Ch. 10 and Epilogue of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts

Last chapter! This chapter addresses the fact that more and more content is appearing online. I once had a friend say to me, "I don't even know why I bother going to class anymore when my professor even says that everything he teaches and more can be found online." Although slightly disturbing to the educator, the truth of the matter is that while there may be more content readily available on the read/write web, it's not going to replace direct instruction, entirely. However, we as teachers might need to adjust to this content shift. My sister is most likely getting a Kindle for her graduation present this year and is already curious to see if she'll be able to get any of her text books from online, rather than having to purchase the actual books. While I find this disheartening, as I practically have my own library, kids these days are practically minimalists when it comes to technology. They want everything in the palm of their hand at the touch of button, and that's exactly what they're getting.

The second observation of trends addressed was that web content has become a collaboration. I still have trouble grasping this concept, but it's truly awesome in the literal sense of the word. Trends like these do and will have tremendous impacts on our lives and the way we teach our students. We owe it to them to stay relevant and keep up with times, and integrate upcoming and new technology as much as possible, and when funds don't allow it, we have to reach out for them and at the bare minimum teach the concepts of the advancing technology.

As a future educator, I will be a keen observer of the trends and latest technology. I will integrate technology and teach my kids about the trends when time and place are appropriate and allowed.

Ch. 9 of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts

Social networking sites

Absolutely brilliant and completely not at the same time. Social networking sites used in the classroom seems to be a fantastic idea, that is until you get to the part where you're not allowed to use it due to administrative policies. The theory is great. Students can interact with each other in a familiar environment and comment on threads, links, photos, comments, posts, notes, blogs, etc. However, the reality of it is just not very plausible when you have school districts such as the entire state of Texas that simply will not allow you to integrate certain technologies into the classroom, such as social networking sites.

I don't really see the necessity of using a social networking site in the classroom. Students are very familiar with these types of sites, and I think it's best to draw a line between our professional and academic life, and our personal life. When you start mixing the two, bad things happen. A. You start hating your personal life enjoyments because they become forced on you and B. Your personal life can get you into trouble in your academic and professional life. With blogs and wikis available, I believe students will get plenty of interaction on the web through those mediums.

As a future teacher, I will encourage my students to keep their personal life private. I will most definitely encourage interaction as it's a key in learning language and communication, but I don't think I'll do through facebook, myspace, ore any other social networking site.

Technology Inquiry Wiki

Creating a technology inquiry wiki was a valuable assignment. I can see a great use for a wiki in the classroom and it was good to familiarize myself with the creation of one. It was very easy to create and update. The best part is that to get it out there, all I had to do was make sure it was a public wiki and then pass along the link.

I spent a lot of time working on my wiki. I think the hardest part was the annoted bibliography, but as always a vital part of any research. I really enjoyed spending time surfing the web looking for innovative ways to use technology to benefit my ESL students in particular. I gleaned a lot of good information and concepts to use when technology is in short supply. But most importantly, I'm learning how to incorporate an integral part of my students lives into their education to make it more valuable for them.

Exit Slip 12.9.10

Ella's 10th grade Spanish class relies heavily on technology integration in the classroom to promote comfort with various types of language portrayed through the web, media, and technological world.

Here are 3 different ways that I will integrate technology in Ella's (Dr. Boyer's daughter) Spanish class:

1. Media usage- Movies, video clips, songs, podcasts for various language activities.
2. Computer and web- Research for papers and presentations. Blogs for writing practice. Presentation programs like prezi, animoto, vuvox, etc. Wikis for classroom management. Screencasting websites for research projects. Jog the web.
3. Language programs- Assist in language learning, further outside instruction.

*Good idea* (Language classes) Beginning of year, middle of the year, end of the year. Readings, audio recordings to document progress & improvements. As a language teacher, I think this is a great idea! I plan to use this for both my Spanish and ESL classes so that I have documentation of their progress as well as so they can see their progress and examine areas that they need work on.

My thinking about technology's role in teaching and learning hasn't really changed that much over the semester. I have always thought technology to be a integral part of life and society and it just makes sense to bring it's efficiencies and learning opportunities into the classroom. I have however, learned a lot more ways to incorporate technology, and how to use it in different ways to reach various audiences.

Exit Slip 12.2.10

Today we watched a video about a teacher that integrated technology into her classroom. We then dissected our list into two categories: things we could do before technology advances, and things we couldn't do before technology advances. Most things you could do before, however we identified that it's easier sometimes with technology integration and also better, although sometimes it is actually more difficult. There were some benefits of technology integration that you obviously couldn't do without technology, such as world-wide peer interaction, blogging, and computer usage.

The obvious response is to integrate technology into the classroom. So, as a future teacher, I will constantly be reviewing and evaluating my technological use in the classroom in order to provide my students with a superior education.