P.D. Reflections

I hope the information I posted on my presentation was sufficient. I had an awesome time viewing videos and because I am a visual learner I loved the video format on itunesU. I would like to use this type of P.D. for teachers who are not so savvy with Web 2.0 tools and make them aware that it is not so bad. I would like to see more teachers take the initiative to learn how to use Web 2.0 in their classrooms. Having said that, I would like to see administrators step up to the plate and begin to see the many ways that the Internet can be used in their schools. I am still having problems with the Internet in my classroom and in the computer lab. We still do not have a computer teacher or any type of tech person. I am still experiencing frustrations as my students and I spend valuable time still staring at blank computer screens.

I would also like to mention that when I hear someone say that the Web 2.0 is slowly going to become a useful tool in our classrooms, it makes me more aware of the inability of most schools to upgrade their equipment and hire tech people to monitor that equipment.

I have become somewhat savvy with Web 2.0 tools and I am becoming better by the risks I have taken and the many hours I have spent reading material and doing everything by trial and error.

P.D. Presentation reflections

I have viewed approximately 3 hours of video from itunesU and I am quite impressed. I was able to connect to most of the sites that were recommended by Marnie and I think that it would be easy to use them as a P. D. tool to enrich teachers' minds about the integration of technology into the classroom. I was able to pause the video and take notes and then come back to it later. I noticed that there are many videos to choose from and they are all free. I am going to share more on it in my presentation on google docs.

Just having some fun with pictures....

I created a picture using piZap and totally thought it would be ideal for my students who are blogging. I will attach a link here if you want to see the picture. The picture was taken at our first cultural camp with the high school students. They are laying down spruce boughs on the ground inside the wall tent. Some of the girls did sleep on the spruce boughs that night, including me.

http://www.pizap.com/gallery_display_page.php?imagename=pizap.com0.5332438158802688.jpg

itunes university

I am listening to Smithsonian Global Sound on itunes. All the recordings are free and it's quick to download as well. I picked the ballads in poetry and I pasted the site here if you are interested in using this as part of your lessons in English in high school. They seem to be user friendly and as most high school students have access to ipods and itouch, these videos and sound recordings can be downloaded for free. I will explore more on this portion of PD and go from there.

http://www.smithsonianglobalsound.org/archives_05.aspx

Start of new blog for my students....

Here is the link to my new class blog that I have started with my students for Communication Studies 20 class. Please feel free to comment on it at any time.
http://www.communicationstudiesclassblog.blogspot.com/

Wow! Looking forward to Block 7.

I just finished viewing and reading some of Block 7 activities for our class and I was amazed at how easy it is to get lost in selecting reading material. I lost track of time since I was so busy testing out google docs. I watched a few of the videos and I was again amazed at how simple English can transform frustrations into creations. I am looking forward to sharing as well as finding collaborators. I look forward to using some of the suggestions like the online conferences that can viewed by educators at any time. I am hoping that as northerners and educators we will expand our horizons to include podcasts and video conferencing to further enhance our teaching methods for the betterment of our students.

Lego Lady?

I thought it was rather amusing for me to try to find the answers in under five minutes, but I was able to find the first one without a hitch. But, as for the second lego lady, I was stumped. I kept going back to the same site and I was not sure if the answer was what I thought it was, until I ran out of patience and tested the answer. Sure enough, it was the right answer.

I also like the soccer challenges. I was able to find the right words and its' matches. I enjoyed that activity.

As for my own learning, I was not surprised to read that there are many hoaxs or bogus sites on the net and that we should make our students aware of them. I am finding that the school filtering system does it itself anyway. There are so many sites that our school computers block. I can't view any utube videos unless a certain flash player is downloaded and I can't download anything to the school computers because I am not the administrator. So much for teaching my students about internet fallacy!