Day 10
The two weeks came and went so fast. I was glad that I took this as my last class because I think this class focused on the students than the methodologies of teaching. Throughout my classes in Marymount I learned about the strategies of teaching students with different backgrounds, ethnicity, disabilities, and learning styles but in this class I learned how students are in the 21st century classrooms, how the students are now.
In the first days of this class, I watched the “Did You Know” video and I must admit I am still affected by it. 4-year-olds using the computer? I told myself that this is our reality now– it shows how much our world has evolved around us. Then I thought if the world is evolving but I am not how can I help them learn and get them ready in the future? I think the first step I took is being open minded to the technology resources available for use in the classrooms. From the multimedia group presentations, I saw softwares, websites, and devices that can be used to enrich the learning of the students. It was not hard at all to use and it is bridging what the students are accustomed to and are readily using outside the school to the classroom lessons.
It is not merely reading books now or answering worksheets. Technology has brought about creativity to students with the programs PhotoStory, GoAnimate, Mix Book, Comic Life, and Prezi as well as connectivity through twittering, Chatzy, Today’s Meet, and other backchanneling sites. Students and teachers are also able to get across thoughts and communicate to other students here in the US and all over the world through podcasting and Skype. Students should be thought of the responsibility of examining the authenticity and truthfulness of what they read in the internet from Wikis as well as the streaming news to coming to them from RSS. Alas, the world is at our palm and it is good to use this to the advantage of our students.
I internalized this at the end through the products and unit plan I created. The unit plan was not loaded with technology for the sake of using the resources that I am now aware of but I made it with the idea of making it interactive for the students so they can have fun while learning the core content of the lessons.
Lastly, I agree with what Steve said and what Marian mentioned in her blog. Today I am tech savvy but in 5 years time I am again behind from my students and from the latest technology. This is just the tip of the iceberg. It is my responsibility to continuously educate myself of these resources but also with the safety precautions we have to take in our classrooms for having opened our door to the world.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (0)Day 9
I have listening to a podcast for the past 3 hours. I have had an IPod for more of less 5 years and it is almost the same time podcasting was launched but I have never listened to one. Now I love how the streaming is not choppy. Anyway, while in class I was checking the sites mentioned in the podcast slides and I found The EdRevolution, this site is just interesting. They have resources in each blogs but they also have podcasts on the uses, impact and importance of technology in the classroom. Another site that I looked at and grabbed my attention is Odeo. They are currently hosting Ed Tech Talk and if you look at this channel they have different lesson plans, projects and professional development for teachers, videos, and discussions on technology and the 21st century classroom.
Tomorrow will be my last day for this class and almost as student. (I still have my Tuesday class and I’m officially graduated.) These are one of the sites that I will use as my resource when I am off in the work force. If there is anything I learned in this class, it is not just using technology for the sake of using it but that it should feel right. If anything this class has become a stage for me to learn about technology and the different resources available out there. This class has made me comfortable on using different softwares and I am now accepting the idea that students today are not what my generation was like nor are they what I have reading about in my past classes. As I was reviewing my old lesson plans, it realized that the most technology that I used was internet. Now I have discovered a lot of other things that will get my students’ attention and will help retain the content that they have to learn.
Hopefully, I continue learning about this especially when I teach. As I have said when I introduced myself, it is my goal to use my students’ prior knowledge as a tool and now I have the key to door open that door for them.
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Day 8
Marymount should add a week or two to this course. Not only am I learning about technology and its components but I am also learning from my classmate. Today we had a discussion about Networked teacher and Mike had wonderful ideas to share in class. What hit me from what he said and I agree with him completely is that these technologies should not at all be constricting but should break boundaries.
Another activity that we had which I think is very important is the I-Safe training. It is good that we already started this training at least when I teach I will be done by then and I will be comfortable to teach using technology. It is just so weird to hear though that this training is only being done by teachers now and that they have an ample of time to complete it. Is this not a priority for teachers to learn how to protect their students who are all the time using the internet? I also hope that more parents get involve in training so they can also protect their kids at home.
I also did my multi-media group presentation today. I have to admit I was very nervous. But the flip video was so easy to manipulate that I had no problem demonstrating it at all. Even when I shot the “How-to” video, it was cooperating with me. Initially, I thought that the screen was too small that the output will most likely miss the details but when I was editing the video of Adrienne I was amazed that you can almost see everything. Another cool thing about this video is that it has a built-in software so you can just plug and play it anywhere. Also, you can mesh different videos shot by this device together. The transition is soft and the clip can be shortened, music can be added, and it can be shared by e-mail, through the web, and saved in a DVD. (This pitch sold to me. I told Marian that I am interested on buying the Flip Mino since it is so thin that I can carry it anywhere.) J
**By the way, I found a website that shortens long URLs. Check out TinyURL.com!
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (0)GO2WEB20.net
The site that I checked out was 1000Keyboards.com. This site acts as a platform for writers to submit, share, read, view and comment on stories from writers around the globe. It is a free online service that requires users to sign up to make use of its functionality. This requires a working e-mail to be verified by a confirmation sent by this site. According to their privacy policy, all information collected at sign up will never be passed on to a third party so they promised.
