I know that some teams had technical problems - we all feel bad about this - but I am sure you learned all the techniques professor Portacio wanted us to learn - so look at it as something that you got to put up when dealing with technology... and Mr. Portacio being a fair guy he is you will recover!
Thursday, April 21, 2005
MOVIE MAKING
Last night was a hoot... congratulations to our movie making team: Thea, Bob, Ginny, Bonnie! Here is our logo:
COMMUNITY
Our church: Emmanuel Faith Community Church of Escondido has Saturday April 30th ear-marked to help our community and we will be helping our public schools.
I share this information just in case you are remotely interested in helping - it is a faith ministry to our community - The schools we will be serving are: Juniper, Lincoln and Central.
Please contact Emmanuel Faith if interested at: (760)745-2541
CASTELLANO
He aquí otra joya cortesía de mi sobrina. Este enlace le va afinar su entendimiento del precioso lenguaje de Don Quijote y Sancho Panza. Inscríbase a la “Palabra del Dia” y disfrútelo!
Here is a posting of a great site for the Spanish language. It has a word of the day subscription to keep up the skills of those that love the language. Enjoy!
Here is a posting of a great site for the Spanish language. It has a word of the day subscription to keep up the skills of those that love the language. Enjoy!
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
SAN DIEGO COUNTY OFFICE OF EDUCATION
This information comes courtesy of a wonderful peer in our class - thank you Juanita!
Here is information how the SD Co. Office of Education is involved in fostering visual literacy skills - take a peek at the quality of the program and product the students create! Amazing!
Here is information how the SD Co. Office of Education is involved in fostering visual literacy skills - take a peek at the quality of the program and product the students create! Amazing!
Monday, April 18, 2005
CSET
Great news today... I got the e-mail from CSET:
One down - two more to go....
Examination: 114 CSET Social Science Subtest I
Status: Pass
Status: Pass
One down - two more to go....
CARTOONS - DILBERT
If you are a Dilbert addict you might want to get your daily comic via e-mai! Its called sanity in a technical world...
Friday, April 15, 2005
JOURNAL WEEK 12
This was certainly one of the most interesting weeks this semester – we got to see the Mac’s video software: iMovie and actually got to see the production of a movie clip by professor Portacio. It was neat – and the reaction of the students was just as interesting – there are hams and there are NOT hams in the class! The software seems, at least on demo, easy to use and logical – in a way similar to Flash but easier to use. The smooth integration of CD music tracks along with the video and the transitions, etc. was very powerful – and I might add exciting. I can see how the kids would eat the stuff up!
The logic of the video creation process was in some ways a review for me. Last semester I took a computer animation class and I am familiar with scripting and story boarding – although the format template given to us was straight forward and interesting.
Additionally, our group interaction produced what was a real neat concept and idea how to put the project together for the filming next week. Once again proving in some ways the power of the many heads together… It was like watching the Apollo 13 movie – not quite as critical mind you – LOL – but just as powerful. The ideas came flying and we just had a great time playing out the possibilities among ourselves. I think Thea, Bob, Bonnie, Ginny and myself make a great team – I guess the production next week will tell – huh? One last comment: we all got our assignments and tasks for next week – they ranged from communications, to props, to e-mail scripts, to self-training on the software, etc. It promises to be an intensive week prior to the “shoot”!
In regards to the reading this week, Filming Compassion, I found the article interesting and revealing. For example I did not know that there was such emphasis on Service Learning in today’s curricula in public schools. I know for sure that in private schools the service learning component is key in a student’s education specially in Christian schools – what I did not realize is that it is now being done in public schools. I think this is a very good move on the part of schools.
The innovative use of video production to have the students learn about the non-profit and actually emulate a project to be done for the organization was very inventive. To think about the possibilities of what this implies: it is a job, a project, a deliverable that is due to the non-profits all created by students! The students learn about the organization and the technology. They become probably more than acquainted with the use of the camera equipment, the editing process, coordination, scripting, story boarding, etc. In addition, the interaction with the “customers” and the delivery of their product had to be beneficial to all concerned: the client, students, and teachers as well.
