Screen cast for about.me

Horrible Screen cast for about.me

I felt this was very difficult to do without creating a real account. I hope it is enough to get you started. It is pretty easy for the most part.

about.me

I used about.me a place that allows me to showcase my educational status and information if people want to find out about me. It is more personal than educational but I enjoyed it as it serves a different purpose than places like linked in or facebook but I can attach it to linked in so if anyone want to learn a little more about me they only need look.

I chose this tool after exploring a few different tools. This one was suggested by a friend and after checking his site out I wanted to do it. I think it will be beneficial in the future and at such time as I want to get a new job. I think anyone should be interested in this app.

about.me/debettencourtw

Comments for Infographics

I found trying to format a little difficult as you can see with the very large font to start my infographic. I enjoyed the activity and think it could be useful for students to create on on the cultural context and facts about some of the literature we study like The Things They Carried and When the Elephants Dance. I will keep on trying because I like the creative way to give facts and basic information instead of the old powerpoint.

Infographics

Infographics on the Vietnam War

But then the bullets started zipping around our legs and raising dust. We knew for sure they were shooting at us then. We weren't about to stay on line after that. We bolted to the right, ran about 25 meters, and took cover behind dirt piled up all along |Create infographics

Google + Thing 10

Google +

I will need to work at it and I like that I have joined the English Department one which will allow for easier sharing of articles and things that can be used for class. I have created two google+ communities - one for the sharing of materials in my SL 11th grade Lang and Lit class and one for the HL class. I will see how it goes this year with the two classes and how it can be used. I will need to explore some ways it can be used effectively because I don't want it to be a dumping ground for materials never looked at by students.

I am excited to use this system since everything seems to be linked to google I hope it will be easier than some other programs since I am always dialed into google.

Yeah....

Vietnam Travel

Thing 9 - Twitter

Thing 9 - Twitter

I will admit that it was a little daunting figuring Twitter out. The profile was easy enough with Alicia's tutorial and through those I understood the concept. When it came to actually tweeting I sought help - I spoke with David Collett and Alexa Mazarakis for a little input as to what I was supposed to be doing. I learned two very different ways to approach twitter so I would suggest asking a friend to sit down with you for five minutes and get the low down.

I will use this professionally and have already read some very interesting articles posted. I will use it to broaden my academic articles and finding great material and keep up on events in the world. I will explore this throughout the summer and find more people to follow.

Thanks.

My handle is debettencourtw

Thing 5 - Screencasting iMovie

Thing 5 - Screencasting iMovie

I created a screen cast for iMovie - it is the most basic one but I liked it. I found screencast-o-matic easy to use once I got help downloading it to the computer. I think the free version is enough for the way I would use it. It was fun. I think I will use this and hope to become a little less nervous - I did this recording around four times. One of the reasons was I had audio issues on the iMovie not the screencast and decided not to worry about it in the end. My first recording was um..spectacular and so I rerecorded with less ums.

 http://youtu.be/BOiu9ELuXgw

Here is my youtube connection I hope it works.

Thing 6 Organizing and Saving Content Online

Thing 6 Organizing and Saving Content Online

I totally love Evernote. I have not really used it since I got the account, but this forced me to explore it and I realize it is key for organizing my online sources. I have been filing things in emails and really it is pathetic and I can never find the articles or video's or images I saved. It is also great for adding things people send to me. I can have a folder for Language and Literature and different parts of the course and then break them down in to topics. I will definitely be using Evernote now. I didn't like Pocket as much, I found it a bit harder to navigate and save content. It took me a little while to figure it out. I do not think I will use this one as most of what I find and save is long term. Enjoyed this activity and already have  several folders for my start of the year in 11th grade.

Macbeth Digital Storybook

Macbeth Digital Storybook

Thing 8 Storybooking

Digital Storytelling
I enjoyed this experience very much. I enjoyed the process of how to create a digital story and could see doing it both for personal and professional reasons. This digital story is a little personal but it also for a class. The assignment will be to choose 1-6 photographs linking to 3-4 different aspects of your life that have contributed in making your identity. This links to a unit on social relationships and identity. Students will first consider what are the most important factors that have contributed to who they are - for me it is where I am from, my family and friends, my love of literature and my love of travel. I actually created a second one for Macbeth and introducing the historical aspect of Macbeth, I wrote a rap and then had visuals and words added to focus on certain text, which is important. I have added both.

Personally it would be great to create a video of a holiday with my kids for family and friends to see since we are so far away.

