My Final Blog for Educational Technology

I have learned so many new things in this class. Thank you Rita for your patience and expertise! Technology is a wonderful teaching tool - once you get going.

As we worked through the different programs I was thinking about what would work for me. There are two areas that I decided I would start with. I decided to start with a Glog. As an ESL teacher, I find students want so much to share information about their native country. My plan is to introduce my Glog as a model. and work with my students to help them find information on their country to share in a Glog.

I had trouble getting my Glog on my blog, but I'm still - as Rita says - "playing with it".

The second area that I have decided to work on is Twitter. I have established a Twitter account. I'm new at Twitter and I need to make time to check this and learn how to utilize this tool. This will be an excellent way to communicate with other educators.

I've checked Slide Share and I am amazed at the number of powerpoints available. That looks like another tool I will be "playing with".

I'm all "atwitter" as I patiently wait for some "tweets"!!! I set up my PLN using twitter but this will take some time for me to utilize. I had no problems setting up the account and I'm anxious to see how I will be using this PLN in education.

The Sixth Sense is an interesting thought, and I wonder what the future holds for the use of this new technology, not only in daily living but in education. As I read Deb's blog and learned about "Smart Fabrics" I thought about how techn0logy is going beyond the "powerpoint" and "Smartboard". I better keep up!!!

Just started learning about the Google apps. I know for sure I would use the Google dictionary and make sure my students know how to use it.

How Would You Handle This???

The focus for this blog is to encourage my ESL students to "discuss". I want them to discuss problems they encounter in their daily lives and also to share ideas and solutions. We have had discussions in class and now it is my hope to use social media to continue the discussions.

Here's a situation one of my students encountered:
This student and his family went to Sam's club to purchase a TV and they took their 11 year old son along. They were going to have their son write out the amount for the purchase on the check for the TV and they would sign it, as they have done in the past. They were just learning how to write themselves. When it came time to write the check, the son didn't know how to write the amount of the purchase in words. As the family waited to see how they could solve the problem, another store patron helped the son spell the words and correctly fill in the check.

My question to my class would be: How would you handle this?? What are your suggestions and ideas??