UCO Classes

Advanced Comp Week 4

2010-06-24T21:46:00.000-07:00

Well this is the last week of Advanced Comp. Trying to finish up my paper in the next few days. I have my Drill for the Army Reserve this weekend but I'm going to "git'r done" I think. Last week was a bit shaky I'm hoping to pull it all together for this last assignment. I have soooooo much stuff to do its a little overwhelming!

Advanced Comp week 3

2010-06-20T22:01:00.000-07:00

Well this was a really tough week for me. I have been incredibly busy and ill. I finished my website but i will work on it some more before the group turn in next week. Father's day was today and we took my father out to the Indian Buffet which was delicious. It is sad that my son's father refuses to see him.

Advanced Comp Week 2

2010-06-11T13:59:00.001-07:00

Well I'm excited right now because after years of trying to figure it out I'm finally going to get my tattoo. I have a consultation with "Grapes" down at Mystical Illusions in the city on Saturday to figure out all the details. I am getting a Chinese dragon because that is my son's Chinese name. I am also going to get his American and Chinese names tatooed on me, and I'm considering incorporating an American flag into it as well to demonstrate my son's mixed heritage and my pride for my country. Plus it would add a touch of color since i'm planning on getting it in black and grey. I have a really good friend of mine going with me since I'm getting it on my ribcage and I know its going to be crazy painful but I figure it'll hurt for a little bit but be there forever so it's a good trade.

Advanced Comp: Week 1

2010-06-05T13:32:00.000-07:00

Well I'm off to a super late start on my summer classes. I'm pretty exhausted but think after this week I should be able to be caught up pretty fast. I enjoyed taking the online British Lit. II course with Dr. H and looking over the syllabus I am actually pretty excited to get started on these assignements. Not really looking forward to trying to fit in and 850 word essay in between work today and tomorrow but its been done before! Hooah!

Week 8 British Lit Since 1800

2010-03-07T18:13:00.000-08:00

Well this is the final week for my British Literature class. This was my first experiance with an online class and I found it pretty fun and very convienant. I enjoyed the format and the oppertunity to use different technologies to share and learn. I would be very inclined to take another online course and I recommend this class to other people who need to take British Literature II.

Stream of Consiousness

2010-02-28T12:08:00.000-08:00

Well in British Lit II we were assigned to read Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway which was a fairly interesting book but I couldn't get past the literary device of stream of consiousness. I hate it. I've never liked it or enjoyed it and while I see how it can be a good stylistic device and convey things in a new and more thorough way it is lost on me because it irritates me. I had the same problem with William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. I hope that as an English major I can be forgiven this sin of not liking this style or these two authors. I can at least appreciate them for their works and their contributions but I just can't make myself like them.

British Lit for week six

2010-02-24T10:46:00.000-08:00

This, or rather last week we needed to create a webpage. My assignment was give information over Lord Byron. Anyone interesting in Lord Byron can check it out here .

Voice Thread

2010-02-17T09:09:00.000-08:00

Voice thread for Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Citizenship Evolution

2010-02-17T00:35:00.000-08:00

The idea of actively teaching students about the importance of digital citizenship is a very good and important one. The following video raised valid points about the various ways technology and the internet can be used to make a global community along with proper etiquette.

The most important thing that I took away from this video is the realization of what a small world it really is now and how we really are a global society in many ways. This leads to a very important sense of responsibility in education about teaching students proper ettiquette and basic politeness as well as safety. It is also important for the students as well as the teachers to be able to think of ways to communicate across a broader spectrum then there has been in previous generations. There is ample opportunity for good uses of this technology as well as nefarious.

This relates to my life because I am really seeing the neccesity of being aware of the global community and learning how to teach it properly and in context to the students that I may someday have.

This is important to me as a future educator because it gave me some good ideas for how to help my future EFL students work with students all across the world that do speak english.

Application Fun

2010-02-17T00:25:00.000-08:00

The idea of project based learning is a very good idea that gets children excited to learn and shows them how their knowledge and what they're learning is applied in real world situations.

The key thing that I got out of this video is how important it is to show children and students the relationship between what they're learning and why. Engaging in more complex projects that actually might have the potential to solve a real world problem is inspiring and exciting to young minds.

This relates to my life because I remember doing the same thing when I was in school. I remember how much more excited I was to learn something when it was in the context of a project like this. It also encouraged us all to work together towards a goal.

This is important to me as a teacher because it reminded me of how important project learning can be as a part of regular school curriculum.

Prepare to Jump a Ramp!

2010-02-17T00:10:00.000-08:00

Lego Luis

2010-02-16T23:40:00.001-08:00

The video that we assigned to watch was very interesting and shows the promise inherent in all of our students and the importance of bringing the valuable resources of technology to all students.

