Yea! I was finally accepted as a member of the sandbox. When I begin to play around int the sandbox I began to see the simplicity of creating a website using a wiki. It was very userfriendly and I think that the students would be able to navegate the site very easily as well. I added a page and then typed a bit and also posted some links to some good Spanish websites. Overall it was a good experience. I plan to begin a wiki for our Spanish Department at JHHS in the near future. =)
http://misd23things.wikispaces.com/Amber%27s+Thoughts...
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
The Last Thing--Reflection
- What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey? My favorite discovery was the fact that google has so much to offer....for free! I am know using google docs, reader and calendar. Also I plan to create a wiki for my spanish 2 class.
- How has this program affected your lifelong learning goals? This program has helped me catch up on my technology. I thought that I new a lot of things since I am fairly young but I have realized all the cool stuff out there to use that I had never explored before.
- Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? I was surprised to have learned so much.
- What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? Nothing that I can think of....I thought that the format was easy to use.
- If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate? Yes, because new things are created daily!
- How will what you have learned influence your practice as a teacher or school librarian? I think it will make me a better teacher. I will definitely use many of the things that I have learned in this course in my classroom. I have already had my AP Spanish 4 class start blog sites so that they can blog in Spanish.
- How do you plan to keep up with new developments in web 2.0? Recommend a way that you have found to be useful. I have RSS feeds from a few good technology blogs that I plan to keep up with and I also plan to continue to attend the technology pull-out sessions and staff development when offered.
Thing #23--Classroom 2.0
I really enjoyed playing around on this site! I really like the discussion forums and the relevance of the forums to what I am doing. I also like the easy to follow layout of the site. I read one of the discussions on daily podcasting lessons and I really enjoyed the information and ideas that I found. One of the teachers said that she started a podcasting club and that it was a good way to introduce her students to podcasting. I am very interested in using the info that I get from Classroom 2.0 with my AP Students.
Like I said earlier I already use social networking in my personal life. I can see the positive use of social networking for teachers as well. I think it would be very beneficial to our Spanish Department at JHHS.
Thing #22--facebook
I have both a myspace and a facebook account already. I really like Facebook because I think it is a lot cleaner and most of my friends have a facebook page.
1. I think it is important for educators to know about social networking because students live in this new world. It is a part of the youth culture and if we don't understand it then we won't understand them.
2. I think the biggest insight that can be gained is about the youth culture. I am young but to me the high school students have a totally different culture then the one that was around a few years ago. Students not only have pressure at school but now there is the pressure of social networkings and a whole new playing field for bullies and predators. Students have to be savvy in the real and "online" world.
3. I really do like Facebook because it's easy to find old friends and easy to keep up your profile. I don't like MySpace because to me it's really trashy. In fact I would call it the ghetto Facebook.
5.I honestly don't see an educational use to these sites. I don't think students should be that close to educators. My former students often look up my page after they graduate and then I accept them as friends but I don't think that educators should be friends with students.
Thing #21--google apps
I played around with the different applications but my favorites where:
1. google calendar--I think this tool is helpful at least in my personal life to help me keep track of all the craziness! Also I see it as being a useful tool for a department because it would be easy to see when the department has meetings and also to see when the spanish 1 team meets. I like that you can personalize the calendar and even add clocks that show times around the world.
2. Google books--Wow! What a resource for my students! I really like this site because it allows everyone to access all kinds of literature. This is great for my upper level students but I think also helpful for those students in my lower level classes that want to do more. I could give them this site and they could read and look up lower-level books in Spanish or even translations just to get a taste of Spanish literature.
Thing #7b--more google reader
The particular blog that I am writing about is titled: How to raise up minority leaders
This blog was really interesting because it discusses why it is so hard to find and raise up minority leaders. It talked about the difficulties of finding the right people to be in leadership but the guy also talked about how sometimes the people don't feel like they are ready. The other guy in the video discussed that we have to change our lens for who we look for. He said that sometimes we have a very boxed in view of what it means to be a leader.
I agree with the overall view of the Rudy Carrasco. I think that many people are ready to be leaders but they are so afraid of taking the risk. Many people are to afraid to let God move in them and use them. Many minorities are stuff in doubt and denial.
Thing #7a--google reader
I was caching up on the Spanish blogs that I am following on my goolgle reader and I read an article about the "machismos" of the Spanish language. In Spanish nouns are either feminine or masculine. In the article the writer told a story about a guy that was so "macho" that every noun that he referred to had to be masculine. He changed the gender of nouns such as la vida to el vido which is absurd! The story was really funny and I think I might have my Spanish IV class read it. The story ended with the wife leaving the husband because he was so crazy.
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