I'm very excited to be presenting at two upcoming conferences! I'll be presenting on using digital resources and blogging to enhance speaking in the foreign language classroom. Hope to see you there!
AATF Annual Convention
Chicago, July 5-8, 2012
convention overview
program overview
registration
ACTFL Annual Convention and World Language Expo
Philadelphia, November 16-18, 2012
convention information
registration
Friday, April 6, 2012
Monday, March 5, 2012
How to Set an iPod/iPad as "Master" and Mass Sync
It seems so obvious now that I know how to do it, but this took me forever to figure out! We have 15 iPod Touches in my department and I very simply wanted to mass sync them so they all had the same exact settings. I spent lots of time setting up one iPod--downloading apps and putting them in folders by category and language. To my great dismay, when we synced them all on the MacBook Air using iTunes (BTW: you must use a Mac to reliably sync more than a few devices), the folders got completely messed up. There were some iPods with 10 screens and just one or two apps per screen. All the folders were gone. I was pissed. The wonderful tech person who was helping me had limited time and couldn't figure out how to fix the problem. I was faced with individually re-positioning all of the apps on each device myself. It took two calls to Apple Support and a "Tier 2" Education Tech support guy to finally get it sorted out. Ok, here's what you do....
1. Choose one iPod/iPad to be your "Master" device. Set it up exactly as you want.
2. Hook up your iPod/iPad to your computer and open iTunes. When you see it appear under "Devices," right-click and select "Back Up."
3. Once the master device has backed up on your computer, attach another device, and right-click again. This time, however, select "Restore from Backup." You will be prompted to select the device from which you want to back up. Chose the master device.
4. Your additional iPod/iPad will now be overrode with all the data and settings from the master. It will also be re-named, so if you want to keep track of which is which, click on the name and change it once you're done (numbering them, for example).
Et voilà! You're done!
See, very easy once you know how!
1. Choose one iPod/iPad to be your "Master" device. Set it up exactly as you want.
2. Hook up your iPod/iPad to your computer and open iTunes. When you see it appear under "Devices," right-click and select "Back Up."
3. Once the master device has backed up on your computer, attach another device, and right-click again. This time, however, select "Restore from Backup." You will be prompted to select the device from which you want to back up. Chose the master device.
4. Your additional iPod/iPad will now be overrode with all the data and settings from the master. It will also be re-named, so if you want to keep track of which is which, click on the name and change it once you're done (numbering them, for example).
Et voilà! You're done!
See, very easy once you know how!
Sunday, February 12, 2012
iPod Pilot
Inspired by the incredible Catherine Ousselin, French teacher and tech guru in Washington state, I decided this year to pursue a grant for iPods to use in the World Language Department. (Please check out her fantastic website: http://catherine-ousselin.org/) When I saw Catherine present on iPods at the AATF National Conference this past summer, I was completely blown away. I had been curious about how to use these devices in class, but thanks to her presentation, I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to do.
First, I needed to get the money! Probably the hardest part of the equation! Luckily, my district has a fantastic Education Foundation that supports new initiatives for up to $3,000. I submitted an application (which needed the support of our tech committee and the assistant superintendent) and was awarded the funds this past December. For $3,000, I could only purchase 15 iPod Touches for $199 each. Thanks to the support of our tech department, we were able to set up the iPods to mass sync. There are still some glitches to worry about, but we've gotten started!
I'll post more about the pilot as the year progresses, but for now, here are the screen shots of the apps I've added. I have the main page, a general tech page, and a page for each of the languages we teach: French, Latin, Mandarin, and Spanish. We haven't used all of the apps yet, so it remains to be seen how we will incorporate them into class. My favorite two apps so far are VoiceThread and DoodleBuddy. To see some sample class creations, go to my two class blogs: http://ritzyfrancais.blogspot.com/ and http://ritzyespanol.blogspot.com/. All the apps are free, most also exist or can be used with the iPad, and -- as a disclaimer -- I am primarily a French teacher, so there a lot of apps for French!
First, I needed to get the money! Probably the hardest part of the equation! Luckily, my district has a fantastic Education Foundation that supports new initiatives for up to $3,000. I submitted an application (which needed the support of our tech committee and the assistant superintendent) and was awarded the funds this past December. For $3,000, I could only purchase 15 iPod Touches for $199 each. Thanks to the support of our tech department, we were able to set up the iPods to mass sync. There are still some glitches to worry about, but we've gotten started!
