Images and Bubblr

I browsed three topics in Nik Peachey's website, Nik's Learning Technology Blog namely: animation, images, and poems. I learned about Gifup which allows users to create image sequences which teachers can use in teaching vocabulary. I discovered Flickriver a great image tool that creates an endless webpage which can also be used in teaching vocabulary and sentence drills. Another helpful tool is Bubblr where you can add speech or thought bubbles to images. All of these are helpful tools which I can use in my instruction especially for my ESL students who need a lot of pictures and prompts in writing.

Exploring Reading

Another interesting site which I found from Larry Ferlazzo's website

The Best Websites For Intermediate Readers is Into the Book.

Students can choose a reading strategy like inferring or visualizing by dragging the picture Into the Book. It first describes the chosen reading strategy and shows students how it is done. What makes it more interesting are the videos of actual classroom instruction modeling the strategies. There is also a part called "try it yourself", where students can try the strategy on their own.

Diversity

This website on Hispanic Heritage Month is very interactive. I also found it in Larry Ferlazzo's website called The Best Resources For Hispanic Heritage Month. There is information about what Hispanic heritage month is, shows the different flags of Hispanic countries, and facts about Cinco de Mayo. I especially liked the featured bios and Hispanic icon shown in categories with pictures. It talks about artists, actors, musicians, and many more. I tried the Latino Trivia game and it was fun. I think it is better if they put Spanish translation for the questions though. This is a great website for me to know because we have a big ESOL population in our school.

Revision Bite

Larry Ferlazzo has a great website with the list of internet resources for ESL teachers. One site from his list The Best Websites For K-12 Writing Instruction/Reinforcment is something that my students can use.
I like the site because it has different writing skills like letter writing and writing a story beginning and ending. The website also makes use of pictures and corrects students if they make errors. A part called revision bite is like a mini-lesson for the writing strategy. The quiz button evaluates how much the students know. Teachers can copy-paste the activity in their blog or website.

Webvolution

http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2009/01/basics-for-beginners-what-is-web-20.html

Reading the article made me feel like I am in a different world. New words like podcast, vodcast, or mashup which I have not heard before made me start wondering if I am way behind in technology. Whew! Good thing our teacher introduced blogs and wikis already. Well, I had the same reaction when I first heard the words DOS, RAM and ROM years way back. I am thankful that this course is keeping me updated on some of the endless things the net can offer. I am looking forward to learning more.

"Ode to Blogging"

The author mentioned six phases in her article from the website , This is acrostic is my reaction to the piece and I borrowed some of the author' s ideas from her blog. Enjoy!

B-e not afraid to try blogging. It may not be perfect the first time but practice makes it better and better if not always perfect, that’s the way to go.

L- et your comments make the conversations flow.

O-f course, research and preparation are important. The internet can have a lot of information that may not be appropriate for the students.

G-o slow. Learners may need to take it slow the first time they are learning how to blog. There are special ed students and ESOL students that we should think about.

G-o use rubrics.

I-ntroduce another concept.

N-ow, I think of teaching blogging in a different light. Teaching blogging to students is not easy or fast as I thought.

G-etting to learn the phases helped me understand teaching blogging better, I just wish I could make this acrostic poem better!

Possible Banes

I agree with almost all the positive points the author expressed in the website on reasons why students should blog. Looking at the other side of blogging, teacher should consider the age and maturity of the students. The article mentioned that blogging increases proofreading and validation skills. True, but some students from my own experience barely even now how to independently edit their draft, much less know what a deletion mark or what a caret is for. Indeed blogging is a powerful learning tool but there are some issues that we as teachers should consider.

Technology and Change

Technology has been making a huge impact everywhere. The video presented facts and statistics that were both overwhelming and surprising for me. The worldwide popularity of computers and internet make everything very easy for everybody. A person can communicate to another person halfway around the world in a matter of seconds. Think about how this could have helped Romeo get the letter ASAP from his beloved Juliet? Or how Pheidippides did not have to run miles and miles then die, to announce victory? =) I cannot resist adding that because these literature made such an impact on me. But I digress, change is continually going on right now. Technology makes changes happen faster everyday, everywhere, in almost every way.

These Wikis...

Wikis! I know about Wikipedia but the first time I heard about wikis is just a week ago when our professor introduced it in her lesson. Wiki, as described from the website, allows users to easily add and edit content and is especially suited for collaborative writing. Using Wiki saves a lot of time and a lot more other things since people can do collaborative writing without even meeting or emailing each other. This is something great to try especially for older students.
One article from the above site which I found interesting was an issue between Encyclopaedia Britannica and a publication called Nature. Nature published an investigation they did which I quote, “Jimmy Wales’ Wikipedia comes close to Britannica in terms of the accuracy of its science entries.” Encyclopaedia Britannica of course disputed this finding which Nature counter-reacted with their own explanations. I have used Encyclopaedia Britannica when I needed to do school related assignments since I was in elementary. I do not know just how close Wikipedia is to Britannica in terms of accuracy. Maybe both have their pros and cons. All I can say it that skills in using encyclopaedia or other reference books such as a dictionary or a thesaurus is something that all students should still be able to know.

Beyond Journaling

I have always thought of blogging as simply journal writing. Now I know better. In this article from the website, the author pointed out that blogging is more than just simple online journaling. There are features such as hyperlinking and connecting among other things. Also blogging can be used to promote conversation and instruction. I want to point out how author used the word blogosphere, perhaps the author coined it but I will assume for now that it is a word that is not yet in the dictionary but will eventually, like other words, because of popularity and usage, will become part of the English language.

On Computers

My second grade students love using the computers. In fact, almost all of them look forward to having computer for their reading center. I observe great enthusiasm as well during technology specials on Fridays which means they get to use computers. We do incorporate technology in our instruction like using the Interwrite Boards and Visualizer. However, we have not tried using computers for writing. For now, we think that our second graders need some more hands on in developing their use of paper and pencil to practice their letter formation and spacing which most of them need, even some have it on their IEP objectives. We have six computers in the classroom; two of which are in my “resource room” where students get to do the special education reading program called I-Station which the county started implementing last year. It was catered for all the second graders in our school but this year because of budget issues, they are only being implemented for special education students.
Personally, I do not really use computer a lot unless I need to. I have used computer and found the World Wide Web very helpful during my college years and some grad school semesters in the Philippines. Now that I am here in the states, I use the computer to do my grad work papers and presentations, pay my bills, check my email, etc... . I can list some boons and banes of using computers but I will end this blog by agreeing that computers have taken an integral part on peoples’ lives. It is universal. It is inevitable.