patricia’s posterous

webtools4educators - reflections 



October 18, 2008

RSS in 100 words


ol { padding-left: 3em; font-weight: bold; } ol.writely-toc-subheading { padding-left: 1em; font-weight: normal; } /* IE6 only */ * html writely-toc ol { list-style-position: inside; } .writely-toc-none { list-style-type: none; } .writely-toc-decimal { list-style-type: decimal; } .writely-toc-upper-alpha { list-style-type: upper-alpha; } .writely-toc-lower-alpha { list-style-type: lower-alpha; } .writely-toc-upper-roman { list-style-type: upper-roman; } .writely-toc-lower-roman { list-style-type: lower-roman; } .writely-toc-disc { list-style-type: disc; } /* end default css */ /* default print css */ @media print { body { padding: 0; margin: 0; } div.google_header, div.google_footer { display: block; min-height: 0; border: none; } div.google_header { flow: static(header); } /* used to insert page numbers */ div.google_header::before, div.google_footer::before { position: absolute; top: 0; } div.google_footer { flow: static(footer); } /* always consider this element at the start of the doc */ div#google_footer { flow: static(footer, start); } span.google_pagenumber { content: counter(page); } span.google_pagecount { content: counter(pages); } callout.google_footnote { display: prince-footnote; footnote-style-position: inside; /* These styles keep the footnote from taking on the style of the text surrounding the footnote marker. They can be overridden in the document CSS. */ color: #000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; font-weight: normal; } /* Table of contents */ #WritelyTableOfContents a::after { content: leader('.') target-counter(attr(href), page); } #WritelyTableOfContents a { text-decoration: none; color: black; } } @page { @top { content: flow(header); } @bottom { content: flow(footer); } @footnotes { border-top: solid black thin; padding-top: 8pt; } } /* end default print css */ /* custom css */ /* end custom css */ /* ui edited css */ body { font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: normal; background-color: #ffffff; } /* end ui edited css */ /* editor CSS */ .editor a:visited {color: #551A8B} .editor table.zeroBorder {border: 1px dotted gray} .editor table.zeroBorder td {border: 1px dotted gray} .editor table.zeroBorder th {border: 1px dotted gray} .editor div.google_header, .editor div.google_footer { border: 2px #DDDDDD dashed; position: static; width: 100%; min-height: 2em; } .editor .misspell {background-color: yellow} .editor .writely-comment { font-size: 9pt; line-height: 1.4; padding: 1px; border: 1px dashed #C0C0C0 } /* end editor CSS */ -->RSS in a 100 words - my very own press assistant!  Carla called it a subscription tool rather than bookmarking, but I think it's better than subscription.  Like a press assistant who goes through pages and pages of newspapers and magazines and cuts out whatever article appears on the subjects the boss has determined is of interest, RSS keeps me updated on whatever is in "print" on the subjects I determine are to my interest.  It's better than subscription because it allows you to pinpoint your subject matter to an author, a specific area of interest. Subscription one step further.

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October 9, 2008

Blog talk

                         I think I chose this picture  because this is how I'm beginning to feel - a shy plant beginning to flower. I can see all the wonderful possibilities of this great tool and ideas are budding, but the challenge remains the same.  How do I get people interested and participating?  These are the same concerns I see voiced by my colleagues and I have also seen lots of great suggestions in answer, but something Carla posted on my blog nudged my own thoughts.  She spoke of how at first her writing had been for her students but now the writing itself was a source of pleasure.  Idea, then. 
                       Like fishermen, we teachers throw out our nets in hope that our students will be caught in the process of learning.  Sometimes our nets come back full, sometimes (more often than I'd like to think) depressingly light. Still, the process of casting our nets is an experience in itself.  Writing and preparing a blog, thinking of your objectives and your audience, choosing what will be most useful, most inviting - all of this is a growth process for the teacher and even if no one else reads or reacts, the need to organize yourself to the point of reflecting, writing, choosing, preparing, re-vamping, and maybe ultimately moving on to something else will serve to raise your awareness and thus improve your teaching. 
                      And as I think Carla experienced, writing is addictive.  There is something very satisfying about putting your thoughts into words.  It becomes a passion, and there is nothing as seductive as passion.  I guess what I'm trying to say is blogging, like most things, will reach some, will serve those willing to give it a try, and that includes us, teachers, for even if it ends up being just for us, someone is profiting from this wonderful tool. Like the flowers, some will see their beauty and in seeing it, make their own world more beautiful. But all flowers really do is exist.

