Week 4 – Blog Posting #8 – Reflection on Blogging
Strengths:
This course has focused on the organization, choosing and cultivation of many new and interesting tools to utilize in the classroom. Dr. Siegel, I am very grateful for you taking over our class this month.What I am most thankful for is the class that you held with one of the selected guest speakers. Through this class, I was able to find out about www.LiveMocha.com . Iam a huge fan of this site and will try my best to use this in the classroom. If this site is blocked in our district, I will write a personal letter explaining the many positive gains that this can have for students learning a foreign language.
Some of the most beneficial strengths lie within the aspects of organization, updating, collaborating, accessing, and using multiple senses. Netvibes and Delicious will help in retrieving useful websites.Wikispaces, Lucidchart and GoogleDocs will provide opportunites for collaboration, which may very well result in better results.Podcasts/Vodcasts, etc provided visual, auditory, etc.
It’s very easy to go for breadth instead of depth. There are so many similar tools, applications, in which one must evaluate, but ultimately make a choice and stick with it. One must dive deep, learn much, and be ignorant of little for great success. Other weaknesses for a teaching tool would be that a program, for exmple, Second Life may be too slow for students or may take students off track. In teaching we ought to be reflecting daily and making the correct choice, not necessarily the easy choice.
I will be learning more and more about http://www.ning.com/because I heard through the grape vine that our district has just purchased a ning site license.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2009
Week 4 – Blog Posting #7 – Second Life
Second Life enables you to be in a realistic space. If you cannot afford to take students on a real field trip, take them to second life. It allows for enhanced imagination and is an experiential opportunity for students.
I enjoyed this site. I explored around and truly enjoyed playing the different instruments. I always loved music, but when in high school, I was strongly encouraged to take classes other than keyboarding/piano and music. I would have had so much determination to excel in those classes. They were thought of as lower level classes when I was in high school, at least by my parents.
Some of these instruments are not in my typical environment, so I would have never thought to learn how to play these more tropical island type instruments; however, with second life, you can explore the unfamiliar, travel to the unknown, and see what you may have never imagined you would be able to see in your lifetime. Although, I think second life is somewhat slow, this has opened my eyes to more pros.
Although, I found this site to be somewhat boring, I admired the Cognitive Process/Knowledge Dimension. It was pretty cool seeing the 3D model moving up instead of simple facts stating this is the highest/lowest level of thinking, etc.
OK, I hit the jackpot. I joined a group called: I’m Learning Spanish.Its focus was simply playing chess, yet they spoke Spanish. I learned how to saw Pawn in Spanish, el peon as well as el caballo, la reina, el rey, el alfi, etc. I also was speaking to a lady from Spain and it was very interesting. I could immediately pick out that she was from Spain by listening to her accent. I also made a mistake by saying “Me encanta la theta!” Which she thought I said “teta”? Look it up, I can not type that in my blog. I meant to say the accent they used such as la Zeta. We both got a kick out of it, but I was the embarrassed one.
I had switched rooms and was unable to find the exact location, but here is information to reference the group that I joined.
This is for anyone interested in becoming a toastmaster and improving presentation/speech skills. I had first heard about this from the youtube video that we had watched, which I believed was titled Lifelong Learners. My schedule does allow me to join a regular toastmasters club because of the time commitment.
Also I went to Virtual Spain whereby I simply explored around and communicated with people from Spain. I miss Spain and it’s a great way to revisit or feel connected still. I was listening to 2 people speak to each other that were from different parts of the country but this can give my students a more real experience. I highly recommend it.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 23, 2009
Week 3 – Blog Posting #6 – Communities of Practice
Social Networking in Plain English:
Make other networks more visible.
Another advantage of this would be job opportunity for tutoring. I could easily spread the word from my contacts to contacts of my contacts, etc.
On the other hand, if I didn’t want to be located by certain people, they could still find ways to contact me. If I kept my profile private, yet happened to be friends with one of their friends then they could easily retrieve information and pass it on.
Gossip comes to mind with relationships and jealousies. Arguments can easily escalate. People that wouldn’t necessarily confront another person in public might not hesitate as much to do it online.
Click to see others comments on Pro’s and Con’s of Social Networking.
School Districts should inform students and teachers alike of the Pros and Cons.
After thinking about providing a social network for our sports teams, I see competition getting in the way a little too much. I believe that this would be used in a more negative fashion than positive. Does that mean that I will not use this for future sports? Not necessarily, but I believe that we would have to establish proper protocol by which if one would go against, he/she would have some type of repercussion.
