Journal 5 - Using Twitter

I feel that all social media is important to use in the classroom nowadays; especially with junior high and high school age students. They are most likely going to try to sneak a peak at their devices during class anyways; might as well tell them to use their devices for an educational purpose.  I think attention span overall has dwindled.  Students have to feel that something is exciting in order for them to focus their attention. 

Tweeting is relatively easy.  It is also concise. This is extremely helpful because it gives students information in soundbites and digestible morsels.  Yes, there is a negative side to this.  Where is the indepth research and concentration?  Are we to dummy down everything?  Good questions indeed. 

I feel that students enjoy games.  They try to win at games.  If we make education a fun game, they will work very hard to be the "winner".  Of course, this does take a lot of "designing" on the part of the teacher.  But, if the goal of school is truly to teach, then we must keep up with the times and teach in a way that reaches the most amount of students.

GED 512 - Final Project

Here is my Final Project for GED 512:

http://www.csupomona.edu/~nnelhaj/512/

Journal 7 – Professional Learning Network

Blog 7 – Professional Learning Network

This has been a very useful learning experience.  I enjoyed using Digg Reader to gather information on topics of interest.  I had never used a tool like Digg before.  It was wonderful to be able to identify the types of information I wanted up front, add the sites of interest to Digg, and then watch how Digg pulls the most current information into a one-stop shop for my use.  Not only was this a time saver, but it was an excellent way to stay on top of cutting edge news without having to actively search for it each time.  The sites that I added to Digg Reader were related to my areas of interest:  ESL, investing, and current job opportunities in the educational field.  

I also enjoyed becoming a member of TeachersPayTeachers.com.  I consider this an affinity group.  It is an ever-expanding group of teachers who either sell or post free versions of lesson plans they have developed.  What an amazing way to tap into others’ creative powers. It is also a great way to share what has worked for me.  This is a great version of a “think-tank” in a way. 

I checked out the Adult Education ESL materials and found many good tools.  I also began thinking about things that I too can share with teachers. Throughout the years, I have utilized many successful ESL teaching methods that may be of benefit to others.  

Teachers are the best resources for what does and doesn’t work in a classroom.   I have purchased many useless resources created by removed publishers and content writers.  TeachersPayTeachers.com is going to remain a resource I cherish throughout my teaching career.

Blogging was also extremely fun.  I always check to see how many people have viewed my posts and where they are from.  I don’t know how people in other parts of the world come across my blogs but they do.  I think I will continue blogging long after this class is done because I can keep adding useful information for people at large to utilize.  Some topics of interest I would like to continue blogging about include Skype and ESL.  Other topics that I would like to begin blogging about are website design and Microsoft Office products.  I believe my God-given gift is teaching.  Once I grasp a subject, I know how to make it easy for others to grasp it as well.  So, I think I can keep blogging a part of my life forever.

Twitter was interesting.  I am not sure that I want to post daily and check for comments for social reasons only.  I may utilize it for educational purposes down the road.  I can see the potential benefits, including engaging hyper students who may not have the attention span to focus on a lecture. It may be a good way to engage them and sneak in some education through a medium they already utilize.

I feel that educational multimedia must be used in today's classroom.  The more that a teacher knows in this area the better off she will be.  Why fight what students love.  They love Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, and searching the Internet.  If we can reach them using methods and tools they already embrace, we will be able to get them to learn more.  In contrast, if we insist on books, pencils, and paper, we will have lost them before even beginning. 

I have started an ESL blog that I plan to continue adding material to.  I would love to use my final project ESL website as a foundation upon which to build and add more materials.  I also love how Dr. McGarvey uses a learning management system to keep things organized and to archive and repurpose lessons, tweaking them as needed.  Why keep reinventing the wheel and losing lessons?  I would love to take on the challenge of utilizing a learning management system, creating an excellent ESL program, and teaching my students how to access their lessons online.

 

 

 

GED 512 - Final Portfolio

My GED 512 Final Portfolio is in progress.  I have included the link below.  Be sure to check it periodically as it is in the process of evolving.

http://www.csupomona.edu/~nnelhaj/512/EslWebsiteNadineElhaj.html

GED 513 - Web Programming Portfolio -

Look what I found on my Cal Poly server.....the other class I took with Dr. McGarvey.  My project for that class is attached below. I am really enjoying learning about web design and programming.

http://www.csupomona.edu/~nnelhaj/

Journal 6 - Self Reflection re: Course - 1st 5 weeks

I would like you to reflect on your learning over the first 5 weeks of the course in a blog post. Your reflection should demonstrate your fundamental understanding of html and css. Share what was the hardest and the most rewarding assignment you have completed in the course. Provide links to the actual assignment (book exercise or lab) hosted on your cal poly account.
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I really enjoyed learning about building websites from scratch using Notepad and Dreamweaver.  I had already taken the more advanced course with Dr. McGarvey over a year ago.  So this class was a relief as it went over the basic fundamentals that I struggled with in the advanced course.

It is truly such a thrill to see that by learning coding, I can literally create a customized website from scratch using my own hard work and imagination. 

I particularly enjoyed learning about designing layout, plugging in navigation bars, and importing my favorite images into the website.

The hardest assignment was going back and finding all my labs and homework and getting the links to work as I linked them all into 2 separate tables (one for homework; one for labs).  It's one thing to create.  It's a totally other thing to make sure that links work.  I believe, by far, learning how to get things to link properly is the hardest but most rewarding thing we can learn in website development.  Here are the tables I created and linked my book assignments and labs to:

http://www.csupomona.edu/~nnelhaj/512/tablesforbook1.html

http://www.csupomona.edu/~nnelhaj/512/tablesforlabs1.html

I now have a fundamental grasp of what HTML and CSS are.  HTML is the structure and CSS is the style.  HTML includes the head, body, headers, paragraphs, and other sections.  Style can be included within the HTML.  But, it is considered better practice to have the style in a separate CSS that links to the HTML.

Journal 4 - Project Plan

Here is the Website Project Plan for my Curriculum Project

• Site title - ESL Basics for Teachers.
• Developer - Nadine Elhaj
• Rationale or focus - The purpose is to give ESL Teachers some basic, workable ideas about what to teach and how to teach.
• Main features outline - images, text delivery, navigation between pages, internal hyperlinks, and CSS 
• Content - There will be six main webpages:  Home page, Video page, Story Lessons page, Dialogue Lessons page, Vocabulary page, and Evaluation page
• Target audience - My target audience is first-time teachers
• Design considerations. I want the layout to be plain, basic, and very easy to follow.  I want the teachers to feel like the navigation of the pages is highly intuitive.  I want to minimize any struggle they may have in regards to backtracking and locating information
• Limiting factors - The limiting factors are my minimal knowledge in web design.

Here is the Wire Frame