Thursday, January 13, 2011
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
A Day in the Life...District Educational Interpreter and Family Engagement
(a) conference with mother who wished to change KK teachers for son...premonitions and dreams
(b) High Schooler from Colombia into 11th grade but no transcript...
(c) translation of urgent letter and forms for new Adult ESOL class
(d) phone call after one day of calls from Dad of PreK student attending but not registered
(e) home visit with Social Worker to complete registration for daughter because of no POR was available...bus route and time call to Transportation
(f) lunch of comfort food with a great colleague
(g) conference with Dad of Alternative School student who has misbehaved and now claims he cannot read the test questions ---ELL Dept consultation
(h) two home calls to ask parents to call schools
(i) another email needing info about a home visit to KK student who language line interpreter said was home without parents util Sept. - who has charge of this child? asks the school
(j) new student from El Salvador with 7th grade education and who is age-appropraite for 11th grade...no English at all..W-APT test given...aunt told (no parents in USA) that there is no way he can complete school to earn a diploma
(b) High Schooler from Colombia into 11th grade but no transcript...
(c) translation of urgent letter and forms for new Adult ESOL class
(d) phone call after one day of calls from Dad of PreK student attending but not registered
(e) home visit with Social Worker to complete registration for daughter because of no POR was available...bus route and time call to Transportation
(f) lunch of comfort food with a great colleague
(g) conference with Dad of Alternative School student who has misbehaved and now claims he cannot read the test questions ---ELL Dept consultation
(h) two home calls to ask parents to call schools
(i) another email needing info about a home visit to KK student who language line interpreter said was home without parents util Sept. - who has charge of this child? asks the school
(j) new student from El Salvador with 7th grade education and who is age-appropraite for 11th grade...no English at all..W-APT test given...aunt told (no parents in USA) that there is no way he can complete school to earn a diploma
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Dialects
Which dialect do you think is the best and most accurate form of English?
• Dialect One
• Dialect Two
• Dialect Three
• Dialect Four
• Dialect Five
• Dialect Six
• Dialect Seven
• Dialect Eight
• Dialect Nine
• Dialect Ten
• Dialect One
• Dialect Two
• Dialect Three
• Dialect Four
• Dialect Five
• Dialect Six
• Dialect Seven
• Dialect Eight
• Dialect Nine
• Dialect Ten
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
More words, less videos
I've put a lot of video clips on lately...if you are checking my blog out while at work within the school system, some will not work and will appear as big blank, white spaces! So check me out at home. All YouTube videos are blocked within the school system. None of mine are objectionable as you will see. So I decided now is also a good time to start writing again and not just post video clips I like or need. But do check them out when you can!
Anyway, welcome to all the new Fall 2009 23 Thingers! You will love the course! I hope my blog might inspire and give you ideas about your assignments, some of which may have changed a little bit since I took the course, mind you! Also, let me know if you have questions that a fellow-former-previous course-taker could answer, for what that's worth!
-Scott
Anyway, welcome to all the new Fall 2009 23 Thingers! You will love the course! I hope my blog might inspire and give you ideas about your assignments, some of which may have changed a little bit since I took the course, mind you! Also, let me know if you have questions that a fellow-former-previous course-taker could answer, for what that's worth!
-Scott
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Thing 23 - Reflections on the Power of Web 2.0
From the international lullaby project, a Ukrainian clip (courtesy of duratrub):
It's hard to know where to start! This course has broadened my knowledge and increased my skill level in using the Internet as an educational tool in a very measurable way. It's has been that experience from the Disney movie Alladin entitled "A Whole New World" for me. I am already using many of these toold for my Interpreter course that I teach for UGA now! See my WIKI for the course! THAT HAS BEEN VERY REWARDING INDEED! I can see that I will continue to use and expand my knowledge of the Web 2.0 tools available in the future, and I am excited that I feel equipped to do just that now, thanks to this course.
