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Social bookmarking doesn't seem too bad! At last, I understand something I read about technology. The video made it super easy to understand - although I felt like an idiot because I didn't really know what this was all about before.



I think social bookmarking would help me as a teacher. In my department, we use a lot of websites to practice language with our students. We also take students to computer labs and allow them to work at their own pace for practice. If we were to compile a list of websites that could be used in our classrooms and bookmark them, we'd be able to look at each other's links and help each other with resources. Often, we run out of things to use in our classrooms that require technology because we don't have the resources in our school district.



Social bookmarking would be extremely beneficial to my students. We are trying to set up a program called e-chalk in our district. Students are not too familiar with it yet, but they should start using it soon. This week I had a student who was very ill and we had to keep sending work home for her - if we had our e-chalk all set up, she'd be able to pull assignments from there. I could have my diigo posted on e-chalk and she could even look at her book online through my link! This is a perfect example of how it would be helpful considering the fact that this student left her book at school - no one plans to be sick. In general, I could have supplemental assignments or optional readings because many students in my classroom need that "extra" one-on-one worktime.



If I had to present 5 ideas to my language department to use on Excel, I would use the following:

1) Creating a spreadsheet to classify the numbers in French. Students could make columns where they practice typing the digit and then writing it out in words. Students don't practice this enough and doing this on a computer would excite them more.
2) A contest could be set up where students create a spreadsheet of typical French names.
3) One thing we are currently covering in class are adjective agreements based on noun genders. Students could use Excel to classify all possible agreements for nouns and their genders.
4) Students could list French and English cognates.
5) Charting data with all francophone countries around the world. They could compile a list of all countries that speak French or have French culture and the population that speaks French. They could then create data charts of this information.

Google Apps

I definitely could have used Google Apps while in college. Although we used blackboard a lot, it would have been nice to have used a system that worked in "real-time." I think many groups projects I had to complete would have been a lot easier if I had a program like Google Apps - especially because on campus everyone is so busy and involved in different things that you can just send things out at the same time and await responses without having to meet with other students.

As far as using it in my own classroom, I'm not so sure yet. However, I think I've started doing something similar with the e-chalk program we have to take care of now. I don't have it completely set up but we do have to participate in it and our students will be able to write to us and see posted assignments. I don't know that it has the extensive calendar sharing that the Google Apps has and I don't think it's in "real-time."

I like their definitions in the video when stating that it's a package of applications that enhances google things you already use - sometimes I'm afraid of new things but when I heard this, I was at ease. I think I'd definitely try this with my co-workers. Many times we need to meet about stuff in our department but we're rarely able to get together at the same time. This all reminds me of the charter school my brother and sister are enrolled in - it's awesome! They have live video chats with classmates and teacher - it's like a virtual classroom!

In reference to the lesson plans, I tried the area of language arts since I didn't see foreign language and figured this was the closest thing. I truly liked a lesson plan for writing that I found which encouraged students to write newsletters in a Google newsletter template. I think it's cool that students can act as editors for newsletters - especially in an ELA classroom.

I also decided to look under the "fine arts" category since we teach a lot of culture in foreign language. I found something that had to do with photography which I haven't really taught but I thought it was very interesting. Students will use a program called Google Earth (which I am actually somewhat familiar with) and they will create a Google Earth tour based on a photograph they have chosen (which I didn't know you could do!) The idea of this project is to get students thinking about the importance of American photography, while allowing them to appreciate the geography and location that were captured in the photograph.

Week 2 Readings

I was pretty shocked at all the terms I read that I wasn't familiar with. I like to think of myself as somewhat technology saavy but I guess that's not true compared with today's youngsters. Some of the student's perspectives in Educause seemed to be frustrated. My language doesn't differ much from theirs in some aspects - I can use debit cards and credit cards and in fact, sometimes it's hard for me to carry cash. I just don't do it anymore. I wa super surprised by the fact that a professor did not read e-mail....I think this is a bit extreme but I guess it still happens. I've never done twitter, or flickr, or any of those terms mentioned. My goal is to start podcasting because I like what I read in the articles - students can truly be creative. Blogs are super convenient - now that I've started using one, I can see why. I agree with the students when they say they won't forget their homework at school, it can be done on Sundays or whenever you're sick too! I believe teachers need to become more familiar with these practices if we expect to FACILITATE instruction.

In reference, to GoogleDocs, one of the articles was right on the money when stating that today we have more internet producers than consumers. The internet used to be something far away that everyone could use but no one knew how to create. Now you have GoogleDocs allowing you to create and edit text while sharing with real-time users. I am completely unfamiliar with this program but think I could learn to use it.

I hope that my students never feel like that student did in EduCause.....sitting only 4 feet away but feeling light years of separation between them.

Class 2

As I read about the Net Gen tonight, I realized how much I'm a part of that. While I read the introduction of the text, I noticed I have an advantage as an educator because I'm young and able to use much of the technology that is available to students today.

First of all, I got flashbacks from college when I read the second chapter which started by explaining a college student who wakes up and checks how many IMs he missed while sleeping! Not only that, it mentioned the fact that he no longer goes to the library to research, but prefers doing online research. This is so true! I think this has a huge influence on how our students today learn because I remember in college, I had to get help from professors to research - thank God for online journals! One of the things that educators need to remember today is that students are very visual and kinesthetic thanks to all the techonology that is available. Students today can be texting under their desks as the teacher is lecturing and they don't even have to look down at their phones to do so! This is why it's so important to keep them involved.

One of the important things that I read is the classifications that were created to see how many students had internet access. It seems as though students from even lower income families may still have internet access. They may not have it as much as higher income students do, but it's there. If they don't have internet access then they have other technological things like PSPs, Ipods, Xbox, Playstation, Wii, and more. The main impact to me was the distance learning because I teach courses like this at my church - this truly benefits adults that work full-time to support a family but still want to earn a second degree. Technology should not be looked down on as much as it is with today's students, because it has also encouraged more groups to study, and it has facilitated instruction for many.

Wow - is all I have to say for the Natives article. Many of the things are true - learners are different today. However, I do think the article was a bit radical. I'd like to stick somewhere in the middle of all this. Truthfully, although learners have changed, they are still human-beings and love human interaction and having discussions in class. There are normal things in their lives and they don't ALWAYS prefer to text or chat, they do still love to see their friends in person and do things older people that are "non-digital natives" or "digital immigrants" have done. While I was reading, I remembered one of the chapters in our text which explained how a poll was taken and many students were still 50-50, they liked both teacher lecture AND interaction. I think this is very true. We don't need to teach ONLY TECHONOLOGY, or ONLY TRADITIONAL LECTURES, but we need to provide a balance. We also can't create a generation of robots that can't communicate with others unless it's via something techonological...

Someone once complained, "I don't know why these kids today can't function if they don't have calculators....they can't even do math in their heads anymore!" I would have loved to reply, "Would you walk 15 miles to get somewhere despite the fact that cars exist?" or, "Would you opt for a surgery w/out anesthesia?" I think there needs to be a balance but the older generation also needs to accept that today's kids aren't dumb, they just have a different way of learning and have a few more perks available to them.....

1st day of class

*sigh*

And I thought the last course I needed for certification would be easy....