EDUC639

Tomorrow is the big presentation day!  I know that my projects= still needs work, but I am hopeful that I am on the right track.  I think that it will a great project for my level 2 students next year.  Working in the lab today was extremely helpful.  I learned a lot from my peers and accomplished so much. I am very curious to find out whether or not I am headed in the right direction.

My project is coming along slow and steady.  Somehow I missed that 5 minute interval to change my spot in order not go first on Friday, but I don’t mind being the guinea pig.  My webquest is on track, but I haven’t tried to upload any of it yet…that is where it gets sticky for me.  Hopefully I will be able to get it done tomorrow so I can ask my fellow classmates for help if I get stuck. 

We learned about some more fun stuff today.  I am hoping that the spreadsheets in google work for vocabulary because that would work great in my classroom. 

I am still pondering whether or not my webquest instructions should be in Spanish.  I usually give instructions in Spanish, but I have never given such a large project to my level 2 students before.  I also took a course on foreign language teaching last spring and the professor believed in giving directions in English.  I think that I am going to leave it in English, but I will speak in Spanish while facilitating the process. 

I like how we touch on the main goal or Big Idea of the project every day.  I think that repeatedly hearing things like, “don’t over specify to the students” the more on target I will be.  The segment about Copyrights was definitely an eye opener for me.  Because I am in a small private school I tend to forget these rules apply to the little guys too!  I would never have thought to tell my students to site all of their pictures and now I will make sure that they do. 

Today I got a start on my project.  I believe that my task and other elements answer the questions:

What’s the most important thing that I am trying to teach?

What will I be able to observe from my students that show they understand?

Today in the lab was a beautiful example of collaboration.  I feel like we are team all helping and learning from each other.  I know that I have learned so much from everyone in the class.  I have mentioned before that I am not a natural at  computer skills so I was grateful when Bud hurried to my side today after Pat clued me in that trying to do a web page on composer would probably cause me some problems.  Bud showed me another site (www.nvu.com) that I started using  in the lab and downloaded on my own computer.  He also showed me a website for templates.  I have been looking at them and trying to figure out how to imput them onto nvu, but have not been successful so far.  Maybe he can help me with that tomorrow (hint, hint)! 

I know that my project is going to take me a lot of time, but I feel up to the challenge! 

Today was extremely helpful.  First, Pat showed us fun stuff like eyespot, bubbleshare,  and photostory 3. I know my students would be really excited if I started using some of this stuff in class.  Pat telling us again what this class is about was a great reminder.  The goal of our 21st century class is to get out of the way and let the students accomplish things on their own.  The Big Idea of this class is the ability to identify lessons and units that integrate technology well and in our own work.  The readings for tomorrow about classroom management are a great reminder that we are still dealing with kids when making these great integrated technology lessons, but I feel that if they are taught responsiblity and respect in a regular classroom then it should not be any different in a computer lab setting.

Working in the lab with a small group was a huge help.  It is always great to get feedback from peers and they helped me make my ideas even better.  I think I am on the right track (http://kwilson.wikispaces.com.)  I hope that I am because I am excited to implement this next year!  I think that my students will really enjoy and will get so much out of it.  I still have a lot of work to do, but hopefully I am moving in the right direction. 

I can’t believe we completed a week already.  I have so much new information and was even impressing my graphic designer sister who always knows more about computers than me.  She doesn’t even have a blog!  I’ll have to help her out with that.  Some things that I have learned this week are: blogs, wiki, listserv, mindtools, concept maps, semantic nets, 21st century teaching strategies, etc…  The information on higher order thinking, collaboration, and integrating technology are invaluable to me.  I am excited to incorporate them into my curriculum next year. 

I have been brainstorming since we left class on Friday.  This project will be a challenge, but a rewarding one.  I am working on an idea that will promote real-life and unrehearsed  conversations in Spanish. 

Today we learned even more new vocabulary!  I had never heard of tagging or del.icio.us before.  I think I get the idea.  My biggest thoughts of the day go to the project.  Seing how much detail and work is going into the rubric makes me think that I am going to have to come up with something really great.  I think that taking so much time on the rubric will help us know exactly what is expected of us and what our project should be like.  I would like to see more examples of big ideas.  Raquel and I have already planned to brainstorm together since we are the two foreign language people.  My goal is to come up with something that I will be able to use next year and that I will be able to share the idea with my colleagues so that they can incorporate it in their curriculum.  My evening will be spent brainstorming!

Today’s class went well.  I was floored with how much vocabulary we already know when we made the list for the concept map.  I think that my group has a good start on our semantic net.  We had to do a lot of brainstorming and collborative thinking to put it together.

I have been really stepping out of my comfort zone this week.  I am not a natural when it comes to computers, but I am pleased with all that I have accomplished so far.  I think that it is important for all educators to do this once in awhile in order to relate better to their students. 

I admit that my level of technology in the classroom according to LoTi is probably not a very high number, but I have plans to change that for next year. 

Today’s class really helped me get a feel of what is expected of us at the end of the course.  The class making the rubric together will mean so much more to me while doing the project then if I was just handed a rubric with a project outline.  Looking at the activities was a great way to look at sample projects and why they do or do not work.  I will use “Float that Boat”  and the notes my group took on it as a reference to remind myself what works and what I should do differently in my own project in order to make it a success.  

I learned a very important thing about using technology in the classroom today.  I orginally thought that I would be taking this course to use more technology in the classroom.  I now realize that my students are going to benefit much more if they are using the technology and not watching me use it.  The students will get much more out of activities if they are producing the work.  They will probably be more excited about it and will put more thought and energy into it.  Today has completely changed how I plan to incorporate technology in my lesson plans and I am think that my students will benefit from what I have learned. 

Hi.  I am Kate Wilson and I teach high school Spanish.  It is the first day of EDUC 639 and I have already learned an abundance of information on how I can incorporate technology in my classroom.  I have never blogged before and I can see how it could be very useful to use blogs in the classroom.