I'll post more about the pilot as the year progresses, but for now, here are the screen shots of the apps I've added. I have the main page, a general tech page, and a page for each of the languages we teach: French, Latin, Mandarin, and Spanish. We haven't used all of the apps yet, so it remains to be seen how we will incorporate them into class. My favorite two apps so far are VoiceThread and DoodleBuddy. To see some sample class creations, go to my two class blogs: http://ritzyfrancais.blogspot.com/ and http://ritzyespanol.blogspot.com/. All the apps are free, most also exist or can be used with the iPad, and -- as a disclaimer -- I am primarily a French teacher, so there a lot of apps for French!
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Creating a Department Website
This is my first year in a new district, and from what I've heard, I'm lucky to be there. Teachers went without a contract last year and many began looking elsewhere for jobs. Not surprisingly, the arts and foreign languages were held up as sacrificial offerings to the budget gods. Since Mandarin was just added because of a private grant, Latin and French were close to being cut. Thanks to some serious advocating, a budget override was passed, and my position as department director was created. There is a lot of work to be done to strengthen the department, and while financially things are looking better than they were last year, there are still little funds to be found. I decided that one way to simultaneously boost morale and articulate why our program is so important was by creating a website.
I'm a bit of a website-making addict. I have made a total of:
- 10 wikis on Wikispaces
- 4 websites on GoogleSites
- 4 blogs on Blogger
Each site serves a bit of a different purpose for me. Wikispaces is fantastic for uploading documents, and is collaborative, meaning that you can invite other people to work on the site with you. I've used Wikispaces for student projects (sample), and for sharing info on tech training within my school (sample). Overall, I found there was little collaboration from other staff members (whom I had hoped would share what they learned from the technology we had to use at school). It's also more utilitarian than some other sites, with less options for customization and making the site look sleek.
I use GoogleSite for two websites that I manage. One is my own site, http://www.catherineritz.org/, which I made to share professional info about myself and tech resources I use. The other is the AATF Eastern Massachusetts site I built this past summer: http://aatf-easternmass.org/. For both sites, I chose Google because I wanted them to present more "static" information. I didn't envision changing or updating them frequently, but wanted them to provide essentially one-sided information.
Finally, my blogs... I have two for my classes, since I teach both French and Spanish. I decided to use Blogger as a place to share student work. I like that I can embed voice-recordings, cartoons, flashcards and more on these sites. Compared to GoogleSites, I view these as more active sites that I would be updating regularly.
When I decided to begin working on the new website for my department, I initially created one in GoogleSites, thinking that it would be a place for parents and students to go to find general information about the department. I was actually almost done with it when I shared it with my colleagues for feedback. It just wasn't accomplishing what I had hoped...namely, to highlight was is so amazing about what we do (our teaching and professionalism!). I had put a news page on GoogleSites, but it was tucked away in the pages tab, and just didn't feel dynamic or exciting. The static information about our department just wasn't exciting enough to deserve first billing! That very night, I remade the entire site on Blogger, which allowed me to create pages for the more static information and put the daily teaching and professional news front and center. One major glitch I ran into was that Blogger interacts very badly with Internet Explorer. I had to change the tabs to "simple" to keep them looking good (no problems on Firefox or GoogleChrome).
Once I shared the site with my colleagues, they were quickly excited to tell me what was going on in their classrooms to post as news. My hope for the site is that it clearly articulates why our programs are so important, and why our teachers are important--showcasing their professionalism and creativity. If the budget crisis returns, the world language department and its teachers will not be abstract and easily dispensable, but rather something the district will feel pride in, as we will have opened our doors to make them a part of it.
http://arlingtonworldlanguages.blogspot.com/
I'm a bit of a website-making addict. I have made a total of:
- 10 wikis on Wikispaces
- 4 websites on GoogleSites
- 4 blogs on Blogger
Each site serves a bit of a different purpose for me. Wikispaces is fantastic for uploading documents, and is collaborative, meaning that you can invite other people to work on the site with you. I've used Wikispaces for student projects (sample), and for sharing info on tech training within my school (sample). Overall, I found there was little collaboration from other staff members (whom I had hoped would share what they learned from the technology we had to use at school). It's also more utilitarian than some other sites, with less options for customization and making the site look sleek.
