Thing # 11

Flickr

I am very pleased of having learned about Flickr. I spent more time than the amount of time suggested for this exploring activity, but it was worth it. There are so many pictures that I see many possibilities for using Flickr, especially for building vocabulary among our English Language Learners. It is well known than a picture is worth a thousand words, and this is particularly true with our ELLs, who most of the time do not grasp the meaning of English words just because of their lack of vocabulary.

Anyway, I have decided to use the pictures I downloaded from Flickr in a ELA or BLA lesson about Main Idea and Supporting Details. My plan is to show the students pictures that will be supporting details, and they have to come with the main idea. The Supporting Details in this particular case are: Coffee, Juice, Bread, Scrambled Eggs, Pancakes and Milk, which will lead the students to the Main Idea, which in this particular case is: Breakfast.




Thank you Bitzcelt for your picture that fits perfectly with my project!

Thing # 10

Creative Commons

Before the discovery exercise in this activity, I had never ever realized there was a CC logo on any website I had visited, at least not consciously. And if it was unconsciously, then I guess I might have thought that that logo was meant to let people know about the availability of CLOSED CAPTIONS or something like that.

I wish that CC will impact the way students learn and create projects, but with few exceptions, I doubt it will happen soon. I hope I am wrong about this, though.

I have not used digital images, audio or video clips from the web in my teaching, except for a PowerPoint presentation I made for a PFK class where I was one of the presenters. I used a video clip that I got from Docushare and even got some snapshots from it that I used as digital images that I inserted in the presentation. I had permission from the person that recorded the video clip (she was the other presenter in this class) and I was the one that appeared in that video, teaching a mini lesson during writing workshop in my Kindergarten class.

The only thing that I have shared in the web are my thoughts and reflections as part of the application piece we are required to do in our technology classes.

Some of my teaching materials are property of the school and some are mine.

At this moment, I cannot find any potential negatives for using CC if whoever is using them is aware of their purpose.

Thing # 9

Play In The Wiki Sandbox

Well... Some people have told me that sometimes I let the child inside of me to come out and have some fun. And to be honest, yup, that is the truth. So, when I started reading the Thing # 9, I thought that this would be a good time to let my inner child to get out and have some fun.

Mmm... It did not worked the way I thought it would. The fact that you have to ask for permission to play there, and that you have to wait who knows how much time for the permission to be granted just drove my inner child crazy. Kids are not very patient, especially when someone invites them to play and the game is not fun at all - or worse, like in this case - the so promised game needs to start after you have given permission by a person that is not available at the moment. Arggg.

As any other child would do, I got out of there and told anyone who asked me "Do not even bother, you won't be able to do it now. Let's go somewhere else. We could come back later to see if we could play then". So, I will probably come later...

Here I am 12 hours later to reflect about my experience with the Wiki Sandbox. First of all, I think I was luckier than some of the other participants because I got the permission in about 3 hours (from what I read I thought it was going to take me at least one day), while I started working on Thing # 10 and Thing # 11.

I followed the steps in the Instructions for Creating Your Sandbox Page and then I linked my page to "Our Sandbox Pages". I had to reread some of the instructions more than once, but finally I liked the outcome, so although some up and downs, I enjoyed the experience.

Thing # 8

What in the world is a WIKI?

The first time I learned about WIKIS was last spring, while taking the Intel Course. We used a Wiki to reflect in our learning and to share our experiences. I liked it because if two heads think better than one, imagine the possibilities among way much more than that!!!

This is all a matter of points of view. An individual perspective is limited, but being able to get exposed to the collective thinking gives you broad roads in your quest of understanding more the world around you.

I think that Vicki Davis had a positive experience when first using wikis in her classroom. I think that a great part of it was her own excitement that was transmitted to her students, who eventually came up with wonderful ideas.

I really hope there is a WIKI in my future… I do not see it just now because I am somehow overwhelmed by my new responsibilities, but I hope that once I get things under control I will be more open to commit with a project such as having a WIKI. I think this should be something meaningful, not just an impulse.

