Progress Report Time

So, today was the due date for progress reports, and I finished it up and sent it in! I have to thank Denise for reading over my report and providing input! Working on the report helped me realize more of my personal progress in Globaloria. It helped me identify my weaknesses - filling out my progress notes and contributing to my blog ... or lack of doing so. I am reflective today, thinking about what steps I need to take in order to perform better at these tasks. I think my charting in progress notes will be easier now that the startup stage of waiting on uploads is over. I will probably have more time the last five minutes of class to jot something down. I also have to overcome the blogging experience. I'm used to tackling my challenges, taking the necessary steps to overcome my challenges, and then arriving at an acceptable state of accomplishment all in the privacy of my own mind and space!!
So, here I am. I feel that it's New Year's eve (actually, it is Rosh Hashana today!), and I have set the resolution that I will blog more frequently!!

There is not a day that I am not learning something in Globaloria! I never thought I would have a need for RSS feeds, but here I am going to my Reader to pull up what my students have written in their blog, or I'm looking at what they've done on their wiki. I added Steward to my RSS today because I noticed that he had written a tip sheet for record-keeping. I'm always open for all tips! I also found myself playing games and getting to know more of what my students are learning. We're getting to know our students and learning a little about their strengths and weaknesses. This information will be helpful when we put them into groups. We thought Denise had a great idea (info we got from her blog!) to create a survey for the students. We're putting one together for next week so that we can better place them. I'm pleased with our progress!

Information Sharing

Yesterday I had an opportunity to explain Globaloria to a new teacher. The students are moving along nicely. They are beginning to get in the habit of visiting their blogs and making notations on their progress notes. We have told them that they do not have to blog every day, but that we would like to see them either blog in their own account or look at another's blog and make a comment at least five times a week. They have adapted well. The students' blogs are beginning to reflect that they are more at ease with the process. They are playing games and talking about their thoughts and comments on the games they play.

Getting Started

Globaloria has incredibly enhanced my teaching in technology!! And it's only been two weeks of school!! I am amazed at how comfortable I am feeling at navigating the wiki. And in showing the students how to set up their blogs, I am feeling more at ease with its use! When the RSS feed was introduced to us this past seminar, I thought I wouldn't have a need to use this tool, but I was wrong. I have my students on my g-reader, and I am constantly going in to look at what they're doing. The repetitiveness is wonderful for me! I look forward to learning more!!

What are my thoughts for Globaloria?

I am excited about Globaloria. I think it has the potential to be the most desirable class in our school! My concerns are minute. They involve technical problems and application holdups. The technical problems would be out of my control. What would we do with the students' time if the computers were down? Also, if we come to a stopping point, will we be able to solve our problems in a timely manner. I wouldn't want to lose the students' enthusiasm and interest. Those are the small issues I anticipate.

Starting Globaloria

Sooo much information!! Wow! I am looking forward to fully digesting all the tools and features offered in Flash that were introduced today. The leaders: Idit, Itay, Lee, Shannon, Steward, Daniel, and Brian were a wealth of information.

My wonderful group (Denise, Inga, Lisa, and Richard) came up with a game idea. The fun part was getting instructions on how to put it on paper and then onto Flash. I look forward to adding layers to the program we started.