I recently told the Director of PL here that I genuinely felt that the course should be a requirement for all teachers in the District! Maybe that is a bit unrealistic, but it is my feeling. I have learned more than I ever thought possible (and yes, my brain is a bit on overdrive right now due to all of this) at my age. But I also realized that I have to start using the tools in order to get more comfortable with them. I've tried a few tools that really didn't have an immediate impact on me, and others that I loved! I loved the Animoto tool, and Edmodo seems to be a very useful tool. My favorite was the xtranormal tool to create the avatar movies. I discovered new facets of Google Docs that I had not ever used, and this was fascinating as well.
Thank you for this wonderful course! I have bragged about it to many. I will admit, however, that it is interesting...the more involved you get with Web 2.0 tools, the less others around you completely understand about them, so you have to have patience. They just don't seem to get that this is where we are currently at, not some futuristic dream or fantasy. I find now and have reached the definite conclusion that the Web 2.0 tools AUGMENT our connections (do you remember I was pondering that question at the beginning of the course???) to the world and to our community, they do NOT replace them. They enrich the connections among us. I wish everyone saw it that way. They don't. I don't think they threaten the "humnanness" of personal contact, they only lead to a deepening relationship, if used effectively. They certainly enhance the learning experience for students now well started off into the 21st century. I hope I can be a life-long learner of these things and stay current up until....! thanks again to all involved!
Now, another lullaby from YouTube, this time a Yiddish one, again from duratrub:
And finally, a Russian one...from duratrub as well:
It's hard to know where to start! This course has broadened my knowledge and increased my skill level in using the Internet as an educational tool in a very measurable way. It's has been that experience from the Disney movie Alladin entitled "A Whole New World" for me. I am already using many of these toold for my Interpreter course that I teach for UGA now! See my WIKI for the course! THAT HAS BEEN VERY REWARDING INDEED! I can see that I will continue to use and expand my knowledge of the Web 2.0 tools available in the future, and I am excited that I feel equipped to do just that now, thanks to this course.
I recently told the Director of PL here that I genuinely felt that the course should be a requirement for all teachers in the District! Maybe that is a bit unrealistic, but it is my feeling. I have learned more than I ever thought possible (and yes, my brain is a bit on overdrive right now due to all of this) at my age. But I also realized that I have to start using the tools in order to get more comfortable with them. I've tried a few tools that really didn't have an immediate impact on me, and others that I loved! I loved the Animoto tool, and Edmodo seems to be a very useful tool. My favorite was the xtranormal tool to create the avatar movies. I discovered new facets of Google Docs that I had not ever used, and this was fascinating as well.
Thank you for this wonderful course! I have bragged about it to many. I will admit, however, that it is interesting...the more involved you get with Web 2.0 tools, the less others around you completely understand about them, so you have to have patience. They just don't seem to get that this is where we are currently at, not some futuristic dream or fantasy. I find now and have reached the definite conclusion that the Web 2.0 tools AUGMENT our connections (do you remember I was pondering that question at the beginning of the course???) to the world and to our community, they do NOT replace them. They enrich the connections among us. I wish everyone saw it that way. They don't. I don't think they threaten the "humnanness" of personal contact, they only lead to a deepening relationship, if used effectively. They certainly enhance the learning experience for students now well started off into the 21st century. I hope I can be a life-long learner of these things and stay current up until....! thanks again to all involved!
Now, another lullaby from YouTube, this time a Yiddish one, again from duratrub:
And finally, a Russian one...from duratrub as well:
Thing 22 - Exploring Web 2.0 Tools Again
First, courtesy of LiveTyping:
LiveTyping.com
I have explored Animoto and created this 30 second slideshow- click HERE to view What fun and how easy is that! I want to create one for my students with a quick story in Spanish so they can practice.
Next, I created a quiz in Spanish Grammar for Interpreters">Advanced Spanish grammar for Interpreters using Quizlet.
I also explored Lessonwriter and My Tadalists I am keeping a good taglist in my Diigo dashboard labeled "Web 2.0 Tools" so I won't forget where these things are on the Web. A lot of them I want to explore later. There is so much that you can use in any kind of training/learning exercise that it will make a "regular old" lecture seem dull to me I am afraid. I remember that I used to feel pretty "hip" just knowing how to create and use a PowerPoint (I think my wife had to convince me and show me how to use that!).
