Learning manifesto

As a foreign language teacher, I  often hear students say, “I’m not good at Spanish,” or “Spanish is too hard.”  It is so common to hear this from my students at the beginning of a term that I’ve come to expect it.  The question I had when I started teaching was how do I combat this fixed mindset? Over the years, I’ve tried different strategies acquired mostly by observing more veteran teachers with successful classrooms.  In the end, I realized that what matters most is my attitude toward teaching and life in general.  A teacher can’t be successful in the classroom without possessing a growth mindset. Teachers need a lot of grit to tackle difficult situations and maintaining a positive outlook in the classroom spills over to the students and is key to both the teacher and student’s success.   

The most important thing I impart to my students as we embark on the language learning journey is that in my classroom effort counts.  Students are given the opportunity to re-do assignments for a better grade.  I make this possible through the use of technology in my classroom.  By using Google Classroom as  the main conduit for assignments, students have instant access to their assignments, and my comments.  I make it easy for them to re-do assignments when the score is low.  I tell my students there’s no reason for anyone in my class to have a low grade since I’m giving them the opportunity to do better, all it takes is a little effort.  

In second language (L2) learning, repetition is important  to the successful acquisition of the target language. With that in mind,  I created a blended classroom where I present the lessons first and then  direct students to Google Classroom or some other application to complete assignments.  One of the applications I have found most effective is Quizizz. It is a content based gamification application.  In creating content aligned with the current lesson, I can direct students to a quiz they can take over and over until they score a grade they like.  Generally, I see students complete these assignments in more than one try.  The repetition helps the memory and the reward is not only the higher grade but also in the satisfaction they gain with their accomplishment.  Again, effort on their part, pays off . One of the students who came to me at the beginning of the term and said she was not good in Spanish, came to me after completing a Quizziz assignment and said, “Hey, I’m good at Spanish afterall.”  The accomplishment for me was seeing her big smile and knowing that she has begun to journey into the growth mindset.  I witnessed another student helping a classmate conjugate a verb. This is a topic we only briefly touched on in class and was re-visited on DuoLingo. I was gratified to see that the experiment of bringing DuoLingo into the classroom has benefited the students.   In fact, I have several students who have started believing in their own abilities simply because they have the opportunity, through technology, to feel instant gratification when they successfully complete a level or a task assigned to them. 

Recently, I  added DuoLingo for Google Classroom to our curriculum. The objective was to add an additional learning tool to our teaching arsenal and to enhance the L2 learning experience for students..  The results so far are surprising in a positive way and completely unexpected.  DuoLingo for Schools surpassed my expectations just in the first few weeks.  I have found that students are responding more than just well to the gamification of the content. Some students are reporting that they wake up early to log onto the site and complete lessons.  Others tell me that they are in a competition with their friends to see who can score more points.  The most significant outcome I’ve seen is a student helping a classmate conjugate a verb!  When I pointed out to the student what they had just done, they didn’t seem to register the importance of it.   To say I’m a fan of digital learning is definitely an understatement.  

In devising a plan for my classroom, I had to keep in mind that students today live in a world far different than the one I grew up in.  Acknowledging the technological advancements available to my students on a daily basis, I feel it is important to teach students in a way that responds to their current situation.  Recently, I read an article that called students born after 1995 “ Digital Natives” because they were born into an era of information technology.  “These students have preferences for fun, relational, inclusive, and dynamic learning environments that offer choice, practical skills, assessment rationale, opportunities for knowledge sharing, micro-chunks of learning, and informal immediate feedback.” (Gironella 2023).

As a teacher born prior to 1995, I am considered a “Digital Immigrant.” That is a person not born in the digital world. “Digital Immigrant educators need to think about how to teach Digital Natives in the language of the Digital Natives, which would involve significant translation and methodology change, as well as new content and thinking.” (Szabó & Kopinska 2023).  Keeping this in mind, I have made every effort to meet my students at their comfort level by providing engaging lessons in a format that appeals to their digital inclinations. 

It is obvious that teaching in the digital world has disrupted the traditional classroom methods for delivering content.  Technology advances in education have developed so quickly that state and local governments have yet to figure out how to transform the current system to keep up with the current demands for more engaging, technology based education.  There is always resistance to change especially when the educators are Digital Immigrants who “are not considered to be technology savvy, and sometimes have a rather negative attitude towards it.” (Szabó & Kopinska 2023) Despite the resistance, change is coming and embracing that change now is in the best interest of our students.  How do we combat the resistance to change to a more technology oriented education system?  Embracing the change by incorporating the use of technology in our classrooms through a blended learning approach is a good start.  Once teachers experience the advantages of the blended learning approach, they will see the advantages not just to them as teachers but to the students as well.  For example, teachers will have more time to spend with students not performing at level;  while students who are at level or advanced can move ahead at their own pace.  A blended learning environment gives teachers a more organic way to add differentiation to the classroom simply because the technology gives each student an individualized approach to the lesson. 

The age of technology in education has arrived.  Teachers can try to resist it and cling to traditional teaching methods but in the end, these teachers and their students will be missing out on great opportunities that technology is providing in the realm of online digital education or   content gamification. Likewise, our state and local governments need to catch up and devise a new educational system that incorporates technology more fully into the classroom by acknowledging the advantages of content gamification and digital learning as a means to motivate students and as a way to provide more engaging experiences.  As for my classroom, I will continue to explore all available educational applications that can enhance the L2 learning experience for my students. 

I consider the biggest issue in digital learning is the lack of training for teachers who have been in the profession for a long time.  Veteran teachers are either stuck in doing things the way they’ve always done or don’t have any desire to learn new methods to deliver content.  This issue can be addressed by the state’s teaching board.  New teachers are already being exposed to technology at all levels.  The state needs to target veteran teachers for professional development in technology.  And it’s not just about teaching Teachers how to use technology, it’s about teaching teachers the advantages of using it in the classroom.  The same goes for National teaching associations, they should be evaluating the classrooms and curriculum to fit the technological era we are currently living in.  The status quo isn’t going to work much longer.  Technological advances are happening in every corner of our lives and the first place that should reflect changes should be in the classroom.  How else will teachers educate the modern student? In every industry, it is imperative to success, to keep up with the latest advances in order to compete and be successful.  I don’t think our education system is competitive.  Something has to change.  I think technology in the classroom is going to catapult the education system out of its stagnation. Technology is the wave of the future and if we are going to give our students the best education, we have to learn to accept that technology is a necessary tool.  Individually, each teacher should take it upon herself/himself to stay updated in advancements in educational technology. I plan to continue to learn and educate myself in ways I can deliver content to my students in a manner that they can relate to and understand. 

Work cited:

Gironella, F. (2023). Gamification pedagogy: A motivational approach to student-centric

course design in higher education. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice. 

Szabó, F., & Kopinska, M. (2023). Gamification in Foreign Language Teaching: A  Conceptual

Introduction. Hungarian Educational Research Journal, 13(3), 418–428.