Looking back Looking ahead

Source

This class has been a tech ed adventure!  Did I learn a lot, absolutely!  Was it what I expected, not really.  I do feel more confident incorporating technology in my classes.  I used a few of the tech tool as soon as I learned them.   I have already incorporated Linoit, Wordcloud, Blabberize, Symbaloo and i-Movie.  Soon I plan on using Thinglink, Telegami, QR codes and even an assignment using Prezi. 

I also patted myself on the back since several of the the tech tools that were introduced I use daily; such as Edmodo, Quizlet, and Kahoot.

I love how my students take an assignment incorporating technology and just run with it. Even if they have tech obstacles they begin to problem solve and ask each other for help.  This is one aspect I would have liked to have more of in our class; problem solve together.  This would have saved me hours. From trying to figure out how to embed a video to being able to line something up correctly on my website - a group question answer session would have been invaluable.

When it comes to technology and learning/planning TIME is a major factor! I don't want to throw a tech tool into an assignment without really seeing how it is beneficial to the end product.  Time is also needed to create new assignments and since I teach multiple grades I find myself trying to divvy up my time to sure all grades levels receive equal amounts of technology tools. 

I appreciate signing creating a Twitter account and will try join in a live chat more often to share ideas.  I also like receiving the trending now messages through email.  I wish I had more time to read all the awesome articles on the educational feeds!   I will probably catch up during the summer months. 

I loved creating a blog and found Blogger easy to navigate and use.  I have a new respect for bloggers! It takes a lot of work to make blogging seems effortless.

I wished I loved creating a website.  I found Weebly almost archaic to use, Often while editing text and pictures would not ge where I wanted.  Also changing fonts size, and colors took several clicks and I could not even select a font size number.

I will always try to improve and learn new tech tools and use them if I see they fit into my Italian curriculum.

#Overwhelmed.

OMG Twitter O.M.G. Let me start with what I love:

     The amount of information, quality articles and essays that you can delve into is insane.  When I start reading one article I quickly find a second or third article tweeted underneath calling out to me.  I find myself rushing through what I am reading so I can start reading something else that looks just as interesting.  Then I suddenly have the need to share this interesting piece of information so the retweeting begins! You can follow me @312Giuliana. I also found the web site paper.li which puts articles and links from Twitter in a newspaper format, I find this so much easier to follow!   This was reweeted by Don Doehla ‏@dr_dmd.  Two great resources on the  paper.li site are edutopia.org and morganmfl.weebly.com 

     My other favorite education feeds so far are @npr_ed , ‏@lingholic.  I also enjoy looking at the more lighted hearted feeds such as @calabriaonline, the content on this particular feed brings up great memories of living in Calabria.  I love that the daily activities which are so particular to this region are being documented with pictures and shared for all to see.  

Traditional Calabrese fig sweets. Photo credit

Olives ready to be harvested.  Photo credit

I also love the collaborative and networking aspect of Twitter, it is wonderful to see so many educators wanting to share their knowledge with the world. 

Now for the parts that are making my head spin:

     The amount of TIME Twitter is taking away from my other responsibilities.  I understand that this may be because I am new to Twitter so I may be over indulging, I feel that when I open my feed, 30/40 minutes just fly by.  I hope to get to the point where I can check Twitter for a few minutes a day and move on with life.  I am also surprised when I see people follow me.   I now feel a bit of pressure to post. 

     I am also having issues participating in a Twitter chat, I am not sure if I get on at the wrong time or I am simply not finding interesting ones where I feel I can contribute something worthwhile to the discussion.  So far the only chat I have found is #langchat and most of that content is specifically Spanish or French. I feel odd just jumping in with an Italian tweet, I do not feel comfortable adding my commentary if I don't think what I am saying is authentic.  I hope to have time to discuss live chats with my department members and see if they have found other chats to participate in.  I ideally I would love to find an Italian teacher chat. 

Technical issues:

Where are my re tweets going?

     One last thing that is driving me insane is not being able to find my retweets I hash-tagged to #edu776nz.  Even the tech person I spoke with couldn’t tell me why my retweets were not showing up on #edu776nz feed, out of a dozen retweets I have posted only 2 have shown up on the feed.  

As I settle in to Twitter I see myself using it to keep up with education articles, authentic resources from Italy and perhaps connecting with other language teachers to share resources.  




Update: I'll be participating in #langchat Thursday! See below.

 One step closer to an Ed chat!

Was I coding in the 80‘s?

     

Old Technology  photo credit

     My first experience with a computer if I really stretch my memory came around the age of 12 or 13.  My grade school obtained computers and once or twice a week I would go to computer class where I could type in a series of numbers such as 10 go to 20 repeat to 30 load and then type the most important word RUN.  After I hit enter I would have words scatter across the screen or some color picture I had created through code would emerge.  Fast forward 30 years and I am signing up my daughter for a coding class when I realize, “ wait that’s how you code? I think I did that in the 80's!”

   After that short introduction to computers in grade school I moved to Europe during my teen years where computers were no where. NO WHERE.

     Returning to the States to attend college I definitely used computers for personal use and considered myself at Stage#2: Adoption.  I was never negative towards technology as some of the bullet points in Stage#1 seem to lean towards, but I would categorize myself as Novice or Entry level.  

My obssesion in 2011  photo credit

     I had to laugh when I read some of the of the bullet points in the different stages and the memories that sprang up. I remember receiving my first computer for the classroom and being warned by administration not to have students touch it (Stage#2).  I also had students write up drafts of assignments and then take them to the lab to type them up-What was I thinking!(Stage#3).  Lastly I remember begging my department for a cool Elmo projector - I used it for about a year(Stage#4).

     Reading through stages# 2-5 I could easily see at least one bullet point I could apply to the way I view or use technology.  I feel I am now between Stages #4 and #5 but I also feel there is a big jump between these the two stages.  I also believe that depending on what new tech tool you are learning or how you use technology you can often be moving to and from various stages.  I definitely enjoy having students use technology to enhance learning and to use it to obtain knowledge on a subject matter that they could not easily reach without it.