Off and running

Since week four of the 2009-2010 school year starts tomorrow, it's time for me to complete a progress report. It's not a progress report for my students; no, those will be completed for Parent Teacher Conferences in another week or so. This progress report is for myself. How am I doing at teaching my students German and 21st Century Skills?

Well we'll see how the German is going after this week's unit tests. But my students have gotten to know me and each other, successfully completed a variety of activities during our first unit, and generally display an enthusiasm for working together. That combination makes for one very pleased teacher and I feel confident in saying that they are learning communicative German and can speak and understand more than they could four weeks ago.

As far as technology and 21st Century Skills go, I am currently teaching German 1 and German 2. In the past, I have really pushed our language lab software and experimented with Moodle in my upper level courses, rarely used them in German 1, and sometimes used them in German 2.

So far this year, all of my students have begun using the language lab software. German 1 students listened to and answered personal questions, and German 2 students recorded an introduction of themselves. All of my students have logged into Moodle and started blogs to reflect on cultural and language similarities and differences. German 1 students have also participated in a discussion forum, and my German 2 students have virtually visited some German grocery stores. These seem like such small steps. I'm definitely using more technology with my students and expecting them to use more technology for academic purposes. I've also already noticed some things I'd like to change. For example, I know now which assignments would work better as a private Moodle journal than a blog.

After taking several courses in the last year, I had very high hopes and probably unrealistic ones about how I was going to differentiate instruction, teach to all learning channels and integrate essential 21st Century Skills into my classroom. In my enthusiasm, I expected to hit the ground running and overlooked the fact that changes take time and small steps are significant. I'm progressing towards my goal. I'd tell a parent at parent teacher conferences that Jennifer is working hard, reflecting upon what she's learning, should keep up the good work, keep her eyes on the goal and continue striving to reach it. As hard as it may be, I'm going to try to take my own advice. If I celebrate the small successes along the way and learn from the road blocks, I'll enjoy the journey no matter how long it may take!