Regarding my thoughts and observations about the educational wiki projects I have explored, the ones that caught my attention were 1001 Flat World Tales, Kindergarten Counting Book, and Thousands Project. What I liked the most of these WIKIS where the purpose they were intended for.

I was not aware of how much I liked writing until two things happened in my life. My daughter, who is in eight grade now, told me she wanted to go to College to study English to become a writer, and I started teaching writing to bilingual kindergarteners. You might think that I am not the best qualified individual to teach writing, because you have maybe found several errors in my writing. Please understand I am an English Language Learner, but I write pretty good in my native language. Well, having explained that, I think that a wonderful way to learn how to write is to do it in a writing workshop, where you can learn at your own pace. That is what I found in 1001 Flat World Tales, an ongoing global writing workshop emphasizing peer editing and revision. You learn a lot from others because they open your eyes to ideas otherwise might probably have never popped in your mind.

I chose the Kindergarten Counting Book because I used to teach that grade level and wondered how this new technology would be useful for these young students, and although I came up with one or two ideas, I am not a very creative person, so I am always looking around to “steal” ideas from the inventive minds. In this case I liked the fact that kindergarteners where able to demonstrate that they have grasped the matching one-to-one concept in a fun but simple way, with little help from adults.

Finally, I just love the idea that Mr. Monson had when he created Thousands Project. Being able to expose fifth graders to the opinion of people around the world regarding meaningful topics for them is an awesome way to teach them that we are not the only culture in the world and that people in other cultures have different but interesting points of view.

The challenge that I found with WIKIS is that you need to be committed to monitor them, or otherwise, after certain time they will eventually become obsolete and without a purpose.

Thing # 7

Creating a Community Through Commenting

As I stated in the post for Thing # 7, the sense of community has always been important to me. Therefore, I am happy to belong to a community of lifelong learners. I am very excited to be a member of the 23 Thingsters.

I truly believe that getting input from others is very important because our vision of the world is very limited. On top of that, we all have different points of view and having our minds opened to receive advise, constructive comments and ideas that differ from ours will help us to be more aware of the world around us.

I have not received any comments yet, but I am eager to read from you. I am sure that every comment provides teachable moments.

Thing # 6

Feed Your Reader

Wow!!! This is so cool!!! I am getting excited as I discover all the new features that technology is offering to us nowadays.

My experience with Google Reader can be described as love at first sight. I am a very organized person and I am always trying to find methods and procedures that will make my life easier.

Google Reader offers organization and time saving... What else can you ask for? Well, yeah, there are lots of things you can ask for, but anyway, this is a very impressive tool. I like the fact that you can have your favorite websites as well as information of your interest at the tip of your fingers and in just a glance.

At the same time, if you are an avid learner, like me, you will find very useful the fact that while reading your favorite blogs, you can always check out the blogroll to find other perspectives in the same topic that interests you.

Thing # 5

Three Cheers For Rio!
RSS: Rich Site Summary or Real Simple Syndication
A reflective blog about an item of interest from my reader:

Wow!!! It is incredible how technology is making our lives easier more and more every day. Thanks to the RSS, we can have information that matters to us delivered to one place, without being bombarded by the nasty SPAM.

I usually do not read newspapers anymore, even though I always try to be informed. Due to this "Thing # 5 Learning Activity" now I am subscribed to the home page of the New York Times.

While quickly scanning the news, I found one that caught my attention: Being born in South America, it is very exciting for me to know that for the first time ever a South American city has been elected as the host city for the 2016 Olympic Games.

It is well known that the International Olympic Committee (I.O.C.) tries to positively affect the cities chosen to host the Olympic Games, and this time it is not the exception: This time not only Brazil would be able to develop faster, but the entire region - and more over, its people, for the first time in their lives, will feel so close the spirit of the Olympic Games.

On the other hand, personally speaking, it would have been nice that Chicago had won, now that I live in the United States. I kind of feel bad for Chicago and its citizens, who had already planned celebrations all over the place and who were astonished after the results.

Anyhow, the United States have hosted the Olympic Games before, and maybe it was time for a region usually forgotten to feel the joy of winning such an important privilege.