Thing 20 - Google Docs
My experience here is the very same: I have been using Google docs, but only to store documents I created in Word or PowerPoint on the Web so I could have them in storage "out there" ready to be accessed from the UGA campus or elsewhere to show my classes. It was very good to have. Now, with this course, I have discovered the many more "layers" of usage that is incorporated into Google Docs. Wow, wow, wow! I loved the form function! I can see more use for me in the presentation mode, BUT I want to try to think of a way to use this to gather information from parents and students to guide my Professional Learning and Family Engagement activities. It will take some thought, and I am just beginning that process now I see. Hopefully that was the goal of this course...a beginning and not a "finalized" destination! Make sense?
So here are some things I created thanks to this Thing:
First, here is the Google doc (it's a PowerPoint Presentation) that I published:
And my "All About Me"
And here is a Spanish pronoun quiz if you dare (only two questions..no fear!):
So here are some things I created thanks to this Thing:
First, here is the Google doc (it's a PowerPoint Presentation) that I published:
And my "All About Me"
And here is a Spanish pronoun quiz if you dare (only two questions..no fear!):
Thing 21 - Pageflakes
My pageflakes page is public temporarily (I realized that some of the flakes are not for public view in the long run. I had a bit of trouble understanding how to copy the page that Caroline had created, so I just started with a blank page (or at least I think with my 1st page tab) and edited, removed, and added flakes to the page. I really like this, and have done this before with Google.
By the way, I used Jing to capture the image of my pageflakes page you see here. (I'm kind of excited I figured out how to do that, sure, BUT MORE EXCITED THAT I THOUGHT ABOUT DOING THAT...know what I'm trying to say????) I really think I will create a new page for my interpreters' course! I can put various links and media, and notes, etc. to supplement the in-class activities.
As to uses, I think it would be great to "theme" a page and have students be able to go there and do research in a more directed manner, that is, with some bit of direction that the instructor has preliminarily "filtered" for them.
Thing 19 - Creating a Podcast!
Subscribe Free Add to my Page
Well...that sure was fun (and a bit of an adventure)! I got my podcast recorded with my brand new MacBook laptop in Garage Band. That was a challenge that now I am glad I took. A stretch, as the course says. You see, I knew exactly how to use voice recorder and then my installed program to convert the sound file to an mp3 file. I had done this before to create an online course using a company named ScribeStudio (no link listed, sadly, because they went out of business May 1 of this year). So the main thing would be the uploading of the mp3 file to GCast. But I really want to learn about this new laptop! So, off I went tonight to do it! I had to do all kinds of using the help videos and help search to finally discover that you have to send your created podcast to your ITunes library for it to be in mp3 format and uploadable to GCast. It worked like a charm then, and now I know how to do this! Hooray. The podcast itself is about my work at the PDC. I think I forgot to write a description of it.
I can see podcasts being a great tool for recording lectures that you want to make available to learners to summarize a lesson OR maybe even hear an entire lesson from home. I will definitely be able to use podcasts to add to my PL websites in teaching Spanish to Educators, and also for Family Engagement segments. I will research more to see what other ideas I can discover.
From ignorance (see my post on Thing 18)...to bliss!
Friday, June 5, 2009
Thing 5-d - More Discoveries from Google Reader
What I am discovering is that VARIETY is key to the success of these tools. Using more than one tool HOLDS THE LEARNER'S ATTENTION, and therefore makes the learning experience more productive, effective, and meaningful.
In this feed fro my Google Reader, I discovered a very cool Spanish verb conjugation (I know, I know, to many people that would be a torture site!) site I have embedded now into my Interpreter Wiki. this will be a very useful tool even for the native speakers of Spanish that I teach.
I also discovered a neat tool, called Sketchcast that I plan also to use in that same site after I create a sketch with it.
