JLindell's Blog

Thing #23

lindellj — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 20:16:38 +0000

Yeah!

I have learned so much more through this class than I expected to. When I signed on to take it, I did so because I had heard it was a good class and needed the SB-CEUs. I didn’t know much about it. I have been on a list to take the technology course through the school and was supposed to finally get in for this year, but it was canceled. So, I’m even more grateful I took this class to learn all that I did.

I’m also surprised with how much more I learned about using tools for personal use as well as professional. I used picnik to create my Christmas cards and plan on using it and other sites in the future as well.

I’m amazed at how much was out there that I didn’t know about! A lot of these things I had heard of, but never really explored. I look forward to exploring them even more. I have found some great tools to help me in the classroom (even more so when we get more technology) and to help me with technology and tools in general. There are so many more tools and sites out there that could help me in the classroom than I ever would have thought (and this is just a start)!

The only thing I would suggest to do differently is to let people know about activating plug-ins. Thankfully others had completed some of the ‘things’ before I did, and posted about it, so I was able to learn from their experiences. I would definitely be interested in more 23 things. I have no suggestions at this point and want more time to explore all that I’ve encountered through this class before jumping in to even more, but would love it in the future.

This learning experience has been so much more than I ever thought it would be. I loved being able to work at my own pace and explore things as I had time for. I haven’t done much with a classroom blog to this point, but am totally comfortable with it now and plan on working on and using one in the near future. This was great for me!

Thing #22

lindellj — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 19:52:04 +0000

My wiki: Jocelin’s wiki

I created just a basic page on my wiki for now. I kept it for personal use for what I have right now. In the future, I may create other pages meant to be used in the classroom.

I found it very easy to create a wiki and didn’t have problems adding pictures or websites. As for creating one for my classroom use, I think it would be a little different and I’m not sure what all I would add to it.

I think the biggest difference between wikis and blogs is collaboration. People can leave comments on blogs, but can’t change, add, or edit anything. Wikis are meant for collaboration and for people to contribute to what is already there. For me, in the classroom, blogs make a lot more sense. I could see how wikis could be used on occasion, but a blog could be used on a regular basis. I can have a classroom blog that allows parents and students to see what is going on in the classroom and stay up to date on assignments and tests. That makes a lot more sense for me at this point in time.

Thing #21

lindellj — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 19:00:10 +0000

Until recently, I hadn’t heard much about wikis. This year, there has been a lot of talk with them and we have had one for our school that we can access and use. We saw the same ‘wiki in plain English’ video at a staff meeting or PD this year to introduce all of us to it. I don’t think a lot of our staff has used it yet, but it has been introduced.
I can see myself using wikis for personal use more so than in the classroom. I do think they are being and will be used for the staff to coordinate things, whether it be get togethers, meetings, or discussions. In the classroom, I don’t know at this point if I would use wikis very often. I have my computer in my classroom but it is very difficult (and needs to be done weeks in advance) to get time in the computer lab. Hopefully that will change with the technology upgrades and it will be more practical (for me) in the future.
I do see the practicality of the wiki and how helpful it can be. I can definitely see myself using it to coordinate dive trips in the future or baby showers for my friends in other areas.

Thing #20

lindellj — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:24:24 +0000

After searching the 100 best You Tube videos for teachers, I found several Picasso and Dalí videos (artists I teach them about) and embedded one of the Picasso videos.

I used Keep Vid to download a You Tube video and had no problems with it. This is a great thing to use if I need to show You Tube videos to my class (paying attention to copyrights) and saves time having the video downloaded and ready.
I did actually run into problems. After I had posted, I saw that my video wasn’t appearing. After playing around a while and reading others’ blogs, I noticed DStolzman had mentioned that she had to activate her plugins. I played around and figured out how to do that and it finally worked!

Thing #19

lindellj — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 01:12:18 +0000

I’ve enjoyed You Tube for quite some time, both in the classroom and at home. I really like You Tube and have been able to find quite a bit of use for it in my classroom. (With upcoming technology), I see You Tube as very helpful to my classroom. I use current Spanish songs in teaching a lot as listening activities and exposure to the language. Most of the current Spanish songs can be found, sometimes with music videos and translations, on You Tube. Often, I have students that come in the day after doing a song as a listening activity, and have the English translation that they have gotten from You Tube.