I use GoogleSite for two websites that I manage. One is my own site, http://www.catherineritz.org/, which I made to share professional info about myself and tech resources I use. The other is the AATF Eastern Massachusetts site I built this past summer: http://aatf-easternmass.org/. For both sites, I chose Google because I wanted them to present more "static" information. I didn't envision changing or updating them frequently, but wanted them to provide essentially one-sided information.
Finally, my blogs... I have two for my classes, since I teach both French and Spanish. I decided to use Blogger as a place to share student work. I like that I can embed voice-recordings, cartoons, flashcards and more on these sites. Compared to GoogleSites, I view these as more active sites that I would be updating regularly.
When I decided to begin working on the new website for my department, I initially created one in GoogleSites, thinking that it would be a place for parents and students to go to find general information about the department. I was actually almost done with it when I shared it with my colleagues for feedback. It just wasn't accomplishing what I had hoped...namely, to highlight was is so amazing about what we do (our teaching and professionalism!). I had put a news page on GoogleSites, but it was tucked away in the pages tab, and just didn't feel dynamic or exciting. The static information about our department just wasn't exciting enough to deserve first billing! That very night, I remade the entire site on Blogger, which allowed me to create pages for the more static information and put the daily teaching and professional news front and center. One major glitch I ran into was that Blogger interacts very badly with Internet Explorer. I had to change the tabs to "simple" to keep them looking good (no problems on Firefox or GoogleChrome).
Once I shared the site with my colleagues, they were quickly excited to tell me what was going on in their classrooms to post as news. My hope for the site is that it clearly articulates why our programs are so important, and why our teachers are important--showcasing their professionalism and creativity. If the budget crisis returns, the world language department and its teachers will not be abstract and easily dispensable, but rather something the district will feel pride in, as we will have opened our doors to make them a part of it.
http://arlingtonworldlanguages.blogspot.com/
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Google Voice
Ok, this is my new favorite voice recording tool! It is so easy to use and doesn't require anything more on the part of your students than a cell phone to do voice recording in class. You can set up your Google Voice account through Gmail, or go to: https://www.google.com/voice
Basically, Google Voice was created to be a one-stop phone number. For someone who has a home number, a cell number, a work number or more, this is a convenient way to have one place to store all your voicemails. This video explains how Google Voice works:
I don't think I'll start using this service for my personal life, but as a World Language Teacher, this is fantastic. I set up my Google Voice account and linked it to my cell phone. You choose a phone number for your Google Voice account, and then link it to an actual phone that you already have. If the Google Voice number is called, it will ring directly on my cell phone. Of course, I don't want my students calling my cell phone, so I set the Google Voice number to "Do Not Disturb." Now, when the Google Voice number is called, it goes directly to an online voicemail, and I get an email in my Gmail account letting me know there's a new message.
I tested Google Voice out in my classes as a warm-up activity a few weeks ago. In a class of 28 students, all but two had cell phones. I told them to call the number and leave me a message answering a few questions I had prepared for them in Spanish. The class was excited and completely engaged in this activity. As the calls came in, I got messages in my Gmail account, and was able to instantly click on them and play the message for the entire class. From start to finish, this took about 8-10 minutes for me to hear from every student. The students who didn't have cell phones borrowed from their friends without a problem.
After the dry-run, I decided to use Google Voice for the speaking section on our recent unit tests. Instead of either assessing speaking on a different day than the test (thereby using two days for assessment instead of one), or calling each student up to speak with me individually while the rest of the class worked on the test (time-consuming and worrisome as it's hard to keep an eye on the students taking the test and be available for their questions), we completed the speaking assessment using Google Voice in under 5 minutes. The students were asked to prepare notes for the speaking section, and used their cell phones to call in their response. Again, a few students didn't have cell phones, but their friends were happy to share.
Here are some sample responses from my Spanish I class:
Here are some sample responses from my French III class:
The only caution is that Google Voice records the phone number of whoever is calling, so your students may be uncomfortable "giving" you their cell phone number. To avoid this, have them dial *67 before they call. Just be sure that all students begin by saying their name when leaving a message. I found that I can recognize all my students' voices fairly easily, but there were one or two that I wasn't sure about.
Overall, this is an excellent tool and very easy to use. I will definitely be using it for all my tests going forward, as well as for in-class activities on a regular basis.
Love it!
