Wikis

About two years ago, I started a new wiki just because I took a tech class on how to do it; but I never got my students in the habit of going there instead my school website. Mainly, it was just a tool used to posts links. Well, I thought of a good reason to use a wiki...I thought I could get my students to collaborate on a newsletter article so that one person wouldn't have to carry all the weight. Having more authors would include more perspectives and make the article more colorful. So far we/they have written about our trip to the DIA to see Latin American/Spanish artists and our flamenco dance lesson.

Having a wiki is great fun because it is a group project and it helps to build community. My students were so proud to be published and they were even interested enough to read the posts of their classmates, which was refreshing. A drawback that I found is that the wiki(spaces) doesn't have a spell check and the girls write like they are texting. I like having the blog too because it's kind of like a diary and I don't have to worry too much about responding to the posts. In my mind I imagine that no one is really reading this; I'm just thinking out-loud, which I love to do.

For my personal use, my cousins, aunts and I could organize our annual tamale making evening for Christmas mush easier if we used a wiki. Every year we send a flurry of a-mails around trying to see who is bringing which ingredients and cooking utensils for the tamales.

Widgets

I have to say, I have been mentally blocking out the widgets on other websites while I am surfing. I never look at the additional, annoying stuff outside out what I am searching for. When I am shopping, Target has grabbed my attention to divert me from where I was, usually to a dead end. They are mostly a distraction and a nuisance. Even the one that I chose (hoping to discover a new artist) is too big and makes the page look a little messy. On the other hand, I like the surprise element of seeing something new every time I open my blog.

Screencast

Either this was pretty easy, or I am starting to get pretty good. :-) I am learning! While recording my voice, I felt kind of rushed, feeling like I would be taking up too much time as I was talking, but it turned out fine.

This could be very useful to explain something that otherwise might have both the speaker and listener really frustrated. I could see this application being used for absent students, substitute lessons, or even a snow day. Just kidding on that last one. :-)

Voice Thread

http://voicethread.com/share/931166/



This program, Voice Thread, seems very useful because everyone can have a say in the conversation. It could be very validating, to shy people, who are reluctant to speak in front of others. If they don't feel confident about how their comment came out, they can just delete it and record as many times as necessary.

Using this in my class to hear my students speaking individually would be a great use of this program. As class sizes increase, we are going to have to get more creative in how we go about giving students the individual attention that they deserve.

I will admit though, that it has taken me hours to do this week's assignments. For one, I had to figure out how to record because my microphone settings had to be changed not only in my computer's preferences, but in the program (Voice Thread's) settings. My 11 year old son had to help me, because I am not even sure which user name they were referring to when I was trying to post. I still have a lot to learn to become tech savvy. Once you get going in voice thread, though, it seems pretty easy to use.

The 25MB maximum video size was a deterrent to me uploading a video that I wanted to post, so I opted for a still image. I still need tech. some help to resize a video, making it web friendly.

You Tube

I love YouTube! Who doesn't? There is a lot of garbage out there, but that aside, the educational possibilities are endless. I can't imagine what is NOT on You tube. My son learns magic tricks on YouTube; I even learned how to fix a leaky faucet once. For all us visual learners out there, this site is very helpful and speaks our language.

This video about a famous flea market in Barcelona, Spain that I would like to visit someday. I chose to attach this video because my eighth grade is studying Spanish culture. Students love to see real examples of what they are learning. It speaks to their intelligences and they relate so much more easily to these mini virtual field trips.

Shopping Web 2.0 Tools "Thing 12"

Many of the tools available seemed to be the same or similar to the ones I found on Mash Ups, but I did discover some new things:

• PollDaddy could be used to survey my students on projects to find out if my "bright ideas" were really that all that great.  
• Blabberize looks like a ton of fun to grab the attention of my students to introduce a lesson.  I tired it, but my microphone won't record for some reason.   I'll have to try again from another computer later.
• Quizlet is great for students to create and share their own quizzes and flashcards.  
• ToonDoo looks really interesting for students to create scripts in Spanish to practice dialog without getting hung-up on spending so much time on the artwork.  The only problem is that it does take a while to get to know the program and all of the options that are available.  I tried to make a cartoon and discovered that I could not write with Spanish punctuation or letters.  On second thought, this won't work for my students, but would be fun for art students.

There are so many possibilities to integrate technology into my lessons and to make them more engaging.

Social Bookmarking

Using tags is a good way to organize your bookmarks/favorites because I can never remember where I found an interesting site.  I found find sites that I had never heard of before via Delicious like the BBC, http://www.digitaldialects.com/Spanish/Food_audio.htm,  where students can play interactive games and hear pronunciation, http://www.livemocha.com/vocabulary/games/es-mx# where more advanced students can practice vocabulary with images, http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/COURSES/verbs/arrepentirse.htm, to access to common verbs in their conjugated forms,  and http://www.codyscuentos.com/2008/03/caperucita-roja-audio-cuento/, to hear Little Red Riding Hood in Spanish and other famous childrens's stories like the Three Little Pigs.


The biggest advantage of using Delicious is that I can access my bookmarks from anywhere and my students can see those links in one place instead of going to the school's homepage.


I see myself being able to use this in my professional and personal life because I move around a lot and I don't like to carry my tablet home every day.  I do a lot of work at home, then I have to email myself the link at work.  This will save me time and frustration - what a clever idea! I guess I'll have to open an account with Delicious.