Sunday, November 1, 2009

One Last Thing: Summarize

Is it the End or Just the Beginning?

Wow!!! I did it!!! It is hard to believe that I made it to this point, but the journey was worth it!!! I have learned so many things that on my own it would have probably taken much, much more time.

23 Things has been an awesome experience for me. This class has allowed me to discover valuable tools to share with the teachers I am working with. I think that every grade level can benefit from these tools.

Among my favorite discoveries I can mention the reader and how to feed it. I love the fact of finding everything I am interested in in one page! Wikis are amazing instruments for collaboration. The LibraryThing and VoiceThread are two tools that I would definitely be using... Well, I guess I will have to mention most if not all of the things!!! But really, they were all very helpful and eye opening for all that we can use to engage our students in learning!

Regarding the question "Where do I go from here?" My answer is that I want to keep up with my learning, so I will do my best to continue searching and reflecting upon my discoveries.

Thank you for this class!!!

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Thing # 23

Beyond My Space: Other Social Networks

This was quite different from the other social networks. I think it does make a difference the fact that you join to a group that has the same interests as you do.

After exploring Classroom 2.0 for a while, I found a very interesting article in the forum, about Google Wave which took me to Joseph Corbett's post on ISTEConnects where he states that Google Wave will change education forever. In the post there was an 80 minutes YouTube video embedded, which is basically about the future of collaborative work in the internet.

After watching the video I realized why this guy was so excited. As many stated in their comments, while watching the video you are blown away. What is very special about Google Wave is that you will be allowed to collaborate in real time, breaking barries of time-space, and saving a lot of time.

Maybe it will take a while for some of us to really understand and use this tool, but eventually, we all will, I have no doubt about it.

Thing # 22

Explore Social Networking

I was aware of these websites and about how they work. I think it is really nice to keep in touch with family and friends and be updated with what is happening in their lives.

On the other hand, I think that you should not put all your eggs in one basket... For me, your private life needs to be kept that way: private.

Specially being a teacher, I think it is very important that your students, their parents, your coworkers and any other person related to the school have you in a very high concept... What I am trying to say is that you should never give anyone motive to doubt about your integrity as a professional, but more over, as a person.

You know your friends, and you trust them. Your friends know their friends, and they trust them. But I am sure that at some point there might be a "weak link" that might not follow the rule, who might have posted a picture that might be offensive or inappropriate for some people . There is no way you can control what others post: pictures, messages, phrases, signs, etc.

And for an educated adult, that might not be a problem, you would take things as from where they come, and ignore all the nonsense. But some people might not understand the fact that whoever wrote those things was the friend of the friend of the friend of your friend. Some people will just relate that posting to you, then the gossip will start and suddenly, without even notice, you could be in the middle of the storm. Maybe I am old fashioned or too careful, but those are my sincere thoughts.

And when it comes to kids, I think this could be a very dangerous place to be. If you have kids of your own and they are young and naive, and they use this networking, think about it, you could have the enemy in your own house without even knowing it... Scary!!!

I can see educational applications for these sites, but I am afraid that my fears regarding what I have explained before, might stop me from trying to introduce students to this type of networking, or at least to facilitate its use.

For the assignment I created a profile, but I am not sure I will like to use it.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Thing # 7b

Google Reader Revisited

I have not met the goal of building the habit of checking the Google Reader daily yet, but I am still trying to do it every other day.

One of the blogs I am following is called Free Technology for Teachers. I think this has been one of my greatest discoveries in the web, because Mr. Byrne, its author, is constantly updating his blog with interesting information regarding technology and its application in the classroom.

One of his blogs, called 35+ Educational Games and Games Resources is a good comprehensive list of quality sites where Mr. Byrne explains a little bit about each one and how it can be used in the classroom.

On top of that, some of his followers have added the names of some of the websites that they considered to be as educational and fun as the ones suggested by Mr. Byrne.

Thing # 21

Google is Not Just For Searching Anymore

I have been using some Google products which I consider incredible. I love to use Google Earth, Google Maps, and iGoogle to name some of the Google webtools my family and I enjoy visiting.

I would say that the first time I explored Google Earth, I was amazed that I could see the apartment complex I was living in at that moment from a satellite view. The images were so clear that you could appreciate lots of details. And notice that I have not said "every detail" because I think that that kind of view might be dangerous for the homeland security if it is viewed by the wrong eyes, but I am sure that those views are possible (like the ones showed in the movie Enemy of the State, where Will Smith is the protagonist).



But when I got really astonished was when I could see my parents' house in Peru, the clinic where my daughter was born, the roads I drove for several years... I mean, I am out of words here to let you know how I felt.


View Larger Map

Where you see Clinica Adventista is where my daughter was born and it is located in Miraflores, Lima, Peru. That is a view embedded from Google Maps, customized after converting it from Google Earth.


Thinking about education, I think that learning social studies - especially geography - would be much more meaningful for the students if they are able to see the maps in an aerial view, where they can actually see the places they are studying about. And this is something that Google Maps and Google Earth have to offer.

Thing # 20

Google Docs

I have already used Google Docs in the past, without knowing what they were or how to create them. When I filled out information or completed an application piece for one of the staff development courses I have attended, I had used this documents believing they were some sort of websites that provided this service to the district or something like that. I did not know that the presenters themselves have created these documents where they later shared the information with all the participants.

So now that I know what Google Docs are and how they work, I think that these documents can be a great source of information for other teachers and students.

  1. You could create a document that could be titled INPUT FROM STAFF DEVELOPMENT COURSES, which could include the name of the staff development course that a teacher has taken, the name of the teacher that took the course, a reflection upon his/her learning, and ideas or suggestions to apply their learning in the classroom.
  2. You could create a spreadsheet where the teachers can put the results from their students so you could have your ASSESSMENT WALLS online, to plan for strategies to use for the whole grade level.
  3. You could teach your students how to create a CLASSROOM PICTURE DICTIONARY FOR MULTIMEANING WORDS, that could grow as they find new meanings for those words.
During my Discovery Exercise, I created a Google Doc for FALL PARENTS - TEACHER CONFERENCES. It is very simple, but it is useful to document your communication with parents.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Thing # 19

Voicethread

Wow!!! Right now, I think that I am feeling the emotion, excitement, and the curiosity that explorers and archeologists might have experienced when finding those not yet discovered places, cultures, etc. As I am discovering more "things", I am more and more excited. There is a complete new world out there!!!

My mind cannot stop visualizing all the possibilities for teaching and learning. Thanks to technology, learning has a wide variety of ways to happen. Technology makes learning interactive, which engages students. They all learn the same things but in different ways, and that is really important because instruction is delivered according to their needs and ways of learning.

Voicethread allows teachers to include students as facilitators of their own learning, by creating their own presentations and getting to explain them to the class, in a way that both, the presenters and the audience can enjoy, while learning.

The following is a Voicethread presentation which I found useful for us teachers, because it gives us several ideas on how to use this wonderful tool: