How can I say thanks

www.ForestWander.com

To Aisha Wood-Jackson and her assistants I say thank you, merci and gracias. Words are not enough to express my gratitude for the lecturer of ICT for Reading 2010 and her assistants. The exposure and the joy I experienced from each one of the Web 2.0 technologies was phenomenal. Without a doubt I intend to use this knowledge to bring empowerment to the students and teachers of our Trinidad and Tobago.  Not only were these ladies competent, thoughtful, pleasant and PATIENT, they were able to move all of us from ground zero to the top of the Eiffel tower in technology. I was no longer led as a lamb I was now leading the pack to conquer any attempt to stop the technology. They were the beautiful flower and we were the butterfly who visited daily to obtain sweet nectar. In addition to the endless websites on 'free' teaching and learning of reading, we learnt about:

• Blogs, 
• wikis, 
• webspiration, 
• kidspiration, 
• ebooks, 
• digital storytelling, 
• photography,
• writing for the Web
• collaboration,
• lesson planning

Thank you Aisha, Murella and Cherisse

Time management

http://blaugh.com/2006/08/29/managing-time-management/

Indeed I can see the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It took everything within me to make it this far. Why? because time management has always been my nemesis. This time I put aside everything and I pushed to the finish. My goal was to understand how to use this new technology to enhance the teaching and learning of reading. In the process of trying to balance this ICT course and my daily life I decided to incorporate some time management techniques and what do you know I came upon the BEST time management site ever created.

• Time Management, 
• Thinking, 
• Reading, 
• Online learning 

 are a few of this site's topics. Its value ranges from assistance with 'learning to learn' to formulating time schedules for a research project. Remarkably, I was rudely awakened from my intense concentration on integrating technology in the teaching and learning process in the classroom when I tried their exercise in time management. I discovered that I used more than24 hours in one day. In this world of information explosion we must balance our lives and assist our students to balance theirs. Go to the site you will discover a world of life controlling strategies for you and your students - http://www.studygs.net/timman.htm

L is for Laugh

In viewing my colleagues' blogs I came across one foundational aspect of life which I had almost forgotten during this blogging marathon. Even yesterday I reminded my son that there are four pillars of healthy living called PEES - Put God First, Eat the right food, Exercise and Sleep. I had forgotten it should be SLEEP -Laugh everyday. Mrs. R reminded me of this in her post 'Laughter is de bes Medicin' so I have decided to share this L with you. (I know I also forgot R for Read) The blogging marathon is almost over. Read and enjoy.



A Mental Test

Jim and Edna were both patients in a mental hospital. One day while they
were walking past the hospital swimming pool, Jim suddenly jumped into the deep end. He sank to the bottom of the pool and stayed there.  Edna promptly jumped in to save him. She swam to the  bottom and pulled Jim out.

When the medical director became aware of Edna's heroic act, he immediately ordered her to be discharged from the hospital as he now considered her to be mentally stable. When he went to tell Edna the news he said, "Edna, I have good news and bad news. The good news is you're being discharged, since you were able to rationally respond to a crisis by jumping in and saving the life of another patient. I have concluded that your act displays sound mindness. The bad news is, Jim, the patient you saved, hung himself with his bathrobe belt in the bathroom. I am so sorry, but he's dead."

Edna replied "He didn't hang himself, I put him there to dry."
 

Author unknown

We Remember

WE REMEMBER
10% of what we read
20% of what we hear
30% of what we see
50% of what we see and hear
70% of what we discuss with others
80% of what we personally experience
95% of what we teach others
This quote was found in Carl Zimmer's article, Children learn by Monkey See, Monkey Do, Chimps don't. I accidentally stumbled upon this article whilst responding to one of my colleagues' blog post. (Thank you Lady Blog) Believe it or not I was searching for additional ways of incorporating technology with classroom activities. This article literally grabbed me out of my seat as it yanked at every cell of my heart - OMG, (no, it wasn't a heart attack) 'humans are hard-wired to learn by imitation, even when that is clearly not the best way to learn' (Zimmer , 2005).
Although I would have heard this statement one thousand times as I am sure you have also, it never registered to me as it did from Zimmer's writing. Immediately, I went into panic gear - What have I been doing to my students? What have some of our lecturers past and present been doing to us? And most importantly from a parent standpoint, WHAT have my children been exposed to? These and many other questions troubled me but I was assuaged by the knowledge that this course had a fantastic teacher who modeled the use of technology to the max. The future therefore is in good hands - the 90 of us can make a positive change in ICT and teaching and learning in Trinidad and Tobago.
Here is the link for this article and one of the most excellent websites on technology and the classroom I have EVER come across. http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Technology/HowToIntegrateTech.html

Rhythm and Reading?

From digital storytelling, it was time for me to research on Web 2.0 technology. In my search I came upon this article which made me pause and reflect. The article written by Adi Bloom in 2007 was entitled, Sense of rhythm helps reading. Bloom's opening statements suggested that adults should purchase books for children when they ask for a drum kit. He came to this conclusion based on the findings of 'academics' who discovered that children 'with a strong sense of rhythm learn to read easily' while those without rhythm find great difficulty with the printed word. (According to Anil Roberts, WHATTTT!!!!)
If this research were true then every 'Trini' should be a good reader but as SEA results demonstrate year after year we either need to change our definition of rhythm or we just have to wake up to the fact that our children are unable to hear our rhythm. Moreover, In the United States where certain research has shown that the same African Americans and the Latinos, those whom we consider to be extremely rhythmic, are performing below the level of other races like the Chinese and the White population. Do they also have some other 'rhythm' that is yet to be defined?
In musing, I thought about the IBG Phonics programme. Perhaps it is this sense of rhythm that is used to foster the reading progress that the programme claims. Mmmm, this rhythm and reading may be a good research topic...


Although I found this article in the TES newspaper I searched for it on their website so that I could share it with you. Let me know what your thoughts are on the article's content - http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=2424502

Top ten tips for using technology in the classroom

The author of this video, Jose Picardo, used technology well to summarize his ten tips. I, particularly, was interested in Tip Two - Use music more often. I have never used music in the classroom for the simple reason that I was afraid of the Gaza and Gully frenzy and the amount of obscenities and offensive content of 'teens' music but Jose convinced me to try their music. At least my students would have some type of music that does not contain inappropriate matter. I believe that these tips would be useful to the teacher, administrator, reading specialist and of course the student. Let me know if any of these tips were useful to you.
Top ten tips for using technology in the classroom

This link also contains many other videos which you may find helpful with using technology in the classroom.