CALL Workshop with Joy Egbert

First attempt to create a Movie for a 'classroom'. The idea is to show the children they already have a lot of knowledge, and that the teacher is not perfect. S/he has to learn too. The aim would be to desacralize the role of the teacher to establish a relationship with the students not based on authority but humility.

The use of Xtranormal is rather simple and I think it is a good way to present topics and ideas with humor and relaxation. Learning is not meant to be serious. Plus, it can introduce the students with a new technique they might want to explore to create their own videos and express their ideas without fear.

Let's have fun!

Social Justice with Francene Watson

I really enjoyed the session on social justice, sustainability and teaching symposium on Friday afternoon. To focus on the importance of self-development and the need to connect our heart with our mind is what I believe, before coming, most essential, not only in education but in life in general. So hearing such statement was more than I expected and it thrilled me. So far, we had spent so much time discussing, analyzing and criticizing theories that we forgot to explore feelings. Yet that is definitely the language that works the more effectively with children.

If we teach them one idea with words but express something different with our body language, no wonder they are lost. Then, Francene Watson asked: ‘What is wrong with telling children the truth about how we feel?’ ‘What is wrong with telling them we care?’ We all looked at each other not knowing if it was the greatest or the more frightening idea we heard since we arrived. It was difficult to reflect on our own power, our own stories, to share our personal lives and real beliefs. I think I hated it as much as I loved it because it was hard and necessary at the same time.

I don’t want my children to be uncomfortable because I don’t dare to show them who I am and since I wish them to feel free to say everything, I guess, it has to start with me. Children know who they have in front of them. They understand, intuitively. What they simply won’t understand is why we try to be someone else. We talked a lot about authenticity in theory in class so it was good to work on it in practice.

I also loved to hear that we all agreed with our vision of what we want for our classroom, even though it is for the moment only words. We wish our children to feel free to make mistakes, to be passionate, to laugh from the bottom of their heart, to explore and to create, to engage, to realize the importance of the other, to be aware…and become their own heroe.

I heard some say that the videos we watched were idealistic but, in the end, no matter how hard we try to remain down to earth, we are all dreamers. We, though citizens of different countries, are all driven by the same goals and ’unrealistic’ aspirations. We want to shoot the stars and I think that’s what connect us somehow. Maybe it is crazy, but at least we look in the same direction, and it is not the ground.

This course reminded me I do need the others, because their goals are not different than mine and that 15 is better than 1 to achieve them.

It reminded me of what I often forget and should try to keep in mind:

« I am because you are… ».

Technological Course

Case study: Picture Writers: Journey Through the Writing Process with Eric Carle

Context: Marylin Evanston is a third grade elementary school teacher working with her students on a picture book about wild animals and habitats. She is collaborating with a reading specialist, Juanita Long.

Content: She wants to integrate three different subjects in one project: science, literacy and art with topics that are respectively wild animals and habitats, story maps and collage.

Disabilities: Oscar is student with visual impairment. He has difficulty to read print and usually requires the assistance of a transcriber.

Accommodation: - Helping Oscar following the entire process by providing a one-on-one relationship. A There is always a special teacher with him.

Modification: -Targeting books of different levels to students.
                     -Tiered assignments.

Strategies: - Cross curricular activity
                 - Constructivist method
                 - Create a small group of four peers
                 - Guided reading

Technologies: - Books and art
                     - Video player
                     - Camera
                     - Speech synthesis

The teacher always modifies her instructional strategies and uses a great number of technologies to better cope with the children's needs. (visual impairment, tactile learners, shy students...). Thus, her classroom becomes more interactive and appeals to everyone.

Language Development - Draft Essay

Marie Brazda

08/13/2010
Language Development

The freedom to create

     In We Should Cherish Our Children's Freedom to Think, Kie Ho reminds us that if education in the United-States encounters some problems, it has also made a lot of improvements and that, though students may not know as much as their ancestors used to know, they acquired the freedom to create and to think which is probably the most valuable quality in nowadays schools. It is undeniable education depends on freedom but the text fails to put a distance from common sense and gives a simple vision of complicated and intricate issues. Its self-centeredness and lack of objectivity prevent it from seeing a bit farther in terms of what a child really needs to consciously create in a world of constant demand.

