Yaketty Yak...

"Mr. Watson -- come here -- I want to see you."

Those were the first words spoke by telephone on March 10 1876. Now about 130 years later, we can communicate by internet, host web conferences and videos in a flash.

In today's lesson we discussed the possible uses of Skype and elluminate in the classroom. There are many possible uses, in the science class teachers can contact experts in the field to provide extra knowledge to students with out having to take the class out for an entire day on a field trip.

In my spanish classes Skype would be helpful in providing students with authentic speakers for them to practice their language skills with. They can make friends in other countries and not only practice spanish but hopefully learn some culture as well.

Technology the good the bad.

It was about time that I finally learned more about Smartboards other than they are really cool and really expensive. Above all I was totally amazed at seeing the video of how you can make a smart board using a wii remote. I finally have a use for those Wiimotes now that my boyfriend has lost his wii (yes he lost the console and not the remotes, been missing for a year now too). After showing the Youtube video to my sister, it wasn't long before she was inspired to try it out as a science project.

Besides learning about the best of school technologies, I also experienced the worst of technology. This was in the form of error messages and files misbehaving (at least in my opinion). I learned the hard way that what may seem rational and logical may not necessarily be the case once it comes to saving, transferring and uploading.


Finally got the podcast redone...
http://www.imeem.com/people/S01r-1/music/

Thinkfinity

The term Thinkfinity sounds like a Disney term, however I learned it's an awesome resource for teachers. I thought the tools and activities on the site were great. The only problem is that I was greatly disappointed in seeing that there weren't that many resources available to me as foreign language teacher. I'm sure that a lot of the activities can be adapted, or that if I keep looking I'll find something.

the audacity

Today I was introduced to a program called Audacity. The program reminded of a not -so flashy Garage Band. Once I learned my way around the program, it was fairly easy and fun to use. This would make for a great project idea in the classroom, however I feel it may be a bit complicated and unnecessary to demand that students use this program. I like the idea of having students create podcast as a type of presentation variation to power point or poster boards. However i'd probably only over it as a suggestion that they use audacity not a requirement.