Please post a reflection on your experience during Session 1.
You may reflect on the webinars (themes and web 2.0 tools), social learning network (Edmodo) and virtual classroom (Blackboard Collaborate). Also, how did you like having guest experts for the virtual meetings? What did you learn from the synchronous and asynchronous group discussions? What was your experience like with the creative projects? How was the wiki page (http://psmlaonlinepd.wikispaces.com) useful to you?
If you could point out "ONE" big discovery or highlight during this session that was worth your time, what would it be?
What would you tell the project leader on how she could improve the virtual experience for future sessions?
Thanks a lot for your feedback!
Silvina
I really love being in a learning community where we share our frustrations with trying to make the technology work and help each other do it. I need to have more than one experience with everything online, and as a result of our sessions, I'm feeling brave enough to have started a wiki for each grade level of my students just to keep up with the homework assignments and put pages online in case they have left them at school or lost them. I'm trying to integrate a number of the websites we have learned to use into what works well for the grade level's ability and the subject matter at hand, and one of the myriad things from Session 1 that has been very useful is allowing students to interpret web assignments with a great deal of creativity. The wiki has been a gold mine of information, and I'm just very pleaased to take part in this project. It's far and away the best and most on-point professional development opportunity I've been part of in many years.
ReplyDeleteI’m so glad that I was able to participate in Session 1. The detailed instructions for activities helped me a lot. I’ve learned how to create learning and teaching activities using a few tools introduced in the webinars, such as Quizlet, Prezi, Wordle, and Wisher Wall etc. I really like the social learning network, Edmodo, through which we shared our experiences and ideas. I enjoyed the learning experience although I felt frustrated occasionally. The highlight was that we were able to try directly during the webinar what was introduced or after the webinars. Thank you, Mrs. Orsatti, for the online professional development opportunities. Also my sincere thanks to my colleagues and wonderful “classmates”.
ReplyDeleteChing
I’m so glad that I was able to participate in Session 1. The detailed instructions for activities helped me a lot. I’ve learned how to create learning and teaching activities using a few tools introduced in the webinars, such as Quizlet, Prezi, Wordle, and Wisher Wall etc. I really like the social learning network, Edmodo, through which we shared our experiences and ideas. I enjoyed the learning experience although I felt frustrated occasionally. The highlight was that we were able to try directly during the webinar what was introduced or after the webinars. Thank you, Mrs. Orsatti, for the online professional development opportunities. Also my sincere thanks to my colleagues and wonderful “classmates”.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the webinars with the grouping of tools and examples. There is definitely a lot of options out there to use in the classroom and your examples really helped put the tools into perspective. I believe the biggest discovery was the Quizlet tool. It has been a huge help to my Spanish 2 students to practice their vocabulary. It was nice to work with this tool (and others) in the Creative Corner and test them out on fellow teachers before working with students.
ReplyDeleteThe social and classroom platforms worked well. Personally, I used Edmodo more than the wiki because I could tag posts and ideas there to refer to them later. Though frustrating to use, Blackboard Collaborate worked well to bring everyone together from across the state.
Overall, this has been a great learning experience and one of the most practical PDs that I have attended. I always knew I would come away with something useful to use. I am looking forward to Part 2 and brainstorming more ideas on how to use the various tools.
I almost didn’t register for this project due to lack of confidence in my technical skills. I’m so glad I didn’t let that stop me. It’s amazing to think we came together during the webinars in the virtual classroom from so many different places, like the beach and campgrounds. What I learned from the webinars about Web 2.0 Tools & the fact that we had the Creative Corner inspired me to do things like Prezi, Voki, and Wordle that I had wanted to try for almost a year but didn’t feel capable. I’ve used each one already this school year with my classes. I also created Wiki pages for my classes and played a bit with Wall Wisher - before August I barely knew the difference between upload, download, and embed. I learned something from each guest speaker, & the group wiki page is a great resource. Another big highlight for me is Edmodo. I like it so much that I’ve started to use it with my Independent Study students and hope to use it with my Spanish IV class in the future after I become more comfortable. I did one of the Edmodo webinars and hope to do another next week. There is a great professional network there as well. The one change I can think of to improve the virtual experience is to have more sessions in order to spread out the tools because I did get overwhelmed at times. I’ve learned to concentrate on a few tools and work up to others. For example, I’ll have to work up to Voice Thread. I think it’s very cool, but I’m having a hard time with it. Silvina, like the others, I want to thank you for everything you do. I feel very fortunate to be a part of this project and among such a great group of language educators.
