Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Thing 21
I really loved this technology course! I liked being able to do the tasks as I had time, in the comfort of my own home. I think it was paced well, and I really liked the video tutorials. I have found several things that I am now using for personal use/professional development and I look forward to using others this year in my classroom. My favorite discoveries are RSS feeds, digital libraries and animoto. What a great class! Summed up in one sentence: In this class I've learned about several useful resources all from the comfort of home! Thanks!
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Thing 20 - Exploring additional tools
This week I explored wordle, letterpop, mebeam and aviary.
I actually had a lot of trouble with the Web 2.0 literacy tools links working. A lot went to things that were no longer available.. but this is what I looked at. Letterpop is a newsletter maker that makes it easy to share said newsletters, only problem is you have to get a subscription. Mebeam is a way to video conference for free over the internet, but we've already learned about using skype for that. Aviary is a photo editor available as an app or a widget. I am choosing to go in depth with wordle.
Well, my plan would be to use Wordle to create a graphic that displays current vocab in my classroom, the samples I saw on the website were really cool, but after I typed in all the vocab (you can even keep phrases together by using "~" instead of a space between words), it wouldn't load. I believe my java is up-to-date, but I guess I'm going to have to try it at school. I would like to make one and post it on here.
Ideally this tool would serve as a graphic to maybe preview the vocab for a new chapter or to have as a bit of a cool-looking reminder (up until quiz day that is). It's just nice to have material presented in a more visually pleasing way :).
UPDATE: I got it to work at school, so here is a wordle of my Spanish 2's current vocab. I think it would be nice to have somewhere in the room (up until a test at least) as a nice visual.
I actually had a lot of trouble with the Web 2.0 literacy tools links working. A lot went to things that were no longer available.. but this is what I looked at. Letterpop is a newsletter maker that makes it easy to share said newsletters, only problem is you have to get a subscription. Mebeam is a way to video conference for free over the internet, but we've already learned about using skype for that. Aviary is a photo editor available as an app or a widget. I am choosing to go in depth with wordle.
Well, my plan would be to use Wordle to create a graphic that displays current vocab in my classroom, the samples I saw on the website were really cool, but after I typed in all the vocab (you can even keep phrases together by using "~" instead of a space between words), it wouldn't load. I believe my java is up-to-date, but I guess I'm going to have to try it at school. I would like to make one and post it on here.
Ideally this tool would serve as a graphic to maybe preview the vocab for a new chapter or to have as a bit of a cool-looking reminder (up until quiz day that is). It's just nice to have material presented in a more visually pleasing way :).
UPDATE: I got it to work at school, so here is a wordle of my Spanish 2's current vocab. I think it would be nice to have somewhere in the room (up until a test at least) as a nice visual.
Skype :)
So originally when I was thinking about using Skype in the classroom, I thought I could Skype back and forth with other Spanish classes at Branson, and I do still feel like that would be fun, but then I looked at Skype in Education. I can search for and "expert" in Spanish and get pages and pages of possibilities to Skype with. This would be a great alternative to "pen pals" although I'm not sure how I would get students to one-on-one skype with someone else until we get a new lab. I think I may have to stick with the classroom as a whole for right now. This would be great to help students get a better idea of different accents in different regions and allow them to better experience the culture.
There are also "language exchanges" available online where you can find native speakers to talk with for free via Skype, which is very similar to this. It would be great if we had the devices for everyone, but it could also be something offered during pirate time to those who want extra practice. It would be worth it just to let students know it's out there for them to grab hold of.
I also think Skype will be a great tool for our foreign language teachers and students to use during trips abroad. This summer the high school is offering a trip to Costa Rica and next summer to Spain. I think this would be a great way for teachers and students to touch base back home, assuming that they had a device with skype installed and were on wifi. I am excited about the possibilities with it.
There are also "language exchanges" available online where you can find native speakers to talk with for free via Skype, which is very similar to this. It would be great if we had the devices for everyone, but it could also be something offered during pirate time to those who want extra practice. It would be worth it just to let students know it's out there for them to grab hold of.
I also think Skype will be a great tool for our foreign language teachers and students to use during trips abroad. This summer the high school is offering a trip to Costa Rica and next summer to Spain. I think this would be a great way for teachers and students to touch base back home, assuming that they had a device with skype installed and were on wifi. I am excited about the possibilities with it.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Things 13, 14 and 15: Fun!
Personal libraries...
