Tech Tips from SCFLTA TOY 2018

Greetings SCFLTA! For the first blog post of the 2019-2020 school year, I am thrilled to be sharing with you tech tips from your very own 2018 SCFLTA Teacher of the Year, Ms. Jessica Kelly! Feel free to comment below and tweet your questions @senorakellylhs ! 
Don't forget the SCOLT Professional Development Outreach Fund is available to bring your state TOY to your district.  You can find more info here.  I encourage you to take advantage of it. 

Hello world language enthusiasts! It was a whirlwind experience as your  SCFLTA 2018 TOY and am so thrilled to have been able to represent such a supportive community of amazing world language teachers! 

I have been asked to share with you all some of my favorite go-to tech activities for getting students engaged and taking risks with language proficiency while also providing an informal check-in on targeted structures for me. Without further ado, I present to you... GOOSECHASE and INSTACOMMUNITY! 

Goosechase is an online platform for virtual scavenger hunts where the teacher can create tasks for students to respond with either short videos, pictures or texts to prove successful completion of the task. 

Pros: 

• Students are up and moving, working collaboratively, and always engaged and excited. 
• You can assign bonus and penalty points for each submission, encouraging not only accuracy, but also creativity. 
• Students receive instantaneous feedback and can resubmit to correct mistakes in order to earn more points. 
• Students are using technology in order to show 21st Century skills. 

Cons: 

• Students will need to have access to a cellphone or tablet in order to play. 
• Computers only allow teacher access. 
• Video submissions can only be up to 8 seconds (you can submit googledrive links to work around this). 

Want to give GOOSECHASE a try? Click here for my 2018 SCFLTA Presentation.

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Interactive Activities with SeeSaw 
I got the idea for this next project when I started making a conscious effort to differentiate for honors level courses. I noticed that my CP students had more fun using the language because they were not as grade oriented, whereas, my honors students were less creative due to fear of making mistakes. I desperately needed a safe space for them to become more confident in the target language and to be willing to take risks. And so, the Instagram project was born. 

About the Instagram Project: 
Students assume the role of an Instagram influencer, all within the controlled environment of SeeSaw. They must pick a theme and stick to it the rest of the semester. Using their skills of persuasion and creativity, they must attempt to win over as many followers as possible. 

Within each curriculum unit, students were provided with a context that they had to adapt an Instagram post for. From there, the class would comment and like each other's posts. 
​For more information about the specific tasks, how to modify it for different levels and different languages (shout out to Latin!) see my SCOLT 2019 Presentation!

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Thank you so much for taking the time to make it to the end of my ramblings! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask! 
Sincerely, 
​Jessica