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September 26, 2008

Processing time

        I was complaining to Carla Arena about my computer just now, saying it didn't have enough memory and that I needed to find some more.  "For the computer or for yourself?" Carla joked.  And it hit me -  memory wasn't the only problem.  Processing speed was making my computer slow to a stop.  And in my mind, I heard Carla echo, "The computer or you, yourself?"

       My biggest problem with social bookmarking was getting over the impact of seeing how much was out there.  So much that is new, so much that is thought-provoking, so much to be bitten and tasted, chewed and digested, to hopefully be incorporated into our being and then used to fuel further achievement.  How not to be lost?  How not to slow down to a stop?

       To me, online social bookmarking is a major help to finding balance and answers to these questions.  Someone has gone before and they left markings on the trail that help me find my way.  Those markings are tagged, so I know which are of interest and where to store them and how to find them again.  They are highlighted and commented, so my thought processes are nugged along with questions and reflections, with the give and take of a sounding board. The forest has been seen to contain endless paths with guides and friends scurrying everwhich way,  willing to share the responsibility of scouting out the best.  Time is saved, memory is saved,  processing time diminishes or are all used to much greater results.

      I can imagine using blogs and diingo in the classroom (or rather, with the class) with process writing.  Check out the composition challenge on www.icue.com.  The teacher posts the assignment and adds bookmarkers that give students the chance to acquire background knowledge that would enrich their writing.  Diigo could be used to share with the group or with a group of friends who could highlight and comment.  By the way, www.icue.com was a site that really impressed me as a great tool for our advanced or conversation course students, and, of course, our writing course students, even those preparing for fluency tests.  Using sites like these, whether online or as input for our classes helps nudge our students' consciences and makes us 21st century teachers and set out in http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/21st+Century+Teacher          

Comments [4]

September 20, 2008

About my teaching . . .

  How do my students learn?  I guess the answer is as varied as they are.  I think what I worry more about is why they learn, and try to get them to the point that they do it because they want to.  If learning is what they want to do, they will find a way to do it.  My job is to make it easier and more tempting to do just that.

I have to admit that my curriculum is very tech-poor.  This is why I am taking this course, to add tech-richness to my curriculum and to overcome the barriers I have to incorporating technology into the classroom.  These barriers are a result of ignorance in what is possible, what it takes to get it done, and I must admit a mental fatigue to face the time-consuming challenge of learning a new skill.

The use of the www has been more of a decoration in my classroom - to make my exercises more attractive.  It's been a source of research and ideas but not really an in-class resource.  Overcoming my barriers and learning to make use of the web as a forum for learning and discussion acceptable to students will help bring my classroom into the 21st century, where learning can actually continue long after a specific group of students have moved on to a new level.

Am I engaging my students?  I think it is the feeling that the answer to this is, "Not as much as I'd like!" that has led me to this class.

Comments [7]

September 20, 2008

Teaching - a changing profession

          After embarking on our Web 2.0 Safari and watching the YouTube videos, it struck me how these new tools and the horizons they open are reshaping  and redefining our roles as teachers.  Before, teachers were recipients and transmitters of knowledge.  We then became facilitators of learning. Now we seem to be morphing into instigators and mediators of learning.  The learning process has been shifting from being the responsibility of the teachers to being that of the learners themselves, and this is apparent in what we see going on in the world of Web 2.0.  It has long been held that the best way to truly learn something is to try to teach it to someone else, and this is what is going on now on the digitalized world. Knowledge is shared and shaped by everyone in a community, benefiting all. Our role as teachers now seems to be to make sure that our students have the access to this world where they will shape their learning to fit their interests and needs.
          This by no means implies that we have lost our place in the learning process.  As I see it, our responsibility has increased, for as we instruct our students in the various programs available to them and make them responsible for their learning, we need to be selective and teach our students to be.  We need to be critical as to what is presented to us and teach our students to be.  We need to be open to new ideas, ways, solutions and teach our students to be. This seems to be a much more challenging endeavor than to share knowledge acquired.  The skills we need to prioritize are of a higher complexity level then reading, writing, speaking, listening. More than ever we are not merely instructors, but yes, educators.
         What we present to our students will instigate their curiosity and their learning, but we still need to be around to mediate the process, giving  a hand when it is necessary, correcting, redirecting, stimulating, questioning, and clarifying.  There is no guarantee that what is learned is what needs to be learned, so our presence as mediators will always be fundamental.  
          The possibilities are mindboggling.

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