I have never used anything like this before, but of the three, I like Shelfari the best. I like that you can add things about your edition of the book and even mark if you've loaned it out to a friend. I haven't played with it beyond just adding a couple of books, but when I get the chance, I am going to try to catalog my personal library. It'll be nice to keep track of things and easily see recommendations. I like that you can link it with your amazon account too.
Image generators...
These would be so much fun with motivational and/or humorous sayings in Spanish. When we do a unit of idiomatic expressions or cultural sayings, students could make a poster expressing the meanings and we could hang them around the foreign language department.
Screencasting with Jing...
I think that as the high school begins using Blackboard more and more this will be a valuable tool. We will be able to upload lectures and lessons, but also students could be asked to use this to show that they've accomplished a certain task. More than likely, students would just do the screenshot option, rather than a video, but teachers could definitely use the video option. Currently, students in my level 2 class have a quiz website that they can go on for participation points. They can either use the website to send my their progress report or if they do an activity without this option, I told them they could take a screenshot and email or print and bring it in to me. This may help to simplify that. One thing I really need for this tool is a microphone.
These tools are all so fun and useful, I'm beginning to get overwhelmed with all of the new free things in my toolbox!
I have never used anything like this before, but of the three, I like Shelfari the best. I like that you can add things about your edition of the book and even mark if you've loaned it out to a friend. I haven't played with it beyond just adding a couple of books, but when I get the chance, I am going to try to catalog my personal library. It'll be nice to keep track of things and easily see recommendations. I like that you can link it with your amazon account too.
Image generators...
These would be so much fun with motivational and/or humorous sayings in Spanish. When we do a unit of idiomatic expressions or cultural sayings, students could make a poster expressing the meanings and we could hang them around the foreign language department.
Screencasting with Jing...
I think that as the high school begins using Blackboard more and more this will be a valuable tool. We will be able to upload lectures and lessons, but also students could be asked to use this to show that they've accomplished a certain task. More than likely, students would just do the screenshot option, rather than a video, but teachers could definitely use the video option. Currently, students in my level 2 class have a quiz website that they can go on for participation points. They can either use the website to send my their progress report or if they do an activity without this option, I told them they could take a screenshot and email or print and bring it in to me. This may help to simplify that. One thing I really need for this tool is a microphone.
These tools are all so fun and useful, I'm beginning to get overwhelmed with all of the new free things in my toolbox!
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Reflection on photo and video tools
I really enjoyed this week's tasks, as working with these tools is really something I've never done before. I take a lot of pictures (especially of my dogs) but I just leave them on my phone or camera and never do anything with them. I really like the ease of Animoto (although my computer wasn't cooperating with the website for the longest time.. I ended up downloading the app on my phone and doing it that way, which was equally easy), and it came out with a very good quality product. Currently, I view animoto as something I can use a lot personally, although I'm not sure how I will use it professionally. For the classroom, I really like Photo Peach. It's really easy to make vocab quizzes y for students to practice with and then embed them on blackboard. I just wish the educator account was free.
Animoto video
Another of my dogs... I just happen to have a lot of pictures of them and not much else..
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Practice pics
These are my dogs. Bella is a border collie-lab mix and Solomon is a German shepherd. This is my practice for embedding a slide show :)
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
RSS feeds - YEA!
I am so excited to finally understand RSS feeds. I had been a fan of a couple of blogs, but had no convenient way to check all of them and know that they had new material. I really like having my blogs in one place on a reader. I like the folder option on Google reader so I can have my educational blogs in one folder, this class in a folder, and any other number of folders for me to sort my favorite blogs. My next step is to figure out integration with the iPad and iPhone... It turns out there are plenty of free apps that allow you to use your google reader account. I just put Feedly on my iPhone, and I like it. It has a nice layout. This is nice... I feel so technologically advanced!
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Things 6 & 7 - Reflection
I want to say how amazed I am at how social blogging can be. I always thought it was a one way street of reflection and self-expression, but I am excited to see how communal and collaborative it can be too!
As for Diigo - I love this! I have used other things that are similar and I think this will be much more straight forward. It reminds me a little bit of pinterest, but I think it will be an easier way for me to save things for later reference.
I am already looking forward to teaching my students about using this in their research. Also, when I have students looking up articles that pertain to a certain cultural theme this will give them an easy way to save them no matter where they are for easy access/sharing with me and the class. I definitely think we will be able to use this together in the foreign language department to quickly and easily share ideas. I'm really excited to use this and also see its capabilities on the iphone and ipad. What a great tool!