I also found the article’s rubric categories and expected behaviors/outcomes very comprehensive although the grading categories of Exemplary to Incomplete seemed a bit strange to me – the Incomplete gets 1 point – and the Nearly Proficient gets 2 points – does this make any sense? I guess since this is a voluntary type of effort they seem to reward the kids with one point even though they did not do a story board, their introduction was missing, the tape was poorly edited, the tape had a very poor pace, the team was uncooperative and the tape bored the audience to death – but hey its ok – they showed up! Its worth a point – don’t you think? Some of this left me with some questions? I guess real life will answer some of these questions soon enough.
VOCABULARY
As future teachers we are always looking at increasing our depth and breath of knowledge. For example do you know what the following means?
- flibbertigibbet
- avatar
- lissome
- grimalkin
By the way, do you have a grimalkin? Or perhaps some flibbertigibbet that likes to play with your grimalkin? YOU DO!!!!?
You don't know what I am talking about? Well its time for some help - paging DOCTOR DICTIONARY...
You now have access to the doctor for your daily dose of words - all this to keep you healthy and wise. Subscribe to the "Dictionary.com Word of the Day" and you will be the very avatar of wisdom!
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
HARAMBEE
I stumbled accross a neat site that perhaps you might find interesting... its called "Googlism" by... you guessed it, Google.
I was investigating the meaning of the Swahili word "Harambee" which is a word implying "coming together - pulling together - community" etc. It is an interesting African word - in any case take a gander and go to the site and type in "Harambee" see what you get. Click on the picture below:
I was investigating the meaning of the Swahili word "Harambee" which is a word implying "coming together - pulling together - community" etc. It is an interesting African word - in any case take a gander and go to the site and type in "Harambee" see what you get. Click on the picture below:
EARTHQUAKE
Did you feel the earthquake this morning? Nice rattler - wasn't it? FYI - you can get to the USGS site and find instantly what is happenning in California - here is the link
Here is the map of where it hit this morning:
3 Miles East of Jamul CA (Near El Cajon)
APRIL 12. 2005 @ 4:06:46 PDT
MAGNITUDE 4.0
Here is the map of where it hit this morning:
Monday, April 11, 2005
ICON WARS
This is a must see site for those of us in Educ 422 - Technology at its best! Or at least at its funniest - take a few minutes and enjoy!
Sunday, April 10, 2005
PARA LOS PROFES DE ESPAÑOL
Eh aquí unos cuantos enlaces para los flamante profesores. Uno es de matemáticas y otro para mostrar un lindo diseño y pintura ilustrando la visión y esperanza humana. Es mi esperanza que disfruten
El primer enlace es de una revista que se llama algarabía ¿no me cree? Es sumamente fantastica… TRATELA!
El otro es el trabajo de Antonio Gutierrez… La Balsa De la Medusa. Este enlace es cortesia de mi linda sobrina en Texas igual que el descubrimiento de la revista algarabía.
The above posting is for Spanish teachers - I was lucky to have been refered to these sites by my niece - a math High School teacher in Texas - they are great sites. If you read a little Spanish you might enjoy it too. :)
El primer enlace es de una revista que se llama algarabía ¿no me cree? Es sumamente fantastica… TRATELA!
El otro es el trabajo de Antonio Gutierrez… La Balsa De la Medusa. Este enlace es cortesia de mi linda sobrina en Texas igual que el descubrimiento de la revista algarabía.
The above posting is for Spanish teachers - I was lucky to have been refered to these sites by my niece - a math High School teacher in Texas - they are great sites. If you read a little Spanish you might enjoy it too. :)
Saturday, April 09, 2005
UNIVERSE WITHIN
I got musing today and shared with some friends about nature's details and how inventions come about: Velcro, Aspirin, Radar, etc, etc. at an ever accelerating rate. Knowledge is increasing but perhaps wisdom is not. In any case, the issues of perspectives came up and she send me this just awesome link:
.
If this does not give perspective - nothing will! Enjoy! Oh by the way this is a great teacher's resource site...
Thursday, April 07, 2005
JOURNAL 04-07-05
Technology is of course a tool to serve us. But definitely there is a point of diminishing returns. It seems that sometimes when the technology gets in the way of achieving our group or individual objectives. Take for example our technology midterm….
