Music can be a powerful tool! If I handed you a sheet of lyrics and asked you to memorize them I'm sure you'd consider it a daunting task! However, if I handed you a CD with the song and asked you to memorize the words you would be more successful! How many of us know every word to our favorite songs? I'm always surprised when my 7 year old will hear the first few notes of a song on the radio and immediately start singing the lyrics! So I believe music can be a valuable educational tool! Although, I'll admit I can't carry a tune I love using music and songs in my classroom! As the year goes on I always find those catchy rhymes or songs we sing are the things my students remember the most!
You Tube is quickly becoming another valuable tool I use in class. I have found videos created by teachers of songs we sing in class as well as student created videos that teach difficult grammar concepts through a rap or song they've written! I also want to let you in on another cool website that I discovered in a workshop given by Mr. Bralier. If you enjoy the videos I show in class and would like to download those videos to your computer, ipod or mp3 you can do that at Kick You Tube. At Kick You Tube you will see a bar above your video of the various formats available for download. You can download in .flv format if you plan on watching it in a flash player on your computer or download in mp3 or mp4 to play on your ipods! You can then rock out to some Spanish videos from just about anywhere! I have added a tab labeled resources to my blog at the top where you access links to videos I show in class.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
My Goals
This year I am teaching Spanish I, II, and III. My goals for these classes are:
• To help each student gain some proficiency in the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
• To use a high level of student participation in the learning process and to teach in a way that makes language learning a meaningful activity.
• To introduce new cultures and their value to society in art, music, literature, and history.
• To help create in the students a sense of understanding of people from different backgrounds in their own area, and also in the world.
In addition to these goals I have 3 goals I'd like to accomplish this year. They include:
• A field trip with Spanish Club to either a dance performance or art museum.
• A skype conference with another country. I can't imagine anything cooler than that!
• A green classroom: I am always shocked by the amount of waste schools produce. My goal this year is to produce less. I plan on achieving this goal by making some materials accessible online. I am also currently working on writing a grant for a document camera that will allow me to share magazine articles, literature, etc. on my Smart Board which will eliminate the need to make unnecessary copies.
• To help each student gain some proficiency in the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
• To use a high level of student participation in the learning process and to teach in a way that makes language learning a meaningful activity.
• To introduce new cultures and their value to society in art, music, literature, and history.
• To help create in the students a sense of understanding of people from different backgrounds in their own area, and also in the world.
In addition to these goals I have 3 goals I'd like to accomplish this year. They include:
• A field trip with Spanish Club to either a dance performance or art museum.
• A skype conference with another country. I can't imagine anything cooler than that!
• A green classroom: I am always shocked by the amount of waste schools produce. My goal this year is to produce less. I plan on achieving this goal by making some materials accessible online. I am also currently working on writing a grant for a document camera that will allow me to share magazine articles, literature, etc. on my Smart Board which will eliminate the need to make unnecessary copies.
¡Bienvenidos!
¡Bienvenidos! Welcome! To start, let me introduce myself. I am Julie Exendine or Sra. Ex as my students like to call me. I am a graduate of Mexico High School and feel fortunate to have returned to my Alma Mater to teach Spanish. I started teaching in 1997 after getting my B.S.E in Spanish K-12 from the University of Missouri Columbia. While studying at MU I had the opportunity to spend a semester in Guadalajara, Mexico where I fell in love with the language and culture. I later spent a summer in Costa Rica and a week studying Amazon Biology in Peru. I went on to further my education and in 2005, I graduated from William Woods University with a Masters in Educational Administration.
I love to travel and have led student trips to Mexico and Costa Rica. I haven't traveled abroad since 2003 when I gave birth to my daughter, Gabriela. She is now old enough that I am planning to organize a trip to Europe with Laura Loudenslager, the French Teacher and Michelle Yount, Science Teacher for the summer of 2011. I am looking forward to this school year and hope to utilize this blog as a resource for both my students and parents and as a place they can turn for upcoming events, extra help, enrichment, and a little laugh now and then too!
I love to travel and have led student trips to Mexico and Costa Rica. I haven't traveled abroad since 2003 when I gave birth to my daughter, Gabriela. She is now old enough that I am planning to organize a trip to Europe with Laura Loudenslager, the French Teacher and Michelle Yount, Science Teacher for the summer of 2011. I am looking forward to this school year and hope to utilize this blog as a resource for both my students and parents and as a place they can turn for upcoming events, extra help, enrichment, and a little laugh now and then too!
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