Online Learning - Benefits & Obstacles for Foreign Language Teaching

On Tuesday, July 24, 2012, Stanford researcher Dr. Don Roberts gave a presentation of his 2009 study, titled the "Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-olds" at Saint Mary's College of California's Soda Center. Several of the study's findings were extremely relevant and valuable to my profession as a teacher. For one, Roberts showed how there has been a huge increase in media exposure and media multitasking in students from 1999 to 2009, due largely to the increasing accessibility and mobility of technology (think smart phones and I-Pods}. Another finding that struck me was the close correlation of grades and media users: "Heavy" media users are highly-correlated with lower grades, while "light" media users are correlated with higher grades. (Roberts noted, however, that correlation doesn't necessarily mean causation.) The presentation sparked discussion over what it meant to "incorporate technology" into the classroom, and teachers' responsibilities to help mold "digital citizens" in the modern-day classroom. Opinions were numerous. I walked away with a few conclusions and questions:

1) It is clear that teachers themselves should understand how to evaluate online resources so that they are able to help students do the same. Not all information on the web is reliable information.

2) Teachers should make time for skill-building that is not necessarily related to technology, as 8 to 18 year-olds on average are exposed to and use media for a large chunk of the day outside of school. Face-to-face communication, academic discussion, public-speaking, written expression, and researching among tangible sources are all examples of non-technology skills that are vital to success in college and the workplace today.

3) There is a delicate balance between incorporating technology into the curriculum and letting it run your classroom. (One should implement a good electronics policy regarding student use in the classroom.)

4) My question: If students are using media so much outside of class, what, then, should we as teachers emphasize or teach in the realm of technology? What technology-related skills should our students leave high school knowing in order to succeed in the academic post-secondary world?

The New York Times' article, "More Pupils Are Learning Online, Fueling Debate on Quality," really brought up some good points about online education. I do agree that required online courses in high schools are being implemented as a way to save money. I dare say that I think there may be a day in history where all teaching lessons are given on pod-casts, and there is no teacher-to-student contact. I share union leader Sherri Wood's frustration with the fact that many school programs' decisions about implementation of curriculum are tied to private investment. I strongly feel that education should not have affiliations with private corporations or politics, and yet, the reality of education is extremely political. If only these education policy-makers surveyed students' feelings about online courses. Every person I talk to with online course experience DETESTS the online course process, and would rather learn in an actual classroom.

All this being said, I acknowledge that our world is moving fast, and students' tendencies towards technology should be considered when assigning assessments, papers, and projects. Four websites that I found useful and would probably share with my students are:

http://www.openoffice.org

http://www.tubechop.com

http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com

http://www.easybib.com

The benefits of these four sites are abundant. Open Office is a free site for downloading MicrosoftWord-compatible and comparable word-processing software, making basic word-processing accessible to students whose families may not be able to afford the costly MSWord software. Tube Chop would be ideal for PowerPoint lectures, aiding teachers in posting the relevant part of a youtube clip for their lectures, rather than having to maneuver through an entire irrelevant clip. Puzzle-maker is AMAZING! Engage your students with academic language by creating a word puzzle using those key words. And finally, Easybib is a site that can eliminate students' disdain in having to provide a bibliography for an assignment. If only I had these resources a year ago.

Ahhh, technology.

Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning: French

The options for interdisciplinary teaching in my subject of the French language are endless. The francophone culture is so embedded in the language, and culture itself encompasses so many elements (art, history, politics, theater, and so on).

One topic I commonly teach is the history and culture surrounding impressionist art and artists. For an assessment, I usually ask students to research a French impressionist artist, and write a report (1-2 pages, typed) on that artist's life and artistic style in the target language. This is usually a French 3 and 4 assessment, as students need to know several structures and art terms to speak about the artist's life in the past. Additionally, students are to choose one of the artist's oeuvres, and interpret it in their own way, using whatever medium they desire. Some of the artwork that turns out is exceptional. Below, find a photo of my students' impressionist imitations at Back to School Night (2011):

One source I can use to enrich my interdisciplinary teaching of art terms, mediums, styles, and history for this topic is the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. There are teacher workshops available to inform teachers of ways to increase use of art in their subject matter, as well as tips or accompanying lesson plans if a teacher wanted to take a group of students to SF MOMA. A second source I can explore to enrich my pedagogical knowledge in art is the National Gallery of Art website, and possibly attend its Teacher Institute in the future. The NGA Teacher Institute is a conference, and this year's sessions are centered around French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, where teacher's will be able to learn ways to incorporate these art themes and history into their courses. Please find the links below:

http://www.sfmoma.org/explore/educators

http://www.nga.gov/education/teacinst.shtm

Of course, there are many benefits to using interdisciplinary teaching, such as helping students in making cross-curricular connections, and engaging students who may be strong in one subject, but struggling in another. One challenge I can see to interdisciplinary teaching is the time it may take away from the content standards related to one's subject matter. Ideally, a teacher should be able to find a happy balance, being able to teach the necessary standards, while dabbling in other subject areas. I hope to use art and other interdisciplinary teaching in my pedagogical French in the near future.