The site I think can be used with upper elementary students or those with gifted and talented students. They can read stories and analyze the parts of the story. Also, since this site is open for everybody around the world, students can see the different writing styles of people. This can encourage other students that are not so much into writing to be open to share their ideas.
Although the site promises a good privacy policy, as you can see in the screen shot that I included there is a link at the lower right hand corner that about earning money, freebies and other ads. The problem that I am potentially seeing is that students may clink on this links and those sites may not be as safe as this site.
Day 7
So today we had a busy day. There were a lot in the agenda, all were useful of course but I particularly liked that we experienced what students are normally doing even perhaps in class. I was never into twitter but I had an inactive page from way back. I read in the news recently that there is actually a survey done for those who open a twitter page but never committed– I never thought that I’d be a statistic.
It was good that we did it in class because I gave life to my once dead twitter page. The first thing I did when I logged in was that I followed the person that her blog I have been reading. Since that blogger cannot see me, I was not shy at all and sent a message. It sounds mundane but when she replied I was happy. I think it was the connectivity that I felt happy with. I have been reading her blog for the longest time and now at least she knows I do. If I felt this way I guess this is what students also feel when they are connected with their teachers in the means that they are familiar with.
I know that there are a lot of pros about being connected with students through live chats, twitter and other backchanneling sites but what I am not comfortable with is that what if a student crosses a line? I know that before starting these activities with students, guidelines should be given but even with that no one can even control a situation. Also, when we were doing chatzy, I was quite distracted. I am very good with multi-tasking but it took my focus of the lesson when I was reading the comments being posted by my classmates so I had to stop. At this point, I am not so sure if I am going to practice this in my classroom or share my twitter or Facebook account with my class or their parents for the sake of just being connected.
Anyway, we also did Voicethread. It is a good program that I know I will use when I teach and it also, kind of, solved my dilemma from last night. Since last night I was figuring out how I’ll put my voice in my slide show. I had save my voice but it was in m4a file which I cannot use without converting to mp3. Using Voicethread, I just used the microphone and save it in each slide. Call in comment command is also available which is a quick answer especially to those who do not have a microphone.
This was mostly the day. I know tomorrow will be a more busy day since it is our group project. I am excited since I will be demonstrating how to upload, edit, save and share the Flip video online. I hope it works! J
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I tried Animoto for my Philosophy of Education. Quite good to use.
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Day 4
Today was a busy day. I tried my hands on Photo Story but it did not go well for me. Luckily we had another program to get our hands dirty with—Go Animate. I love this program. It took me forever to finish my “short film” but I am happy I did it! J
Please check out my work (it is also in my Products page) and tell me what you think!
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (1)Day 3
We were discussing earlier in class about the good and bad about using PowerPoint presentations. I think the program itself is good since it can be used as a tool to grab the students’ attention in class or even your colleagues. The downfall I would say is how one uses it. I have to admit I have done some horrendous PowerPoint presentation in my life. (Sigh) Everything that was mentioned in the PowerPoint video shown in class is complete opposite of what I was doing. But hey, this is how I will learn—from my mistakes. No more death from PowerPoints. J
In the afternoon I tried my hands on Prezi. It is quite a neat program to use as presentation in class and I have to admit I am getting hooked. I think it will be very appealing for high school students since it is not too conventional and you can embed videos. I was asked Steve if I could play an audio file while my presentation is playing but the answer was no. Well, not yet. (I am crossing my fingers Prezi techies!) Never the less, I am seriously liking this class because I can use what I am learning anywhere. I know someday my audience will be my students but I can now use this at my work. Awesome.
Another productive thing I did today was plan with my group mates Adrienne and Marian (check out their blogs) for our multimedia presentation. We decided from yesterday to do flip video and today I saw that device. It is really compact and easy to use. I am not going to discuss more but I am going to say that people will learn from our presentation… Hopefully. J
Day 2
Today in class I learned about a lot of new software that are useful when I teach. As I said yesterday, I am not tech savvy but I am becoming a fan of using Wordle, Googledocs and blogging. I can almost see myself as a techie, maybe. Now, I am seriously asking myself why I did not know about these before.
Although I am learning about these wonderful resources, the thing that bothered me today is still technology has its glitches. The whole day I could not open some of the websites because everybody is downloading and surfing the internet. Hence with what some researchers say that in 10 years computers will replace teachers, I do not think so. We are still better than any computer. J
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