Social Networking is going to be something difficult to control in aspects of are the people truly who they say they are, are they truly the correct age, etc. However, this article brings out a very good point. It said that if we were to control and limit kids from using these sites that they wouldn’t necessarily have a place to vent and connect with likeminded individuals. It goes on to say that there are definitely kids that are living today that might not be had they not had web spaces to communicate about their troubles.
Week 3 – Blog Posting #5 – Social Media
The importance of Social Media in Plain English was the ice cream board’s that allowed reflection and evaluation from outsiders, not merely your own personal thoughts. Social icecream is very much like social media. Creation, communication, reflection, evaluation, etc.
Did you know? During the beginning of our school year last year we saw this youtube video. It really opens your eyes. We are preparing kids for jobs that haven’t been invented yet. I love the $100 laptop project. It’s giving children in underdeveloped countries a chance to communicate with the world and possibly educate themselves beyond their previous imaginations. By 2013 a supercomputer may exist exceeding human brain computation capability. WOW! Shift happens.We must be lifelong learners.
Gordon Brown: Wiring a web for global good.
What we see unlocks what we cannot see it unlocks the inv
There is a moral sense across everyone and believe in something bigger than ourselves but they also propone action in helping this. We can communicate across frontiers, which Gordon says is our first truly global society.
We have the means to conquer many unequalities over the world.Rather than give a speech, we should be marching towards a global society.
Collective Intelligence – The Vision
Collaborate to Innovate
3rd party sharing. Share, Share, Share
Click on the link below to see how effective a social networking site can truly be:
WOW! Are social networking sites bringing us together or separating us?
Click here to see how Doctors connect in order to get second opinions.
After our Wimba the other night, I decided to check out LiveMocha. It seems to be a great tool for learning a foreign language. How lucky am I to have found out about this just moments before starting the new school year? I teach Spanish and this will be a great aid for learning both in and out of the classroom.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 16, 2009
Week 2 – Blog Posting #4 – 21st Century Skills & Lifelong Learning
21st Century Schooling:
Attention is very important in learning. Fully prepared and totally engaged focused students will, in my opinion, perform better and retain more information. In society today, it will be difficult for students to remain on task because they are very used to multi-tasking more than ever. They have Internet on their cell phones, texting, etc.
We have an opportunity to take advantage of the great many young people’s enthusiasm. Expressing yourself and connecting with your peers is something you want to do as a teenager.
Participation: Just participating isn’t enough. We must participate in a way that’s valuable to others as well as ourselves.
Networking/Social Blogging for Katrina, Immigrants, Voting, etc.
I love the cue to flow aspect that he spoke about. He compared email as a cue and twitter as a flow. Do not go to find every tweet that you haven’t read yet or that were put up as you went to bed, but rather go with the flow. Read what you can, when you can.
Lifelong Learning
Fulfillment is a simple summary.
1. Positive Attitude
2. Listen
3. Read
4. Attend live seminars
5. Join Toastmasters (Under $100 per year)
6. Record yourself speaking
7. Record yourself reading
8. Record yourself making a sales presentation
9. Record your personal commercial
10. Record your own set of sales tapes
11. Listen to your own made stuff, cd’s, tapes, recordings.
12. Spend 30mins. a day learning something new.
1. Positive Attitude
2. Listen
3. Read
4. Attend live seminars
5. Join Toastmasters (Under $100 per year)
6. Record yourself speaking
7. Record yourself reading
8. Record yourself making a sales presentation
9. Record your personal commercial
10. Record your own set of sales tapes
11. Listen to your own made stuff, cd’s, tapes, recordings.
12. Spend 30mins. a day learning something new.
13. 12.5 Take what you learned and go use it quickly.
I will be joininghttp://www.philadelphiasfirsttoastmasters.com/index.html . I have been thinking about becoming a better presenter. I do read many business, development and self-help books. I have also checked out PowerPoint presentations and video presentations on becoming a better presenter. This seems like it will be very fun and rewarding at the same time.
I will also be utilizing iTunes U. Check it out herehttp://www.apple.com/support/itunes_u/ .
Here I will familiarize myself with Edutopia’s Digital Generation Project. I feel this is something that should be marketed more. I hope they will continue to be free, but I’m sure this will quickly turn into subscriptions that must be purchased. I challenge you to find an interesting iTunes U subscription and email me or comment on this post.
