Technology in the classroom

How can I include technology in my Spanish classroom without it becoming a distraction?

This is something I ask myself every time I am planning a new lesson.

My students and I are fortunate to have a classroom where each student has a computer. This is both a blessing and a course. The attention span of a teenager is limited... add a computer to the mix and POOF! that minimal attention span disappears!

I am a huge fan of visual representations of the things we are doing in class. This visuals become conversation pieces and can lend themselves to many follow up activities. I even use them in our games! My students are also aware that I am not the best at drawing. That is where storyboardthat.com comes in!  It is a user friendly app (free for the basic features) that allows your students to create scenes and customize them!

This unit we talked about our daily routines. We had many conversations about what a person does, what we do as a group, and how we do it, etc. At the end of the unit I wanted to do something a bit different when it came to assessing their knowledge of reflexive verbs, vocab and adverbs (the other piece in our unit), as well as telling time and transition words. That is when my coworker suggested letsrecap.com! Wonderful app (free for the basic features) that allows students to record themselves.

The activity:  Select one storyboardthat.com product from one of their classmates. Project it on the screen and allow students a couple minutes to think about what they see. **No writing is allowed and no notes or textbooks are allowed ** When the timer goes off, everyone must start recording their own story about their classmate's routine.

The result: Check out some of the cool representations they created. As for the verbal responses, I was so impressed! They had finally reached a point where they could tell a story! There were fewer concerns on grammar - because they really knew it -- and they allowed themselves to tell the story while including lots of details. Since they all recoded at the same time they were not worried about their classmate's opinion.
*Downfall to using letsrecap* currently they do not have a way to download the recordings so I cannot share samples with you nor keep some favorites to share without accessing the app itself.

Grading:  I set up a simple rubric of what I was looking for in the assignment and clicked on the PLAY ALL button on my let's recap queue. Easy and fun and I am going to show some of my favorites to the class!

How do you include some technology in your classroom? Please share in the comments!

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Comic strips - Las tiras cómicas

Every time I can, I let my student's imagination lead the way.
In our last unit we talked about traveling. Everyone has gone somewhere in their lifetime, even if it is local. Therefore they all have a story to tell.
I let them tap into their artistic side and create a comic strip about said trip. When done, they were able to converse with one another about this trip.
In order to focus on the grammar being studied in the unit, they had to also create the written version of their story.
The results were fantastic! Check them out.
**If you want to read about other people enjoying comic strips too, go here

**If you would like to use these templates, go here

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Los verbos reflexivos y la rutina diaria

Tired of grading "boring" papers?
Trying to incorporate more technology into your daily routine? --pun intended =D
Look no further than storyboardthat.com!

Earlier this trimester I was introduced to this wonderful tool by some of my students. They were working on telling a story and were able to earn some extra credit by creating some illustrations. Since not many of us are Picasso, some used the help of this tool. Ever since, I have been using often.

It is a very user friendly app, and the free version is pretty awesome. I may be purchasing the teaching one next year since I will be implementing it more and more!

For the particular activity that I am sharing with you today, students were learning about reflexive verbs and daily routines. After creating a calendar and writing out their routine they took to the app to make their illustrations. When they presented it to the class, it was a lot more fun to hear their stories alongside their personalized renditions!

For a different level class learning the classroom vocabulary along with location words, I was able to use this tool to create my own custom made scenarios! I made a few and posted them around the room. Students were able to walk the classroom and jot down some different descriptions about the items they saw in each picture! Works wonders for vocab activities.

As you can see, the sky is the limit with this app!!!
Are you interested in trying it? I would love to hear how you used it in YOUR classroom!
Share your ideas in the comments and enjoy creating some incredible art!

Feliz martes,

Andrea