Artistically speaking, I like a site I saw in my Reader called Glogster, and I created this "glog", which is basically a collage of a few pictures of my middle son, Adam, from a baby in the hospital nursery unit until his senior picture at college! Just playing for now, but here it is:
The students could be given an assignment to collect pictures that represented key terms in a unit or chapter (as in a Spanish textbook), then have classmates guess the words they are seeing in each picture!
In this feed fro my Google Reader, I discovered a very cool Spanish verb conjugation (I know, I know, to many people that would be a torture site!) site I have embedded now into my Interpreter Wiki. this will be a very useful tool even for the native speakers of Spanish that I teach.
I also discovered a neat tool, called Sketchcast that I plan also to use in that same site after I create a sketch with it.
Artistically speaking, I like a site I saw in my Reader called Glogster, and I created this "glog", which is basically a collage of a few pictures of my middle son, Adam, from a baby in the hospital nursery unit until his senior picture at college! Just playing for now, but here it is:
The students could be given an assignment to collect pictures that represented key terms in a unit or chapter (as in a Spanish textbook), then have classmates guess the words they are seeing in each picture!
Apple Store deal! I made the switch! I crossed the river...I converted....I went to the other side....PC to Mac!
Apple Store has a deal on now. You buy a MacBook and get an IPod Touch for FREE!!! They also have free financing for a year! I have pondered a Mac for a while, and fought it for a good while. Finally I was convinced. All my family (in house that is, and cousins off in TX) have Macs. Susan converted to a Mac a while back. When we sit in the den and start up laptops, I wait, and wait, and wait (granted, my Dell Inspiron 8600 is older, but...) while they all start right to work!
So last weekend I did it! I bought one! I am excited! It is being shipped to me, but the IPod Touch has already arrived. You buy it and they send you a rebate for $229!!! I really haven't tried out the IPod Touch yet! I am weird that way...
I am spending the waiting time (a bit long in my opinion) watching video clips from the Apple Store about switching form PC to Mac, and also about the features of my new laptop! Learning a lot ahead of time which should make the transitional shock less frustrating I hope!
I will keep you posted!
So last weekend I did it! I bought one! I am excited! It is being shipped to me, but the IPod Touch has already arrived. You buy it and they send you a rebate for $229!!! I really haven't tried out the IPod Touch yet! I am weird that way...
I am spending the waiting time (a bit long in my opinion) watching video clips from the Apple Store about switching form PC to Mac, and also about the features of my new laptop! Learning a lot ahead of time which should make the transitional shock less frustrating I hope!
I will keep you posted!
Thing 18 - Podcasts
Well! Here's a confession...I have heard about podcasts and heard people mention them matter-of-factly and have been a bit lost in the conversation! Now I feel enlightened at last! I had even downloaded ITunes when I received an IPod shuffle for Christmas from one of my sons (I actually didn't even know what to do with that for a while, now I love it!)and never really noticed the "podcasts" link in the ITunes store! So I am now amazed. Once again, there's a whole new world out there that sucks me into the 21st century. I can't even imagine my junior high and senior high days when best I could do to get live Spanish was my old short-wave radio! What if I had had all of this! Wow!
I explored all of the links, and found an older style German language lessons podcast that I put the feeder for on my Google Reader, as well as a very good and modern Mandarin Chinese lessons podcast.
I can easily imagine students being able to have podcasts of practical language lessons to supplement their textbooks, and also I imagine that eventually textbooks will automatically have podcast support like they presently have CDs and online support for the texts. How exciting! Is this reality already, I wonder? Since I am no longer in the classroom...hmmmm.
A funny story I have to share...I went to the "Coffee Break Spanish" podcast on the Grazr on the 23 Things wiki page of Thing 18 and listened to it a bit (a random lesson). I had thought maybe I would use it or refer to it for my professional learning activities as I train teachers here for the District! Good idea, right? Well...the lessons were great, BUT I heard a language I did not understand along with beautiful Spanish. In just a few seconds I realized it WAS English, but all the speakers were from Scotland!!! Their accents (though amazingly easy on the ears) made the English instructions and explanations probably harder for the people here to understand than the Spanish! LOL! Don't you love it?