How 2.0: Personal Learning Networks
I invite you all to http://www.mindmeister.com/17120340 . First you will need to create a free account. Then you may add, edit, etc.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2009
Week 2 – Blog Posting #3 – Media Literacy
1.
http://www.frankwbaker.com/what_you_see_sports.htm (This shows digital media in sports, whereby the fans see a green screen, yet television viewers see ads that are digitally inserted.)
http://www.frankwbaker.com/what_are_informational_texts.htm(This concentrates on the importance for methods of typing informational text. Is it appropriate, too wordy, convey the image correctly, large enough, friendly, etc.)
http://www.frankwbaker.com/math_in_the_media.htm (ATTENTION MATH TEACHERS! Explore this site. I clicked ontohttp://www.frankwbaker.com/super_bowl_media_literacy_questions.htm to see a great example of a lesson that supports to learning while becoming literate in media. My favorite questions are towards the bottom whereby they have to use more application. Meadia Literacy Clearinghouse provides examples on how to tie in content with media literacy. Example:http://www.frankwbaker.com/deconstructing_a_tv_commercial.htm
2.
http://www.medialit.org/professional_development.html (This website provides great resources for professional development in media literacy. It focuses on choosing an enthusiastic group, acknowledging change, applying philosophy & pedagogy, establishing a resource center, network, and finally it’s not a new subject, but rather a new way to teach current mandated material.
My thoughts/summaries:
When I think of Media Litercy, I think about not so much about teaching technology, but re-teaching it. I think about how many people are already aware of google and how to use the search engine, but they might not be too familiar with the advanced search. The advanced search option allows you to hone in on specifics, such as PowerPoints slideshows. Media Literacy focuses on how to enhance what we are already familiar in technology.
Media literacy is the process of analyzing, evaluating and creating messages in a wide variety of media modes, genres and forms. It uses an inquiry-based instructional model that encourages people to ask questions about what they watch, see, and read....
We are not merely teaching about technology, but rather how to use it more effectively. We should evaluate, organize and create. We are the perfect example of attaining media literacy. We evaluate websites and applications through comparison. We collaborate about them through discussion boards and blogs. We create websites and blogs and finally organize them into our own delicious.com account.
Summary of James Surowiecki and The Wisdom of Crowds:
Groups are often smarter than a single individual. People must be diverse and independent. Rather than choosing an expert, it is better to choose the right crowd instead.
Summary of Gever Tulley teaches life lessons through tinkering:
Tinkering school trusts students/kids without a set curriculum nor tests. They are confronted with lots of stuff/tools. It's a 6-day immersion for kids. The goal is to ensure they leave with a better sense of how to make things and that you can figure things out by fooling around. The kids soon learn that all projects go awry and each step is a step closer to success or gleeful calamity. Start from doodles and sketches and some are real plans and some just start building.Success is in the doing. Failures are celebrated and analyzed. Faced with difficulties or complexities then they are quick to decorate. Finale example: A rollercoaster built by 7-year olds.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 9, 2009
Week 1 - Blog Posting #2 - Web 2.0
Students of the 21st century DIGITAL LEARNERS:
We must let our students create stuff with 21st century.Whatever,Wherever,Whenever
ENGAGE ME
My school district has computer labs for different departments. My classes will involve more creativity than anything and more project based learning. The accessibility will come. If we don’t have enough Mac applications as of right now. I will experiment with others; the bottom line is we will pull away from old-fashioned methods of teaching as much as possible.
PAYING ATTENTION was a great video. I’m thinking of assigning more leadership roles to my students as well. Possibly establishing a vocabulary specialty group and/or grammar specialty groups, whereby they create lessons to teach/help educate ones that are struggling.Now the tricky part is that I also want to create a team that understands when someone is struggling and says, Hey Sr. Kirby, Can John & I go over Stem-changing verbs in the back, I feel I understand this stuff but need to demonstrate understanding of Boot Verbs to John. I would definitely say YES.
NO FUTURE LEFT BEHIND:
Are we ready for the future? I can’t create my future with the methods of your past.
Schools should be more like a game. When you get it wrong just try again. Make mistakes and try again. The future called. I told them you were busy.
This video is very impactful. I’m compiling a list of useful websites with free applications to use and I will post them to my school eboard soon. skirby.seneca.site.eboard.com
Sir Ken Robinson:
We are expected to teach for the future. We can try to predict it, but we do not necessarily know where it will be.
EDUCATION: CREATIVITY
CREATIVITY is as important as LITERACY
Don’t make them frightened of being wrong.
We are educating people out of their creative capacities.
3 things about Education
Diverse
Dynamic
Distinct
LEARNING TO CHANGE, CHANGING TO LEARN
A Wiki source for teachers/colleagues to collaborate would also be another great tool for creativity. Even how we have established our online community of blogging,iChatm Skype, facebook, etc. We need this for education.
I’ll do a written/video/audio blog.
Click on the website below. From there click on the picture that states, “Ok, here I go…..” It’s a very creative use of making her own website.
For all content areas check outhttp://guest.portaportal.com/tammyforstudents
I was also able to access many free video clips for learning fromhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/dont_try/barcelona/baffled_in_barcelona.shtml
