Windows XP Ease of Access: Narrator

In my future high school Spanish classroom, my students will be completing various reading assignments ranging from topics covering new grammar concepts to new culture knowledge. Readings will be extracted from the course text book as well as other sources, such as online sources. For students who have learning disabilities (LDs) or vision impairments (VIs), these reading tasks could be especially difficult; with the help of technology, however, my students will be able to keep up with and excel in course materials.

By searching “Ease of Access Center” from the Start menu on Windows XP, a window will pop up that displays various ways in which to “Make your computer easier to use.” From this main page, select “Use the computer without a display.” This selection will minimize distractions for LD students; it will also lead you to the following page:

From this page, you can turn on Narrator and/or Audio Description. You may also choose to “Set up Text to Speech.” This action allows you to select a voice and voice speed. By configuring the voice options, you will ensure that students are listening to a voice with which they are comfortable and that they understand well.

Not only will these voices help to ensure that students with different abilities are actively engaged in learning, but also further engage other members of the classroom. Listening to native speakers is key to helping students develop proper accents and annunciation. All students could really benefit from this form of Assistive Technology which is even more beneficial to the students who actually need the technology because it does not set them apart from their classmates. Using Narrator keeps everyone on the same page and further encourages a positive classroom environment.

Professional Uses of Technology

My Professional Learning Network will consist of various tools collected on one common site, iGoogle.

Using iGoogle, I will add several gadgets that will help my professional development as a foreign language teacher. These gadgets will include, but not be limited to: Spanish podcasts, links to technology tools and resources, and fun features like words/phrases of the day.

Podcasts will allow me to listen to ideas from other professionals while perhaps searching for corresponding materials. Links to technology tools and resources will allow me to really diversify my teaching methods to keep the class engaging and interesting. Fun features will give my students side notes that are not only fun, but also useful.

Using these tools via iGoogle will be very efficient in that I will have all my resources in one place that is easy to navigate. I will be able to check for updates everyday to get new ideas for my classroom.

Communication Tool

During lab, we formed groups to research and explore a specific communication tool. My group's activity focused on Zoho Wikipedia, an on-line resource that has "180,000+" websites. Teachers can use this tool in a variety of different ways. Zoho Wiki is similar to any other Wiki site in that anyone can post anything to the page, though teachers do have control over the tool. The image to the left shows how to create a new page on Zoho Wiki, as well as various other tasks noted on the sidebar on the left-hand side.

This screen shot explains some of the different uses for Zoho Wiki in the classroom. When I was considering how I could use the tool in my future high school level Spanish classes, I thought about how Halter's Class took advantage of the features of the tool.

Mr. Halter set up his Zoho Wiki page as an on-line class. There are links to class notes, review sheets, assignments, and more. I would choose to model my page after his for my high school Spanish class to ensure that everyone is up-to-date on class materials. I can post lecture notes and class activities as well as study guides and practice quizzes/tests.

Rosetta Stone Review

I reviewed Rosetta Stone on-line, specifically for Spanish education. I plan to teach Spanish at the high school level upon graduation and I have heard about Rosetta Stone being a great resource for learning any foreign language. This on-line tool helps students learn a foreign language using both visual and verbal approaches to teaching. The student sees a picture that is accompanied by a written phrase; this same phrase is read aloud by a native speaker, thereby allowing the student to learn how to speak, listen, read and write a new language.

Realistically, I could use Rosetta Stone to teach my students any content area: speaking, listening, reading, or writing. I find Rosetta Stone’s approach to speaking especially interesting. The video presented under the “Engage interactively” tab provides an inside look to the program and how it works to help students build up and learn a new language.

Other teachers have used Rosetta Stone to take their students to the next level in learning a foreign language. One teacher discusses the program’s interactive teaching methods and recommends all foreign language teachers use it in the classroom.

The website also shows what using the program is really like in “Rosetta Stone in Action.” It presents information and teaches the student in a fun and interactive way.

Identifying the Three Es

http://a4esl.org/
"Activities for ESL Students" is a website that provides links to various quizzes, tests, exercises, and puzzles that help students learn another language. Though the program is meant for English as a Second Language learners, it can also be reversed and used in a Spanish classroom.

This example addresses both Effectiveness and Efficiency. In terms of being effective, this website provides students with an alternate method to studying Spanish vocabulary. Students may choose to study with virtual note cards that are just written or they may also elect to study with pictures, which would be especially beneficial to visual learners. This example is also effective because it provides students with instant feedback for their work; rather than completing a vocabulary quiz and waiting for a week or so for the results, they can take quizzes online and receive their scores instantly, thereby showing them which problems they missed and need to spend more time with.


http://www.songsforteaching.com/spanishgrammarsongs.htm
"Spanish Grammar Songs" is a website that has links to numerous Spanish teaching devices, all of which use music. Some songs or raps teach simple grammar lessons such as direct and indirect object pronouns while others help students remember how to conjugate irregular verbs in Spanish, which could be otherwise difficult to just memorize without any fun activity.

This example covers Effectiveness and Enhancement. Spanish grammar songs would be effective for students because it is proven to be easier to remember difficult or tedious material when it is presented to the students in a fun way. This example actually relates very well to the "50 States Song" example: students are more likely to remember the fifty states in the United States when singing this clever song, but it is more difficult for them just to memorize the names without assistance. The songs would also enhance any classroom setting because it provides students with the opportunity to have fun and be creative with the material they are learning.


http://www.uen.org/utahlink/tours/fieldtrips2.cgi?core_area_id=11
This website, presented by the Utah Education Network, has links to several virtual field trips, which would allow Spanish teachers, as well as other educators, to take their students to other countries and events without ever having to leave the classroom.

Virtual field trips are an excellent example of Enhancement in any classroom, as it is not everyday that a class can visit an authentic Mexican Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) festival. With this website, however, that visit becomes possible. These virtual field trips are accompanied by various historical and cultural contextual information so that teachers may present exactly where and why they are "taking" their students to any given place around the world. There is so much outside the classroom setting that students are missing out on and that pictures and lectures simply cannot do justice; this example addresses this lacking in the classroom and enhances the foreign language experience.

W200 Goals

By the end of W200, there are several goals I would like to accomplish:

1. I want to know how to use technology to address the needs of various types of learners (auditory, visual, etc.).
2. I would like to learn guidelines in terms of implementing technology in lessons.
3. I want to learn ways to handle technological difficulties in the classroom.
4. I want to know where to find useful technological resources.
5. I need to learn how to best keep up with changes in technology as not to fall behind my students in the future.

These goals, when accomplished, will help to mold me into a better educator and enable me to be more proficient in using various forms of technology in my future classrooms.