Mod 6 post 2

  I would use twitter for my own professional development as well as with my students. Ideas for these uses can be found in the #langchat article and the and Using Microblogging Platforms for Educational Purposes.
  I would use #langchat to chat with other Spanish (or even possibly other language) teachers. We could share teaching tips or even new vocal words learned along the way. I could use this tool to develop my own PLN. Through these meaningful discussions about language, culture, and instructional methods, I could enrich my own teaching and at the same time help others to enrich theirs. Tools like these chats help teachers to truly become lifelong learners.
 "Using Microblogging Platforms for Educational Purposes" states that microblogging is a great way to get shy students to speak up. Although I would eventually have to evaluate my students on oral proficiency; practicing their written Spanish through Microblogging may be a start. I would also use Twitticate and have my class create their own Spanish story. Finally, I would use the project monitoring tool to guide my students through long term projects such as essays.

These students are highly engaged! Must be tweeting!

Mod 6 Post 1

 I followed the #edtechchat twitter chat. A variety of educators tweeted in about their PLNs, technology they use in the classroom, and how they feel about being a connected educator. One tweeter in particular, I have forgotten her username, tweeted that social media for education is a waste of time. I strongly disagreed with her. This chat for the most part followed the Q1 A1 format. The Qs included "What are some of your favorite ed tech tools?","How did you get connected?" etc.
  As far as whether or not I would use this chat for my own PD, I would have to say that I am not sure. Although the other educators provided me with some good insight and tools(i.e. google hangouts) it was quite hard to follow. I would attempt to reply to one tweet and 5 more would pop up and I would loose it. This was, however, my first twitter chat. Maybe it just takes practice.

epals

 Since I plan to teach both Spanish and ESL, I could use two features of the epals site in my classrooms; in2books in my ESL class and student 2 student in my spanish class. In my ESL class, I could use in2books to have my students practice literacy in english. These english language learners would gain real world practice by reading quality children's literature and writing to their adult ementor. This meets standards ESL2 and ESL3; using english for self expression and critical evaluation with regards to literature.
 In my Spanish classroom, I would use the student 2 student feature of epals. My spanish learners could practice writing in Spanish to a student from a Spanish speaking country that may even be learning english. Not only would this help students practice their spanish and meet LOTE standards 1 and 2; using spanish for communication and cross cultural understanding, but also help them to gain a real life onsite into a new culture and possibly make a lifelong friend.

Yahoo

  A social media network that would be useful to me as a Spanish Teacher would be Yahoo Groups. There is a group called Maestros de Espanol. This group is perfect for collaborating with other Spanish teachers. I could share anything I find interesting with regards to Spahish or pedagogy. I could also share lesson plans and web resources. I could even view other teachers' Pinterest boards and share my own.
  Another use for Yahoo groups I would have would be class groups. With our class group, I ould communicate easily with students who have questions about assignments Students could also communicate with each other for practice. I could have them post a current event from a spanish speaking country each month. The possibilities are endless.

A learner is like....

        A learner is like a brand new computer from the factory and knowledge is like software. I choose this analogy because technology has become such a major part of the classroom. As corny as this sounds it is true. According to Connctivism, a Learning Theory for the Digital age, "technology has reorganized how we live, how we communicate, and how we learn. This claims that technology has changed the way we learn and acquiring knowledge in some cases is literally a matter of downloading software on a brand new computer.
   According to The Changing Nature of Knowledge"The network becomes the learning." This means that learners learn the most from networking with other students via online resources. With the many networks that are out there students can continue to work collaborativley outside of the classroom. In terms of the computer analogy our fresh from factory computers can acquire software from a variety of databases and sources.

Post 3 Diigo and Pinterest.

   After learning to use both Diigo and Pinterest, I would continue to use both sites. I do have a preference, however for Diigo. With the Diigo toolbar, I can copy and paste from the original site as opposed to having to take a screenshot and upload it. I can also use the toolbar to highlight text in a saved article. This would be perfect if I get that smart board I'm dreaming of in my classroom. Finally, I feel that the bookmarked sites on a Diigo page are slightly more organized than a Pinterest board.

    With this being said, I would continue to use Pinterest as well. Like on Diigo, I would be able to follow others and view their pins. Both sites also offer the option to use multiple tags. Although Diigo bookmarks are more organized than a Pinterest board, following multiple boards may give me access to more sites. Also, the idea of a virtual bulliten board may be more comprehensible to students. Both of these social bookmarking sites are an excellent way to share resources with others.

Blog Post 2: Welcome to the Social Media Revolution.

 As you have probably guessed by the title of this post, the first video I watched was The Social Media Revolution. All I can say is wow! I can not believe that some universities are not even giving out E mail accounts anymore because e mail is becoming a thing of the past. Back in the '90s E mail and instant messaging were the latest in communications. Also, Justin Bieber has more followers than the population of Sweden? I got a nice little chuckle out of "What happens in vegas stays in Facebook Twitter ect." I agree that peer reviews on yelp are more trustable than advertisements. Obviously a business will use advertising to get you to use their product(or eat at their restaurant or what have you) but a peer review is an actual experience.
 I also watched The Future of Learning. It was eye opening(yet made a surprising amount of sense) to find out that the school system was modeled after a factory or an army in which "identical people" were created. It is true that schools today do not cater to individual learning styles. I don't necessarily agree that anyone with access to technology can become educated. Although there is a lot of information now at one's fingertips, it still requires literacy and other fundamental skills to be able to access this information.  I believe that it learning to use technology  to access this information should be included in education.  Speaking of which,where was knewton when I was in school? I would have loved to know how and when I learned best. Maybe had I had access to something along that line I would not be as bad at math. To conclude, this video gave me hope that my children will go to school in a world where standardized tests don't dominate.

Blog post 1: Teachers and Blogging

  As a teacher, the first use I would have for my blog as mentioned in Blogging in Language Learning would be to communicate with absent students. As a student teacher there was nothing  worse than hearing "Srta Talty, I wasn't here yesterday wha'do I do?". On our class blog, I would post all class notes, assignments and due dates, and pdfs of any worksheets. Students would be responsible for any work they missed and if they came back to class without it, it would be graded as a late or missing assignment since it was on the blog and easily obtainable (within reason, obviously. I would not expect a student fresh from the hospital to complete assignments). I would also communicate with them via the blog if they had any questions regarding the posted notes or assignments.
  Another way I would use a blog would be to create literature circles. Standard LOTE1 ML2 states that students should be able to use reading and writing skills to express personal opinions and feelings. Perfect! If we read a novel or short story as a class, we would discuss it (in Spanish, of course) using the blog. I would post some prompt questions on my page and let the students do the discussion from there. In class, we would then post the blog up on the smart board(a teacher to be can dream) and discuss some of the posts and comments.

Description: Hi! my name is Briana Talty. I am taking a class on technology in the classroom and plan to use this blog to connect with my classmates and eventually my future students.