A recent family pic...

 

Take a look at Samuel's Blog !!

Was my mom a multi-tasker or what? That's me in there!!

 

With my boys in Virginia-- TJ's house

 

Andrecito y Omarcito before their school play

 

My God son Carlitos

 

Lewis Fam at the Georgia Aquarium

 

Happy birthday to Alberto

 

Fun studying for the comps-- An action shot

 

Alberto will go to great length to watch the news--uninterrupted

 

The Complete Mexican Family

 

Samuel at the Easter Egg Hunt

Wikilandia

I am still a little nervious about the idea of incorporating wikis into my classroom. I had a bad experience this semester when I created a community Yahoo Briefcase to share PowerPoints with my students-- someone went in and erased them--twice. And if these are university students, they should, supposedly be more mature and responsable than highschool ones. I had a good time seeing the wikis that are out there and being used for classes, although many of the links we were given in class were expired. I was especially impressed with Matt Barton's TikiWiki, which had some great features like polls, discussion boards/student blogs, lots of links, etc. And had a great "look" to it-- a lot like a normal website. But I was also overwhelmed looking at it; it looks like a ton of work and hard to maintain. But I am definitely going to keep exploring Wikilandia and see what it has to offer.

TIFLE Mini Project 3

Teaching with Technology Philosophy Statement

In my four years of experience as a teacher, and more specifically, two years as a Spanish teacher, I have discovered that the key to educating well is to never stop learning. Living in the technology age, this idea takes on a whole new meaning—from e-mail to instant messaging, video conferencing to wikis, keeping up with new developments in teaching with technology could be a full-time job. But just as important as learning about up-and-coming resources is incorporating them correctly into one’s general teaching philosophy. The desire to entertain and “wow” one’s students (and even one’s self) with new-found skills and gadgets can sometimes be more distracting than engaging: “Too often in North American classrooms today, increasingly sophisticated technological machinery is used for trivial purposes for want of a coherent instructional and social vision to drive it.” (Cummins and Sayers, 1995, p. 120). It is my goal to constantly strive to use technology to enhance, not replace, my teaching style.
In terms of my goals within the classroom, I strive to provide my students with a comfortable and engaging atmosphere in which to learn and share ideas. Teaching foreign language, with all of its diverse applications, I am constantly working towards a balance between teacher-fronted instruction and communicative student-to-student interaction. I try to set an example with my enthusiasm and good-humor about the challenges of language learning, relating my personal experiences and trying to relate with my students. I constantly remind them of how far they have come and what real-world consequences their language learning can have in their everyday life. Beyond grammar, cultural knowledge, respect and sensitivity are a key part of what I hope my students will take away from their classroom experience.
It is this philosophy that I intend to complement with the integration of educational technology. For example, from the Cultura Project , one can see that the Internet is a great tool that can be used to promote virtual interaction in the target language and give students first-hand experience speaking to people from other cultures and countries, without the financial and time constraints associated with study abroad. This type of real-world application of language is something that the Internet, in the way that it closes the communicative gap between cultures, can offer. In my own classes, I have used websites, on-line articles and cultural e-mail exchanges (“key pals”) to give students access to the foreign culture. I use PowerPoint, video, digital photos to engage their interest and aid them in grasping concepts and promoting cultural awareness. Discussion boards are on-line class-related polls are used to encourage communication and community outside of the classroom.
As a result of my Technology in Foreign Language Education course, and subsequent experimentation within the classroom, I have learned and continue to learn about the possibilities that technology has to offer. I have also learned, however, that technology should in no way altogether replace more “traditional” methods. For example, PowerPoint can be incredible useful in presenting students with photos, quick lists, charts, and even animation that is memorable and visual. However, the chalkboard is still an invaluable tool for working out "language problems" and conjugations, so that students can view the actual process. I am aware of and careful with the problems that using too much technology can present, like eliminating face-to-face interaction and good, old fashioned pen-and-paper writing. In some circumstances, it can be isolating to students who are less “technologically literate”; it can also be time consuming and frustrating when not functioning properly. Practice, and a backup plan, is necessary.
In conclusion, my philosophy on teaching with technology is similar to my philosophy on teaching—I strive to be engaging, relevant (in terms of real-world application), and communicative. Keeping up with technological advances is key—the more time passes, the more computer literate our students will be. And “meeting them where they are” has obvious rewards: technology can be an interesting, interactive and extremely motivating tool. But also key is experimentation—finding specific applications that enhance and contribute to one’s own goals as a teacher.

