Class Week 9

I still have issues with online chat. It doesn't always come through. I don't mind the typing kind of chat. I thought the video was going to give me convulsions.

Working in groups on the web site from last week was difficult. It was hard to see anything on the computer or to know what buttons to push. I think I need to take a few minutes to actually look at the technology to make any real decisions, but currently would not use it.

Rdg 10

I always just assume that you can't copy something. I pretty much figure it's covered by copyright laws. I did know that to copy something to use while you save your original to keep it from getting ruined.

I figure treat software the same way I treat texts. If I want to use something I write for permission to use the materials.

Reading Week 9

Keypals-I remember using penpals at various times as a student and being extremely frustrated. It took so long to get a response I would lose interest. I see this being a difficulty still. To properly monitor the letters requires extra time on both ends of the dialogue. On the other hand, the quick nature of email could overload the students. They may tire of the project quickly if the responses are swift. They could run out of things to say, vocabulary and suffer from the lack of variety.

I do think that email would be more useful than instant messaging, especially at early levels. This is because students need time to think about what they are going to say. And the nature of an online chat situation may intimidate them to stillness.

Week 8-what happened

OK-finding the room we met in last week was a challenge. When I got to the classroom I vaguely remembered seeing something about meeting in the library. So I wandered over. On the way I passed three people from the other class and kept turning around before I realized they were in the other class. Finally I got to the library and checked my email and d2l...I couldn't find anything. Then Chris miraculously passed by and said he'd checked everywhere else...so off we went. If Inna hadn't been holding the door for princess Chris I may have decided to go home and try again later. After all, this must have been a bad dream.

Since I have developed a reputation as being against technology, I'll play that role. The problems we encountered in the illuminate presentation make me wonder if computers are the way to go for this. The nature of an ITV classroom seems more useful, in that everyone can be heard and seen (depending on the camera being used). I would imagine that computers paired with ITV would be a wonderful combination. The immediacy of the television, with the internet capabilities of the computer would make everything very quick. I know that not all schools have ITV capabilities, however most do. On the other hand, pod casts, and online teaching have caused the server at my old stomping grounds to freeze up.

Back in the room I was happy to learn how to access my mavdisk....I've never used it and was surprised to see that somehow I have used it, unintentionally.

When I was walking today I thought about our conversation about buying domain names. I'm curious, MSU owns the MSU.edu name, however, what about the pages that belong to the different departments? Are they just part of the big name or do they have to buy their names too?

Reading Week 8

In reading the article on weblogs I found the section on the Tutor Log to be idealistic. I think that an instructor could keep up the amount of Blogging this would require for a very limited amount of time. One would have to blog AT LEAST once a week, but it read as if it should be daily. With the amount of other lesson planning, student interaction, and other responsibilities a teacher wouldn't have enough time to thoughtfully blog and find enough relevant websites to showcase. Of course I'm looking at this as a public school teacher in MN. Out of class I am expected to coach/advise something all school year. If I were to prep the materials over the summer they would not have immediate relevance.

The culturequest article was very confusing. The first time through I couldn't have told you a thing about it. I felt as if I were reading something full of randomly generated English words. I'm always hesitant to do a project that relies on other people to get it done on time. By counting on teachers in other cultures there is no way to tell how long the responses are going to take. Even if the people are extremely quick to respond to everything they don't have control over nature. Yes, we contend with nature every day, but this is contending with nature in multiple parts of the world. Does this mean I'd never try doing a culturequest? Not at all. I just think that this would have to be a very long term plan to take into account other issues.

React week 7

Last week we worked on creating websites. When we started it I got very frustrated...I need to learn to read instructions. I didn't understand that when I was looking at the Kompozer information that I was not actually in the program. Therefore I couldn't actually do any of the things in the tutorial. This was a very basic step that I missed. I'm still frustrated at the situation...but with myself because I didn't pay enough attention to the details in the steps.

Once I understood those instructions things went better. Now that I, finally, understand why we are making the websites I think it's a good idea. I'd like to see a sample of one, I am a digital immigrant. I don't automatically think I should jump in to the internet to post or find everything. I haven't seen a website designed to advertise my skills. I feel frustrated with my lack of expectations of the internet...while everyone I know was figuring out quick ways to access information I was figuring out my characters onstage. Blogging, discussion boards, personal web sites-just don't fit into my personal identity.

I can figure out how to use any program or software. I can create interesting lessons, activities, displays...but putting personal information out there is disturbing to me. I have an unlisted phone number. I try not to work in the same town I live in and I go by a different name at my part-time job than I do in the rest of my life. Making this website is a very difficult concept for me.

Class Week 6

I'm not sure how I feel about podcasts. I definitely would not use them to comment on papers because of the privacy issue. To comment on papers I would make tapes or cds. Then only the person the comments are for would hear them.

I can see using podcasts to make recordings of lectures that you do often, or a big idea that you want to make sure everyone has access to (in the case of an absence). I had a student with CVS (Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome) which meant he had to miss a lot of class. However, he could use the internet at home and if I would've had the ability to make podcasts of class it would really have helped this boy keep up with his class.