Last night I went back to my ITunes Store on my laptop at home, and downloaded a podcast of Spanish Medical Terminology to use with that course I teach for UGA as well!
I am actually looking forward to creating my own podcast in Thing 19.
I can see immediately how these are new tools that we can use to make learning more productive (not to mention fun) for today's techno-savvy students. Now, MY challenge is with ADULT education. These learners may or may not be so techno-savvy! Ha! So onward rides this Don Quijote toward the windmills perhaps, but I continue to make that impossible dream possible, I hope! I am enthusiastic about these things enriching my life from now on! If my 87 year-old Dad can love email, be on Facebook, and enjoy getting a new laptop, like he does, then I can sure move forward and stretch my techno-comfort-zone (TCZ-a Scott King original term)a bit!
I explored all of the links, and found an older style German language lessons podcast that I put the feeder for on my Google Reader, as well as a very good and modern Mandarin Chinese lessons podcast.
I can easily imagine students being able to have podcasts of practical language lessons to supplement their textbooks, and also I imagine that eventually textbooks will automatically have podcast support like they presently have CDs and online support for the texts. How exciting! Is this reality already, I wonder? Since I am no longer in the classroom...hmmmm.
A funny story I have to share...I went to the "Coffee Break Spanish" podcast on the Grazr on the 23 Things wiki page of Thing 18 and listened to it a bit (a random lesson). I had thought maybe I would use it or refer to it for my professional learning activities as I train teachers here for the District! Good idea, right? Well...the lessons were great, BUT I heard a language I did not understand along with beautiful Spanish. In just a few seconds I realized it WAS English, but all the speakers were from Scotland!!! Their accents (though amazingly easy on the ears) made the English instructions and explanations probably harder for the people here to understand than the Spanish! LOL! Don't you love it?
Last night I went back to my ITunes Store on my laptop at home, and downloaded a podcast of Spanish Medical Terminology to use with that course I teach for UGA as well!
I am actually looking forward to creating my own podcast in Thing 19.
I can see immediately how these are new tools that we can use to make learning more productive (not to mention fun) for today's techno-savvy students. Now, MY challenge is with ADULT education. These learners may or may not be so techno-savvy! Ha! So onward rides this Don Quijote toward the windmills perhaps, but I continue to make that impossible dream possible, I hope! I am enthusiastic about these things enriching my life from now on! If my 87 year-old Dad can love email, be on Facebook, and enjoy getting a new laptop, like he does, then I can sure move forward and stretch my techno-comfort-zone (TCZ-a Scott King original term)a bit!
Friday, May 22, 2009
Thing 17 - Nings and Microblogging
Coming soon! Under construction!!!
My Twitter ID = scottkingnc
My Plurk ID = scottyking
Hey, guess what? I created an Interpreters' Ning at:
http://interpreter.ning.com/
I really need to work on it, but I can use it for interpreters that I train everywhere. It is exciting!
Created another one for medical interpreting:
http://medicalinterpreter.ning.com/
I've started using the Plurk account (www.plurk.com/scottyking), very slowly at first, but I have a few Kansas friends already, thanks to a "shoutout" from Caroline today!
Now, on to the reflections:
Nings
* What was your first impression of Classroom 2.0? My first impression was that it was huge (# of members unbelievable) and overwhelming, but as I explored more, I saw that you can narrow down considerably your needs and interests fairly rapidly!
* Was it what you expected? How did it differ from your expectations? Was more than I had imagined was "out there"!
* Did you find any discussions or resources of value? -Well, yes...I just bought an IPod Touch as it came free with the new MacBook I bought, and so I found a discussion about how the IPod Touch could be used in the classroom helpful to orient me to the new "gadget" I have!
* Would you benefit from participating in a Ning related to your professional practices? Yes, I have already started to benefit from joining the ning! I found a great textbook!
* Were you able to find a ning at this site related to what you teach? If so, did you check it out? - Also, here I struck gold! Foreign Language Resources abound! as in this discussion
* How could participating in a social network such as a Ning improve your instructional practices? I created a Ning for a class I teach for UGA. It's for Medical Interpreters. It should aid in the presentation and feedback from these adult learners, and mainly to gleen from their personal expereinces. I want to assign them topics to research and post to the network.