Mini Project 1

The very first time I remember seeing a chat room was when I was 14 –quite old—and yet I can’t even remember: What was life like before the Internet?!
It was a lot harder than I thought to track my Internet access. It is such a part of my daily life that I don’t notice it at all… I had to keep a log by my P.C. (for home logging) and in my backpack (for away logging). I would sometimes be on-line for 20 or so minutes before I realized I was even on-line—it was like awaking from a zombie-like sleepwalk—What am I doing? How did I get here?
I started tracking myself in cyber space on Sunday, January 22nd. A not-so-normal day for me, I didn’t log on until 2 p.m., which I attribute to the fact that my husband didn’t have to get up early for class and we spent some time together making breakfast (yes, breakfast at noon!) and so on. I hit my normal sites for about fifteen minutes—my three email accounts (one I’ve had since I was 18 which is like a file cabinet of my life, another I have for spam control—to order things and sign up for things, and my webmail account for school-related stuff), the news headlines and weather on myyahoo!, my bank account, and facebook. This first cyberstop of my morning is usually just like 15 minutes, as it was today, to give me my little “fix” for the morning and make sure there is nothing super-important going on in the world (or my life) that I should know about. I logged on again at 3:30 p.m. for two hours, this time to put two collectible Italian dolls on e-bay (one my grandmother’s, one mine). I spent another hour responding to some students’ emails I had read in the morning and checking my professors’ websites to get ready for the week. I printed some poetry from e-reserve and did a library search for some books. In the evening, I signed on once again to check on my dolls, and get my “night fix” (the same sites, basically that I visit in the morning).
On Monday, after my “morning fix ” (this time at 10 a.m., which is more typical for me), I spent some time uploading my SPN 1115 PowerPoint to my Yahoo Briefcase and then ordered some clearance Christmas décor (woohoo!) from Poterrybarn.com. All of this took about an hour. In the afternoon—in my office—I checked all of my normal websites again and sent a couple emails. At about midnight, I had my night fix.
Tuesday was my birthday , so it was not the most common day for me. Breakfast in bed and gift-opening (way to go, Alberto!) postponed my morning fix until about 1 p.m. I was out all day and night, so I only checked mail again once at a friend’s house and then had my night fix around midnight.
On Wednesday, I logged on at around 10 a.m., and after my normal websites, spent 30 minutes cleaning out my yahoo mail (I have a problem with not deleting things right away, and I keep emails that are special to me—I have 300 in my inbox!) and then spent an hour entering my students’ emails into my address book on webmail. I worked on my PowerPoint with my messenger open—just to see when I got a new email—for about 30 minutes and then uploaded it to my briefcase. In the afternoon, I spent about two hours reading on-line articles for tifle, and at around 1 a.m., had my night fix.
Thursday morning, starting around 9 (after the normal fix), was occupied by my job search. I googled my way through positions, filled out on-line applications, and found a telephone number to check up on some materials. I then spent all day, minus short breaks for food and a shower, researching for my comprehensive exams and preparing a ficha for our meeting that afternoon at 4 p.m. I had my night fix at 12:30 am.
Friday and Saturday were typical weekend days for me. I spent less time on the net for school and more time for leisure. I researched Disney tickets, updated my facebook, checked email and eBay way too much, and a little time checking for jobs and researching for class. My night and morning fixes were still in place.
Being without the Internet, I have found, is like being in the middle of the jungle—I feel very isolated and like I don’t know what’s going on out in the world—not just news-wise, but with my friends, with my T.V. shows, everything! I think that I use the Internet more when I am alone—for this very reason that it can make you feel less lonely. I am not a big chatter—I will have my yahoo messenger open while I am on my P.C. just to see if I get an email, but I am proud to say that I don’t IM the day or night away—ever. I do, however, waste a lot of time on the Internet—hence the zombie-like state mentioned above. I check email over and over throughout the day, I got very obsessed this week with checking my dolls on eBay, etc. Getting on-line is usually the first thing I do when I wake up and the last thing I do before going to sleep. This really disturbs me, as I think those two moments should reflect the priorities in one’s life. I read way more emails than I send—this week I received more than 50 (that weren’t spammy) and sent only 9. I am very bad about getting back to people, which I need to work on.
But even though I waste some time, the Internet is also a huge time-saver and convenient tool for me. I pay my bills, keep in touch with my professors and students, and do research for class. Overall, I use the Internet more for business-y interaction than for meaningful interaction. I touch base with my family and friends, share “news” and upcoming plans via the net, but never chat, and I save “real” conversations for the phone or snail mail. I don’t think I could ever keep a real on-line journal; I am very attached to my paper one and also a private person! Flogs, however, are right up my alley, as I like sharing pictures with family and friends. Even though I use the net more when I am alone, I try not to let it replace reality. Just like with my phone and T.V., I fight the obsession and try to only and use it at my convenience, not let it interrupt my real life, but enrich it by allowing it to save me time, etc. I had a friend in college who could never do anything else if E.R. was on—how depressing! I don’t ever want a form of technology to rule my personal life in that way.

Message for Jonathan

I had a great time exploring Odeo.com! The site is extremely user-friendly and could have lots of use in a language classroom. I love how you can email recordings and also post them as links. I will totally be using this. The activity I created is a simple listening-to-writing one for students to practice vocab. Listening skills are definitlely needing more attention, so homework assignments like these would be a great alternative to pen-and-paper ones: Click here for activity.

LINKS TO MY DISCUSSION BOARD POSTS:

Response 1
Response 2
Response 3

It might look like he's crying but he's actually lovin it!

Playing with Lofty and Scoop (can we build it?? YES WE CAN!)

Here's my Dad's house in Georgia. The question is: Can you find my brother? *hint: look for the "thumb's up"