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CREATIVITY COLLABORATION CRITICAL THINKING COMMUNICATION

Well, it’s been 3 months since our last Cohort Meeting, and tonight I am supposed to reflect on my progress with the (4) “C”s and Spanish class.
I have to admit that being able to participate in the Digital Learning Cohort continues to be my favorite career opportunity. I thought that I would like using IPads in class because of the importance of technology in today’s classroom, but I have discovered that going “digital” has re-invigorated all parts of my brain.

Using technology with five different grade levels, for periods of 40 minutes at the time, sounds like a difficult plan. But it has been the opposite for me. I have learned so much from my 470 students. Implementing IPads has diminish the distance between the students and I, and I’m so amazed by them. I can recognize their insecurities, their hopes, their strengths and weakness by starting every class as a “facilitator”. I love trying to problem solve with the help of their brains: “why is this link not working?” Or “how can we “select all” instead of one at a time?” It’s a “living” conversation, one that changes all the time, and that it comes from their progress using the IPads.
The best part of my day is when I tell kids who have been micro-managed and forced to do as we all do-to: “Play”. Case in point: There is an application called “Letters”, ideal for first graders who are learning how to spell out words in English. When I have given fifth grade students the opportunity to use “Letters” in class, I usually start by saying: play with the app: try to figure out how to quickly clear up the board. How can you spell out words using caps and lowercase letters? What happens when a letter does not drag out into the board? I have kids that ask: can I change the color of the letters? Can I use the symbols too? To which, of course, I answer “yes”, “try it”, “why not?”.
Then, after they have learned how to use the app, the students have to use letters to show me their answers to questions such as: how old would you be at the end of high school? How long is collage? How much is college? What is the best year for you to start thinking about getting a job?
Or: what do these words have in common: brazo, bandera, bolígrafo, bailar? What does this mean: c-a-b-e-z-a?
Using IPads during class allows me to adjust and change as the class progresses. Collaboration is a MUST in class now.

Creativity has also increased. How? Because I am looking for their voice, their level of understanding. Today a third grade class and I had a short class, and they wanted to use “Doodle Buddy”. So, I created a challenge: can you help me produce a document that I can share with first grade students that shows all the words for the colors in Spanish? And the students did. Their creativity is so real at this age. The students then noticed how are the words for the colors in Spanish spelled. They noticed that in Spanish there is no “TH” word. Do you know how many other thousands of times I have said that before? Real teaching, in real time.

The Critical Thinking is weaved through all of our assignments. I can not have them write a paragraph stating their personal taste on music in Spanish, for obvious reasons. But we are connecting across disciplines, and through real pictures/sounds/songs/movies/games in the language. And for me, this is quite enough.