My final post - not gonna lie, its a little sad.

I have loved this class, even though it has really stressed me out!!!  I am genuinely surprised and blown away at how much technology is out there to use.  And, really pleasantly surprised that so much of it is really easy to use.  If I can do it, surely these techno-savvy kids can!  My favorites are the flipped classroom, and the digital story.  I think flipping would be a great way in a Spanish class to have kids come to class prepared to that during class we can just talk and talk and talk and practice practice practice.  Using videos, and podcasts, and screen casts, and all that makes the flipped units really fun.  Uploading music demos for a choir class into a flipped unit or a Web Quest would be helpful, and again, save class time for singing and practicing.

I admit to being one who was worried that too much more tech for my kids might be a bad thing.  I literally have to peel them off of it at home, and I find that they get distracted so easily by all that is available that is not homework.  But, they get distracted like that even when there homework is traditional book work or reports, so I'm not sure that's a valid concern.  And, if they are held accountable through assignments or blog submissions, or whatever, I don't think its a problem.

I know I want to used flipped units and Web Quests to free up class time for more productive uses of face-to-face time. I also really like the idea of using the podcasts, or even just voice recordings, to allow students to listen to the language spoken and then to respond in the language.  I think it would be great for them to keep a podcast "journal" of sorts, so that they can compare their speech at the beginning with their speech at the end.  That idea would work for choir, too!  Also, I would love to have a "sister class" in another country with which my students could video chat or Skype.  What better way to get them excited about learning a language than to give them a spanish-speaking study buddy!

I don't know how to improve this class, other than to not have to try to cram it into 7 weeks.  The thing I liked the very best, and that I will definitely remember for future use is that as you taught us each concept/technology, we used it in a specific and applicable way.  I never felt like I was just memorizing or completely an assignment - the desire to do so was present because I could see how it would be useful for me.  I think you won me over.  I will never be a techno-nerd-geek-dude like my son, but this teachable dinosaur has come to realize that tech is not only pretty fun, but super useful as well.  Thanks!!!