This week in my Teaching K-12 Students online course at Michigan State University, we looked at the various ways to assess students in a distance learning classroom. Since Powerspeak Languages may be used in a distance learning environment or as a supplement to a traditional brick-and-mortar classroom, I wanted to highlight how each activity in Powerspeak Languages has built-in formative assessments to assist students during the learning process.

Formative assessments call for continuous evaluation of student learning during instruction, as opposed to waiting until the end of a chapter/lesson to measure comprehension via a formal exam. In a traditional teacher centered classroom that utilizes formative assessments, it is the responsibility of the the teacher to alter or adjust instruction based on the results of the assessment.  However, each activity in Powerspeak Languages is student-centered, empowering students to measure their own learning and understanding of the content in real-time, and make adjustments throughout.  This real-time feedback highlights how electronic and digital resources, like Powerspeak Languages, is transforming the learning process, enabling students to take control and guide their own learning.

Craig McMichael is a social studies teacher and technology integrator at Detroit Catholic Central High School. In preparation for a summer program in France, Craig is using Powerspeak Languages to learn French for the first time. These are his experiences.

Instead of typing up a blog this week, I have decided instead to make a short screencast taking you through the Drag and Drop Activity in Lesson 1.

• A Virtual Drag and Drop

Until next time, Au Revoir!

Craig

Craig McMichael is a social studies teacher and technology integrator at Detroit Catholic Central High School. In preparation for a summer program in France, Craig is using Powerspeak Languages to learn French for the first time. These are his experiences.

This week I will be highlighting another way Powerspeak Languages differentiates instruction to its end user through their flashcard activities.  I am sure most of you out there have used flash cards at some point in your academic career.  The question becomes though, what information needs to be on a flash card to make it an effective learning tool? In order to answer this question, I used my favorite fact finding tool: Google. The best advice I found was from Brad Isaac from July 2006.  Here are a few of the tips Brad offered:  1) keep it simple: each flash card should have one question and one answer, 2) make sure your flash cards are easily accessible, 3) repetition is your friend.  Powerspeak Language‘s flashcards contain and build upon these basic principles:

• Keep it simple: Powerspeak Languages makes sure that you are not introduced to all of the lesson’s vocabulary at once.  Instead, users are introduced to five to seven words/phrases at a given time.  In any given lesson, there may be two or three flashcard activities.  Powerspeak Language‘s enhance and engage the learner on a variety of levels.  Each word/phrase is introduced on a separate card with an English word and a corresponding picture.  Once the user “clicks” on the card, it is turned over to reveal the translated word in French, the same corresponding picture and a pronunciation of the term in French.  This type of instruction stimulates the visual, auditory and kinesthetic learner all at once.
• Accessibility: The nice thing about these flashcards is that they are self contained in the electronic resource.  The user does not have to worry about keeping track of the flashcards or making sure that they stay organized.  The user is provided to option of going through the flashcards in a set order or having them randomized at the click of a button.  In addition, a user may choose to “hide” a card once they feel comfortable with the word/phrase.
• Repetition: Finally, the user may go back through the flash cards as often as they like.  I find it really helps to go through them a few times throughout a day prior to continuing the lessons.  I also found that having the word/phrase spoken to me and having a picture as a frame of reference sped up this process rather than looking at 3×5 card with some writing on it.

Finally, I was excited to see that I received two comments from my last post.  So for my reflection this week, I would like to respond to one of the posts.  I would like to thank each of you for “starting the conversation” and for all of you who read my posts.

• maryabraham commented “Hi Craig, can you tell us how you translate your learnings from each Powerspeak Languages lesson into everyday practice?”
  • First, I want to thank you again for the post.  Second, although I am not a foreign language teacher, I can see how the various can be used in a classroom.  I have used a number of electronic resources in both the high school and university level classes that I teach.  I find them to be beneficial because you (or maybe more importantly) your students can pick and choose which lessons or activities may be most beneficial to that particular lesson or topic.  I would love to hear from other Foreign Language teachers to see how they are or might see how they would use this product in their classroom.

