Successfully Integrating Technology Websites

Title: Reader’s Theater Recordings
Subject: Language Arts
Grade Level: 3-5
Description: This is language arts activity that uses a recording software to record students voices as they read passages from a reader theater. As the students compare recording from different time periods they can hear how they sound over time and see how they are progressing in class.

I chose this lesson because I can use it in my Spanish 1 classroom. Students will be able to use the "Audacity" software to record themselves reading a story in Spanish, and then they can compare themselves over time. These recordings will help with language development, fluency, and as students progress through books or reading passages, it will also increase their vocabulary acquisition. These type of activities help students become confident about reading out loud in a different language and with the guidance and support of the teacher develop oral and conversational skills.

Title: Digital Portfolio
Subject: Social Studies
Grade Level: 3-5
Description: With the help of the teacher students develop a digital portfolio of everything that they do in class. They have a collection of readings, essays that they write on a theme, and all their computer projects. At the end of the school year, the teacher "burns" a copy of that digital portfolio and gives it to the students to take home.

I chose this lesson because helping my 9th-grade students develop an online portfolio is a way to prepare them for the future job market. In my Spanish class, at the beginning of each semester, I help my students create a digital portfolio where they can store all the projects that they do in class. These portfolios contain essays, video skits done as a part of a group, vocabulary readings, and other online projects done during their school year. I like the idea of an online portfolio because they can continue using it for the rest of their high school years, and maybe use some of their best projects to showcase their abilities to a future employer.

Title: Photo Essays
Subject: Social Studies
Grade Level: 3-5
Description: Students are using the application "Photo Booth" to develop backgrounds. These backgrounds represent countries that students have been studying, and they will use them to expand on the history, the different locations, and culture of those countries. Also, as students are searching for pictures for their background, they will be learning about copyright laws of material on the internet.

I like this lesson because I can modify it and use it with my 9th-grade Spanish students. One of our first projects is to do a research and presentation on one of the Spanish Speaking Countries. Students can use pictures of the country that they studied as a background to create interactive videos that can be shared with the classroom.

Title: Vocabulary Scavenger Hunt
Subject: Language Arts
Grade Level: 6-8
Description: students are given a vocabulary list, and they use the internet resources to find out the meaning of that vocabulary. They will use an online method to create a presentation with pictures, definitions, and photos. Once they are finished, they will share the document with the teacher and other students in the classroom. Also, to enrich this activity students will find articles that talk about the ideas that represent the words in their vocabulary.

Students in my Spanish 1 do not have to look for the definition of the Spanish words in their weekly vocabulary, but we use activities like this to create on-line vocabulary lists. Students are responsible for writing the Spanish word, find the English translation, and add a picture to create a visual display of the vocabulary. Once the list is created, students post these on their Spanish portfolio, and every week, 4 are chosen (1 from each block) to be the classroom display and the list that gets used on "Quizlet" for the class to practice.

Title: Project-Based Learning
Subject: Science
Grade Level: 9-12
Description: Students use hands-on activities to discover the individual parts of a project. Then, they will use that information to create a final online product that shows all the data gathered in an appealing visual display. With this type of activities, students learn about cooperation, online presentation tools, and class presentation skills. Students are 100% involved with their learning, and as they make mistakes, they learn how to adjust and adapt so they can finish their project by a set deadline.

Towards the middle of the semester, students begin to create projects that are more realistic, and that mimic real life situations. For example, to learn about food, students have to choose one of two real-world projects. One involves them eating at a local Mexican restaurant and record themselves ordering and speaking to the waiter in Spanish. The second one involves translating a recipe to Spanish (or choose one already in Spanish,) and record themselves and their partner, executing the steps of that recipe while describing what they are doing in Spanish.
Another theme that adapts well to this type of project is cultural traditions. Students have to find an older person that speaks Spanish, create an interview, translate it into Spanish, and record themselves doing that interview in Spanish. Then, students, have the option of using the footage to create a presentation just like a documentary, or any other type of presentation to talk about what they have learned.