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Technology
Welcome to the November electronic newsletter of the National
K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center!
A teacher or a student can choose to use technology
to acquire, organize, analyze and present information. In this
issue, we approach the integration of technology by looking at
tasks related to teacher productivity as well as teaching and learning
in the classroom.
Cindy Kendall, Newsletter
Editor
Marcia Rosenbusch, Director, National K-12 Foreign
Language Resource Center
Next Issue: Future Directions in Foreign Language Education
in the United States
Introducing Vicki Gray, New NFLRC Administrative
Assistant!
We wish Trina Zimmer well in her new position with the Research Institute for
Studies in Education and warmly welcome Vicki Gray to the National K-12 Foreign
Language Resource Center team. Vicki wrote an introduction to share with you: "I
love the outdoors and enjoy walking, boating, and golfing. I also love to bake,
read, and shop. I have been at the university 14 years. My new job in the NFLRC
will give me the opportunity to be in a field that I have always had an interest
in. My husband is the High School/Middle School principal at South Hamilton
Community School in Jewell, so I have strong feelings for the wonderful field
of education." Welcome Vicki!
Focus on Our Alumni
When thinking about technology and our alumni, the NFLRC has many gifted educators
doing amazing things with technology! In this edition we would like to focus
on two alumni, Lynn Fulton Archer and Charles (Chuck) Thorpe, because of
their extensive expertise in distance learning. Chuck has taught Spanish Via Satellite
since 1989, and is the current chairman of the American Council on the Teaching
of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Distance Learning Special Interest Group (SIG).
Chuck is in the initial stages of organizing Kansas Interactive Television
(ITV)/Interactive Distance Learning (IDL) foreign language teachers in conjunction
with the Kansas Foreign Language Association.
Chuck writes, "I hope to see some progress towards collaboration and maybe
even some co-teaching as numerous independent networks become connected over
the next few years." Since 1994, Lynn has taught elementary through high
school Spanish through the South
Carolina Educational Television, is the current President of the South
Carolina Foreign Language Teachers Association and is a past chairman
of the ACTFL Distance Learning SIG. Explore the Spanish Via Satellite and South Carolina
Educational Television websites and see the wonderful standards-based
activities Chuck and Lynn have developed for their students.
Featured Website of the Month
The Foreign Language
Teaching Forum (FLTEACH) is an integrated service
for foreign language teachers that includes an extensive website,
the email (FLTEACH@listserv.buffalo.edu)
LISTSERV Academic Discussion List, archives, and the FLNews server
are at the State University of New York College, Cortland. FLTEACH
was founded in February 1994 and runs on a computer at SUNY Buffalo
though the moderators, Jean LeLoup and Bob Ponterio, both of
whom teach at SUNY Cortland. In 2001 Jean collaborated with the
NFLRC to facilitate the Integrating Technologies into the Foreign
Language Classroom summer institute, which included numerous
methodology professors along with K-12 educators.
Focus on Research
Language Learning & Technology is a refereed journal which began publication in July 1997 and
seeks to disseminate research to foreign and second language
educators in the U.S. and around the world on issues related
to technology and language education. This journal is published
three times each year, exclusively on the World Wide Web, and
is freely accessed. In this way, the journal seeks to (a) reach
a broad audience in a timely manner, (b) provide a multimedia
format which can more fully illustrate the technologies under
discussion, and (c) provide hypermedia links to related background
information.
Focus on the Acquiring Information
Acquiring online information is a common use of technology and search engines
are a common starting point. Google is one search engine that easily allows the user to find target language
text and images. Use quotation marks to search for phrases (for example,
if you use "Spanish Civil War" as compared to Spanish Civil War, the former
will return better results). Use Google to search for images,
too! On the main Google page, click on the "images" tab
and enter your keywords. All of your search results will be images. Last
but not least, check out the Google
Services and Tools, particularly the Toolbar!
Focus on the Organizing Information
Graphic Organizers are excellent tools for teachers and students to use in
organizing information and data. Venn diagrams, flow charts, and rubrics
are all examples of graphic organizers. Inspiration and Kidspiration are two software programs especially designed for creating graphic organizers.
Also check out The Graphic
Organizer for additional information and examples.
Focus on Analyzing Information
4teachers.org is a comprehensive site that allows teachers to thoughtfully
structure technology-based activities for teaching and learning.
A plethora of information and over one dozen tools are available
at no charge to educators and students. These tools include:
- TrackStar, for developing website-based
activities
- RubiStar, for creating rubrics
- NoteStar, a web-based note-taking tool for
students
- QuizStar, an online assessment tool
In addition, there are Recursos
en Español.
Staying on Top Using Technology with a Focus on
Presenting Information
Blogging, or the writing of a web log, is a new way to encourage formal and
informal writing. The Educational Blogger's Network
(eBN) is a collaborative of teachers and organizations using weblogs
in education. Its purpose is "to help its members, kindergarten through university,
to access and use weblog technology for the teaching of writing and reading
across the disciplines. The network provides a forum for educational professionals
who use weblogs, an array of opportunities for teachers to continue their professional
growth, and a framework for cooperation to deal with issues that affect the
integration of weblog and other digital technologies into teaching and learning." Also,
check out Education Weblogs and
this Education
Web Logs article from Technology and Learning magazine
for examples of how blogs can be used in the classroom.
Alumni Connection Indepth
This month's online supplement has expanded blogging resources and a powerpoint presentation
entitled "Technology Tools for Teachers," written and presented
by Cindy Kendall at the Michigan Foreign Language Association
Conference last month.
Quotes to Ponder
" It's not about how we use the TOOLS. It's (mostly) about how
we USE the tools."
-Dr. Judi Harris
"The real revolution [today] is [in] information
and communication, not technology."
-Alan November
"The conversation about technology in schools
is trapped in the wrong subject. The talk is all about 'does the
technology work' as a fix for the old. It ought to be about developing
and choosing between visions of how this immensely powerful technology
can support the invention of powerful new forms of learning to
serve levels of expectation higher than anything imagined in the
past."
-Seymour Papert
Memories of Iowa
We take you back to Iowa State University
Memorial Union webcam for a beautiful view of the bell tower and fall
colors on campus.
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November,
2003 Iowa State University, Ames, IA
