Julia

Julia Kalmens

**Final Reflection**
===**I find this class very useful for me because I learned many things that I actually will be able to use in tutoring. The most valuable thing to me is that now I have understanding of how to improve my teaching not just creating new handouts and additional practice activities, but to use technology for learning. Using iPods for the purpose of tutoring is especially attractive, because it is one of the most popular new things among students. Often I have students at my desk waiting for help with assignments on different levels of Spanish. Some of them need more of my attention, but some would be able to listen to the pod cast explanations and understand a grammar topic. In this class I not only learned how an iPod can be used to listen to music in the fitness room (though, this as well). I learned how to use iTunes, how to subscribe, to record, to create an MP3 file, how to use Garage Band for editing, etc. I definitely am going to use my new skills in my future work, because podcasting will improve my tutoring and make it more versatile. It will also save time for the students, there will be no more waiting. In what direction I would like to continue my technology education? In learning to use a computer camera to make visual recordings. Recordings of classes I missed were extremely instrumental in order to make up sessions of this class. Thank you, Charlene!**===

http://www6.district125.k12.il.us/~jkalmens/spanish.mp3

I listened to two other presentations. One is from this year online conference and the other one I found in the archives in 2006 conference. http://k12online.wm.edu/PLEwithTLCnew-ipod.mov http://k12online.wm.edu/PLEwithTLCnew.mp3 This presentation talks about how to create a professional learning environment (PLE) with the help of computers and different tools available on them. The goal is to create a meaningful, authentic, real professional learning environment. Brandi Caldwell suggests to start small, with the level for beginners. Some services are: del.isio.us - service to bookmark and tag or label for anybody to use. Feedburner, bloglines. www.google.docs or Thinkfree for programs like Word, Power Point and Exel with an added bonus of multiple collaborators. All teachers can add (notes, slides, etc) to the same document.
 * I**.The first presentation is by Brandi Caldwell, and it is called Creating PLEs with TLC (from Professional Learning Networks category).
 * 1. emails to build and extend you network
 * 2. RSS and social bookmarking sites to bookmark sites you like, search for other people who have similar interests.
 * 3.Online Office

On the intermediate level: A Wiki allows to create a quick website with multiple collaborators. A blog is a dated journal that can have numerous contributors. You can create your own wikis, or contribute to already established. Application are varied. Add to wikis, comment to blogs. These tools are changing the ways teachers communicate and network with each other.
 * 4. Establish a collaborative presence on the Web with the help of Wikis and blogs.

On the advanced level Skype is a phone and chat alternative, and you can host and participate in skype-casts around the world. V-room is a three person conferencing tool. The resources are: www.skype.com www.**ning**.com www.**tapped**in.org/ Classroom 2.0 What I liked about this presentation was the way she organized her ideas and structured the process of creating PLEs, very logically.
 * 5. Many advanced multidimensional tools. Social networking sites for educators. They allow voice chat ( skype, vroom and others that provide text chats, forums, icons)

http://k12online.wm.edu/ipods-ispeak-ising-ilisten-ilearn.mp3 http://www.langwitches.org/blog/?page_id=82 I added both links to the Resources. Silvia's presentation was very interesting for me, it is a concrete example of how iPods can be used for teaching Spanish. She recorded her students who actively participated in the process and came up with some of the ideas, ways to memorize months in Spanish, as just one example. She gives many details she discovered while getting ready to use iPods in class, price for different brand of iPods, etc. On her Show Notes Silvia Tolisano has links to actual podcasts she and her Spanish students made for classes : http://www.langwitches.org/blog/langwitches-podcast/ Presentations that she made after the online conference can also be listened to through www.langwitches.org Some of the topics for her other presentations are: The Magic of Foreign Language Learning Through Technology Langwitches Podcast 017- Internet Safety Langwitches Podcast 015 - MAC, Professional Development Program & Globale Interconnectiveness Ideas
 * II**. The other presentation I listened to was absolutely great, because it is about what I was looking for - using iPods in a foreign language class. “iPods- iSpeak- iSing- iListen- iLearn” (Week in the Classroom) by Silvia Tolisa**no.** Online Conference 2006.