Fortunately, You Tube is available for me at school. Hopefully it will continue to be. If nothing else, for the music videos alone, for me it is a very helpful tool for Spanish.

On a side note, there is a You Tube video that is saved to my personal favorites. I used to teach at an inner city high school. About 6 months ago, a former student of mine (19 years old) was shot and killed. He was a very funny student that I remember fondly. Several other students had let me know that there is a video of him and another former student of mine on You Tube performing ‘Milk and Cereal’. It is a way for me to remember him and see his personality still today.

Thing #18

lindellj — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 00:44:35 +0000

I wasn’t familiar with either of the two. After reviewing them both, I decided to go with Slideshare. After creating the free account, I found a lot of fun slideshows that I found to be interesting and entertaining, including quite a few in Spanish.

I could see how I could use this in my classroom. I could easily find travel and Spanish language slideshows that would apply to what I’m teaching. I have done slideshows in the past that I have created which I could share and use as well.

After searching through a bunch of slideshows, the one I enjoyed most was Funny Images. It was very interesting and a lot of fun. It was something for personal not professional use, but still a lot of fun.

I look forward to (once the technology is available in my classroom) using this tool as well!

Thing #17

lindellj — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:47:36 +0000

The first one that really caught my eye was Remember the Milk. I really like this idea. I have a tendency to make lists for everything. A lot of times I’ll email myself reminders to my home email so that when I check it at home I’ll remember to do things/get things ready for school the next day. This is a great tool to have lists sent to various places. Eventually if/when I get a different cell phone, I could see it as an added bonus to use this tool to have messages sent to my cell phone.

I was also very interested in Library Thing for personal use. I want to read more and it’s always great to have people recommend books to me. It would be a great tool for me to someday catalog all my own books and see what is recommended to me based on what I have.

Blabberize was also a lot of fun to play around with. I’d like to play around with several of these sites someday when I have more time to just play. This could be a lot of fun to use and I could see how it could be used in a school setting as well, especially with foreign languages.

There are so many fun things out there that I’m now coming across. I can’t wait to play around with them more when I have time and see what all I can create!

Thing #16

lindellj — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:20:55 +0000

I hadn’t heard of Creative Commons before taking this class. I had never noticed the ‘cc’ on things until a few things ago. It was mentioned in another thing and I noticed the ‘cc’ on something, but had never noticed/known what it was before now.

As a teacher, it is definitely something we should be aware of. It’s also something I’d like to now share with my students when they are using images and information from the internet on projects.

Not having technology currently in my classroom, I don’t share a lot of web images and have to do a lot with online copyrights. As I get more technology and have more access to it in my classroom, it is very helpful for me to be aware of creative commons, so I can use it in my teaching.

Thing #15

lindellj — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 21:50:37 +0000

I enjoyed searching around with the various podcasts. On the EPN, I was able to check out a couple of Spanish language podcasts. This could of course be a helpful thing to use with my students (or parents that accompany us on trips to other countries).

The interesting thing I found with Podcast Alley was that they have podcasts from Rick Steve. Rick Steve does a series of Spanish travel videos that we have used with our students. It’s nice to know about the podcast and consider using that with the students in the future.

iTunes and iTunes U were interesting to me. I have iTunes at home and at school and use iTunes a lot with my students. This could be a helpful thing for me to look into as well.

I think the EPN was the easiest for me to navigate, but I didn’t have any major problems with any of them.

Thing #14

lindellj — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 20:04:21 +0000

I do think podcasting can be helpful in learning. I have not used podcasts myself, either personally or professionally. I do know some other Spanish teachers who have podcasts in their blogs for students/parents to access. I definitely see how this could be beneficial.

We had a parent go with us on the Spain trip this past summer who had been teaching herself Spanish, in preparation for the trip, through podcasts. She had been very successful with them. I absolutely think it could work in this way, if you’re willing to put for the time and effort.

I know there are plenty of podcasts out there for learning other languages. It is a great and helpful way to people who can learn that way. It could be a great thing for me to use in the classroom to either put podcasts on a blog to help absent students stay caught up, or to broadcast podcasts for the class from other countries, in order to hear the various Spanish accents.

A couple of the podcasts I personally enjoyed were: the ESL podcast http://www.eslpod.com/website/index_new.html and the National Geographic Podcast: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/podcasts/