* For those of you who teach older students (middle school and above), would you consider creating a Ning for your classroom? Do you have any ideas for how you could use it? Definitely I can use this for adult learners!!!
Microblogging
* What is your past experience with microblogging and sites like Twitter and Plurk? None whatsoever!
* Given the testimonials above from others who use microblogs as a part of their PLN, could you identify with any of their reasons? Yes, I thought the need for finding quick answers to questions very valuable...like instant research without all the work!
* Could you see microblogging becoming a component of your PLN? Why or why not? It already has!
* For those of you who teach older students (middle school and above), would you consider using a private microblog community such as Shout'emor Edmodo in your classroom? How could you use it? I hope to start using Edomodo, and have it set up now, and I am exploring it furtther!
My Twitter ID = scottkingnc
My Plurk ID = scottyking
Hey, guess what? I created an Interpreters' Ning at:
http://interpreter.ning.com/
I really need to work on it, but I can use it for interpreters that I train everywhere. It is exciting!
Created another one for medical interpreting:
http://medicalinterpreter.ning.com/
I've started using the Plurk account (www.plurk.com/scottyking), very slowly at first, but I have a few Kansas friends already, thanks to a "shoutout" from Caroline today!
Now, on to the reflections:
Nings
* What was your first impression of Classroom 2.0? My first impression was that it was huge (# of members unbelievable) and overwhelming, but as I explored more, I saw that you can narrow down considerably your needs and interests fairly rapidly!
* Was it what you expected? How did it differ from your expectations? Was more than I had imagined was "out there"!
* Did you find any discussions or resources of value? -Well, yes...I just bought an IPod Touch as it came free with the new MacBook I bought, and so I found a discussion about how the IPod Touch could be used in the classroom helpful to orient me to the new "gadget" I have!
* Would you benefit from participating in a Ning related to your professional practices? Yes, I have already started to benefit from joining the ning! I found a great textbook!
* Were you able to find a ning at this site related to what you teach? If so, did you check it out? - Also, here I struck gold! Foreign Language Resources abound! as in this discussion
* How could participating in a social network such as a Ning improve your instructional practices? I created a Ning for a class I teach for UGA. It's for Medical Interpreters. It should aid in the presentation and feedback from these adult learners, and mainly to gleen from their personal expereinces. I want to assign them topics to research and post to the network.
* For those of you who teach older students (middle school and above), would you consider creating a Ning for your classroom? Do you have any ideas for how you could use it? Definitely I can use this for adult learners!!!
Microblogging
* What is your past experience with microblogging and sites like Twitter and Plurk? None whatsoever!
* Given the testimonials above from others who use microblogs as a part of their PLN, could you identify with any of their reasons? Yes, I thought the need for finding quick answers to questions very valuable...like instant research without all the work!
* Could you see microblogging becoming a component of your PLN? Why or why not? It already has!
* For those of you who teach older students (middle school and above), would you consider using a private microblog community such as Shout'emor Edmodo in your classroom? How could you use it? I hope to start using Edomodo, and have it set up now, and I am exploring it furtther!
Thing 16 - Social Networking and PLNs
What do you all think about the following quote? Apply it to the use of Web 2.0 tools in instruction:
I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
-Albert Einstein
Now, on to the task!
Questions:
* What were your feelings on social networking before you took this course? Were you active in any form of social networking before you took this course? If so, was it personal or professional? I really had no exposure except to Diigo, and that through Caroline here at the PDC, to social networking. I had heard of MySpace, and didn't like what I had heard! I was not active at all in any of this. That certainly changed just before I took the course. Facebook was and is my "Rock of Gibraltar", where I first discovered what this was all about!
* If you've never gotten involved in social networking for professional purposes, had you ever considered using web-based tools as means of networking with other educators before? NO, I had never heard of this except just bits and pieces from people who seemed to be able to do that through "magic" ! Hahaha! I never imagined I could learn how to do the same thing. Now I am realizing just how useful it could have been as a classroom teacher!
