The English language has become the secondary language for communication used by many non-English speaking countries. Nowadays, English has become a requirement for many jobs and professions, and even to be able to travel. This is why I decided to create a blog so that I can promote English learning online.
The internet has brough many changes to our society. It has brought many opportunities for us from being able to do a quick search to find information to very advanced information sharing through blog and web creation. Due to all these revolutionary changes, teachers must take advantage of all the resources the internet provides for us.
My classes are structured in a way where I promote English learning through songs and grammar exercises and also teach my students the advantage of technologies such as the digital whiteboard and the use of the computers. I also try to teach them about new software that is available online such as Prezi, Blogger, and the use of traditional software such as PowerPoint, Word, etc. I want to make sure that they about all of these tools that are available to them. However, I also want them to be able to use traditional methods of teaching such as the chalkboard, poster presentations, and just simply being able to stand and speak and/or teach in front of the class. I believe this teaches them security and independence and allows them to learn how to socialize with other people.
I chose the Blog as my tool for my project since it allows me to organize the information in a way where it is simple for them to search by labels, dates, events, etc. I believe that this is the best tool for the type of teaching environment that I am in. They are going to participate through the searching and navigating of the blog while leaving comments at the same time. I believe that this will empower them and will allow them to become familiarized with this teaching style.
In some occasions, I would tell them to go and look at the blog. I will post a song, grammar exercise, or simply some of their pictures from event that they participated in. This can also be advantages for parents since they could sit with them at home and go over the exercises. At my school, I have a digital whiteboard which allows me to use TIC resources daily.
I chose a Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial 3.0 Unported license since I believe that people should be able to use my information, but not profit from it. It is not that I do not believe and making something for lucrative purposes, but I have chosen to do this blog without any lucrative purposes and only for educational purposes.
OBJECTIVES
The purpose of my project is to:
1) Familiarize my students with many new technologies available to them online through Web 2.0 and beyond.
2) Reinforce and extend the school curriculum.
3) Create a space for them to share comments and information.
4) Learn how to search for information, images, and videos.
5) Create interactive presentations for them where they could use the digital whiteboard.
6) Empower them and make them more comfortable with the use of the computer and newer technologies.
7) Make information available for parents and promote parent-child interactions.
8) Teach them about copyright work and licenses available online for their work.
9) Develop basic internet skills.
10) Improve students’ imagination, reading, and writing skills.
