JLindell's Blog

I don’t mind leaving comments on blogs when I have something to add. It’s hard sometimes not knowing the people and not having anything of value to add.  When I have something to say, I don’t mind commenting.

I haven’t received comments on here yet, but it’s always nice to know what other people  think/have to say about posts/thoughts.

It’s important to be able to comment in online communities.  It’s a helpful way to keep a conversation going online. People can get additional information to what they are posting and quicker feedback from other who may have similar situations.

For students to use this feature, it could be a great way to get and keep a conversation going with writing. It is scary though if they don’t follow commenting etiquette. It could get mean or hurtful with younger students. It would make sense to me in a college age setting or older, but I’d hesitate to use it with middle/high schoolers. Even being able to edit/delete comments, there would be time when the comment was posted. If they went through of feature of having to first approve the comment, then maybe that would be an option for younger students.

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I had never heard of or used the Google Docs before. It’s very similar to Wordle, which I’ve recently been introduced to. I could see how it could be a very useful tool for a staff. I’m not sure how I’d really use it with my students. It could be fun and useful to do something with documents in Spanish. (Assuming all have access to the internet.)

I have used the Google maps many times before. I travel a lot and usually use Mapquest or Google Maps to get directions. It could also be useful in a classroom setting to Google directions/locations of Spanish places.

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My friend Angelica and I

My friend Angelica and I in Queretaro, Mexico where I lived 11 years ago. I went back again this summer to visit “family” and friends. Behind us is La Pena, Bernal that I climbed when I lived there.

http://www.teachersdiscovery.com/ is one of my favorite websites for Spanish teaching items. In addition to posters, supplies, fun things, they have idea books and other helpful tools.

At first I had a little trouble getting things to work my way on this post, but once I got started it was ok. I was a little frustrated at first with the 5 links, but then realized they were off to the side and not in the post itself .

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History is Elementary  historyiselementary.blogspot.com

Mrs. Buboltz’s English Blog
blogs.fruitportschools.net/jbuboltz/

These blogs stood out to me. I found them both very easy to follow and navigate. They are well set up with much needed information.  Clearly they both put a lot of effort into setting up and maintaining their blog. I’m sure it’s appreciated that the students who can access them are able to use them as well.

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I’ve used blogs over the last few years with friends to follow travels/lives. In schools, blogs are now being used by teachers to show what they’re doing in class, post homework assignments, test dates, etc. I find this very useful, especially when students are absent and need to get caught up. This works well when the student has access to the internet at home.

I follow the blogs of several of my colleagues in my department  from other buildings to compare what we’re teaching and stay on the same pace. It’s helpful to see what they are doing from day to day, especially when we’re teaching the same classes.

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After reading the article and watching the video, I started to think about what I do with technology and what I could be doing. I have seen the video before and thought about it at other times. With foreign language there are a lot of ways to use technology. I have lots of Spanish music and iTunes set up in class to teach them songs and do listening activities. There are so many other things out there I’d like to be able to do.

I feel very limited by the technology I have/do not have access to. I feel there are many more things I could be doing if I had the knowledge and access to do them. I’ve heard of most of the technology topics before but have not necessarily used them, and sadly not used them in my classes. I don’t have anything beyond a computer and a white board in my classroom. The students are often impressing me with the ways they use the technology for my class. On several occasions, I’ve had students come in after hearing a song in class and have the English lyrics with them the next day from looking them up/listening to them on YouTube. I look forward to someday having access to and being able to somehow use a lot of the technology that is out there in my class.

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