SEE MY COMMENTS FOR COLLEAGUES:

Yadira Zapata - unahistoriadeunamaestra.blogspot.com

Experiential Research: UC Berkeley's Pacific Film Archive

For my first experiential research endeavor surrounding my French cinema inquiry, I decided to check out the Pacific Film Archive on the UC Berkeley campus. Below, please find a photo tour of the contemporary PFA building (shared with the Berkeley Art Museum), as well as the PFA Theater, where screenings occur regularly:








The Pacific Film Archive is located on Durant Avenue, next to the University of California Berkeley campus, and holds a collection of thousands of films, movie books, clipping files, film stills, and movie posters. The Pacific Film Archive is recognized worldwide by filmmakers, scholars, and film enthusiasts for its efforts in film-preservation and development. In addition to providing this extensive collection of resources for researchers of film, the Pacific Film Archive also holds exhibitions and screenings of films year-round in its theater inside the Berkeley campus. This institution is undoubtedly a great resource for any research I may need to conduct on specific French films, as well as a location for a potential film study trip. I have posted the link for the Pacific Film Archive screening calendar:

Pacific Film Archive screening calendar

Mind the Gap!

RAVITCH QUOTES

In Ravitch's The Death and Life of the Great American School System, the two quotes that struck me came from page 13, in what seemed to be her cry for change in our present public school system:

"We must ensure that students gain the knowledge they need to understand political debates, scientific phenomena, and the world they live in. We must be sure they are prepared for the responsibilities of democratic citizenship in a complex society." I completely agree with this assertion, that schooling MUST prepare students to be active citizens in the world and prepare them to participate in democracy, not just leave the democratic process to their parents, or more affluent neighbors, or public figureheads. During my senior year of high school, my government teacher required as an assignment that all students who had turned 18 register to vote. She also required that we volunteer time at a local polling place, just to see what voting looks like, the type of participation needed, and how simple it is to VOTE! Because of her, I have less anxieties about voting and what it entails, and I am sure to familiarize myself with the different measures and parcel taxes that are on the ballot each time I vote.

In her second quote, Ravitch states, "We must be sure that schools have the authority to maintain both standards of learning and standards of behavior." I couldn't agree with this more. I feel that often times in districts where class sizes are large and resources and man-power are low, teachers are reduced to baby-sitters, merely maintaining a classroom environment where the goal is to get everyone seated for a lesson that will eventually be disrupted by students who lack respect for education. At my high school, many teachers are currently lamenting the lack of discipline that occurs when students are referred to the office. How many times must certain behavior-problem students disrupt class learning before they are suspended, expelled, or removed? Sometimes in our society, even parent involvement can allow students to bypass expectations of behavior. I keep thinking about the recent incident in Brentwood, CA, where several students were suspended for their vandalism of the school as a "senior prank," and how parents protested the suspension, as it would affect their students' grades by missing tests during finals' week. Eventually, some students and parents took the situation "to court." My thought: where is the accountability of these students' actions? Didn't they think about the consequences before the committed vandalism? What message are these parents sending to their children by saying that due to the tradition of "senior pranks," they shouldn't be suspended for their actions? I thus agree with Ravitch, that discipline cannot be undermined; schools must have some authority with regards to behavior.

Regarding Ravitch's definition of a "well-educated person" on page 16, I somewhat agree. I agree that a well-educated person should be literate in many subject matters, should be equipped to explain ideas to others and listen respectfully, too. In today's world, I think a well-educated person should be well-versed in human rights, should understand and participate in the democratic process, should have the ability to think critically about all the messages and texts he/she reads and sees on a daily basis, and should understand the value of being educated, not only as a mean to become wealthy.

In thinking back to the class discussion on Ravitch (Chapters 1 and 2), I am continually drawn to the topic of A Nation At Risk. I continue to agree with A Nation At Risk's definition of a "Learning Society," and I sadly believe that our nation continues to deviate from a Learning Society in so many ways. More than anything, I want my students to graduate knowing that education will improve their quality of life if they continue to pursue it, and treat it with respect and honor.