Kie Ho starts his article by saying that native and non-native speakers agree on the same idea that there is a lack of efficiency in the educational system in the US. To him their dissatisfaction is not funded. Choosing the word  « tragically » in the rhetorical question on line 12-13, it is obvious he is mocking the anxiety of the persons who complain. Thus, he compares the Americans of the old generations with the immigrants to show how widely spread are the criticisms. By doing this, Kie Ho puts in the same boat the Americans born and raised in The United-States as well as those arrived from a country sometimes radically different from their welcoming country, and overlooks the real fear they might have ignoring everything of the culture, with no Americans to refer to in their family to tell them what works and what does not in this given system of education. It is agreed that some critics can be generated by nostalgia or the refusal to see things change, but some may actually emerge from misunderstanding. A good thing would have been to take that into account instead of enumerating the flow of people discontented with what is subjectively seen as the best quality in a school.

Plus, his beliefs are probably blurred by the pride for his son‘s creativity: « his Romeo would take Juliet to an arcade for a game of Donkey Gong » (49-50) and even more by his personal feeling of having been oppressed by education: « When I was 18, I had to memorize Hamlet’s ‘To be or not to be’ soliloquy flawlessly. » (47-48) or « In my high school years, we were models of dedication and obedience: we sat to listen, to answer only when asked, and to give the only correct answer » (32-33). When talking about him, the words are overwhelming and refer to pain but when talking about his son's education, the lexical evokes freedom: « innovation » (13), « creativity » (20), «experiment » and « ideas » (30), « concocting » (38), « self-expression » (46). Therefore, it really sounds like the child inside the man speaking, the one that « simply did not have a chance to choose, to make decisions. » (36-37) and who now worship the things he missed of. Therefore, how can we trust his statements?

Indeed, given the vision he has of his past, it is not surprising he considers that acquiring freedom should overlook the need for a child to acquire skills and knowledge: « However, unlike his counterparts in Asia and Europe, my son had studied creative geography. » (24-25). He even goes as far as exaggerating his point to make the reader feel guilty to think otherwise: « Do we really want to retard their impulses, frustrate their opportunities for self-expression? » (45-46). The author never mentions the importance of discipline, skills and knowledge in the process of creation. Of course, it is not necessary for everyone to know « 50 lines of The Canterbury Tales », still education must find a balance between old times schools and the author’s idealistic vision. If we look at the pyramid of Maslow, we find that the basic needs of an individual are to be fulfilled for him to evolve to higher levels so that he can have new needs and continue his path towards total achievement. Freedom in education could be compared to food in that pyramid. It is a vital goal but not the ultimate one. So if America is the country of innovation maybe it is due to other facts than merely freedom. What about perseverance, skills, will and awareness?

Besides, reducing the freedom to speak and create to the United-States only is a vision either very naive or very indifferent to other parts of the world that actually have the same rights. His sentences sound really patriotic: « Where else but in America » (51) and do not leave much room for a constructive and trustworthy criticism. All in all, the text acts more as an indirect reminder to be more grateful for being free and as a praise of the American system of education providing this opportunity than a real article trying to put in perspective the issues on education and the advantage that could be taken out of the differences between countries. The author does not look for building a bridge between the education he received and that of his son and, though using the interesting device of comparison, he does not use it as a means to open the narrow minds, but to strengthen his one-sided point of view and remains stubborn: « Critics of American education cannot grasp one thing, something that they don’t truly understand because they are never deprived of it: freedom. » (55-56) In the end, you can be impressed by a text or a map created by a child in an elementary school, but what does it mean to really create at a world level and to hold that standard? Probably a little more than being free.

     Though Kie Ho’s opinion is clear and relevant, it is built on his own personal experiences which prevents it from being objective and constructive. Only expressing his thoughts and belief like a child having a tantrum it does not try to deal with the real issues hidden behind the Americans' (parents, teachers, researchers…) criticism.

It is fair enough to say that freedom is by far the most important quality teachers must provide their students but creativity is a long and complicated process that does not depends on freedom only. Being a first step towards achievement, which might seem unreachable for some, it should not forbid those who are lucky to have it to ask for more. After all, one might have a job and an apartment and still want to find love and happiness.

So no matter how priceless that quality may be, education must reach higher grounds and build a bridge between knowledge, skills and freedom to help children evolve and learn for real, a bit like democracy found a balance between dictatorship and anarchy.

