Thing 16

PhotoPeach

Here is the quick slideshow of the vacation in the Dominican Republic with my family.

This would be a really easy way to get your students to introduce themselves with some background pictures and such.

It might also be an interesting way to grab attention and get students to predict content of the coming material.

So It Comes to an End...

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

The favorite thing I discovered was actually blogging in general. I really enjoyed doing the activities and keeping up with the links and reading everyone's ideas. It really was an interesting way of doing a project and I was highly motivated to learn.  

If I had to pick one though, it would be Thing 11.  I enjoyed looking around at the web 2.0 programs and especially all the other things that people found as well.  I really enjoy finding those kind of websites and playing with it.


2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

This program made me think about my web presence and what needs to be done to build that.  The whole point of getting a Masters degree is to learn more, be more experience, be a better teacher, and ultimately improve one's self.  Having an online portfolio seems to be a big deal.  I've created another blog and am holding myself to updating it weekly.  The goal is to create a lesson using technology at least every week and then blogging about it.

3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

I was surprised how motivated I was to finish something that was online.  It was a truly personalized learning experience.  The take away is to try and give my students that kind of personalized learning.  It is really important to me that students have something to create, to be proud of, to share.

These "Things" have opened up a new level of communication to me that I should be showing my students so that they can better express themselves.

4. What could I do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

If I could change anything, it would be the work load :(

No, if anything it would be interesting to have a group project or a guest blogger on the site.  Most of the assignments also revolve around finding materials and resources without actually making a solid lesson plan. It is kind of just a bunch of ideas floating around.
A final class project where we do a summary of everything would be cool as well though difficult to construct.

Well, it's not the end. More updates on An ESL Tech Activity a Week