CONTENT KNOWLEDGE GAPS

In reference to my content knowledge gaps, I have decided to work on my knowledge of linguistic terminology outlined in the CSET, and improve my awareness of terms such as morphology, productive rule, synchronic/diachronic, lexical, umlaut, etymologies, allophones, etc. Below are three sources (a website, an article, and a book) that can help me fill this gap in knowledge. From browsing the Center for Applied Linguists (CAL) website, I learned that there are specific organizations, resources, and professional development workshops to aid teachers in applying linguistic theory to their classrooms:

Website: http://www.cal.org/

Book: Crystal, D. (2003). Dictionary of linguistics and phonetics. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Article: Hockett, C.F. (2006, October). A course in modern linguistics. The Language Learning Journal. 8(3), 73-75. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-1770.1958.tb00870.x


INQUIRY TOPIC

One article I chose to annotate in my wikispace is "Contemporary Cinema in Language Learning: From Linguistic Input to Intercultural Insight" by Mark Pegrum, Linda Hartley, and Veronique Wechtler. This article is useful to my topic of teaching French cinema because the study affirms that students want to see foreign language cinema in the classroom and feel that it will be an engaging way to learn. I also chose to annotate "Francophone Films in the Classroom" by Russell Rose, because he discusses the use of francophone films produced outside of France, thus giving a holistic cinematic view of all francophone countries and cultures. Students should have awareness and knowledge of many francophone communities and dialects outside of those in France.


QUESTION FOR MEG

Meg, I am still struggling to pinpoint a final inquiry question. Two possibilities are: What can francophone cinema teach to a high school audience that the textbook cannot? What are the benefits of showing and studying francophone cinema in the high-school level classroom? I am just unclear as to how answering these questions will translate into a final product (unit, film, website, or handbook). Thoughts?

SEE MY COMMENTS FOR COLLEAGUES:

Yadira Zapata - unahistoriadeunamaestra.blogspot.com
Troy Bristol - fatheadtroysmc.blogspot.com
Mike Rose - mikejas.blogspot.com

Content Knowledge Gaps - Secondary Level French

In reviewing the California State Framework and CSET Overview, I realize that there are several differences in what the teacher is supposed to know and be able to do (CSET Overview) and what students are supposed to know and be able to do when graduating from a level of French. For example, the CSET requires that teachers have command of linguistic terms, such as morphology, productive rule, synchronic/diachronic, lexical, umlaut, etymologies, allophones, etc., yet it is never required in the State Framework for foreign language teachers to actually teach these terms to our students, nor do students need command of these terms to progress into college-level foreign language classes.

In my personal teaching experience, I have definitely done my best to align my pedagogy to the Framework Standards. The rubrics I design for projects always encompass a standard related to content, structure, communication, settings, and culture. Each lesson I design is tied to at least two or more of the California Language Standards and the State Framework, and most of the textbooks I have used are closely aligned with the standards in terms of content and structure. Still, I continually tell myself that the textbook should be a reference, not the main lesson. I must always pull outside texts, strategies, and resources to make the subject matter accessible to ALL of my students.

In reviewing my content gaps, I will look at Stages I and II of the Language Learning Continuum in the California State Framework, as most of my students of the French Language fall into these two levels of the language learning continuum. While I feel confident that my students have been exposed to and have used vocabulary in context in the "Content" domain of the Framework, I feel that their skills (and thus my skills in teaching) are lacking in the "Text type" domain of the State Framework. Stage I students should "understand short texts enhanced by visual clues when reading," and Stage II students should "understand important ideas and some details in highly contextualized authentic texts when reading." I find that many of my students struggle with comprehension of main ideas when given a short piece to read, and I feel uncomfortable giving my French 2 and 3 students short stories or short abridged novels, mainly because I am unfamiliar with good short stories and literary works by native French writers.

To bridge this gap, I must explicitly search for and find short texts that fall into this category of "highly contextualized authentic texts" and become familiar with them so that I can develop guiding questions and strategies for scaffolding my learners of the target language in deciphering the main ideas. When I shared my anxiety with teaching French literature to my French 3 and 4 students, Yadira suggested that I use abridged novels and alternate showing a clip from the film and having students read the selection corresponding to the film clip. This could be a non-threatening way of teaching literature, so that students who "don't have a clue" about what is going on after reading the text may still stay afloat and participate in the lesson. Teaching literature is not easy in one's first language, let alone their second language!

Below, please find links related to the Content Standards and State Framework that inform my teaching lessons daily:

www.clta.net/standards/standards.pdf

www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/documents/foreignlangfrmwrk.pdf