WEEK 10

Well, the end came and I feel very happy because I have gained new knowledge about the use of technology in my classes. It is incredible to know that I can use many of the tools suggested in this course and there are others that I am planning to use.

First, I remember the first time I used nicenet in this course and to tell the truth I was very nerveous because I wanted to do the right thing. But I noticed that everybody felt the same. Nicenet give me the opportunity of sharing opinions with my colleges and make me feel that I was not alone. We helped and learned each other with the weekly comments, blog posting, sharing useful links in Delicious.

Second, the readings give me the opportunity of reviewing and reflecting about some topics that I have read before, but they also let me know new things that can help me to be a better teacher.

Third, the use of ABCD to set the objectives was great because in that way we can center what we want from our students.

 Fourth, the Technology tools for creating Students-Centered classes took me to another level of creativity. I did my first Interactive power point and Jeopardy. That was great !!! I have also used the teacher resources to create some material, like handouts, etc.

These are some of the good experiences that this course have allowed me  and make me think in this song: OVER THE RAINBOW

"Somewhere over the rainbow ,   Blue birds fly
And the dreams that you dreamed of ,   Dreams really do come true "

Finally, We all know that technology surrounds us so, we have to take advantage of this in order to use it in our classes.

Thanks to the Embassy of my country, thanks to Jody and Celeste for all the support and finally, thanks to all of you for sharing .

Good luck !!!

WEEK  9

This week was related to Learning styles and Technology tools for Multiple intelligences. Some years ago, I heard about Gardner’s Theory about Multiple Intelligences and I started to consider in planning my classes. But now, after reading these interesting articles about it, I asked myself if I am doing the right thing . I know that I have tried…but from now on I will do the best for my students.

I like technology but even though I am not so skillful, I have tried to apply the basic tools I knew in my classes ( videos, power point, multimedia, whiteboard, internet links, youtube, softwares,etc). Now, after reading the articles about technology and multiple intelligences ,I realized that I did not know many things related to that . So, this is a good beginning in searching for information and became interested in this amazing topic.  

I took the Learning styles quiz and it showed that I am more Social emotional (4) , Auditory (3.5), kinaesthetic and visual (3 each one) and Metacognitive (2.5) .

Other reading that open my mind was  “Sailing the 5C’s learning strategies”.This reading is very complete and  instructive ..  I’ve learned about the importance in teaching the students learning strategies and how they can help our students to be autonomous. From here I have taken some examples to use in my classes.

The last task but not the least was to finish the Final Project. I have to improve my draft report , and write the final version of my project ( a blog where my students are going to practice their written skill) It was a hard work , but lastly I finish .

WEEK 8

WEEK 8

This week I have learned more tools and that makes me feel very happy and motivated in keep on going with this amazing Interactive Web World .I think the most important of that I am going to be able to create different materials according to the necessities of my students.

Some of the explorations I did were the following :

- Making exercise online to print out : I did some activities from “Tools for educators ( animal spelling and reading , word search and puzzles)

I have done animal spelling and reading, animal CROSWORD AND WORDSEARCH

I have also did and animal test  from “easy test maker”.

I have made an exercise online to use it online  from SMILE . It is a QUIZBREAK for my 2^nd grade students

After applying all of them to my students, I could proved that they really work . My students were motivated and asked me for more activities. That is great, isn’t it?

Another interesting tool is  ANVILL. I started exploring  and asked myself in what way I could use those excellent activities ( voiceboards ,Tcast, lesson planning ,quizzes and surveys,etc) primary students. I am sure they will work with secondary students…but ,what about primary?. This made me ask to Jeff Magoto the  about it and the answer was that I could use woicetreat, so I am working on it and I hope I can use it.

The last task and the hardest was to prepare the draft of our final project and then check our peer’s project. This is the first time I do this kind of project following step by step all the topics asked . It was a good experience to check Justin’s project and as I told him…”We are learning and we are doing our best. Let’s keep on going !!!!