Thank you again and until next time au revoir!

Craig

Craig McMichael is a social studies teacher and technology integrator at Detroit Catholic Central High School. In preparation for a summer program in France, Craig is using Powerspeak Languages to learn French for the first time. These are his experiences.

Prior to starting my first lesson, I decided to first familiarize myself with Powerspeak Language’s content organization.  In looking at the way the content is organized, I found it to be very similar to a textbook.  Powerspeak French is broken up into 6 Units, similar to a way a textbook is broken up into chapters.  Each unit then is broken up into 8 lessons, similar to a way a chapter in a textbook may be broken up into sections, but this is where the similarities to a textbook end!

Each lesson is filled with 20-25 different activities to engage me, the learner, in the content.  Compare that to a traditional print-based textbook, that merely engages the students by having them read from a particular section or excerpt.  Over the next couple of weeks, I would like to highlight one particular activity each week that demonstrates Powerspeak Language’s ability to differentiate instruction to the end user.

This week, it seems appropriate to talk about the very first lesson that I came across when I started using Powerspeak.  Lesson 1 was called Communication: Meeting People and Introducing Yourself. The first activity in the lesson was called a “Walk Through.”  The goal of the “Walk Through” is to introduce some of the vocabulary that will be taught during the lesson.  The “Walk Through” uses a short story, written in English, that relates to the lesson’s theme (in this case communication).  Sprinkled throughout the lesson are some of the vocabulary words in French.  The “Walk Through” calls on the user to use context clues to guess what the vocabulary words could mean in English.  This is a great way to introduce a lesson because it enables the learner to help form their own thoughts/ideas on what the words means, rather than merely having the meaning dictated to them.

Personal Learning Reflection for the week:

When I first went through lesson 1 in Powerspeak, I decided to try it without taking any notes, just reading and following along with each activity.  I equate this way of learning to walking around with a bucket with a hole on the bottom.  When we first fill up the bucket it is full, but as we go further and further along more and more of the water leaks out the bottom.  I decided to change my approach and start again, this time I decided to take notes as I went through the lesson. (side note: despite being a teacher who embraces technology, I took notes the old fashioned way with a pen and paper)  I found that through taking notes, I was more engaged with the material and had an easier time internalizing and recalling the information as I went through each activity in the lesson.

Until next week. Au revoir!

Craig

Craig McMichael is a social studies teacher and technology integrator at Detroit Catholic Central High School. In preparation for a summer program in France, Craig is using Powerspeak Languages to learn French for the first time. These are his experiences.

My name is Craig McMichael.  I am a Social Studies teacher and the Technology Integrator at Detroit Catholic Central High School in Novi, Michigan.  In addition, I am a part-time faculty member in the Teacher Education Division of the College of Education at Wayne State University. I currently hold a BA in History from Georgia State University and a MA in Teaching from Wayne State University.

In my spare time (I almost remember what that is!), I am in the process of completing a Masters of Arts in Educational Technology at Michigan State University. This program has truly been a diverse and unique experience for me — some of my classes were offered online, enabling me to learn from the comfort of my couch.  Other portions of the program enabled me to learn in a more traditional classroom environment. My time with the program will culminate this summer in Rouen, France, where I will officially complete my second Masters.

There is only one small problem with this: I do not know how to speak French!  I do have some foreign language experience, taking three years of Spanish in high school and two semesters in college at Georgia State, but I was in need some sort of tutorial to help prepare me for my time in France.

In order to assist me in this endeavor, I will be utilizing the Powerspeak Languages online resource from Cengage Learning.  Catholic Central has a number of Cengage Learning products and has just recently acquired this one. As a reader of this blog, you can expect postings that will serve two purposes: 1) to reflect on my current unit/lesson(s), as reflection is an integral part of the learning process, enabling the learner to internalize the content, and 2) to spark dialog about the product and how it can be used either in the classroom or for your own personal benefit.

I will post my thoughts and reflections on the weeks units/lessons every Monday morning (EDT).  Thanks for reading and I will talk to you next week!