Thank you!!!!

Thank you to CDE and David Russel for this great opportunity. I feel I have learned a lot in the use of technology as well as  I have lots to learn still.

I finally finished my E2T2 project requirements. I was posting everything in my portfolio and I did soemthing which I do not know that made delete most of the stuffs I had posted already. It feels great to have finished with it and I am looking forward to expand my use of technology skills in my classes.

My students clearly took pride in being able to use the same computer-based tools that many adult professionals are using now a days. Eventhough I kept it simple, I feel that my students gained a sense of empowerment from learning to have control of a computer. My school culture values more the use of technology now a days.

Since I am not an expert in the use of technology, and I wanted to get the most out of these trainings, I decided to keep it simple. My options were Prezi or Glogster presentations projects and next year I will navigate deeper into all the options my students could be provided with.

I do not know what exactly David wants us to present on Wednesday at his house, but I will come as fully prepared as possible to share (I do not know about show off) what I've got so far. I do not have everything posted on my portfolio yet but my goal is to have everything by Thursday the 9th. It has been very overwhelming and I now wish I have had more time to work on this. I also feel I did and try my best.

Today, June 6th, two of my students who presented their project last week and who did not do very good in the presentation asked me if they could present it again since they felt that they did not do good and that they wanted to show me they could do it better. As I know these two kids pretty good and know that they really put a lot of effort in the project but not in the presentation, I gave them a chance and they did awesome. Their grade went up from a C to an A. I am so proud of them....

The most effective thing that I observed in my classes that used the most technology is that my students were very active learners. My students were actively making choices on how to generate and display the information they wanted to transmit. It was also noticed that students were highly motivated as well as I had to deal with way less discipline issues in the classroom and at times I was surpprissed at the level of technology based acomplishments my students ended up presenting.

I feel that I addressed the teaching and learning strategies necessary to ensure that students were going to be able to develop, use, and challenge themselves with the use of technology in the classroom. The implementation of the 21st Century skills in their projects was very outstanding. It is amazing what students can do and create, their creativity flies very quick when it comes to have technology as the tool to meet the final goal.

E2T2 portfolio

When I looked back at when we first started the E2T2 grant program, I felt that I was going to get a lot out of it and I did but it is really time consuming. I know I committed to be part of this grant and I am going to do my best to have every requirement ready and posted on my portfolio by the due date. I hope it is what was expected from me as I followed the requirements.
I really enjoyed being part of this grant opportunity for Middle School teachers.

Final project

My students are finally finished presenting to the whole class their projects. All of them were good, some of them put more effort on their projects, and some of them really followed what I expected from them. They really concentrated on the criteria for success and the rubric. I have to admit that just a few  or three of them out of 13 projects were poor and did not put the major effort in the grammar, fluency, and presentation part of the project. Overall they did a good job and the best of it is that they really enjoyed it and loved it.

Wallwisher

For some unknown reason, neither me nor my students were able to use  wallwisher. I wanted them to post daily reflections of their readings but it did not function. Everytime we tried to access it would not let us. For that reason, I had to come up with something easy and simple to do. We did dictations in Spanish. We practice in the classroom during 4 days of the week and after that on Fridays we went to the computer lab and did the dictation again using the computer to type( so students could use their keyboard typing skiils), printed them and graded them.

3rd Tri- projects

My students are finally finished with their 3rd tri project and began to present on Thursday June 2nd. The quality of their projects are amazing, it seemed to be that they went the extra mile and got more creative than I expected. We still have Monday 6th  and Tuesday 7th to finish with the presentations. I wish I could post most of the projects in my portfolio because I am so proud of the final product.

Wallwisher

I just created a Wallwisher. A friend told me about this and I just created one to start playing with it. Wallwishers  are used to post announcements, notes, etc. I created one for a different purpose and I am going to see if it works. My students are going to post mini summaries of what they read in Spanish 3 times a week. They have to write in a minimum of 3 sentences about what they read. They only have to write the main idea of what they read so I can get the just of it. I will experiment with it and see if it works and if it does not work for that, I will find a different way to have my students use it.
 So simply go to http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/KegyWe3HGp and post your message there.
Thanks,
Aliria

I Search Project

7th grade students are working on a" I Search Project".  Our librarian gave students a very  complete class on what to do and where to go when they are investigating about any topic.  First of all, students chose a non-fiction topic of their interest which they will research  to locate information of their interest. They also had to write what they knew already about that topic and what they wanted to learn about the topic as well and research it. To do this, students are using Brittanica on line, World Book and other sources to find information regarding their topic. While doing this, they have  been taking notes using office windows which is an easier way to do so because they just copy, paste and cite the source they got the information from. During this process, students have been turning in I Search Journals based on their research and I have been checking their notes in office windows. To be able to get an "A" on this project they  have to interview a person that knows about the topic they are researching. At the end, they have to use their notes, paraphrase them and write a rough draft which they will later improve based on feedback given and write the 6 paragraph final copy essay. This project has been very interesting since students feel that using the right sources and using the office window note taking skill has helped them not only to learn about this new skill but also to keep in a safe place their notes and not losing them.

Spanish Conquistadors Disscussion

After students got all the instruction and knowledge about the Spanish conquistadors, they had the chance to go and visit a wiki created on these conquistadors. Students did some readings, time lines and projects and at the end the watched some videos which gave them a broader understanding of what they have learned in class. Students posted discussions and reflected on what they have learned from the videos. It seemed to be that students where engaged while watching the videos and posting their disscussions in the wiki. They said that they loved doing this type of activities because they are learning in a fun an active way. I, for sure, will keep doing this with my classes.

Spanish Conquistadors

In Social Studies my students have been learning about the Spanish Conquistadors, their Motives, Treatment to Natives as well as the Areas they explored. A Wiki with some videos of the conquistadors have been created and students have been able to watch the videos and post comments in the discussion section of the Wiki. The wiki page, if anyone wants to see it is bcmsspanishconquistadors.wikispaces.com. The students have enjoyed this wiki and specially learning more about these conquistadors watching the videos.