Final Thoughts

As the semester is over I come to realize how fast it went! So many things crammed into my head in just my first year of this career! It has been a very good start to it since many peers have turned into friends as well. We have shared funny and maybe even stupid moments inside and outside the classroom walls. Those are memories that will not fade away easily.
Well, after talking about the whole social aspect of the semester, I would like to mention how it has been a very good one education wise. First of all because after seeing theories of how languages are acquired and how we can teach it better. Also because through my Educational Technology class I have been seeing many ways to promote learning in a necessary way for what awaits. It is very cool to have learned how to create interaction based activities with technologies people see as basic things such as a cell phone or even audio files. Those things will be very useful later on in the future so it is good to keep them in mind for when its my turn to teach.
A semester gone but many more to go. Many memories and hopefully a lot of cool experiences that will help us become proffesional individuals in this field will come up.

In-class debates!

We had some fun in class with some debates that were done. The topic had to do with implementing technology in a class. We were divided into defending and opposing the usage of it in a classroom. I took the defensive side stating that if used in an adequate manner and with a certain control, it could be very useful for teachers and students. A lot of people agreed as well as dis-agreed, but in the end the main objective was to have some fun. Debates can sometimes lead to a bit of competition, yet they are very fun!

Teaching through social media

Something viewed in class was about teaching through social media. It was very interesting since we saw different ways to use social networks we already use, but this time to teach. A clever way to make internet based platforms for teaching was analyzed and it really caught my attention since it seems to be simple. We can perfect certain things we do as we go along since at the beginning we might need guidance in using certain programs or making lesson plans. The positive view of it is that it can be used as a second job or a full-time job at home since it mainly requires an internet connection and a computer.

Technology in cars

This is a video that I found interesting. It does not have to do with teaching but we can create programs that implement learning while being in the car. It makes it interesting since I remember as a child making figures on the car window on cold days. It can be seen as an opportunity or atleast as something that will make traveling a lot more fun for our children in the future!

Finals!

Well the reason for this post is just to share a bit of what is going on in school at the moment. A lot of things are going on since we are getting overwhelmed in most classes by finals. For some teachers we have to do essays that are quite demanding and for others we have to prepare very precise oral presentations. It is all taking up everyones time and making us sleep less. Guess its part of university life so we should not complain since there will be a reward for all of these efforts in the future! :)

Using ¨Mobile¨ Learning

After seeing and talking about how a class can be structured, we say a video which was quite interesting. It was about mobile devices being used in a classroom to make everything more interactive. A few teachers gave their opinion on the dyanmics and proved it to be effective while there was a few remarks on it. Some school sytems in the videos we saw were completely against mobile phone usage since they said it causes distractions and such. Others showed through different activities how it can be very useful for the teacher and fun for the students to implement the usage of cell phones in a class. I believe we should use it with adequate measures since it can be a good way to teach if it is used in the correct manner.

Pay Attention!

This is a video seen in a forum I attended this past weekend. The main focus is to make people come to realize how us as students are being affected by things changing in society and sometimes not being helped. It makes for a good reflection and also to help us keep those things in mind when teaching. Hope you enjoy!