As for Diigo - I love this! I have used other things that are similar and I think this will be much more straight forward. It reminds me a little bit of pinterest, but I think it will be an easier way for me to save things for later reference.
I am already looking forward to teaching my students about using this in their research. Also, when I have students looking up articles that pertain to a certain cultural theme this will give them an easy way to save them no matter where they are for easy access/sharing with me and the class. I definitely think we will be able to use this together in the foreign language department to quickly and easily share ideas. I'm really excited to use this and also see its capabilities on the iphone and ipad. What a great tool!
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Youtube post - soy guapo
This video is a favorite of my Spanish 2 students. It's about un hombre guapo (a handsome man) who doesn't need a personality because he's so good looking. It's a big help with describing verbs (ser and tener).
Things 3 and 4 - Reflection and links
Ok, this is officially my first blog post ever and I'm very nervous and a little freaked out. It's a different feeling knowing this will be available to the world as soon as I push "publish".
The purpose of this blog is to share and reflect on my current class, "21 things for 21st century educators". I am hoping that through this class, I will be pushed to further my technological knowledge and will become a better, more effective teacher. The first of these two goals has already been achieved as this is my first ever blog post. Here goes: This week our "things" or assignments were to create a blog using blogger - check, to create our first blog post with a link to a website - in progress, and to add a gadget/widget to our blog - still to come.
I'm really excited about the articles I've read about using blogger in education. I've already found a great professional development blog with awesome ideas for the Spanish classroom (Teaching and Learning Spanish). This blog is especially full of FREE authentic materials in Spanish. I'm already planning on sharing this with the Spanish department. So the first benefit that I am seeing in blogging is accessing and sharing ideas professionally.
The second idea came from a teacher's website that listed students' blogs. (Spanish blogs) This set of blogs was inspiring to me because simplicity and ease of use. The students use their blog as a diary. I'm not sure if they do it in class or at home, but if all students had internet access at home or at some point in the school library, I foresee this being put to use in homework assignments. It could go from a simple diary to students maintaining a blog about things that interest them in Spanish. The topics could be theirs to choose as long as the posts were in Spanish. I love this because then as a teacher, I can access these at home, and give automatic feedback through comments to the students, just like it shows in the Spanish blogs like above. This would be especially beneficial because the AP exam is changing next year and will focus much more on culture. They have 6 themes for the culture component, so each term we could work with a new theme and students could find articles, stories, videos, or even a native speaker's blog post relating to a theme, they could write a personal response to it, and post it all on the blog for me (and the world) to see. We could link the students' blogs together, and maybe as an assignment they would need to read another student's blog posts and respond. These would all be authentic communication spurred by authentic materials. That's pretty exciting.
The purpose of this blog is to share and reflect on my current class, "21 things for 21st century educators". I am hoping that through this class, I will be pushed to further my technological knowledge and will become a better, more effective teacher. The first of these two goals has already been achieved as this is my first ever blog post. Here goes: This week our "things" or assignments were to create a blog using blogger - check, to create our first blog post with a link to a website - in progress, and to add a gadget/widget to our blog - still to come.
I'm really excited about the articles I've read about using blogger in education. I've already found a great professional development blog with awesome ideas for the Spanish classroom (Teaching and Learning Spanish). This blog is especially full of FREE authentic materials in Spanish. I'm already planning on sharing this with the Spanish department. So the first benefit that I am seeing in blogging is accessing and sharing ideas professionally.
The second idea came from a teacher's website that listed students' blogs. (Spanish blogs) This set of blogs was inspiring to me because simplicity and ease of use. The students use their blog as a diary. I'm not sure if they do it in class or at home, but if all students had internet access at home or at some point in the school library, I foresee this being put to use in homework assignments. It could go from a simple diary to students maintaining a blog about things that interest them in Spanish. The topics could be theirs to choose as long as the posts were in Spanish. I love this because then as a teacher, I can access these at home, and give automatic feedback through comments to the students, just like it shows in the Spanish blogs like above. This would be especially beneficial because the AP exam is changing next year and will focus much more on culture. They have 6 themes for the culture component, so each term we could work with a new theme and students could find articles, stories, videos, or even a native speaker's blog post relating to a theme, they could write a personal response to it, and post it all on the blog for me (and the world) to see. We could link the students' blogs together, and maybe as an assignment they would need to read another student's blog posts and respond. These would all be authentic communication spurred by authentic materials. That's pretty exciting.
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