Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bill Anderson on March 18, 2008 at 7:21am

Carmen,

I'm still learning the software myself. LILT is giving a workshop on March 31 (in Valley Stream) that I plan to attend. We haven't installed any SmartBoards in the LOTE classes yet in Massapequa. We have planned installation of 2-3 for next year (if the budget passes). Your idea sounds great about the central resource. We should talk about it at the next FLACS meeting to see what others think. I'll ask Sue Ruiz to make sure it's on the agenda.

Hope all is well in CSH.
Bill

Permalink Reply by Carmen Campos Ed.D. on March 19, 2008 at 7:10pm

Bill,

I think since smartboards are still relatively new to many LOTE departments it would be great if we could create this resource for our teachers to draw from. FLACS might be a good place to start.

At CSH, I find that the one thing I would most like to promote is staff development. I find myself constantly thinking about how to update staff with where LOTE is going. It's not always easy.

Carmen

Permalink Reply by William Brennan, Ed.D. on March 20, 2008 at 5:50pm

Carmen,

I am over at Port Jefferson Schools. Our LOTE teachers do use SmartBoards often and have recieved training. I think training is the most important part of a successful adoption. In addition to Language specific websites our teachers use things like teacher tube, youtube, unitedstreaming, blogging, wikis, google earth, etc...

I worked with one of our teachers in January on a project where our students would create virtual field trips of three countries. They had the option of how they wanted to present it, but ultimately it had to be uploaded to the Port Jefferson Wikispace. As a follow up, this teacher continued the conversation through her classroom blog.

In addition to the SmartBoards, we just implemented a digital language lab. We use the Sanako 100 system. This has been a great initiatives. We are running another training next Friday.

I would imagine that video conferencing could also enhance instruction. One of my teachers discovered this site http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/vidconf/directory.cfm Its a network of other district across the world, that are interested in doing video conferences. You could go high end for VC or just use something as simple as Skype.

Feel free to contact me if I can be of any help.

Bill Brennan

Permalink Reply by Melody Wubbenhorst on March 28, 2008 at 8:31pm

Hola Carmen,
A free account on a site like www.hotchalk.com can work as a central resource for LOTE educators. You can post lesson plans, assignments, comments, etc.

Even though I don't have a smartboard, all of my classes are via my computer and projector. Rosetta Stone brings the classroom alive. I can only imagine that used in combination with a SmartBoard how much more interactive it would be (I'm thinking along the lines of board competitions).

Permalink Reply by Elisa Weidenbaum on April 6, 2008 at 10:39am

Carmen-

I teacher 6-8 grade Spanish at Jericho Middle School. This is the second year that I have a SmartBoart in my classroom and I must say that it has enhanced my teaching/lessons in so many ways. While I did take an in-service course to be trained on how to use it, what seems most imortant to me is that teachers are given time to play with it and get comfortable with this new technology. It is also helpful to have teachers share their lessons with other teachers to get ideas of how to make their lessons more interactive. I LOVE my Smartboard (which my students nicknamed 'Dora')- it has made teaching more fun for me and learning more fun and interactive for my students.

Permalink Reply by Madeline Turan on March 28, 2009 at 9:48pm

Hi!
At Stony Brook we are waiting for a Smartboard to be installed for use in our FLA (Foreign Language Acquisition) classes. We will be using it to train our Teacher candidates because they are encountering Smartboards in more and more of their placements. The idea of a central resource for LOTE teachers sounds wonderful!
Madeline