I theoretically like podcasts, though they take far too much time out of my schedule for me to really get into them. I do think they're worthwhile and interesting and useful in the long run. I listen to a lot of soccer ones while driving. I also think a lot of comedy ones are great.
As I did some research on this, it became apparent that it was actually pretty easy to produce a podcast. I downloaded the program Audacity, hooked up my microphone and simply hit record. I then read something I already had prepared, and a podcast was created. Pretty great, huh?
The one problem I would come across here is that a lot of education (the stuff we teach) has a pretty crucial visual component. So unless I also prepared a visual presentation for the podcast, I don't think it'd be worth it.
Here is the link to the podcast I made.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Wiki
I created a wiki, though once again, since it's just to show that I can actually use the material, the subject matter is completely unrelated to cinema. The wiki is here.
The premise is this. I created a fake film festival and made up a bunch of films that could potentially be in that festival. It was pretty random. I just included a ton of movies I liked. I then proceeded to make links for some of the directors of those films, and included fake filmographies on the linked pages. It's a pretty weird way, I realize, to show mastery of the concepts behind the wiki, but I have to keep it interesting for myself, I suppose.
However, the wiki idea is a great one. I'm already imagining students being able to edit documents on the fly, sharing links and information sources with each other, annotating and commenting on the work that their partners are doing. It's definitely a great resource. Also: the edit, save and link aspects of it are fairly simple and easy to grasp. I think anyone could do this.
The premise is this. I created a fake film festival and made up a bunch of films that could potentially be in that festival. It was pretty random. I just included a ton of movies I liked. I then proceeded to make links for some of the directors of those films, and included fake filmographies on the linked pages. It's a pretty weird way, I realize, to show mastery of the concepts behind the wiki, but I have to keep it interesting for myself, I suppose.
However, the wiki idea is a great one. I'm already imagining students being able to edit documents on the fly, sharing links and information sources with each other, annotating and commenting on the work that their partners are doing. It's definitely a great resource. Also: the edit, save and link aspects of it are fairly simple and easy to grasp. I think anyone could do this.
Google Reader
Although Google will discontinue Google Reader in a few months, it's been for a long time the best RSS reader that I know of.
I've used Google Readers for many years as a way to keep up with blogs and websites that interested me. As I was searching for stuff today, I tried to look up education blogs and websites and then added some to my feed. Reader then archived all their entries and I was able to go back and read a backlog of really interesting content.
I've mostly used Google Reader for movie blogs and such, but today I made the effort to try and organize it into different sections. So I now have it organized by music, movies and education and other assorted tags. It's a pretty easy to use service, and another really interesting tool for the educator.
I've used Google Readers for many years as a way to keep up with blogs and websites that interested me. As I was searching for stuff today, I tried to look up education blogs and websites and then added some to my feed. Reader then archived all their entries and I was able to go back and read a backlog of really interesting content.
I've mostly used Google Reader for movie blogs and such, but today I made the effort to try and organize it into different sections. So I now have it organized by music, movies and education and other assorted tags. It's a pretty easy to use service, and another really interesting tool for the educator.
Google Docs / Drive
Google Docs
I created this document a while ago. I just uploaded it to Google Docs/Drive for the first time. I took a chance to remove some stuff that was outdated. Basically, this is a list of all the movies I have in my possession and could reasonably watch at any one second. I have them organized by director, decade and running time. It makes it easy to decide what to watch sometimes.
I've used google docs/drive for quite a while. It's a good storage facility. I've also used it to collaborate with other people on projects (simultaneous editing and whatnot). It's a very handy tool that could totally be used at the professional level at the school where I work. Sadly, it probably won't be. Too complicated for some people.
The best feature about it by far is the comment features. Sometimes, I would be working on the file and I would leave a comment for my other collaborators, so they could work on something while I was away. That way, the work didn't have to stop just because I had to step away. They can continue the train of thought I was pursuing and the work can keep going.
I created this document a while ago. I just uploaded it to Google Docs/Drive for the first time. I took a chance to remove some stuff that was outdated. Basically, this is a list of all the movies I have in my possession and could reasonably watch at any one second. I have them organized by director, decade and running time. It makes it easy to decide what to watch sometimes.
I've used google docs/drive for quite a while. It's a good storage facility. I've also used it to collaborate with other people on projects (simultaneous editing and whatnot). It's a very handy tool that could totally be used at the professional level at the school where I work. Sadly, it probably won't be. Too complicated for some people.
The best feature about it by far is the comment features. Sometimes, I would be working on the file and I would leave a comment for my other collaborators, so they could work on something while I was away. That way, the work didn't have to stop just because I had to step away. They can continue the train of thought I was pursuing and the work can keep going.
de.li.ci.ous
Delicious is a social bookmarking website. Basically, any time you go on a website, you can add that site to your bookmarks if you don't have the time to look at it right now.
This isn't all that different from your normal browser bookmarks. The biggest differences are these: you can access these bookmarks from any other computer, and you can get recommendations and links from other people who have similar interests.
I've used delicious before, though I ended up switching to other services, and after a while I just stopped using this sort of thing all together. From the bit that I used it again, it reminded me why I didn't like the service: the layout made it hard for me to come back to my original home page. Also: most of the things that interest me I already know about, and anything else I probably just look at reddit or twitter anyway.
After searching some random items, I was able to scrounge up some interesting links that I might return to later, which is the whole point of the exercise. I imagine that as I keep tagging things I come across, the service will be more valuable. This service would be pretty handy in a school environment. I can imagine teachers using it to share things with each other at the school level, or even at the district level. There definitely won't be a need for school-wide emails announcing every single thing you find!
