Rosa’s Blog

My Podcast

I was watching in TeacherTube Why let our students blog and this not only justify why teachers should be training in ICT but also how wonderful and rich and meaningful learning classroom environment teachers can provide to their students. As  David Huffaker says that key is to know how teachers can use technology in order to provide innovative strategies for learning environment. For example, using blogs in my KLA (language), I will promote in my students the opportunity to communicate and interact with their peers, me, and native speakers using the target language. It is a marvelous tool for practicing writing and reading and responding, but not only their language skill but also their social, cultural and personal skills can be improving. We just need to have a look teachertube why let our student blogs to encourage ourselves to have a better understanding how to implement blogs in our lessons and at the end we can say what ever effort cost us to learn this new technology tools was worth it because we are providing to our students skills for their digital future. I believe my lessons will be very interactive and constructivist and meaningful for my students using blogs. So let’s go and apply this.

Made available under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ Available here.

This a reactionary posting of Maree’s posting about who is teaching who and I agree with her about we are dealing with different students who are experts with computers and multimedia because they are growing up with this ultra technology universe since their birth. As I mentioned in my posting What a challenge today, children come into class with more information that their teachers however this does not mean that they have more knowledge but there is a new way of learning for them and we should be very concerned about this. We can not neglect the fact the computers are creating a new learning environment but it is up to us to implement and use this powerful tool in our daily lessons in order to make just not “fun” our class but to look for new opportunities to bring our student a rich learning environment in which not only student-centred instruction should be focus, but also collaborative and cooperate works should be promoted.

Made available under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ Available here.

I was reading Matthew’s article about connecting learning across the world and made me remember my first ICT lesson in my last practicum. I asked my students to email Peruvian students in order they can share and discuss similarities and differences between the school life in Peru and Australia. My students were fascinated and very motivated to do this work. Of course they were attracted to use the new technology but also the opportunity to communicate students with different backgrounds and practice the language with native speakers. Definitely, I believe technology integration in second language teaching demonstrates the shift in educational paradigms from a behavioral to a constructivist learning approach. Because language is a living thing, so the best way to learn a language is in interactive, authentic environments. Finally, computer technologies and the Internet are powerful tools for assisting these approaches to language teaching.

Made available under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ Available here

I was looking this slideshare about using technology in the language classroom and definitely I believe that technology can help to learn languages. It is amazing to see how many digital tools language teachers can use in their lessons in order to help students with second language acquisition. For example in terms of addressing the socio cultural outcomes, technological links provide one of the most effective tools: students can build up partnerships with learning peers in target languages through the Internet. It is possible now to exposure our students with native speakers around the world The use online technologies to contact native speakers is possible to achieve in classrooms and yet there is a world of people communicating on-line in many languages 24 hours a day. So why not try to learn more about and create the connection learning from your classroom to the rest of the world.

Made available under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ Available here

Made available under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ Available here

I was reading an article about Isolation increases with internet…and how many researches in America show the social prices of online living but the most concerned aspect is that it can increase depression and loneliness among the users. I am very concerned with this because not only adults are involved in this isolation but also children who spend hours surfing in the net and how it interfers with other aspects of their lives. It is very worried to know that family life is almost inexistent because everyone is so busy using internet as Manuela mentiones in her posting multitaksting teens. It is not only our role to teach our students to use internet properly but also it is parents’ responsibilities to limit their children’ time exposures to internet.

As the above article suggests, we need to find the right balance between time spent online and time spent talking with family and friends in person. This article mentions some suggestion that we should put in practice in our classroom in order to overcome this wrong internet use. For example, create electronic communication forums for students so they can use to discuss homework assignments, make plans for social gatherings or even receive online tutoring. I think we should reflect in this issue and apply these suggestions in order to stop the growing issolation issue.

This is a reactonary posting of Matthew’s posting about Reaction to Fisch. I realliy agree with Matthew about how teachers may feel about being illeterate due to all these quickly changes. However teachers are so creative and they always look for improving new strategies to help their students so I think it is all about time and we see different attitudes in a classroom. Also this posting really made me reflect about to be a technologically illiterate teacher. I see myself doing this subject completing new for me and trying to make some effort to learn in order to stop being a technologically illiterate teacher and look for new opportunities of learning for my students using ICT BUT this new learning journal becomes very stressful learning process for me as a digital immigrant that I am. However, everyday I have learnt something new about incorporating ICT in the classroom and I realised that is worth the effort. I am awared that ICT is a tool to help us teach and learn but as Fisch mentions it an indispensable tool that provides amazing opportunities for making our students’ learning relevant in their lives.  

Made available under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ Available here.

This is a reactive posting on Cathy’s Want to be my friend…posting. I agree with you about teachers should be concerned about what is going on around young people and their social lives but also it is parents’ responsibilities to know how their children are spending their free time and who are the people that they have met through online. And I think teachers should discuss with students about social issues and how the web is used wrongly by teenagers.  We should encourage students to use the net properly without any addiction. They do not need to spend a lot of time sitting in from of the screen, trying to add more numbers of “web friends” when they could spend more time in real social relationships.

This is a reactive posting on Steph’ Blaming Something … response to Alex posting.

I definitely agree with her about that part of the job of schools, with parents, is to teach children to use the internet safely.  We just need to look any survey about teenagers using internet to find out that many children have engaged in activities on the web which would be considered as potentially harmful (pornographic, given personal information on the internet or meeting face to face someone they first got to know on the internet). Therefore, it is our role to encourage children to use the internet and technology responsibly and within boundaries set.

I have been reading different articles about learning and teaching with ICT and all the different challenges teachers have to face in order to keep up with changes that digital age is bringing to a class. There is not doubt at all that technology is contributing to the changing expectations of teaching and learning. Technology is creating significant opportunities for schools to make learning in ICT relevant to young people’ lives but it would be worth the effort that teachers will face themselves in order to incorporate ICT in their lessons to students who encounter daily devices which use microchips.  And my answer is a big YES.  I believe the effort would be worth because ICT can improve teaching and learning by making it more exciting, innovate, motivating, provoking and challenging for students.

What do you think?