Michelle+Aiken

Michelle Aiken

I am a student at Clemson University, studying to teach High School Spanish. I begin student teaching at Pickens High School in January. My goal is to show students that learning another language can be fun, and is possible. I feel that technology has a place in the classroom but should be limited or the instructor should have videos, PowerPoints, etc pulled up before class. I feel that many times when technology does not work, too much time is wasted in the classroom trying to fix it, instead of teaching. I would like to do some video streaming because I feel that would help show students Latin culture instead of just lecturing about it.



I think Quizlet is extremely helpful for foreign language teachers. Vocabulary is such a huge part of what we teach and this is a great way to do fun, interactive drills. The quality is so much better than traditional flashcards because you can add pictures, which you can't do to flashcards that you make by hand and vocabulary is so much better learned when you provide visual stimulation. You can find my flashcards with my username kaiken. The website I found is free for teachers and this is the URL...http://www.educationalpress.org/...It has flash card games, study sheets, and quizzes. You can use this in Spanish, French, and German. You can pick an output style and even print your work. It is not interactive the way quizlet is so for a classroom setting, i would think quizlet is better. However I like the idea of being able to make study sheets and print them off for my students to guide them in studying for an exam. It does not have the option to upload pictures. Overall I think I could use both, but definitely quizlet to review with the whole class and create interactive games.



**SMARTBOARD 1= INTERACTIVE CLOCK**
//https://bb.clemson.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tabGroup=courses&Url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fcontent%2FcontentWrapper.jsp%3Fcontent_id%3D_1391063_1%26displayName%3DLinked%2BFile%26course_id%3D_50844_1%26navItem%3Dcontent%26attachment%3Dtrue%26href%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.bristolvaschools.org%252Fmwarren%252Fsbactivities.htm//

This is an interactive clock that you can move the hands with the buttons on the left. This is a great way to introduce and practice telling time in Spanish. I could use this as a game with the students, dividing the students into teams, I would set the clock, and a team would say the time in Spanish for review.



**INTERACTIVE MAP**
//http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/country_SoAmCA_G2_drag_drop.html//

This is an interactive map. In the gray box, there will appear only one country and the map will appear blank. The student can drag the country to the blank map and the map will tell them if they are wrong or right. If they are wrong the map will show them the correct spot. I would use this in the classroom when teaching the Latin American countries and possibly as a review game for an exam.



SMARTBOARD 2= This is from the SmartBoard tools. It is a map. When teaching history or culture, I could use this map on a SmartBoard, draw on it, have the kids come up and draw the countries that speak Spanish.



I would use this interactive calculator from the SmartBoard to practice the numbers. I would also have them interact with it to give each other math problems, all the while calling out each number.

This is from Tiny.cc an an example of an acrostic poem my students could write. This would allow them to use the language, but give them the freedom to create whatever they want, which makes them interested in the project. I could also give them a topic related to the vocabulary we are working on which will direct them to use the vocabulary for that chapter.