Thing 14

VoiceThread may change my homework style in the future. It ia a great tool to teach foreign language where I can ask students to comment in French. For high school students who are too shy to do a prrsentation in French in front of the teacher, they can do it through VoiceThread. Check the link below and see my first attempt to discover VoiceThread.

http://voicethread.com/#u844404.b1025304.i5465700

I tired now to record my voice as my laptop sound card is not working. Check the following link.
http://voicethread.com/share/1025525/
I guess, if I am absent oneday and my sub does not speak French, voicethread can be me while I am not present!

Thing 13

Youtube has been a good colleague! It is helping me animate my French sessions mostly with the Primary students through French songs and cartoons. I find it very useful also on a personal level where I can find very old clips and songs and series. I am using it for my Arabic enrichment class. I uploaded many Youtube pronunciation clips for the 4th grade Moodle. Youtube has saved ne lots of time since I find on it lots of pre-made materials. Below is a link from a Multi-lingual teacher who is teaching mostly mono-lingual students:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q9TBlUPSxU

Thing 12

This is the most funny thing I ever found. I am going to make my Primary and Lower School students laugh. I still need more practice before I show them videos with French words and songs.

Thing 11

Delicious! Yummy! I really like it. It is easy to learn it. I was able to create different tags and add websites to them. I like deliciuos as I can be organized and stay on top of my link wherever I am and no matter which computer I am using. Deliuos can be useful for teaching as students (mainly Middle and High school) and teachers can create their own support system. I found soem nice French website like dictionnaires and translations. I will keep looking for more. Now, I am not afraid if I loose my Favorites on the internet. They are already replaced by delicious.

More about thing 10

Mashups! It was very intersting to watch the 5 minute video about Mashups. The clip is like 4 years old and just to go back in time and see how in couple years the use of internet has UNBELEIVABLY progressed! We kind of take things for granted now and every time there is something new about thechnology we do not pause and think how much effort and process it took to have it ready for us. Living with an Application developper, I know how much work these things take.  

Thing 10

Flicker is so cool. I think I will be using it later with my family memebers. I have lots of pictures from the AIMS Diversity Symposium that I would love to use Flicker for! Yet, I am sure I won't because I do not have schools permission and parents permission. Overall, it was very fun playing with my own photo at the Zoo when my husband and I took our little ones last spring. I did not amke us look horrible! I just played with colors and temperatut=re and contrast. Stuff like that! I will be playing more with Picnick I am so suee about that!

Update: I played with my daughter's photo and made look like it was painted with a pencil! Cool!

Thing 9

Sorry Dino. But I do not want to put any of my photo on any web site! I would rather lose all of my photos than putting them on a website. Too much for a conservative online user!

Thing 8

I am not liking that. Too much paswords and log in. It is like a maze now! Which password is where? Where to check what? The more connections and links the more I am overwhelmed!
http://www.netvibes.com/#General

Update: now, after I workes with Angie, I knew what I did wrong. I love that thing and I have it now as part of my homepage. I can say that I learned something new and useful today. Thanks Angie!

Thing 7

I feel like following is good. It keeps me updated on some blogs! I do not know which blog to choose! I feel like I am a primary student given a choice and struggling with what to pick! I will pick some random ones! This is going to be fun I hope as I am feeling overwhelmed already! Too much network!
I will try to put my Arabic and French news sites there! Cooooooooooooool! Few can spy on me! You need to know Arabic & French to do so! Sorry!

Thing 6

I do not thing I will like the Ning! I am already having hard time controlling the expansion of my Facebook friendship list! This is too way publisizing private life! Plus, there are too many people that I do not know that will have access to my information! When it comes to the privacy of my life, I become verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry conservative. I do not think about a useful way for me as an educator to use Ning! I am open for clarification and suggestions!

Thing 5

LinkedIn would be valuable if someone is hiring and looking for specific employee! I am not sure how it can help more? Maybe among teachers have some workshop suggestions? Or courses? Or even graduate programs? I cannot picture how this tool is going to be useful for me! I am afraid it will turn into another facebook to me! I am only keeping myself in the ASHMI connections until I figure out how I can make it useful!

Thing 4

I do not like to comment a lot on blog, yet! Maybe because I am not so used to it! But even Facebook, I use it to see what my brothers and sisters and the very close family members and friends are up to. They are all in different countries and Facebook make me feel that we are close. I rarely send them messages. When I comment I use one or two sentences. Well even with the phone, I do not visit on the phone. I use for a purpose but I do not spend hours on it. I do need the eye contact when I communicate.
I do belong to an online learning community. Part of my master degree at Oakland University is done through Moodle. I love it because Moodle is used to post homework and read each other work. Yet, we do meet once a month and we knew each other before starting "moodling". Besides, I enjoy Moodle because it has a specific academic purpose. If it was a tool to make friendship, I would not even think about it.

Thing 3

Blog has all types of writing ranged from serious ones to very funny and entertaining ones. I loved the ones written by students, the 2nd grade Duck Diaries was one of my favorite. Maybe because I could picture some of my 2nd graders reflecting on this topic and being very creative. Some writings hit very serious issues like cyber-bullying. I recommend this blog if you are noticing how much bullying can occur online! I witness it almost every time I am on Facebook! In fact, like any virtual learning tool, blog can be very useful for learning if it is used wisely! By the way, I am so happy I am working at ASHMI! You want to know why? Read "How To Prevent Another Leonardo Da Vinci" blog and you will know what I am talking about!