BYODevice to Spanish Class

In the 21st century Spanish classroom, students learn and develop their listening, speaking, reading, and writing in 21st century ways with the use of devices. In 5 Instructional Shifts to Promote Deep Learning, Susan Oxnevad suggests creating essential questions, guided lessons, and opportunities for students to demonstrate their knowledge in creative ways. She describes a classroom in which there is no "front of the classroom," the class is busy and perhaps noisy, and the teacher is a facilitator. The flipped classroom is a great way to differentiate to meet the needs of students' abilities and interests. However, flipping, in my mind is one way to make a lesson great. I am not convinced that all lessons need to be flipped. Students may prefer a direct lesson from the teacher. Teachers ought to use a variety of best practices and techniques to maintain student interest.

My school has adopted a Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) policy and the students are able to access the school WiFi on their personal devices. We have school iPods and I have a couple of iPads that students can borrow. Many students have their own iPods or iPads.

Here is a flipped lesson for a Día de los Muertos research project:

Lesson: Students watch instructional videos on Día de Los Muertos and an overview of time periods in Spanish history.

App:      30 Hands (iOS)

Project:
1. Each student is assigned a muerto famoso (famous dead person).
2. Students research biographical information and why the person is most famous.
3. Students record a voice narration for each image.
4. Students can publish and upload their presentation (.mov) to Google Drive, My Big Campus, Dropbox, and other web platforms.

Discussion: Students watch each others' projects and discuss.