There comes a time where making a choice can- and will- cause a domino effect. Well, I see this project doing exactly that. I have narrowed my topic down to one that involves technology for the primary reason that I am a student in the Instruction Technology Leadership program as mentioned by Mona (thanks, btw). I realized where my direction needed to focus. My aha! moment came to me while working on my "En Busca de Profe Cam U. Flar" activity which is essentially Google Earth meets Carmen San Diego, but for Spanish language learners. I realized how awesome it will be for my students to partake in such a rich experience and how sad it made me to think that many students out there would never experience this in a language classroom due primarily to the fact that the teacher could not, would not, integrate technology into his/her teaching.
My question came from this Aha! moment: Can the successful integration of technology in the foreign language classroom increase student learning of the language (fluency) and culture?
The domino effect I spoke of, came from the sub-questions to define "successful" in my original question: Will providing additional support and ongoing opportunities to integrate technology improve teaching practices? Which pieces of technology will yield the most fluency and cultural awareness from language students? What methods would best support teacher learning while integrating technology into his/her teaching? Domino effect. You see, it is no longer good enough to search for the answer to the Aha! moment question; it would seem that this barrage of questions should also be researched.
This action research project has put things into perspective for me in the sense that we educators want so much so to be the best we can be for our students so we jump in feet first without "checking the water" first. As we know, this can have a "crippling" effect on our purpose. By "checking the waters out" before we make decisions creates a safety net that will allow us to improve using data and scientifically-proven information customized for that entity's needs.
So there you have it. My Aha! moment. I have narrowed down my search and have chosen a multi-faceted project. Off to the next leg of this trek!
The question you came up with while fine tuning your original inquiry concerning "Which pieces of technology will yield the most fluency and cultural awareness from language students?" is an excellent inquiry. So much time is lost in trying out new things just to find that it is not giving the desired success. Performing research and finding out from others who have had success can prevent a lot of frustration due to the loss of time and effort. We just don't have that time to lose in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI got your email saying that you have a poll on you blog for visitors to take. I haven't found the poll. Can anyone give me hint where to look?
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