Not where I wanted to be...

This school year began slowly but gained pace quickly with a new SmartBoard, CPS, and an InterWrite. I spent days and nights trying to learn these new pieces and four weeks into using them, my cpu crashes! Now, I use a projector but feel so much better and much less stressed.

Hello students!

We will talk about books, literature, and language as much as we can here. Class time isn't a long time and many of you may have questions or comments you want discussed or answered. This is your opportunity!! At this point we are reading R.M.S. Titanic in the literature book. Many people asked about how it was written. Find a newspaper (easy on the internet) and make a list of similarites and differences between the piece and the selection from your literature book. What do you think?

Thing #19

I am now a member of TeacherPop and placed my membership card on my Facebook page. TeacherPop and all of Ning seem very interesting. Hope to see all of you there as well!

In Summary...

My favorite discoveries on this journey were learning that I could not only have a blog, but put videos and items from other sites on it. I will wait until next school year to begin a class blog but already see several uses for it. This way I can practice using and keeping a blog until I am ready for my students to use it.

This program has definitely affected my lifelong learning goals, because of the amount I learned in such a short time period and much of it is for my students. I am thrilled! My class will seem so interesting to students because of what I have learned. Also, I will not be afraid to try new things on the computer.

I knew that I would learn to use technology, but Web 2.0 is the most surprising part. I had no idea there were so many facets of use for my students. I can completely change how I do things.

I cannot think of anything to improve this concept.

What I have learned will absolutely influence how I teach Language and Literature from now on. The global aspect has opened many doors for me and my students.

I do plan to keep up with new developments, especially with some of the RSS feeds I now receive! I am not afraid to try new things on the computer. I finally figured out at the beginning of these 23 things that if I don't give out my credit card number, I am fine.

Thing #23

I think the original 23 things came from the 43 things at www.43things.com, although there several "23 things" listed when I searched for it. A couple of the addresses I found are plcmc12-things.blogspot.com and resa-23things.blogspot.com.

I will use the creative commons license. Usually, things are open for education as far as making copies and showing videos. Now, I feel more aware of what to look for and how to go about getting to use it - all legally. I just wonder how many teachers are guilty of breaking the law?

Thing #22

Thing 22 is about podcasts. I saw several podcasts last semester for my multicultural course and am pretty familiar with them. In this thing, I learned of some other resources of podcasts that I could use in the classroom. The one I like deals with idioms. My students all know that it can't literally "rain cats and dogs" but don't listen and view idiomic language while listening to it. I hope this helps. The podcast is An Idiom a Day, and it is from the Education Podcast Network. The one I like is http://www.languagelearningcenter.net/idioms/an-idiom-a-day-a-bitter-pill-to-swallow/. I can use these on various days because they are short and there are several of them.

The directory I used to get this podcast was The Educational Podcast Directory. It was very user-friendly, especially for us "old English teachers." I have considered creating podcasts, especially last semester, but I won't do that for a completely personal reason - I hate the sound of my own voice. What I may do is allow someone else (a student) read what I want them to; it seems like a great, free reward for making good grades!

I will listen to podcasts from the Education Podcast Network regularly because there are so many, neat things that I could share with my students.

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