Written by Hello again!
Forgive me Cohort for I have sinned. It has been 38 days since my last blog post and this one is full of updates. Here’s what has happened:
1) Two weekends ago, I was lucky enough to attend the World Conference of Modern Languages in Niagara Falls. It was absolutely fantastic and I’m extremely grateful that my school let me go! In addition to attending with my fellow French department coworkers, I also got to catch up with some teacher pals from Queen’s, OISE and Cohort 21 (shout outs to Jen and Lisa!) The workshops were informative and helpful – especially the ones about music and authentic tasks – and the food was pretty good, too.
My biggest takeaway from the conference was the opportunity it offered my friend Ramesh and I to present on Memarden, a nifty online lesson-creation and sharing platform. I’ve talked about my work with Memarden in previous blog posts which you can check out here. Alternatively, take a peek at their video here:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXBvd5J9pyY[/youtube]
This time, I was joining Ramesh in what he was doing last year by showing educators the potential this platform has for engaging students and facilitating 21st-century blended learning. It was an exhilarating experience that involved plenty of audience interaction and I even got to use a dance pad – anybody remember DDR? – to showcase one of the games.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDtPLc5kuXo[/youtube]
On that note, I’m looking forward to continuing my relationship with Ramesh and Memarden in the future. It was great to work with him in person and hear all about what he’s doing with this company. They’re attracting capital from investors and business from school boards, so I’m excited to see what the future holds for Memarden. There’s talk of a marketplace in which teachers can share their lessons for a price (or for free if they’re feeling generous). I’m also interested in harnessing the power of student-created lessons which I’ll have the ability to approve and make available to the classes.
2) I’m continuing my action research into blended learning, though now I’m focusing more closely on AIM. I invested in the online AIM Student Portal in the hopes that students would be able to learn the plays and gestures at home. I’ve already started the unit to be studied and I’m eager to learn the results. The key will be to motivate the students to use the online portal at home and monitor their use of it as the unit progresses. I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, take care and keep on keepin’ on!