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Authenticity -- we know it works! There is research to support the value of authentic reading and writing. When students are engaged in real-world problems, scenarios and challenges, they find relevance in the work and become engaged in learning important skills and content. In addition, while students may or may not do stuff for Mr. Miller, they are more likely to engage when there is a real-world audience looking at their work, giving them feedback, and helping them improve. This is just one critical part of project-based learning. However, maybe you aren't ready for fully authentic projects. Where are some good places to start taking the authenticity up a notch in your classroom?

Creative Strategies for Reading Authentic Texts in Other Languages

Mission We surface authentic voices around the world through group process and participatory media creation. Our programs support people in sharing and bearing witness to stories that lead to learning, action, and positive change. What We Do For nearly twenty years, the Center has been supporting people in sharing meaningful stories from their lives. Our unique workshops assist participants in producing short, first-person narratives that can be presented in a variety of traditional and social media formats. We provide non-threatening production environments in which the process of creation is valued as much as the stories created. Through partnerships with a range of organizations, institutions, and funders, we offer story making and story distribution services that prioritize the power of individual voices. Whether you're interested in storytelling for professional development, as a reflective practice, as a pedagogical strategy, or as a vehicle for education, community mobilization, or advocacy, we are recognized globally as experts in all things digital storytelling.

I googled Chicago, violencia, and pandillas to find an article to tie to the third page of text from a picture book for Spanish II. La llaman América is about a little girl who immigrated to Chicago from Mexico and her experiences in her home, school, and neighborhood. As authentic texts go, it is a unique perspective but, frankly, awkwardly translated from English. Still, there are enough angles to capture teenagers' attention, and inner-city or neighborhood violence is one of them.

Innovation is a key ingredient to authentic PBL. We must take risks, be prepared to experience failures, learn from them, persevere, endure criticism from skeptics and other curmudgeons, if we are going to make a difference. Never give up!

Good review from #PBLWorld about driving questions, and links to more resources, including from BIE and Edutopia

Entre l'invention de la machine à calculer (1645) et celle du Minitel (1982), 350 années se sont écoulées au cours desquelles la France a fait avancer les lignes grâce à de multiples inventions : dans les transports (automobile, aérostat, avion, TGV, Concorde), en médecine (Braille, pasteurisation et vaccination, BCG, radiologie et radiothérapie), en physique (machine à vapeur, électromagnétisme, radioactivité, mécanique ondulatoire, détecteurs de particules), dans les arts visuels (photographie, cinématographe), dans les arts de la table (Champagne, conservation des aliments), dans les hautes technologies (carte à puce, Minitel)… Au fil du temps, ces inventions ont contribué à changer le monde.

un site pour valoriser les ressources informatives et culturelles du monde insulaire francophone

BIENVENUE Bienvenue sur le site "FLE self-learning". Ce site vous permettra de pratiquer,selon votre niveau, votre apprentissage du français en toute autonomie. Vous pourrez via diverses activités ou exercices pratiquer la grammaire, la compréhension orale, la compréhension écrite, la phonétique, le vocabulaire, l'orthographe et bien d'autres choses encore. Chaque activité est divisée en 4 niveaux : 1à 2 - 2 à 3 - 3 à 4 - 4 à 5

Another blog piece by Andrew Miller on how to make good DQ's

"Digital Storytelling is the modern expression of the ancient art of storytelling. Throughout history, storytelling has been used to share knowledge, wisdom, and values. Stories have taken many different forms. Stories have been adapted to each successive medium that has emerged, from the circle of the campfire to the silver screen, and now the computer screen." 

Great article! We could share with students new to learning a WL!

Activating Communication:Focusing Lenses How can we use focusing lenses to guide thinking when creating instruction? How can an old unit "going to a café" be changed to a thematic unit on food and hunger that focuses on performance tasks integrated to create a meaningful cultural context? How can images, videos and other technology encourage learners to critically think of solutions to real-world global issues on environment in innovative ways? We will explore these questions through the lenses of an UbD designed thematic units and the concepts of the ACTFL 21st Century Skills Map.

Tons of resources collected by our good friend and ACTFL President, Toni Theisen.

How can language educators effectively transition students from language "learning" to language "acquisition"? This is a question to focus on as all language educators try to create classroom experiences that meet the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages' (ACTFL) guidelines. ACTFL is calling for a shift in all language classes. Students and teachers need to use the second language (L2) at least 90% of the time. This amount of target language (TL) use will only create success for students if the teacher uses Comprehensible Input (CI). L2, TL and CI are three must-know acronyms for language educators today. Language "acquisition" is a key concept to our journey towards using research-based methods to update our language teaching practices.

The Goals of this Website The primary goal of the Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling website is to serve as a useful resource for educators and students who are interested in how digital storytelling can be integrated into a variety of educational activities. The site was originally created in 2004 and faculty members and graduate students in the Instructional Technology Program at the University of Houston College of Education continue to maintain the site and add new content. 

Digital storytelling refers to a short form of digital media production that allows everyday people to share aspects of their life story. "Media" may include the digital equivalent of film techniques (full-motion video with sound), animation, stills, audio only, or any of the other forms of non-physical media (material that exists only as electronic files as opposed to actual paintings or photographs on paper, sounds stored on tape or disc, movies stored on film) which individuals can use to tell a story or present an idea.

When students create a movie or interactive slide show to tell their story, learning becomes personal. Students can improve their writing, show creativity, and have a voice.