Gina,

As I heard you only have vague notions of french, I searched for the easiest way for you to tackle this language and to make you actually LIKE it!

The problem is, to me, the best of all site isn't with podcasts... argh I know this wasn't the goal but I hope you'll find it useful anyway. It is called Language Guide and does not only help with learning french but also many other languages. It is divided into three main parts: Vocabulary, Grammar and Readings. The site is extremely easy to surf in, appealing and interactive. I think it is a tool you can use with a child as well for there are images and a good focus on playing. Every exercise has a feedback and the lessons are explained in english which, I believe, is a good thing for beginners. You can hear the word by clicking on them either when learning vocabulary or doing exercises so that you can practice the pronunciation. Then, you can listen to and read famous stories in the readings section which enables beginners to learn the language and a bit of the french culture at the same time.

Nevertheless, I also found this podcast series very interesting, though maybe a bit difficult to get at first. It is called French Pod Class (funny title ;-)) and was created by a french guy who settled in the US. He mixes french and english to assure a better understanding, conveys an atmosphere of fun by putting a lot of humor and music in his podcasts, so I think he is quite aware of what you need when deciding to learn french on your own. He is also really available, asks for feedbacks and invites the learners not to hesitate asking him for questions as well as making him suggestions. Furthermore, he really articulates which facilitates the comprehension a lot and every text is explained in details and then repeated. So, this site is motivating for it gives the impression to be encouraged and led but it also leaves you a certain autonomy as you can manage your lessons as you like and choose the one you want to work on. You can also relax after a difficult lesson by playing games or watching videos. I think there is a real intent here to try and use different strategies and tasks to help in the learning process.


A last one would be that of Alexa Polidoro called Learn French With Alexa because it is simple to use. However, it lacks of various means to get foreign learners to actually stay motivated and interested.


Now, if you just want to have fun and learn a lot about the french paintings, here's a site you should go to: Peinture FLE (just for the record, the FLE stands for 'Français Langue Etrangère = French as a foreign language' and that's the program we refer to whenever someone learns french as a second language)

Very amusing even for french speakers!!!

Language development - Journal III

In We Should Cherish Our Children's Freedom to Think, Kie Ho reminds us that if education in the United-States encounters some problems, it has also made a lot of improvements and, though students may not know all that their ancesters used to know, they acquired the freedom to create and to think which is probably a more valuable knowledge for nowadays children: "Disgruntled American parents forget that in this country their children are able to experiment freely with ideas; without this they will not really be able to think or to believe in themselves."

Indeed, if people of the 12th century could learn pretty much everything about their past since the amount of history events were not that big, can we expect the same from 2010th or 2050th century students? Can they memorize million pieces of information and if so is there a point? If not, then, how to decide what it is they should know and learn?

To me, it has always been a mystery why it is so important to have a wide general culture. I always believed what matters most is knowing about what you care about. At school it is a big issue not to know when a so-called "important person" died or at what date this or that election happened. But not knowing what is a tacos does that make me less intelligent?

To read a great amount of books and to have learned an incredible number of facts and events seem relevant if you actually need them. Plus is it a good aim to wish for every child to know the same things? Isn't the standardization of knowledge the end of passion, inspiration and creativity? If a student is interested in a particular topic, then it should remain his choice and will to decide to make research in that field so that he can learn about it.

I cannot remember a lot of what I have been taught at school for the subjects did not appeal to me somehow. I never chose to learn what I learned and now I know the same things every child in my class knows or should know and it did not help me improve my knowledge on what I needed to evolve on my personal path. Being interested in astrology and anthropology I ended learning about the kings of France and the names of my country's regions. Today I look behind and regret the time I wasted on this and wish I could spend it on what I was passionate about.

Maybe there would be some positive effects on students if teachers let them go towards their passion in order for them to really be inspired. Then they may have the will to acquire the mental skills necessary to take initiatives and/or create something that will derive from their interest.

Education should, more than anything, bring to the students the desire to express themselves by offering the freedom to learn whatever they want. From that desire will hopefully rise the need to know and if not, then it is the role of the teacher to explain how it is difficult to create and be confident about what we do without being well-aware, well-informed and even specialized in the field we choose.

And this is my personnal believe that from one passion emerges a lot of others which eventually would help teachers to have different students, with different needs, different interests, different ideas and different goals but one common point: the passion to learn.