The end of New Beginning... A start of a New Chapter!

Hi All,

It's our last week together! Gosh!! Mixed feelings!! Glad that it's ending so no more datelines to catch and no more stress trying to get internet access! SO SAD!!! As I know that it'll be so difficult to keep in touch but we will try won't we??!! I will definitely try! I have learned so much from so many helpful, knowledgeable and sincere friends and teachers!! I thank you all for being who you are and being there always!

This course has help me look at things differently! I have definitely benefited from being part of this course!This is my FIRST online course ever and I look forward to many many more! I really feel like a student again, having to meet datelines and to complete tasks and assignments! This really keeps me young and wanting to learn more. Yes! Jodi, you are right I have more to learn and I can't wait to. Though it is my first online course ever, with the help and guidelines given by everyone, have made it an easy first time for me!

To share a little secret with all of you, among all my colleagues, I am considered one of teh most IT savvy person in my school. But I am obviously not! I am so thankful to be selected to be part of this wonderful course. Through this course, I got to know so many new online tools. USEFUL online tools!! I think from week 1 itself I was already expose to google document and wiki! Geezz... I heard about them but never knew what were they for and never had anyone showing me how I could use them. As we progress, I learn even more useful tools like blackboard, ANVILL, Rubistar, Blogger and many many more. I would need to look at the class wiki again to list down all those wonderful tools. But most of all, I think I got to explore some of them and thought of how I could use them in my classroom to enhance or help teaching and learning more effectively.

Being back to school was great as I got to read, understand and respond to articles, journals, papers and others. I must say I it made me feel intelligent! LOL! I always love to read other's work, especially those related to my profession. Like the article on MI... I've learnt that when I was still a teacher trainee. It's not something new but it was definitely great to 're-visit' it again! To read it again at this age and with working and real-life experiences, I could make sense of it better and I could think of ways how I could use it with my own students. The articles about how technology can help with teaching in the classroom were definitely mind-blowing for me when I first read it! Yes I knew how I can use It to help enhance my teaching. But what got my attention was that it's no longer confine to the 4 walls of the classroom. IT or technology has brought teaching to a different level. It can now happen in virtual space!!! WOW! Isn't that amazing??!!!! Yes! That is what all of us having been doing for the past 10 weeks! Learning in a virtual classroom! I love technology and now I love it MORE!

I hope and I will do my very best to use the knowledge I have gained from the course in my teaching from now on. LIke I said, there are many useful tools out there but as teachers, we need to explore and evaluate them before introducing them in class. In my report, one of the tools I hope to use is Blogger and I agree totally with Jodi that I may want to save that for a more advance class rather than using it with my really weak students. Jodi suggested that a simple WebQuest would be more suitable with my weak class and I think that is just what I'll do!

End of week 9!!!! A relief... finally submitted my final project report!!!

Arrrggggg!!!!! I nearly miss the dateline for the final project report!!! Phew!!! I nearly but didn't!! I think this would be how my students would feel when they have datelines... Worst still it wasn't because I haven't finish my report but it was because of the internet connection!!! How I feel relief now and am able to catch my breath. 

Let me than thank my ever wise partner Ruta for the great comments and help with my project. But kind of sad that I wasn't able to show her my corrected version. Reading my partner's report made me realised that I am still a 'baby' in the business of webskills and ICT in the classroom. I am ever so glad that I was given the opportunity to be part of this class and most of all to meet so many experienced and generous classmates and teachers who are always willing to share ideas and comment. 

As for this week, I really got to review and re-think about what I have done and what were some of the 'hic-cups' and how I can improve and implement changes so that things would work more affectively. I also got to think how learning style and multiple intelligence play an crucial role in helping us teachers to know our students better and thus plan better lessons.

An adventure of a life time!!

First of all, I want to thank my friends and teacher; especially Ruta, Georgia, Poncho and Jodi, for their wonderful and always motivating comments on my post last week. No matter long or short, those comments have become my strength and motivation! Yes Ruta! Teaching is ever so challenging nowadays and it is an adventure to me so far!! Anyone who thinks that being a teacher is a boring career than they are really missing out the adventure of their life to be able to change with time and to be able to cope with all the ups and downs of everyday little things! 

This week, as ever, has been a great 'quest'! I am so amaze with all the new technology I've learned from my own classmate and partner but most of all from our guest Jeff Magoto, the creator of ANVILL. As time passes, I realised that I have so much to learn and I have a lot to do as I discover more and more useful online tools! ANVILL is definitely a great tool to be use in any classroom. I can see how effective it can be. However, I have also my reply to Jeff that there are 2 main problems to my situation which are no computers and no internet access. I really do hope that this problem will soon be overcome with the help of my school admin. 

This week I learn to create test and crossword puzzle online and print out for classroom used. I am truly grateful and thankful to be part of this course as I get to discover and learn new useful online tools every week! I was just thinking how good it it if I could easily create a test or quiz online for free and 'ta da'.. this week we are asked to explore exactly what I was wishing for! The sweet fruit of my adventure! Maybe Jodi and Celeste were reading my mind!!! Thank you teachers for including such useful and user-friendly tools in out lessons. 

This week I also get to dream a little with what online tools I would want to use in my class if I can. I chose a few; blogger, wiki and nicenet. As I feel that these 3 tools allow my students some freedom and at the same time also require them to be discipline. I really do hope what I have vision today will be a fact in the near future. I really would like to be at par with the IT era in teaching and I see that the use of technology will be a great and effective way for teaching to 'evolve'! Let's hang on tight and venture into this world of knowledge. And hand-in-hand, we march together to into the future of technology!