* Regarding PLNs (Personal/Professional Learning Networks), what are your initial thoughts about them? I am amazed at them. They seem to take a lot of time, though! How do you decide when to plurk or tweet and when to stay quiet/ Is it considered rude to not tweet or plurk for a few days? My questions are many. But I love the PLN concept. I would have loved to have set up a PLN with Spanish teachers across the world. Wow...such an opportunity to grow your art and style in teaching. Is this what it felt like when they first came out with radio, then TV, then tape recordings, etc.?
* Looking at your own professional practices, do you think building your own PLN could benefit you? Why or why not? I will try. What does it hurt to try? :) I can see that ideas about interpreting, family engagement, and serving at a District-wide level from others doing the same would potentially encourage me a great deal to stay open to new ideas! I don't want to grow stale in my profession!
I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
-Albert Einstein
Now, on to the task!
Questions:
* What were your feelings on social networking before you took this course? Were you active in any form of social networking before you took this course? If so, was it personal or professional? I really had no exposure except to Diigo, and that through Caroline here at the PDC, to social networking. I had heard of MySpace, and didn't like what I had heard! I was not active at all in any of this. That certainly changed just before I took the course. Facebook was and is my "Rock of Gibraltar", where I first discovered what this was all about!
* If you've never gotten involved in social networking for professional purposes, had you ever considered using web-based tools as means of networking with other educators before? NO, I had never heard of this except just bits and pieces from people who seemed to be able to do that through "magic" ! Hahaha! I never imagined I could learn how to do the same thing. Now I am realizing just how useful it could have been as a classroom teacher!
* Regarding PLNs (Personal/Professional Learning Networks), what are your initial thoughts about them? I am amazed at them. They seem to take a lot of time, though! How do you decide when to plurk or tweet and when to stay quiet/ Is it considered rude to not tweet or plurk for a few days? My questions are many. But I love the PLN concept. I would have loved to have set up a PLN with Spanish teachers across the world. Wow...such an opportunity to grow your art and style in teaching. Is this what it felt like when they first came out with radio, then TV, then tape recordings, etc.?
* Looking at your own professional practices, do you think building your own PLN could benefit you? Why or why not? I will try. What does it hurt to try? :) I can see that ideas about interpreting, family engagement, and serving at a District-wide level from others doing the same would potentially encourage me a great deal to stay open to new ideas! I don't want to grow stale in my profession!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Thing 15 - The Library Thing
I signed up for an account on Library Thing (my username is "scottyking")...but I only listed about three books. I am a boring, boring book reader I suppose. I just don't spend much time in that arena. It varies from season to season, but not an avid reader of anything that is fiction. I prefer to create avatar movies on "xtranormal"!
However, I do see how you can have great assignments on LibraryThing and discover more interesting books about a topic. It looks like it is a very useful tool, and just as soon as the "xtranormal" novelty wears off (plus slideshows and YouTube help videos), I will revisit Librarything! :) Smiles!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Thing 5-C Google Reader Discovery
A quote I found that I like:
Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will. -George Bernard Shaw
I just discovered a great site with medical animation videos from the University of Pennsylvania that will help with my Medical Spanish Interpreter's class with UGA! It's a Medical Animation Library ...really cool!
Also a hometown video from jamestown NC...my school is in it and more...
VIDEO OF SCOTT'S HOMETOWN
Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will. -George Bernard Shaw
I just discovered a great site with medical animation videos from the University of Pennsylvania that will help with my Medical Spanish Interpreter's class with UGA! It's a Medical Animation Library ...really cool!
Also a hometown video from jamestown NC...my school is in it and more...
