Web+2.0

WEB 2.0

Web 2.0  After going to the cooltoolsforschools website I found it quite interesting the websites and tools we can incorporate into our daily teaching routines. For example, when I was a student learning Spanish it was frustrating when I was at home doing my homework and I had a problem that I got stuck on I couldn’t access the internet to find out how to conjugate a verb or use the proper grammar. With the advance in technology and thanks to web 2.0 I could create a slideshow right out of the text book and show exactly how to conjugate a verb or illustrate exactly what the students are intended to know and learn on VUVOX [] . In addition to a slide how I could prepare a collage to illustrate the rules for different verb endings or grammatical errors with the different tenses.  Another helpful tool at the website I found is viddix [] . This would fit perfectly in learning a foreign language because if a student was stuck and needed help immediately they could access this website and look for the answer and not have to wait until the next day of class. Now of course for this to work correctly I would have to create lessons/plans for each chapter in our text book. This would be so helpful to students because if they did not know how to pronounce a word they could find it on this website and click on the lesson and see a video with myself sounding the word slowly by each syllable so the student can say it with me. This would be beneficial because instead of a student pronouncing it incorrectly they can learn on the spot and gain self-satisfaction and gain more confidence.  Another tool I can incorporate in my teaching style is ahead [|http://ahead.com/#view/lilaspaces/main/welcome?scene=HOME] . This is a similar site such as viddix but ahead allows me to add higher resolution videos, images and files from adobe and Microsoft directly. Again I can make a video with me either giving a lecture, pronouncing all the words assigned to my students, or after teaching for several years I will gain a better understanding of where the students need extra help or where the difficulty in the program. This allows me to be proactive and plan ahead before the students become frustrated because they are at home with no one to answer their questions. Planning ahead also saves me time in the long run because if I can foresee the issues and plan accordingly this will help the students learn more efficiently while I am able to teach more effectively. Having a smooth lesson plan with the help of this website will make the class run more smoothly with less hiccups and issues with not being able to help my students.  Not being enrolled in college for almost 15 years, I can see first-hand how technology has changed the way in which we are taught at all levels of school. I know I am dating myself but when I was a former college student we didn’t get the pleasure of using any Microsoft products except for maybe word. My first semester was this last spring and I was amazed at how professors can incorporate PowerPoint or word doc. into a lesson plan and how effective they are. Another good website to utilize as a teacher would be slideboom [] . On this website I can have vivid pictures with the Spanish word below so the students could start to associate pictures with the word in Spanish, instead of them always having to see the word in English with the Spanish word next to it. This could be turned into a Rosetta Stone type of teaching method, not to be used to replace me as a teacher, but to further the students ability when they are away from class but still able to learn as long as they have an internet connection and a computer.  Being a Spanish or bilingual teacher, I feel I need to change a lot from when I was a student in junior high and high school. I remember getting so bored with the same repetitive activities day in day out and year in and year out. Keeping the kids engaged in learning is the key to being successful and with the help of internet4classrooms [] . This allows the student or students to engage in a conversation with a native speaker via teleconference. This method will allow for the students to be fully immersed in the language of their choice, I am only referring to Spanish because that is my emphasis, but this is such a powerful tool to be able to not only use the language but to have a conversation with a native speaker of that language. The possibilities are endless with this type of tool that was not available when I was learning Spanish. <span style="font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> If these tools were around twenty years ago when I was learning Spanish I might not be here today as an almost forty year old struggling to finish this degree I started so long ago. Meaning that if this type of tools or resources were available when I was struggling with my Spanish I might have finished school within the first four to five years that I started my college career, instead it took me many hours and living abroad to learn this language that should have come to me so natural. The good part about me coming to school now is I get to learn about all the new resources and technological tools that are offered to students and teachers alike. Either way I approach my lesson plans I have a lot to think about with so many options and choices with all this technology offered to assist teachers.