VoiceThread

What is a VoiceThread? If you want to use a video for your classroom, would you use VoiceThread? Why?

This will be a good activity for my classroom. I hope that one day I can use it in my Spanish Classroom. I could have a Historic picture about literature, art, places in historic events. It can also be use to present students art work, creativity or simply a written essay. It can be analyze and presented to class or instructor.

How I feel on the assignments for week 10

I believe that we need to have our resumes ready to turn in tomorrow if we need it to. My resume was not updated until today, I did not realize all the things that I have done in the past few years, So it is very important to show in a piece of paper what our trajectory has been and what we have experience.
The brochure was fun! I am not sure that I will ever use one, but it is there ready to go when is needed.
I like all the assignments we have done, because is preparing us for the near future, and later we wont have someone to help us create this assignments.
Thank you.

Week 7 Video Games

How far should educators go in matching the technology used in instruction and classroom activities to the technology their students use?
I don’t believe that educators should take it to the level where video games are use to teach students material. The teacher’s job is to teach that material. Video games enhance the attraction of learning, if the video game is only for educational purposes. Teachers have to be careful on how to apply technology in the classroom.
Are online chats and instant messaging of value in the classroom? Do they add to student learning, or do they distract from “real” instruction?
From my point of view, it is not a distraction as long as the teacher is monitoring a conversation, or guiding the chat to a logical goal. I had an online course where teacher did not monitor the discussion boards, Therefore it was puzzling to know what the teacher was expecting from us.
Are there benefits to asynchronous, text-based communication over synchronous, face-to-face communication? In what situations?
Yes, I believe so. A really good example is e-mail, blog, wikis, and other projects that we have cover in ETEC 424. Many times we do not have the same schedule to meet with one another to discuss issues. However, I still believe that face-to-face is the most effective way. We as teacher will be able to tell if a student is getting the material right away by the expression in their face.
Does using podcasts with students really enhance learning, or is it simply a newer version of passively delivering information?
Yes, the use of podcast enhances learning. We go back to talking about the new generation and the attraction for technology. It is important to use technology as tool for teaching. But, let’s not forget the fundamental of teaching.
Does videogame help develop your studying? Why or why not? Explain. What skills can you gain from it? Do you agree with the article? If you have children, would you let them play videogame every day? Why/why not
I would like to start this answer by commenting that video games will try to make as much material to sell as possible, I believe it is the goal of the industry to sell the video games not the knowledge. As a child I play and still play video games, the key and purpose of video games should be as a reward system after completing homework or studying. I will let my children play video games that are monitored and picked out for the age. But I will not use any video games to teach my children to add or read. The video games will be as entertainment only for limited time. I prefer to enhance education through other technology over video games. But again, I don’t have children now, so my ideas may change once I do.
Hiram

Delicious

I like the reasoning behind delicious. I would find it useful in the future. Right now I wouldn't use it because, I do my research, homework and web surfing on the same computer. I have the bookmarks of the websites I visit often. So delicious would be extra work at the moment. However, it will be useful to share websites with public or friends. this will be an easy way to redirect friends to certain information I want them to look for.
Hiram

WEEK 4

what do you think about Spreadsheet? Is it useful? Would you use it in your classroom?

I really like using Spreadsheet. It takes a little bit of time to set it up, but once is done you can just enter the grades and gives you the average right away. Students may be able to see right away how they are doing in the class. I will use it in my classroom on every assignment.
The calculator works, but it is not as fast. Implementing the spreadsheet will help all teacher save some time adding grades, since there is other things that required time from teachers.
Hiram

Week 3: MS-Word & Inspiration

Here are some of the options that I find interesting about Inspiration. Inspiration creates an outline of their work, this will be a great idea for students to learn to set up outline in the traditional hierarchy. The auto arrange is great, how many times we arrange a diagram and as it grows it stops making sense? this is a great tool to reconfigure the diagram when is too large. The transfer of videos, notes and links is a tool that can make it easier to add information to the diagram. Inspiration is a great visual tool that can be use in the classroom. Again, the typed outlines and the handouts in the typical classroom may not be sufficient for the new generation to have fun and learn at the same time. I will use Inspiration in my classroom as a language learning tool. I can have the students have definitions on words a create diagrams, the diagrams can include short sentences, and if possible add pictures related to the sentence or word.

The writing activities in the bilingual classroom are fundamental. I really like Inspiration it seems like a great technology tool. This program can help me with the vocabulary, sentence structure and examples of how to use adjectives, verbs and nouns. Language learning requires practice, Inspiration is a fun way of getting the students to support one another by reviewing each others diagram while learning from the vocabulary cover from each student. Since time is limited, each student can cover one topic and presented to the classroom in a creative diagram with links and videos to support the topic. I would ask the students to use the blogger to review the others diagrams by giving a positive feedback.
Hiram

A short summary about who I am

My name is Hiram, I am from Durango, Mex. I moved to the United States when I was 12 years old. In High School I picked up tennis, which eventually will take me to many places and meet many people from all over the world. I play for Eastfiel College, We got second place at Nationals, My brother and I won the Doubles title, and I was a finalist in singles. While I was playing tennis, I also though tennis. Another of my passsions is horses, I currently help my father train TB horses. I hope to become a Spanish teacher after I take a break from school and travel around a year or two. For now, Let's get through this semester.

Assingment 1

What do you think about using blogs? What and how do you think blogs would be useful for education? Some people think using blogs in classrooms is a waste of students’ time. How would you respond?

I like the idea to use blogs for educational purposes, of course the posting has to be moderate. I'll have more to add as we go on with this blog. From listening to Tim Tyson, and his experience it sounds like teachers, parents and students all benefit. Everyone can find great use for this website that does not required the blogger to know anything about creating a website.
Personally I would not substitute the parents meetings, by a blog for a parent to keep up with his/her child. A blog can help the parents keep up with the activities at school, it is the responsability of both the parents to ask the teacher, and the teacher to approach the parents to discuss the students progress.
I dont think blogs are a waste of time for students, students waste more time playing video games, talking on the phone with friends, and other things that are not educational. A blog that focuses on their progress in school is not a waste of time, instead it is beneficial for the parents and the students to know what the homework is, to know which subject the student has trouble with and gives the parents a closer look at the teachers.