Basically, Google Voice was created to be a one-stop phone number. For someone who has a home number, a cell number, a work number or more, this is a convenient way to have one place to store all your voicemails. This video explains how Google Voice works:
I don't think I'll start using this service for my personal life, but as a World Language Teacher, this is fantastic. I set up my Google Voice account and linked it to my cell phone. You choose a phone number for your Google Voice account, and then link it to an actual phone that you already have. If the Google Voice number is called, it will ring directly on my cell phone. Of course, I don't want my students calling my cell phone, so I set the Google Voice number to "Do Not Disturb." Now, when the Google Voice number is called, it goes directly to an online voicemail, and I get an email in my Gmail account letting me know there's a new message.
I tested Google Voice out in my classes as a warm-up activity a few weeks ago. In a class of 28 students, all but two had cell phones. I told them to call the number and leave me a message answering a few questions I had prepared for them in Spanish. The class was excited and completely engaged in this activity. As the calls came in, I got messages in my Gmail account, and was able to instantly click on them and play the message for the entire class. From start to finish, this took about 8-10 minutes for me to hear from every student. The students who didn't have cell phones borrowed from their friends without a problem.
After the dry-run, I decided to use Google Voice for the speaking section on our recent unit tests. Instead of either assessing speaking on a different day than the test (thereby using two days for assessment instead of one), or calling each student up to speak with me individually while the rest of the class worked on the test (time-consuming and worrisome as it's hard to keep an eye on the students taking the test and be available for their questions), we completed the speaking assessment using Google Voice in under 5 minutes. The students were asked to prepare notes for the speaking section, and used their cell phones to call in their response. Again, a few students didn't have cell phones, but their friends were happy to share.
Here are some sample responses from my Spanish I class:
Here are some sample responses from my French III class:
The only caution is that Google Voice records the phone number of whoever is calling, so your students may be uncomfortable "giving" you their cell phone number. To avoid this, have them dial *67 before they call. Just be sure that all students begin by saying their name when leaving a message. I found that I can recognize all my students' voices fairly easily, but there were one or two that I wasn't sure about.
Overall, this is an excellent tool and very easy to use. I will definitely be using it for all my tests going forward, as well as for in-class activities on a regular basis.
Love it!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Digital Speaking
There are so many amazing free online resources out there that can help enhance speaking in the target language. My favorite thing about them is that they are fun! (And my students think so too!) I recently presented at the MAFLA (Massachusetts Foreign Language Association) Fall Conference about using digital speaking resources with a focus on different modes of communication: presentational, interpretive, and interpersonal. While some resources are an easier fit than others, most are only limited by our creativity. I was impressed with some ideas that came out of the session for ways to use the resources in ways I hadn't thought of. A resource I had viewed as a good fit for presentational communication, for example, can be used for interpretive communication if the teacher first records a prompt that the student needs to react to.
The resources I've listed in the following presentation are surely just some of the many invaluable ones out there, so please comment if you're using something that I haven't heard of yet. I would also be delighted to post sample creations on my blog, so if you practice with one of these sites, please share it with me!
Have fun!
The resources I've listed in the following presentation are surely just some of the many invaluable ones out there, so please comment if you're using something that I haven't heard of yet. I would also be delighted to post sample creations on my blog, so if you practice with one of these sites, please share it with me!
Have fun!
Digital Speaking
View more presentations from Catherine Ritz
Monday, October 24, 2011
Training Session Samples
Joanne's Blabberize
Kaitlin's Blabberize
Sandra's Blabberize
Sara's GoAnimate
GoAnimate.com: Un viaje inolvidable by senoritamills
Like
it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com
Joanne's Voki
Kaitlin's GoAnimate
GoAnimate.com: La storia dopo Madagascar by signorinacarter
Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com
Joanne's GoAnimate
GoAnimate.com: La Tarea by Mme/Sra. Young
Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com.
Kaitlin's Little Bird Tale
Kaitlin's Blabberize
Sandra's Blabberize
Sara's GoAnimate
GoAnimate.com: Un viaje inolvidable by senoritamills
Like
it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com
Joanne's Voki
Kaitlin's GoAnimate
GoAnimate.com: La storia dopo Madagascar by signorinacarter
Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com
Joanne's GoAnimate
GoAnimate.com: La Tarea by Mme/Sra. Young
Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com.
Kaitlin's Little Bird Tale
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