I thought the Mac vs. PC issue was settled – Macs, legend tells us, are far superior to PCs in terms of ease of use with extremely intuitive and inherently reliable. Well, having no other choice – reality hit me like a 2 x 4! Macs are as much of a pain at times as regular old Windows PCs – the pain is doubly bad when you don’t know the nuances of the Mac’s interface…. For example, for the life of me I could not bring up two copies of Explorer at the same time!
Anyway, in the midst of creating a PowerPoint and adding the picture from the web to a slide – the Mac made this sickening “pop” sound and “poof” the machine shut down! The incident thank goodness was witnessed by the professor! After a power-up – the file recovered (Luckily I had been saving it every so often while I was creating it – a good habit from old IT experience). Well the Mac flaked out on me three times but I was so close finishing that recreating it elsewhere would have taken too long. Finally, finally I finished and uploaded the file to WebCT. To complete the second part of the midterm I moved to a new Mac to create the Word document. This machine held its own; it just had a crazy mouse – but slowly I got it finished. In fact I ended up completing the mid-term including the upload with about 2 minutes to spare!
Technology! I wish I had a nickel for every time I had to boot a PC or struggle through the “friendly” interface of a Mac. I think I would be richer than Gates and Jobs…
By the way, what is your PC technology preference? (I am leaning towards Linux with a good vi editor! – buahhahahahah!)
I thought the Mac vs. PC issue was settled – Macs, legend tells us, are far superior to PCs in terms of ease of use with extremely intuitive and inherently reliable. Well, having no other choice – reality hit me like a 2 x 4! Macs are as much of a pain at times as regular old Windows PCs – the pain is doubly bad when you don’t know the nuances of the Mac’s interface…. For example, for the life of me I could not bring up two copies of Explorer at the same time!
Anyway, in the midst of creating a PowerPoint and adding the picture from the web to a slide – the Mac made this sickening “pop” sound and “poof” the machine shut down! The incident thank goodness was witnessed by the professor! After a power-up – the file recovered (Luckily I had been saving it every so often while I was creating it – a good habit from old IT experience). Well the Mac flaked out on me three times but I was so close finishing that recreating it elsewhere would have taken too long. Finally, finally I finished and uploaded the file to WebCT. To complete the second part of the midterm I moved to a new Mac to create the Word document. This machine held its own; it just had a crazy mouse – but slowly I got it finished. In fact I ended up completing the mid-term including the upload with about 2 minutes to spare!
Technology! I wish I had a nickel for every time I had to boot a PC or struggle through the “friendly” interface of a Mac. I think I would be richer than Gates and Jobs…
By the way, what is your PC technology preference? (I am leaning towards Linux with a good vi editor! – buahhahahahah!)
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
INTERVIEW WITH THE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Well, it was certainly an interesting morning.
A bunch of students showed up at the Education Dept. for their scheduled interviews. Filled out the signin sheet plus had to write a paragraph:
Afterward we attended an information meeting on the program - this was really worthwhile because you got to ask questions and were almost one-on-one and the College of Education staff did not seem as intimidating as before.
Now lastly FYI: There are 150 applications and only 90 spots....
UPDATE: Someone in class mentioned that there are not 150 applicants but rather 180! Apparently they got a surge of applications... no one know the real number - but still, it confirms that lots of people will be disappointed... so for now we just wait.
A bunch of students showed up at the Education Dept. for their scheduled interviews. Filled out the signin sheet plus had to write a paragraph:
They called us in pairs and we were interviewed by the College of Ed staff - very nice folks - don't fear - Smith is here! The interview took about 15 minutes for two people - that is it! Questions were pretty straight foward: Why do you want to be a teacher? If you had a class of "challenging" kids that did not like you - what would you do? The normal multicultural question and so on.
Generally Accepted Attributes of Highly Effective Teachers1. General classroom attendance, promptness and participation
2. Attention to classroom discussion protocols
3. Social and cooperative skills
4. Attention to assignments
5. General classroom demeanor
6. Flexibility
7. Openness to and ehtusiasm for learining
The writing assignment: identify one attribute area that you consider to be a strength and explain why with an example. Then identify one attribute area that you know you need to work on and explain why or how you'd work on it.
Afterward we attended an information meeting on the program - this was really worthwhile because you got to ask questions and were almost one-on-one and the College of Education staff did not seem as intimidating as before.