Identity

Macbeth

Thing 4

Kahoots versus Evernote - honestly I found Kahoots very annoying having to flip back and forth between two tabs. I would not use this because of that sole reason. I found it a bit too simplistic and might use it if I were to teach middle school again, but for the purpose of HS and studying literature I do not think the time it takes to create a quiz would be worth merely checking for basic comprehension. I find evernote similar and an not sure I will use that either. This may lend itself better to science and math in you can have simple one or two word answers versus what we want them to do in literature. It may work for 9th grade with creating study guides for Romeo and Juliet based on their exam study and Lord of the Flies as it is our first unit and can be difficult so comprehension is necessary when reading at home.

//play.kahoot.it/#/?quizId=5e0e08ce-e735-49fe-b5e1-7a26663aeeb9

Evernote and Kahoot

https://play.kahoot.it/#/?quizId=5e0e08ce-e735-49fe-b5e1-7a26663aeeb9

I will be honest here I did not really like either of these. I found it extremely irritating to go back and forth between tabs for kahoots and I find it difficult to be able to do answers that can really have very different wording when studying literature. This was similar with Evernote which my students took the Romeo and Juliet quiz and if the smallest thing was different than the answer it was shown as wrong. Unless I plan on one word answers for questions or solely do multiple choice or true and false it seems to defeat the purpose. I do not think I would use either of these in my Language and Literature classes. I might consider them for my language b class if looking at very basic comprehension for home reading. I found creating the quiz was more work than the end result. I liked evernote better only because I did not like flipping between tabs.

Thing 3 - Mind mapping

I enjoyed Mindmup much more than lucid because I felt I could map my character more effectively. I did not really like lucid charts as for my purpose of following a character I felt it could become a little more convoluted even with the most basic format. I will use Mindmup for mapping characters in novels you can follow how they grow or emotions change or events they experience for instant recall later. I have not used too many other mapping tools and this was my first one with new technology.



http://www.mindmup.com/#m:g10B85kqC599CJVYmltOW52dnBiTGs

I chose the most simple lucid chart for Macbeth's emotions in Macbeth by William Shakespeare.

Google Apps and extensions

I decided to add the following google apps: evernote web, quizlet and quote book. I am nots sure how these will play into education and how I can use them as a teacher. I hope to use quizlet and will try to use it for end of the year study for my 12th grade literature novels. I think that will be helpful for students. I also am not sure about the quote book - it seems kind of cool, but not sure how it will work until I really try it out. Evernote I have heard a lot about and hope to make it a habit to use it. I added the following extensions: clearly as it seems like it would be very helpful reading texts on line as I absolutely hate all the filler and advertisements around texts. I think this will be great for both students and teachers. I added print friendly as that is also another aspect that seems excellent considering the use of on-line texts for the Language B course and Language and Literature course that rely heavily on texts found on line. Lastly, I added facebook for chrome, I am not sure how this will work but I am hoping to work around the school block to see what I can use this for as I am sometimes in contact with authors of the literature we read or the people we research in the Language B course and it would be great to have a way to show these communications with students. I hope to have the time in the next week before moving onto thing 3 to play around with these programs and see what they can be used for in my class.

Reflection for VoiceThread

I liked the VoiceThread activity - I found it a bit cumbersome to find the pictures I would have like and settled for some that I feel would not be as effective in suiting my purpose. With that said, I can see how it could be used for creating some cultural context for literature study and possibly when studying language in a cultural context. I will try to use it as I could use this one to introduce language in a cultural context when we study "I Have a Dream" by Martin Luther King Jr.

Here is my Voice Thread on "I Have a Dream"

https://voicethread.com/share/5492417/

Hello, I am Wendy DeBettencourt and I grew up on Martha's Vineyard Island in Massachusetts, USA. I currently work at the International School Manila teaching 9th grade, IB Language B, and IB11th and 12th grade Language and Literature - both standard and higher level courses.

I enjoy learning new technology and ways to integrate it into the curriculum. I struggle with time to really wrap my mind around different programs and how to utilise them in class on  a regular and comfortable basis. I don't like that there seems to be so many different programs and learning which program would be most effective in the classroom setting and most useful for the students. I like the idea of learning some different programs that I can use in my class to help make learning more fun for students and more interactive.

My favorite place to visit in the Philippines is Boracay, despite it not being the most secluded or traditional, it is beautiful and lots of fun with great restaurants.