Here is my page.
This isn't all that different from your normal browser bookmarks. The biggest differences are these: you can access these bookmarks from any other computer, and you can get recommendations and links from other people who have similar interests.
I've used delicious before, though I ended up switching to other services, and after a while I just stopped using this sort of thing all together. From the bit that I used it again, it reminded me why I didn't like the service: the layout made it hard for me to come back to my original home page. Also: most of the things that interest me I already know about, and anything else I probably just look at reddit or twitter anyway.
After searching some random items, I was able to scrounge up some interesting links that I might return to later, which is the whole point of the exercise. I imagine that as I keep tagging things I come across, the service will be more valuable. This service would be pretty handy in a school environment. I can imagine teachers using it to share things with each other at the school level, or even at the district level. There definitely won't be a need for school-wide emails announcing every single thing you find!
Here is my page.
Glogster
In the sidebar, you'll find a new addition called Web 2.0 Applications. Inside this link, there will be various experiments with said Web 2.0 Applications.
The first application I tried out was Glogster. The gist of Glogster is thus: it's basically an interactive poster. Let's say your students are doing a project on recycling. They would normally have to take poster board, huddle around it, bust out the markers and crayons, cut out some pictures from magazines, glue these one, etc. It's a handiwork project; often about how neat and nice you can make it, less about the information provided. Glogster replaces all the handiwork, with Web 2.0 versatility. Instead of a magazine cutout, students could provide a picture of a recycle bin, which includes a hyperlink that will take you to a youtube video explaining with more detail how recycling works. Instead of a sloppy list of recycling do's and don'ts, why not include audio of a song that the students made together, that everyone can hear through the glogster? Sounds fun.
The experience of making my Glog wasn't particularly hard. Probably the most challenging aspect of it was just figuring out how to undo things after I messed up the first time. If you're at all familiar with basic web protocols, then it isn't hard to input a video (though I ended up not including any). What I ended up doing was a catalog of my various movie online profiles. I took a screenshot of each profile, resized it, and then uploaded it to Glogster. Then I embedeed each image to a part of the Glog, and linked the profile to it. While this Glog isn't educational, it did serve to make me realize how it could be applied to such a purpose. Anyway, enjoy the Glog. You can find it under Web 2.0 Applications in the side bar.
Here is my Glog .
The first application I tried out was Glogster. The gist of Glogster is thus: it's basically an interactive poster. Let's say your students are doing a project on recycling. They would normally have to take poster board, huddle around it, bust out the markers and crayons, cut out some pictures from magazines, glue these one, etc. It's a handiwork project; often about how neat and nice you can make it, less about the information provided. Glogster replaces all the handiwork, with Web 2.0 versatility. Instead of a magazine cutout, students could provide a picture of a recycle bin, which includes a hyperlink that will take you to a youtube video explaining with more detail how recycling works. Instead of a sloppy list of recycling do's and don'ts, why not include audio of a song that the students made together, that everyone can hear through the glogster? Sounds fun.
The experience of making my Glog wasn't particularly hard. Probably the most challenging aspect of it was just figuring out how to undo things after I messed up the first time. If you're at all familiar with basic web protocols, then it isn't hard to input a video (though I ended up not including any). What I ended up doing was a catalog of my various movie online profiles. I took a screenshot of each profile, resized it, and then uploaded it to Glogster. Then I embedeed each image to a part of the Glog, and linked the profile to it. While this Glog isn't educational, it did serve to make me realize how it could be applied to such a purpose. Anyway, enjoy the Glog. You can find it under Web 2.0 Applications in the side bar.
Here is my Glog .
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Being Bilingual
My first post will be a response to this video. Or, rather, some musings inspired by the video. Go ahead and take a few minutes to watch the video.
Done? Okay.
I'm a bilingual teacher in the state of Texas. I teach students in both Spanish and English. One half of the day is done in Spanish (the subjects taught are reading, writing and social studies). The other half of the day is taught in English (the subjects taught are math and science). All of which is fine and worthwhile and challenging.
One of my main goals as a bilingual teacher is to stress the importance of being bilingual. Often, students will complain to me and say, "how come we have to read in Spanish? why can't we read in English?"
Like the video above talks about, and how this New York Times article describes, there are definite cognitive reasons to why being bilingual is a good thing. We are able to juggle more things in our head, we are more adept to switching in between trains/modes of thought, etc. As I was researching this post, a lot of articles came up as to how being bilingual made you smarter.
It's hard to explain to a classroom of 4th graders the cognitive improvements that they'll be able to enjoy just because they can speak another language. It's hard for them to fathom that they may be able to prevent Alzheimer's when they get older. It's just not something that they're thinking about, or that's all that applicable to them.
What I always end up telling them is that in the real world, outside of schools, of parents, of older brothers and sisters, of jobs, being bilingual is a key asset. It helps you. I tell them how being bilingual helped me in every job I've ever had. I tell them how it's helped me professionally. I tell them how I'm able to be their teacher because I know Spanish. I tell how much it's changed my life.
But that feels remote, distant; what does that matter to 4th graders?
I feel like my mission this year has been to inspire my students to care about being bilingual. I want them to be proud of it, to take ownership of it, to know why it's special. I want them to understand how lucky they are.
So when I answer them why they have to read in Spanish, I tell them: "Because some day someone is going to ask you if you know another language besides English, and I want you to smile and feel proud and say yes. I can read, speak and write in Spanish."
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