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Technology Tools to Help with Differentiating Instruction in the AP Spanish Classroom
Along with flexible groups and menus of products, instructional technology tools can help Spanish teachers differentiate instruction. Information from the World Wide Web, for example, can significantly broaden and deepen the Spanish curriculum. Interactive, computer-based technology can be personalized and adapted to students' learning styles. In this section, we focus on some technology resources that can assist in differentiating instruction in AP Spanish classrooms.
1. WebQuests
To assist students with online research, teachers can use previously created WebQuests, adapt one, or design one of their own. A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which most of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web. A WebQuest focuses on using information rather than looking for it. WebQuests are superb for group collaboration in which students often play roles, search for information from links included in the WebQuest, and complete products.
A WebQuest contains five sections: introduction (provides background information to "hook" learners), task (focuses students on what they are going to do), process (describes how learners will accomplish the task and includes the resources to do so), evaluation (establishes criteria needed to meet performance and content standards), and conclusion (brings closure and reflection). To get a flavor for WebQuests, check some of links listed below.
 En Busqúeda de Nuestras Raíces
The Disappeared: A WebQuest for Advanced Spanish Students
Federico García Lorca: A WebQuest for AP Spanish
NicaraguaQuest
WebQuests are usually created in a Web-authoring tool such as FrontPage. However, a WebQuest can be created in Word, saved as an HTML document, and distributed to students. The WebQuest site at http://webquest.sdsu.edu offers a variety of templates and training materials so you can create your own.
WebQuest
2. CyberGuides, Content-Rich Sites, and Multimedia Sites
Other useful possibilities include CyberGuides, content-rich sites, and multimedia sites. CyberGuides are standards-based, teacher-designed, and Web-searching and writing/reading activities for K-12 students, based on core literature. Although the concept originated in California, and many therefore are based on California standards, a CyberGuide can be modified or created from scratch to fit your classroom needs. You can investigate a number of CyberGuides at www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/cybiling.html and use the template for creating one of your own at www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/templates/fulltchr.html.
www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/templates/fulltchr.html
www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/cybiling.html
Content-rich sites provide a fertile backdrop for investigations as well. You can steer your students to a content-rich site, but you will have to provide a structured activity for them to productively use the site. Some content-rich sites include:
The Cervantes Project
Francisco de Goya
Muva: Museo virtual de artes el pais
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
WWW Virtual Library: Museums in Spain
Los-Poetas.com
The Prado Museum
The Virtual Diego Rivera Web Museum
Multimedia sites, which feature audio as well as visual experiences, are a definite plus for your students. In fact, your advanced students may be able to rewrite a "fractured" fairy tale or write an original story in Spanish, key it into PowerPoint, and record narration to create their own multimedia experience. For ideas, check out these sites:
The Barking Mouse
Mi mundo en palabras
Spanish as a Second Language: Listening, Speaking, and Pronunciation
The Spanish Channel (a ThinkQuest, a type of Web site that is created by students)
Story Place
Supersabor
News sites, which provide documents, articles, and audio, are especially useful for AP courses. At these sites, students can print or read online a news article in the Spanish language, hear the article read (audio files), and use the news article to answer questions provided by the teacher or to summarize information. News sites will especially help with the new AP Exam focus on synthesizing information. Examples include:
BBC News in Spanish
Caracol
CNN en Español
El Pais
Prensa Escrita
La Raza
Weather in Spanish
3. Additional Teacher Tools for Investigation
Some miscellaneous sites for teacher exploration are listed below.
PowerPoint Presentations for Spanish Class
UNESCO: Photobank (great for pictures for research and presentations)
Latin American Network Information Center
Internet Resources for Latin America
Voces y letras hispánicas
Anacleta's Spanish and World Language/Culture Resources
Teaching with the Web
We hope that you will be able to use some of our ideas in your AP Spanish classroom. In our upcoming articles, we will focus on the following: 1) we will share ideas on how AP teachers can use pre-, post-, and continuing assessment tools to evaluate learners, 2) we will discuss how to use games effectively in the foreign language classroom, and 3) we will explore how to integrate technology-based activities that will help students use authentic resources and learn to develop synthesizing skills needed for the new Spanish AP Exam (2007). Look for these articles in the later months of winter 2006 or early spring 2006.
Grace Smith works as the technology curriculum coordinator for the Grosse Pointe Public School System in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and as an adjunct professor at Wayne State University in Detroit. She also writes training materials and facilitates workshops. Smith holds a B.A. in English and social studies with a minor in Spanish, an M.Ed. in secondary reading, and a Ph.D. in instructional technology.
A former college professor, Stephanie Throne works as an independent contractor for adult, high school, elementary, and preschool Spanish classes and as a private tutor for students of college-level Spanish and elementary reading and math. She holds a B.A. in Spanish and economics and business administration with a minor in international commerce, an M.A. in romance languages and literatures: Spanish, and a Ph.D. in romance languages and literatures: Spanish.
Smith and Throne have collaborated together on several historical articles and are authors and cofacilitators of Thomson Course Technology's online course entitled "Differentiating Instruction in the K-12 Classroom Using Simple Technologies."
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