even really taken the time to sit down with Google docs and create a form, which was also remarkably easy. I created an exit survey for my students for the end of the year to get their impressions about the flip.

On to virtual field trips.....I have been thinking about incorporating Google Earth into the classroom since my class read a Spanish short reader that was set in Spain and I kept having to explain to them what El Escorial was or what the Plaza Mayor was. My plan is to go back through the books and make a sightseeing tour on Google Earth so that the students can watch it before they read and then have a better idea about what they are reading about. Although I have played a little with Google Earth, I have to dedicate a whole day to really figure out how to best make it work. I am planning to have it put together for the conference in Chicago.

I also never realized that there were companies that put together virtual field trips. Since money is a major issue, if one of these companies that puts these together is any good, I may really consider it. The pricing I have seen didn't look too bad, but I have to do a lot more investigation.

Luckily, since the last unit in Spanish III is technology, I can throw just about any of this at my students and it fits with the lesson plan. I am curious to their feedback on the online quizzes in the videos and some of the Google docs forms. Time will tell!

Presents! Woo hoo!!

So, for those of you out there saying that you need some technology in the classroom to make the flip work, I have an idea for you! Visit www.donorschoose.org and submit a proposal. I submitted a proposal on March 8 on the advice from a person at our district office because a local bank was going to fund some projects that were submitted to the website in our area. It took me some time to get it all worded just so and submitted, but it was worth it! Here is the link to the project that I submitted: http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=766961.  I just found out today that my project was fully funded, and there are 2 Samsung Galaxy Android Tablets on their way to my classroom! I couldn't think of a better way to start Spring Break!

I actually received a big donation from an anonymous donor, so I am unsure if it came from the bank or not. I know not every project gets funded, but in these times, what do you have to lose?

Overcoming problems and objections

So, the first mini-review unit went off without much trouble. My idea had been to start with the review so that I could iron out any technological problems and the students could get used to the idea of the flip before we started working on anything new.

Before I go any further, I feel like I should backtrack a little.

I made videos for the grammar topics using Power Point and Camtasia. I had decided to follow many of the ideas for how to run the flipped classroom from the conference at Woodland Park High School over the summer. One of the most important things I learned about using the videos for lectures was not to require that the students watch the videos. I know, this sounds nuts....but, I think it is a good idea because if nothing else, it helps to overcome the "I didn't watch the video, so I can't work" excuse. There are also some people that just won't like the videos. So, if students don't want to watch the videos, they can take notes from the book, or from another website. My bottom line is I don't care where you get the information, I just want you to get it.

I only had two students that weren't able to watch the videos because of technology problems, and these were overcome by using Camptasia to make the videos in a .wmv format and putting them on the students' flash drive. I did decide that next year, I will probably add flash drives to my students supply list to make sure that everyone is prepared should there be issues.

The other main technological problem came from something I have no real control over. My school blocks access to YouTube, which is the easiest way to publish and watch videos. So, I am also using screencast.com. I post the videos on the website using YouTube and then I add a link to the video on Screencast. This way, whether the kids are home or at school they can easily access the videos.

Keeping the students focused and on task is going to be the hard challenge to conquer. They love working together, but they seem to be having trouble staying on task for the class period. I think that some of this has to do with being on the block schedule. 90 minutes is a long time to stay focused. I am finding that even the best students seem to be "done" with about 15 minutes left in class. So, I am going to have to work on ideas to keep class focused for the entire class period.

Challenges and all, I can really see how this is going to pay off. I am excited to keep going.