Week 4 Thing 8:: Education Feeds

It's great how the hundreds of "feeds" on the Internet can be used in the classroom.  I can learn to use podcasts in French, for example, in class.  Bravo!

Week 8 Thing 20

Week Nine, Thing 23

It's finished !  Finally !  This project was well worth the effort.  I really enjoyed learning to do technical things that ordinarily I would run to our tech support people to do for me.  I hope that we can continue this learning program.

Week Nine, Thing 22

I love books, and seeing so many electronic or free books is super!  I was a bit disappointed by Project Gutenberg -- I knew of it before and never used it.  It seems a bit complicated, and it is not free.  I did, however, sign on to "Bookins," which is a free book source -- I can trade my old books for those I haven't read.  Great Scot, that's really cool!

Week 8 Thing 21

Voilà!  Eureka!  Two French podcasts !  My students are going to love this!  I really have enjoyed this part of  learning how to add podcasts to my blog although it has not been so easy....Hooray!

Week 7, Thing 21 - Podcasts !

Yikes! I deleted my podcasts! Hope I can get them back!!!

Week 7 Thing 22

Ebooks are good if people like to spend hours at the computer trying to read them. If one tries to download the books and print them, what a waste of paper! Of course, Kindle has taken care of that sort of waste if one can afford $200 or so to purchase the Kindle. I do not use ebooks personally or in class, but they are o.k. Audiobooksm on the other hand, are terrific, especially while on a long trip. How I wish my students would listen to audiobooks in French!!

Week 7, Thing 20: Let's Get Serious: Albert Camus' "TheStranger"

This is for my Honors French IV class. Although the professor speaks about existentialism in English, it is the only way for a high school class to understand the complexity of this modern philosophy. By the way, there is debate about whether Camus was really an existentialist. He did not think so toward the end of his life. My Honors French IV class will study these four videos. I am embedding #1 now.

Week 7, Thing 19 - Library Thing

I don't much see the need for this sort of book-tracking system in my own teaching, but it probably does help some teachers. Cool idea, however. Now I know from whom I can borrow books....

Week 6 Thing 18 - Productivity Tools !

I am trying out Zoho Writer because it might be a useful tool in the future.  I am going to see if I can publish this little bit on info to my blog !

Week 6, Thing #16

Rolling right along here!  Funny how one can make progress when one has enough time to spend on the computer without interruptions, n'est-ce pas?  I LOVE WIKIS !!!  This is what I have been waiting for -- my own wiki for classroom use.  Can't wait to get started!!!

Week 6, Thing 15

Copyright! Copyright!  As a teacher, this is important to understand.  How many times do I make copies from a book without giving due diligence to the author?  (not any more !)  The comic book written by grad students was excellent -- all about the purpose of copyright, its exceptions, etc.  What a headache, however!  There are lawyers who specialize in copyright -- boring.  I will certainly be more careful in the future when I use someone else's intellectual property in class !

Week 6, Thing 14 - Technorati !

Well!  After I calmed down a bit, I was able to spend quite a bit of time on this particular section.  I was thwarted in my progress, however, because Technorati is having -- guess what???? -- TECHNICAL PROBLEMS !  Their link to "popular blog" does not work.  The link to "claiming" one's blog does not function, and the "watchlist" that one could have created has died a terrible cyberspace death.  In any case, I believe that I prefer "Delicious." It is easier, less technical, and really serves my purpose, which is to somehow identify the hundreds of lovely websites I have found on teaching French, which is why I am here to begin with.  à tout à l'heure!

Week 6, Thing 13 - DELICIOUS !

I already know about Delicious.  I love to surf the net for all things French, for example, so Delicious is a quite an exceptional tool for quickly finding what I need.

Week 5, Thing 12

Although I love the idea of Rollyo....it did not work!  The message I got, more than once, was "didn't connect -- too many connections." Rats!!!

Week 4, Thing 10

I really love Image Chef!  I can make a cool picture using a photo of the class with part of a French poem they have learned and even enchance it more !  Cool!  Who said that you can't teach an old dog new tricks?  Maybe they will like French poetry a bit more if I let them play around with this....who knows?

Week 4, Thing 9

So I have spent about 45 minutes looking for something of interest from Feedster, Topix.net, Syndic.8, etc., but either the site is down or the news is about Tiger Woods and his accident at home.  I did find one interesting blog about teaching French, but it was for elementary teachers.  Whatever....

Week 4 Thing 7

I am following Pat's Polemics! Now I just have to tell him....

Week 4 Thing 6

Howdy-doo! Another fast week of teaching gone by like a streak of lightning! I am enjoying this learning process more than I thought that I would. In fact, I am anxious to get an RSS feed or whatever it is called going so that I can keep up with some other people's blogs, particularly one by a fabulous f.l. teacher in another state!

Week 3 #5 - Flickr Fabulous!

I am falling in love with Flickr! Who are these geniuses who are inventing all these great things? My students can even make books in another language and add their photos (guess what language that would be....). There's something to this hi--falutin' technology....

Week Two Thing 3

It's nice to meet the parents of our students. They are most often very kind. Inevitably one of them will say something about not being able even to imagine teaching for a living. I can't imagine doing anything else, or at least I don't want to.

Début

Week Two, Thing 3:  Début means "beginning" in French. "Débutantes" are just beginning their social lives, or at least that is the way it used to be. So this is my début also in the blogosphere.