VIDEO OF SCOTT'S HOMETOWN
And, now, another thing that came through my reader. I just created the video below using xtranormal :
You just type in your script (can have two animated people in there if you choose!) and create their actions, facila expressions, etc. You like? I think it's pretty cool! I am already starting to incorporate the idea as a way to enliven my Professional Learning Activity that I am developing for Interpreter Training here at BCS. I will work more on this but so far I have the following:
Monday, May 18, 2009
Thing 14 - YouTube and TeacherTube
I have also had a lot of fun exploring YouTube. I had, of course, seen a few YouTube videos before, but I had never really searched for videos. I found a couple of videos of Spanish lessons (some much better than others in terms of quality and methodology), several videos about Quakers that both annoyed and interested me, and the following video on Native American Flute playing (a "how to" video that is to tell you how to make certain grace notes and other notes on a flute...I have about 10 flutes and this is my hobby!):
There is a lot of potential to supplement your lessons here, and also to provide additional remediation in your subject material. Let's say in Spanish class:
I am just amazed that all of that is out there! Of course... I see theses and think to myself (I confess) "I can do better"! So I need to start creating videos in these topics and put them on YouTube I suppose. And I did see that there were a lot of pitfalls to just jumping into searching for videos without filtering! Even words like "Spanish" yielding some bad things at times. I am interested in redaing and seeing what others found!
There is a lot of potential to supplement your lessons here, and also to provide additional remediation in your subject material. Let's say in Spanish class:
I am just amazed that all of that is out there! Of course... I see theses and think to myself (I confess) "I can do better"! So I need to start creating videos in these topics and put them on YouTube I suppose. And I did see that there were a lot of pitfalls to just jumping into searching for videos without filtering! Even words like "Spanish" yielding some bad things at times. I am interested in redaing and seeing what others found!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Thing 13 - VoiceThread
This was a very interesting "THING" ! It was my very first exposure to a voicethread, and I love them. Now the first part was the playing with it...I really loved what I would call my typical first response always to each new thing: a "neat", technological sort of awe of creating such a thing and then posting it to a blog or to my wiki.
Then comes reality. Not disillusion, but simply being overwhelmed. I wanted to put a voicethread on everything!
So, I created a voicethread to go on a family blog I created...with some old photographs of family...and my comments about the photos. In checking it, there are some issues with the audio...I am suspecting that it was my home interenet DSL on my laptop which seems to regularly go out briefly and back on. So, I am trying to fix that before posting it.
I am also working on a voicethread to send out for interpreters in the School District and other locations. I will post that here as soon as I have completed it.
In comparing the slideshow options...I just like the idea of being able to make comments in the voicethread option. This seems to fit best for instruction and "distance" training.
By the way, a success story...briefly, I teach a Cont.Ed. class for UGA...I created a wiki for the students www.interpreter.wikispaces.com which not only gave them a great source of communicating with each other and me, but also served me well when I needed a substitute to come in and teach/guide the class...I wrote all of my lesson plans and activities for the day I would be gone on a page of the wiki (see the link to the left side of the page). This made a hugely positive impression on the Administration of UGA! Hooray!
Then comes reality. Not disillusion, but simply being overwhelmed. I wanted to put a voicethread on everything!
So, I created a voicethread to go on a family blog I created...with some old photographs of family...and my comments about the photos. In checking it, there are some issues with the audio...I am suspecting that it was my home interenet DSL on my laptop which seems to regularly go out briefly and back on. So, I am trying to fix that before posting it.
I am also working on a voicethread to send out for interpreters in the School District and other locations. I will post that here as soon as I have completed it.
In comparing the slideshow options...I just like the idea of being able to make comments in the voicethread option. This seems to fit best for instruction and "distance" training.
By the way, a success story...briefly, I teach a Cont.Ed. class for UGA...I created a wiki for the students www.interpreter.wikispaces.com which not only gave them a great source of communicating with each other and me, but also served me well when I needed a substitute to come in and teach/guide the class...I wrote all of my lesson plans and activities for the day I would be gone on a page of the wiki (see the link to the left side of the page). This made a hugely positive impression on the Administration of UGA! Hooray!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Help request!
I need help again....can you all tell me how you find it easiest to save an image from Flckr and yet save the title, link, and the credit information for that image in a convenient way. I think Caroline mentioned using Diigo...is that what you all are doing?
thanks
thanks
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