The most significant takeaway from this video is the importance of not underestimating students and really doing everything one can to give them a chance to thrive. Luis shows how one student, by working hard and being interested in a subject, can make a difference not only in his life but in his fellow students as well.

This video connects with my life by reminding me to make sure that no one is left behind and to reward and look out for the students that go the extra mile and help other students. Luis really went out of his way to stay after school and help his fellows.

The implications of this video for my own teaching practices are as I mentioned above, to make sure that all students are included and to do my utmost to help my students and encourage them to follow their dreams, and their interests.

Leadership Video

2010-02-16T23:00:00.000-08:00

This is a link to a video by a student at the International School of the Americas in San Antonio. She made a visually interesting video with some good cuts and asserted her point of view clearly and succinctly. Pretty well done.

6 Year Old Kiwi's

2010-02-16T22:36:00.000-08:00

The more video's we watch and the deeper that we get into the technology for teachers class the more ways I see how computers and technology are really changing the face of teaching in today's world. This link shows how a teacher in New Zealand is really taking off with this technological integration.

My most significant takeaway from this video is how thoroughly and easily this teacher introduced the computers to to the students. Even though the children were quite young she found a way to really let them explore and learn. She made the technology fun and not overwhelming.

This video relates to my life in that I am noticing in more and more of my own classes the addition of technology. Not just for fun or recreational use, or merely a glorified typerwriter, the computer and the internet and my classes are really coming together.

This video provided some very helpful ideas and encouragment for me to really explore how to integrate tecnology into my lesson plans and to not be afraid of introducing things to students even if they are young. They are really able to grasp things well from a young age.

Audacity

2010-02-14T22:33:00.000-08:00

I was able to do a very fun and interesting project ( at least to me, woe be to those who must listen to my voice) for British Literature this week. Using free software from Audacity I was able to record a reading I did of The Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti followed by commentary and thoughts that I had on the poem. This was a novel experience for me and I really think that this is a fun and unique way to do assignments that should be encouraged in other classes.

T4T comments

2010-02-10T21:08:00.001-08:00

These are the links to the two comments that I made on students blogs here and here , and two comments I made on fellow class memeber's jobs here and here.

Nifiza's Wired

2010-02-10T10:21:00.000-08:00

The video about Nafiza is a good example of how young people today are truly connected to the virtual world and demonstrates the mass integration of multiple applications that is takes place in even fairly simple projects.

My most significant takeaway from this video is a reminder to stay up to date and literate about the virtual world and what is going on in it. This is important for my own good so that I might make the most of my time and technology to have some fun or help me with school. As a teacher I need to understand what the kids in my class are capable of and make sure that I encourage them to really use and learn about all the resources at their disposal.

This video connects with the experiances in my own life in that when I do have the time i enjoy tinkering with the internet, especially video and audio applications. Finding a way to apply things that I really enjoy to what I actually need to do makes things both more enjoyable and amore productive.

Some of the implications of this video in terms of my career as a teacher is to think of some ways to incorporate the technology to present what I am teaching in class in a more engaging way. Also to encourage students who are more literate to help the students who are having more trouble. This helps everyone really learn the material more thoroughly and gets kids actively invovled.

Victorians!

2010-02-07T20:46:00.000-08:00

I particularly enjoyed the works from British Literature this week. Here are some highlights of things that I enjoyed.

"For woman is not undevelopt man,
But diverse: could we make her as the man,
Sweet Love were slain: his dearest bond is this,
Not like to like, but like in difference."( Tennysen "The Women's Cause is Man's 259-262)

She had
A heart—how shall I say?—too soon made glad.
Too easily impressed: she liked whate’er
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
Sir, ’twas all one! My favor at her breast,	25
The dropping of the daylight in the West,
The bough of cherries some officious fool
Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule
She rode with round the terrace—all and each
Would draw from her alike the approving speech,	30
Or blush, at least. She thanked men,—good! but thanked
Somehow—I know not how—as if she ranked
My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
With anybody’s gift.(Browning My Last Duchess 21-34)

Read some Byron, Shelley and Keats...

2010-01-24T21:38:00.000-08:00

For British Literature this week we read as the title suggests, "When We Two Parted", "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty" and "Ode to a Nightingale", poems by these authors. I believe my favorite of the three was Lord Byron's "When We Two Parted" it was quite simple and lovely in its structure yet conveyed so much. There was a definite beauty in the pain and loss described by him. The other two poems were interesting but were a bit too flowery for my taste.

