Thursday, February 12, 2015
Twitter Mania
My students are CONSTANTLY on their phones. It is honestly nerve racking. Because of this, I am excited to design a lesson plan that includes the usage of phones. My hope is that they will respect that I am trying to include their interests in the classroom. Currently my students are learning about school and class vocabulary. Although I find this topic interesting I hope to design a lesson that will assist them in learning not only school vocabulary but will immerse them into a culture other than their own. I want to design a Twitter lesson that incorporates Twitter en Español; a variety of Tweets from Latin American countries. This way, students will see how Latin American countries function much like America. Right now, I feel my students have a disconnect to this world and they only see Spanish as a classroom language. There is so much more to Spanish and Spanish speaking countries. Unfortunately not everyone has the luxury of traveling, but I hope to bring the traveling to the classroom my using social media. I have not decided what part of my unit plan I want to teach this lesson for. My expectations are that I will find a topic that has room for lots of cultural inclusion. Over the next few weeks I will be drafting and discussing my lesson with my mentor teacher to make sure me lesson is both appropriate and interesting.
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Becky
ReplyDeleteI really like the line you wrote saying "Unfortunately not everyone has the luxury of traveling, but I hope to bring the traveling to the classroom my using social media." The reason being that it got me thinking about my own social media usage and how I truly feel connected to other parts of the world because I have friends all over and are able to essentially see what they are experiencing on a daily basis. I think this is a really great and unique idea. I also like the fact that you are integrating something that students are already using and not necessarily recreating the wheel. I also incorporate twitter with posting my daily journals onto the page. Perhaps you can make this a more daily usage so that your students are truly connecting with the would language outside of class?
I'm intrigued by your idea, Rebeca. Your idea is still clearly taking shape, though, so perhaps I can be of some help by posing some questions. I could imagine framing a challenge for your students, like having them read an article in English and then trying to summarize it in a Spanish tweet. Maybe you're thinking of accessing some sort of news feed, in Spanish, and trying to do some translation work. Sarah Wike Loyola writes on Edutopia about working with student via twitter to write a collaborative story...that sounded like a fun one.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, we'll be eager to see what form your idea takes, Rebeca.
Hola Becky,
ReplyDeleteWe are both looking to find ways to utilize or redirect the usage of cell phones in the classroom! Constant (and off-topic) use of the cell phone is also an issue with my students. It is great that you have identified Twitter as a potential technologic tool to expand your students' understandings of Spanish cultures around the world! As you may have already been thinking about, the process of utilizing cell phones in the classroom for the purpose of learning could create some interesting results, not all of which may be conducive to learning. My hesitation in giving students the "green light" to use cell phones in class is that their use of cell phones may become even more lax or common place in the classroom, especially when they should not be using them. Have you thought about any framework, explicit instructions, or specific norms that you might employ to facilitate this usage of cell phones in class in way that enhances learning opportunities yet decreases distractions? It would be great to talk with you more about this!
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ReplyDeleteBecky, this is an interesting idea for a lesson. I am also planning my technology teach-in around twitter, so I look forward to seeing how your lesson turns out. Especially after going over the pluses and minuses of a phone-based assignment last summer, I wonder how your students will respond to being allowed to use their phones in a productive manner. Also, I'm interested to know if you will have students write tweets in spanish and/or read tweets from Spanish speaking countries. Either way, I think your lesson has a lot of potential!
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