My E-PortFolio

It’s the end of another week and our time together is coming to an end….wow, how melodramatic! This has been the most hectic week so far and we have EduBlogs to thank for that. It’s true that it has prepared us for the ups and downs of technology, but I just wish I could have uploaded my documents and posts without spending the whole class waiting for it work. I’m king of sad that this course is ending in a couple of days. I have gotten used to waking up and starting my day with the rest of my classmates. It’s weird because I am SO NOT A MORNING PERSON but I don’t mind waking up to come here. I love the dynamic between us and I love the fact that I’m learning about so many things that I always found interesting. I hope that we can all get together someday and share the learning experience together once again. Good luck to everybody in their endeavors and remember that we are the kind of teachers that will surely make a difference in the world, lets never, never, never give up.

What does one do when you feel like you don’t belong? Well I don’t know what one does, but I sure know how one feels. Today class was a bit hectic. The internet is still giving problems and people’s computer keep freezing. I think we all feel like digital immigrants today. I know I’m pretty good with technology but the reality was that I felt all throughout the day like I was battling against an invincible monster. It gets to be so frustrating when you just don’t have control of what is happening. I think that it is important to teach our students skills to work with these problems and how to tolerate frustration. It takes a long time to be good with technology and along the way many problems will rise. I try to relax myself with music and I comfort myself with the idea of “undoing” and pressing “back” to solve my computer mistakes.

What a day! Today everybody worked individually perfecting their movies, newsletters and instructional modules. It’s funny how most of us have problems making our computers and documents work correctly, I just can’t stop thinking that we are all digital immigrants. I’m sure our students wouldn’t have half of the problems we do. I spent all day working on my module, I am such a perfectionist that it is taking me a very long time. I really want to do a good job because I want to use this module in my classroom. I try to put myself in my students’ position and create everything according to their interests. I don’t know how everything will end up, but I sure hope it’s a success.

It’s funny how all throughout this class we have been talking about the benefits of incorporating technology into education, but we have not considered what to do when technology fails. The network has been faulty for the last two days, making it impossible to upload posts and check some internet sites. The computer keeps freezing as we are editing the movies and some of us, like Michael, have had to write stuff on paper before having to type it in a computer. This only reaffirms my belief that it is important to be aware of the most types of techniques possible, some with technology and others without it. Technology is great, but it can not be the only thing. Students need teacher feedback and face to face contact. Plus, they have to be aware that technology sometime goes wrong and a backup plan should always be prepared.

Monday, Monday, Monday…oh how I despise Mondays! I love coming to class, but Mondays are just a horrible experience for me. It takes me an extra 15 minutes to get ready, its like my brain is on vacation. Anyways, I’ll move on, just needed to get that out of the way. In class we worked with Movie Maker. We used the pictures we took on the field trip to create an educational video. I decided to create a public announcement to inspire my kids to go to college. I really like what I have so far, I’m pretty proud about this particular presentation. I’ll keep editing tomorrow, I hope the outcome is great.

Today we took a field to the University of Puerto Rico. It was a wonderful experience to travel with my classmates to a new environment.  Everybody was very excited, we all looked like uncontrolled teenagers and got repremanded a few times at the Tren Urbano. We started our journey visiting the Anthropology Museum where we observed original Taíno artefacts and even a real mummy! We then proceeded to walk around the campus and take pictures. We are going to use the pictures we took today in our Movie Maker presentation on Monday. I had a lot of fun and I am sure that if we did this type of activity with our students they would also have a lot of fun. It’s nice to change environments and to explore new surroundings. Well, the end of another week has come. We are half way to our goal, let’s keep working!

fifties-tribute.wmvWe are becoming renaissance men and women in this class! We have become published writers, graphic designers and now Hollywood directors. We discussed today how to use Movie Maker 2 and incorporate our own pictures and songs to create a movie. The program is amazingly easy to navigate and very user friendly. All the necessary options are on the left side of the page so you don’t have to be looking for toolbars and searching for options. There is no time limit to what you can create. Come on, give it a try!

Who needs Publisher when we already have Word? Creating newsletters with this application is as easy as following just a few steps. Create a table for the Header and then divide your page in two columns. That’s it! Check out this example.

bwp-newsletter.doc

This class is definitely opening my eyes to new techniques that I never imagined before. Not only is it providing me with the techniques it is also providing me with the means to do them. Many times before I have found myself desperate to find a computer with Publisher to create a newsletter. Today, I have finally given up on that search and it’s all because of today’s mini lesson. You can actually create a newsletter using Word! And not only that, it is extremely easy to do it too! Check out my example. Hope you find it useful.

bwp-newsletter.doc

So for a week now we have been learning how to incorporate the computer in the classroom. We have been trained on certain programs and we have practiced how to use them in an classroom setting. We covered tests in Word using forms and Power Point to create modules and short stories. And now, it finally all comes together. We are going to make it happen, we are going to create our own instructional module. I was paired up with Michael and we decided to create a cooking vocabulary module. We have decided to work in two separate modules and to then merge them together, one basic and the other advanced. Up to now they both look great. Let´s see what happens…