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ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed participating and collaborating with world language colleagues in this webinar. Learning about Web 2.0 tools was an eye opening experience that has inspired me to even learn more so I am able to create engaging lessons that employ 21st Century Skills for my students.
ReplyDeleteThis class in particular helped build my technology confidence, and made me willing to try some of these applications. Like Jill above, I am taking baby steps and working my way to giant steps. So far, I have been able to manage Wordle, Prezi and Voki. I can't wait until I can create a wiki, or a virtual classroom with Blackboard Collaborate, or even a VoiceThread activity. It is reassuring to know that if I need help, I have a place to go ask. Our group is filled with talented world language educators. I agree with Linda above, that this webinar was the most practical professional development I have ever attended. It was more beneficial because it was exclusively designed for world language teachers who share common knowledge, have common goals and share common issues. I also intend on taking part 2.
Thanks to Mrs.Orsatti for her hard work and commitment to the project, and to the guest speakers. All did a fabulous job! I am looking forward to meeting everyone at the upcoming conference.
I enjoyed participating in this project. It was nice to see how others are using the technology tools specifically in LOTE classrooms. Despite having worked quite a bit with Web 2.0 tools, I was excited to learn about new tools, such as myfakewall.com, Edmodo and wikispaces. (I am currently using myfakewall with my FR 4 class, have set up my webpage on wikispaces, etc.)
ReplyDeleteI really liked the Creative Corner....it made me use/try the tools rather than just seeing what other people have done. I've actually used some of these in classes already!
I always looked forward to the webinars. Silvina and all of the presenters were very knowledgeable about their topic and very willing to work with us to become more comfortable in using the tools. I also thought the break out groups worked well in giving participants the opportunity to converse about the tools/questions/etc.
The wiki page will be a great resource to return to over and over when I can't remember how to do something and/or am looking for new ideas.
Thank you,Silvina. Your MEAD project is a great success!! I appreciate you extending an invitation to this non-PSMLA member!!
Toni
The participatory and peer sharing nature of this webinar experience has been great. It is so easy to "discover" a tool on-line, get excited about its possibilities for use with students, and then have it disappear into a sea of bookmarks to await rediscovery. Being part of a group conversation about tools and their uses, practicing, and sharing the products of practice are very helpful to me.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I had an opportunity to experience Edmodo. I'd signed up for it a couple years ago, the first time I "discovered" it. When I found that it wouldn't do Spanish characters (so that I couldn't even name a class Español II), I put it aside. Last year an English teacher at my school began using Edmodo, I took a re-look and found that they'd fixed the Spanish font problem, but didn't find the time to explore. Now that I've had some experience with Edmodo as a student, I think I'll still stick with using a wiki for my classes. Maybe it's just what one gets used to, but I find social networking sites and blog sites, where everything is posted chronologically more difficult to navigate, organize, and find things, than a wiki website where things can be displayed and linked in a variety of ways.
I'm excited about continuing the technology in the classroom conversation, since I have regular access to a cart full of laptops in my room for the first time this year!
One improvement that would help me with the continuing conversation would be to have one clear starting point for entry with a centralized set of links for all the other on-line elements. (Or alternate points of entry each with links to all the others.) I knew I had a reflections assignment to do over the past couple of weeks, but I couldn't remember exactly what it was or where to do it. I finally did an e-mail search for messages from Silvina that led me here this morning. (And then revisiting the wiki I did find it there, too.) It was helpful to find the link to today's Blackboard session in more than one place. Maybe I as a student just need a better routine for moving among the pieces and connecting them in my mind: Edmodo, wiki, blog, etc...
Many thanks for organizing this experience for us, Silvina.
I have really appreciated the opportunity to communicate and collaborate with like-minded professionals. I love the idea of using technology in the classroom. I probably use it more than the average educator, but sometimes I feel like I could have done a better job of integrating it into my lesson. This has given me so many ideas in how to utilize the tools in a really effective way. The wiki has been wonderful because it has given me a place to go back to and remind myself of what we have done. I also appreciate that the forums we have been using in this class are all technology we can integrate into our own classes. Often teachers talk about what we should do, but they don't use it while delivering the message. I believe in do as I do type of teaching and Silvinia has totally taught by example.
ReplyDeleteThis has been a wonderful experience. The only thing that I could critique is that sometimes I was a little lost going into the breakout rooms. That may not be a critique towards the webinar, it may have been me.