Growing up we had reading lessons that were individualized. You would get a story from a file (the files were coded by level) read it and answer questions. As you improved you would move up. I can see using podcasting in a similar way. Not as a "move up the ladder" tool, but one that could be used to let students review material, or get explanations of common issues as they need them. Some examples: review differences in sound (minimal pairs), lesson on third person singular -s, prepositions.

I think the GLL was a difficult place to make the recordings, because in order to hear what I was saying I could hear what everyone in the room was sayig. I found it very distracting and hard to focus on the words coming out of my mouth. It was necessary to do it in there, becasue many of us do not have microphones at home...so it was a useful learning experience.

I did like that I could edit my recording in audacity. I took about ten seconds out of the middle of my recording, because it sounded terrible. I had hesitation, ums and silence (background noise had distracted me). My recording was shorter, but it flowed a lot better. So I found that to be an advantage over the easier to do phone recording.

Reading Week 7

There were several things in the Smith and Rawley article that intrigued me. First off I thought the reference to people using commercial slogans in everyday life was funny, and true. When I was in college I used to hang out in the music lounge at the PAC. This is where the vending machines were kept. While visiting with friends, or studying, we'd hear people come in and try to decide what snack they wanted. Most of them chose Snickers bars, because "Snickers really satisfies."

The other really big thing in that article was how it aligned with the lesson I analyzed for class. I knew what things I liked about the lesson originally, but now I have a better understanding of why I felt it would work (small chunks of language, repetition, complete stories, etc.).

The King article was also full of ideas that worked in my mind As a language arts teacher I often used video to illustrate concepts we'd been working on in class. Oddly I never really thought about doing that in an ESL room, ironic really because that was something I enjoyed adding to my Spanish learning. It makes sense that video is a good resource to add to the ESL classroom. The use of extended dialogue that is fairly natural would encourage students to listen so they could understand the story. The visual elements help connect to the story more than a radio program does.

When the article talked about using small clips of the film I felt a little less sure about it. One problem I have with that is, to me, it is very difficult to exclude a scene from a movie. The director put it in for a reason, who am I to change their vision? I feel that to not use the whole movie the students lose out on the flow of the story. On the other hand I can completely understand only usin gone or two scenes from a movie to get at a point. (That may make me a hypocrite.)

I was very interested in the section on sub-titles. Last year I tried watching movies in Spanish (after not using Spanish to any real degree for over 10 years). I got a little frustrated and turned on the sub-titles, in Spanish. It helped me understand the movie a little better. As the movie went along I would turn off the sub-titles for a while (I also cheated with English sub-titles for a few lines at a time when I got really confused). As time went on I turned the sub-titles on less often, I was concerned that I was practicing my reading instead of my listening skills. The article backed up my concern. However, I still think that using sub-titles is helpful to get them started on the lesson. Perhaps the sub-titles could be used for the first part of the movie and then turned off, just to help them start thinking in English.

I don't know the answer, I do know that being able to pull in programs that have recently been on tv or movies new to dvd capture student interest much more quickly than those that are a couple years old. Interestingly, students are more willing to give an older (10, 15 20+ years) movie or show a chance over something that came out during their memory.

Reading Week 6

Yes, I totally agree that computers give us access to better/more sound and video clips than we used to have. It is much easier to store a series of computer files, for film/sound clips, than it is to make a vhs tape of scenes for a lesson. The equipment is also much less bulky. However, here's Negative Nelly again, there are issues.
A vcr/dvd player with a TV is much more accessible for the whole class. Everyone can see it without a special projector, or enough computers for each individual (which is often not available). Secondly sound is a major issue. When using a tv or cd player one has much more control over the volume, with less loss of sound quality. I've used recordings, such as War of the Worlds (1932 Broadcast) both through my computer and on a cd player. The cd player was much more successful. You have control over where in the room it is located, the speakers are more powerful and if the server goes down it doesn't affect the playback. When I used the computer the speakers were poor, and at top volume over half the students couldn't hear it.

I don't believe online sources are really the best way to access sound and video. As we've mentioned in class before it is best to have audio/video clips downloaded to the computer to save time during class. I'd take that to another step and say burn it to a disc. You'll have better control.

I do/did have to provide my own cd player while the computer was provided, this was a small price to pay for convenience and control. The school does provide vcr/dvd players, but you can't count on being able to have it exactly when you need it, therefore (to guarantee it was there when I needed it) I brought in my own.

Class

Last week was rough. Several of us were feeling rather ill. That completely changes the atmosphere of the class.

I found the pod cast thing to be difficult. I could find and open them without any trouble, but I couldn't understand a thing being said, because we all were listening to them live. It was too noisy and distracting.

Then when I had one, I thought, that might be good and tried to post it...well. I had the URL, but it wouldn't let me copy it. I had to type it in manually. Not really a big deal, but as I pushed post the lock was stolen and it disappeared. That was the end of my rope. I wasn't finding anything that seemed pertinent. Mostly I found podcasting to be a disappointment. I had considered participating in a study for my school, to develop podcasts of certain lessons...I'm doubting the usefulness at this point.

As I reread my posts I'm thinking that I should become a Luddite and shun all technology. Paper and pencils with dictionaries and only paper type books and journals for this little red hen.

BAH HUMBUG!!!!!!!!

Alright. Now I'll try again tonight, but no guarantees. I'm especially anti-computers this week.