Technology-enhanced activities

It’s great learning by doing. 

Here I show the tech tools we used in our first and second face-to-face weeks of classes and how I can apply them in my classroom.

Technology-enhanced activity # 1:

INTEGRATION OF TECHNOLOGY INTO OUR LESSONS -part 1

Learning how to integrate digital tools into our lesson plans was very exciting because we could see that the possibilities to motivate and enhance learning in our students are vast. I realized that, there are many digital tools that I have seen and used. However, due to lack of time, I have not been using them to their maximum capacity. This course gives us the opportunity to explore deeply into very helpful technological tools that are at hand on the Internet and are free (to certain extent).

For our first technology-enhanced activity, I teamed up with Rusbeth Vergara and Sondra Doubek. We decided to design a lesson plan on “The simple present tense: Verb Be and other Verbs”, integrating four different tech tools from the Internet.  These tech tools were: Google Slides, Google Forms, PowToon, and YouTube.

We created dynamic slides on Google Slides with material regarding the selected topic. First of all, we designed a pre-activity that consisted on a survey on Google Forms to be used as a diagnostic test to analyze our student’s previous knowledge. Secondly, we used PowToon to make two funny animated videos to help our students engage in the learning activity. One video showed some sentences using the verb Be in the simple present, and the other one, showed some sentences using other verbs.  Third of all, we flipped the class providing additional help to our students with an appropriate video from YouTube. The idea is to have our students watch the video and apply their knowledge with a written and an oral assignment. Finally, as post-activity, we incorporated a Jeopardy game (made on Google Slides) to clarify some points that students might find difficult to understand, and give them feedback.

 Gallery Walk

The best part was when we got to share how we integrated the tech tools to our lesson with our classmates.  For this, we used a learning activity called “Gallery Walk”. We took turns, first we were the observers of our classmates’ work.  Then, when all of them presented, we switched to become the speakers and presented our work.   It was a great learning experience because we shared among us new ideas on how to take advantage of tech tools of Internet to improve our teaching. This was a great collaborative learning activity that has left us wanting to know more about all the precious tools the Internet has for us to become better teachers.

Technology-Enhanced activity # 2

INTEGRATION OF TECHNOLOGY INTO OUR LESSONS -part 2

     

Last Saturday we had the opportunity to learn about many interesting tech tools to enhance learning in our classrooms. What caught my attention most was how online games can be used in class to improve speaking reading, writing, grammar, or acquire vocabulary. Rusbeth and I explored some online games and created a video giving some recommendations to use online games to encourage speaking. One game that I recommended is the stickman game, “Escape from Prison”. This is an escape from the room game, where the players receive many options to help the stickman escape from prison. Students have to decide which options are safer or smarter for the stickman. It works as cause and effect activity and every decision has a consequence that could lead the stickman getting caught or getting freedom. It will definitely have my students engaged in this discussion activity as they have to give tips and explain the reasons for their decisions.

Also, through online games my students can have more opportunities to learn vocabulary and apply those words when the teacher is asking them questions. I would like to use these types of online games in my pre-activities or post-activities and thus, give my students the opportunity to apply their skills before and after the learning activities. 

We can find the game “Escape from Prison” here:

http://www.frivxl.com/sports/589-escaping-the-prison

Another website with similar cause and effect stories is:

http://zapdramatic.com

Zapdramatic produces addictive story-based negotiation games for entertainment and life skills development where you have to apply negotiation skills to solve problems. These stories are like case studies and students can discuss in groups possible solutions for the problems the characters in the interactive mystery stories are facing.

One example of a case study on Zapdramatic.com is:

A guy named Ted straps dynamite to his chest and looks for his ex-wife whom, he believes, has abducted his kids. So, he gets into her job with a bomb around his waist and demands to see her.  I can ask my students to advise the guard on how to manage this situation. I found these types of stories very engaging.

To practice and improve grammar and reading comprehension I will definitely recommend and use “Kahoot”. This is a free game-based learning platform that has a collection of questions on specific topics and can be used to turn quizzes, discussions or surveys for our students into fun games. I can also design my own questions and answers. It has a fun setting, suspenseful music, and instant scoreboards that keep competition animated and our learner engaged. I believe I will apply this tech tool for blended learning in the classroom as formative assessment to practice grammar or check reading comprehension.  Nevertheless, I could also use Kahoot for flipping my classroom. I can also use Edmodo or Blogger to help with this.  

Edmodo is an online networking application for teachers, parents and students that allows us to be connected all the time.  With Edmodo or Blogger, I can create my own virtual learning environment and then, I would have there a link for my students to use Kahoot to practice specific topics.

Enjoy our video on games to encourage speaking.