Thing #7a

Google Reader is a really cool, convenient tool for keeping up with news that is of interest to me. Time however, makes it hard to check up on my Reader every day. I am not overwhelmed in the "avalanche" of posts, but think of it as something to look forward to doing when I get caught up with some stuff.

I did take a gander at some post recently and discovered a really interesting post dealing with literacy. The article dealt with a blog post response that the author found interesting. A Japanese teacher stated that in order to be able to be fluent in Japanese, then one must make reading Japanese an everyday tool for finding information. She made the allusion to learning technology skills to learning Japanese. If we expect students to learn and understand technology in the 21st century, then they must use the information for the rest of their formal education. I relate to this being a foreign language teacher. People ask me all the time what is the best way to learn Spanish. I simply tell them to make it a priority to learn, and to practice, practice, practice.

Thing #14

In this Thing, I chose to show off my prize bass from my fishing trip with my dad. Using picnik, I was able to edit the picture to bring out the green in the fish! I felt that this would be a fun way for students to show pictures of things that they are interested in. I could have them present in Spanish descibing the things that are going on in their pictures. This could also be fun to use on social networking sites to edit photos for friends to see.


I'm Sorry, I couldn't resist. I used the application Blabberize to make this picture talk. This could be a fun way for students to tell a story or to read instructions to a project. It's also fun to send to your friends and have the picture sing a song.


This application was just fun. By uploading a picture onto the Jigzone website, I was able to turn it into a puzzle that reveals the sharp dressed couple within. This could be fun for mysteries or questioning problems. Have the students work out the answer and then put the puzzle together to verify their answers.

Thing #13

Man, was that ever fun! I had a hard time deciding which image generator I wanted to use. After playing around awhile, I finally decided that I had better just choose something, or else I would have been up all night experimenting. I chose the Spell with Flickr to post my Spanish introduction. This was fun because I could go back and retype the word each time getting a different combination of letters. The other image I chose was through a program called mytattoons. I was able to make a cartoon me! I feel like something is missing however... I just can't seem to put my finger on it. Oh well, after it was all said and done, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I feel this could be useful in class by merely allowing students the opportunity to express themselves. Kids are so much about being unique and individual that I feel the image generators allow them the freedom to show off their talents that they may not always get the chance to demonstrate while reading Shakespeare or reciting vocabulary. I could see kids using the Spell with Flickr to make custom vocab lists and the mytattoons to describe themselves. This would be useful when we use body vocab and adjectives. I can use them however... to make a ROCKIN" Blog!!!

Thing #12

Well, I enjoyed making my slideshow, but I had a time of it putting it on my blog. I originally tried Rock You, but to no avail. I took the advice of a friend and tried Slide which worked the first time. I chose the pictures in my slideshow due to what we are studying in class right now. Día de los Muertos is a Mexican cultural celebration honoring the dead. I feel more able to embed things onto my blog now, but only because it was so difficult to get to work the first time. I am having a blast, don't get me wrong, I just spent a lot of time on this Thing #12.

My pictures come from Flickr, credit should be given to: Productora Mutant, annpar, groovehouse, el_catrinero, and moon dragon.

Thing #11

I teach Spanish and over the last 7 years I have always displayed pictures, either from the web or ones I have taken, in order to reinforce vocabulary being taught. This is sometimes a challenge because I either haven't taken a picture of the vocab word listed or the pictures I find using Google Images aren't very good. With Flickr, one could spend all day and pick and choose the best photos of whatever he or she is looking for. I think Flickr mashup would be fun to make interesting photos for one's blog or Facebook. No matter what picture you choose Flickr and some of the accompanying applications allow the user to put his or her creativity into use. I could see this as being very useful in art classes or for projects needing a collage-type setup. This photo of a matador by Chema Concellon reminds me of a trip to Guanajuato, Mexico. Still, man faces beasts in different forms, computers for example, just another "olé" to add to his belt.

Thing #10

I had honestly never noticed the Creative Commons logo on the websites I visited before watching the two videos on Creative Commons. I do believe that Creative Commons will impact the way in which students learn and create projects. Just the other day I had 3 students from a couple of years back come to visit me with a song they had mixed for an English class. They had taken a bass line and beat from some R & B song and had replaced the words in which case they described some book they had read. I was impressed! They had made a 5 minute song in lyrical form with rhymes and rhythms. "How did you do that?", I asked perplexed that these 3 could do such a difficult task. Apparently they used some computer software to make an instrumental beat and then used a microphone from Guitar Hero and made up a rap of their very own. In class I am always using pictures, music, and video from the web. I am sure that I have shared pictures on the web at some time as well. Never did I know that there was a copyright label on the pictures I had taken. I sure didn't know that no one else could use those pictures without my permission. I love that Creative Commons has taken things that others have made and have made them available to others to use or "remix" as per Lawrence Lessig. Knowing that I can take these works and use them for educational purposes makes me that much more eager to get out there and find things that I feel would help my students to learn. The only problems I could see using the Creative Commons is someone taking a work by someone who had meant to represent one thing and make it represent something bad.

Thing #9

Well, its been 50 hours since my last post. I've been working on my wiki. After I received permission to play in the sandbox, I set out to make not just any wiki, but THE wiki. After my third failed upload to the site I threw my self back away from the computer cursing the day I decided to become technologically savvy. "It's better than me", I whispered below my breath, and somewhere from within my computer, I would have sworn I heard a chuckle. It was then that I decided I could beat it! I cracked my knuckles and geared to push myself forward and with a victorious yell, I thrust my chair forward to defeat the evil wiki. "Not this time", I smirked as I double bracketed the [[toc]] as opposed to the single brackets on the instructions page. From somewhere in my computer I felt it had suffered a blow. "Each title must be a heading", I sneered as I quickly changed the title from normal to heading. "Oh there you are!", I triumphantly exclaimed as I discovered the Powerpoint presentation I had uploaded had lodged itself behind the editing tool. "I'm king of the wiki!!!", I shouted as I rose from my chair and kicked my defeated powerless computer to the floor. Well, maybe that last part was a bit over the top, but that's what I felt like doing. I called a dear friend who would understand my grief to share with her my sorrows of the wiki. "It is conquerable", I told her, "and we shall beat it once more if need be." Victory was ours and we will be better next time. All in all the wiki is very fun and useful, it's just difficult to set up the first time. My wiki page is available to anyone interested.