A to Z for Ks from 12s

2010-01-19T22:01:00.001-08:00

There was a fascinating idea that I was introduced to by a video that we were assigned to watch for Technology for Teachers,
Powerful Ingredients for Blended Learning: Week 1 Blogging Teachers utilized blogging to unite their young students in Kindergarten and 1st grade with older students in order to help excite and tutor them in their writing and reading skills.

The most significant thing that I took away from this video was the great inspiration that older students can have on younger students and how modern technology has made this all the more accessible and fun both for the young children and the older students helping them. The young students get to practice typing, get to use a computer and try to sound out words. They get to communicate with older students which they find exciting and fun. The older students get to help the younger students while working on their communication skills. It teaches them how to give criticism in a constructive and positive way as well as really think about the rules and mechanics of writing perhaps in a new way and really see the need for it.

I find this video truthful and useful because I had experience with something like this when I was in school. When I was in 5th grade we were sent to go help and tutor the kindergarteners and the young children loved being paid attention to by the us and we, as the older students, enjoyed helping the young ones to understand things that we already had learned. It was very exciting to see the younger students improve due to our help.

This video reminded me of how important, fun and educational for everyone this kind of learning and tutoring can be. The added interest of using a computer and the idea of blogging is very innovative and seems like a fantastic learning tool. As a future English as a Foreign Language teacher I can see many many uses for this. It would be very fun and educational for the students overseas to have an English speaking blogging buddy. It would encourage them to learn and inspire them to continue with the language. I will most certainly make a note of this technique and try to apply it when I am finally teaching.

Technically Inspiring Cameron

2010-01-19T20:49:00.000-08:00

In Technology for Teachers we were introduced to an amazing story about a young boy in Indiana . This young man has taken technology to an extreme and fascinating level that helps not only himself become better educated but even his fellow students and teachers. There is a lot in this video for a teacher or student to consider as far as practical and fun applications of computers and video.

My most significant "takeaway" from the video was how Cameron was able to make so many different applications and uses for just a video tape and some editing software. He used it from just basic fun home movies to improving his hockey skills to educating his classmates in the theory of mathematics. It is should inspire everyone to look at the tools that we have access to and strive to put them all to uses that we may not have thought of before.

This video relates to my own life in that I have also begun to dabble in video and editing to create short movies or music videos. Some for my own amusement, others for gifts for friends or in presentations for different classes that I have taken. Using audio and visual mediums in a creative and fun way is essential for truley reaching an audience.

The implications of this video and seeing what Cameron was able to do will no doubt be inspirational and helpful to myself and others. To see a young boy that was able to do so much and create such amazing things inspires people to try to create new things themselves. Seeing what is possible I can see how I could make fun and exciting assignments for the kids in my classes. Using technology that they already have and showing how to use it in new ways to present an interesting and enjoyable project. As an English teacher it could really help the students make the text come to life if they were to film scenes from a novel or poem. The possibilities are limitless and intriguing.

New Discoveries of Old Quotations

2010-01-17T20:08:00.000-08:00

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I am indeed being educated in my online British Literature class even though it is very much a self starting and fairly solitary learning environment. I read a poem that I have always wanted to read entitled "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. I believe that it will take many readings of it to really grasp its many nuances, symbolism and tone but it will be an enjoyable journey. One thing did tickle my fancy in that I found lines in this that I have known and heard my whole life but have never really known their context or where they came from!

From "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" from my text the the second compact edition Longman Anthology of British Literature volume B:

"Water, water, every where/And all the boards did shrink;/Water, water every where, Nor any drop to drink."(119-122)

and

"He prayeth best, who loveth best/All things both great an small;/For dear God who loveth us,/He made and loveth all."(614-617)

There were a few particular lines I enjoyed from other readings this week as well. From William Wordworth's poem "Michael" from the same edition:

"or that a child, more than all other gifts/Brings hope with it, and forward-looking thoughts."(154-155)

"there is a comfort in the strength of love;/'Twill make a thing endurable, which else/ Would breatk the heart : . . ."(457-459)

So that is my happy discovery blog for British Literature this week. So far I am very much enjoying the work. :-)

Bio for Technology for Teachers.

2010-01-13T10:16:00.000-08:00

My name is Elizabeth Jayne Chan. I am an undergrad going for my major in English Education with a minor in Asian Studies. I am currently a Junior and have about 11-12 more classes to take before I graduate after this semester. I have a wonderful 5 year old boy. I currently am taking 15 hours, work at Wal-mart, a soldier in the Army Reserve and am about to get another job waitressing so I am a very busy person.

Ideally I would like to graduate and go to Hong Kong and teach English as a foreign language. I would like to go all over the world and teach as I enjoy traveling and learning about other cultures.

First Post

2010-01-13T10:05:00.000-08:00

I have now started a blog. Beware.