Now lastly FYI: There are 150 applications and only 90 spots....
UPDATE: Someone in class mentioned that there are not 150 applicants but rather 180! Apparently they got a surge of applications... no one know the real number - but still, it confirms that lots of people will be disappointed... so for now we just wait.
ULTIMATE GADGET BLOG
Hi, I am not sure if you caught this blog - but since professor Portacion is the ultimate gadget guy - I thought he would enjoy this BLOG -
- PSPs
- Landwalkers
- On Time Power-Over-Ethernet Clock
- MAV UAV
- RFID Table (real cool!)
- 1TB harddrive promise
And much much more... find it at: Gizmodo
Friday, March 25, 2005
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
JOURNAL 03-23-05
Well this is the first entry of the Journal as required by professor Portacio.
First a comment, it was good to hear that professor got confirmation from the CUE conference that this is a good idea – I guess collectively we will find out if this works well for the class.
Blogs are something that already has had an impact in the U.S. and throughout the world.
Here is one example. Blogs have been a pain to the MSM (Main Stream Media). It turns out their stories can be quickly vetted and checked for accuracy and they have taken them to tasks if there are some things amiss. For example Dan Rather of CBS felt the sting of the blogosphere when he tried to push false papers accusing President Bush of missing his physicals while in the National Guard – he was actually attempting to influence an election just before the vote. The Blogs throughout the land brought to bear their expertise within hours and totally debunked the story proving the documents FALSE! It is like Portacio mentioned tonight – “There is no one in this class smart enough as the whole of this class” There was power in the individual and the group - the power of the link!
Another example is CNN executive Easton Jordan who resigned from his post after he accused the U.S. Military of targeting journalists at the World Economic Forum in Davos. It was a blogger that made his comments known. It created a furor that did not die down until CNN was forced to fire him (sorry – he “retired”). The outrageous comments would have gone unnoticed in the past.
On a different vein, Blogs also can serve industry. For example you can comment directly on the Blog of General Motors president Bob Lutz. Imagine that you have DIRECT access to his thoughts on his company and the products and you can post your opinions directly with the head of one of the largest corporations in the world! Find his blog here: Bob Lutz
How about the edusphere?
Imagine that teachers can blog their hearts out to pursuing their interests and sharing insights. This has the potential of changing the educational Zeitgesit!
There is a blog for example of a relatively new teacher in the Bronks, N.Y. in what he calls “Shitty High School” and he keeps everything anonymous for obvious reasons – but you get an insight into what is happening at that school with the students, administration, and peers. You can find him at: Mr. Babylon. Read his post on Animal Boy - its a hoot!
Other teacher’s blogs with the potential of creating their own Chautauqua are:
First a comment, it was good to hear that professor got confirmation from the CUE conference that this is a good idea – I guess collectively we will find out if this works well for the class.
Blogs are something that already has had an impact in the U.S. and throughout the world.
Here is one example. Blogs have been a pain to the MSM (Main Stream Media). It turns out their stories can be quickly vetted and checked for accuracy and they have taken them to tasks if there are some things amiss. For example Dan Rather of CBS felt the sting of the blogosphere when he tried to push false papers accusing President Bush of missing his physicals while in the National Guard – he was actually attempting to influence an election just before the vote. The Blogs throughout the land brought to bear their expertise within hours and totally debunked the story proving the documents FALSE! It is like Portacio mentioned tonight – “There is no one in this class smart enough as the whole of this class” There was power in the individual and the group - the power of the link!
Another example is CNN executive Easton Jordan who resigned from his post after he accused the U.S. Military of targeting journalists at the World Economic Forum in Davos. It was a blogger that made his comments known. It created a furor that did not die down until CNN was forced to fire him (sorry – he “retired”). The outrageous comments would have gone unnoticed in the past.
On a different vein, Blogs also can serve industry. For example you can comment directly on the Blog of General Motors president Bob Lutz. Imagine that you have DIRECT access to his thoughts on his company and the products and you can post your opinions directly with the head of one of the largest corporations in the world! Find his blog here: Bob Lutz
How about the edusphere?
Imagine that teachers can blog their hearts out to pursuing their interests and sharing insights. This has the potential of changing the educational Zeitgesit!
There is a blog for example of a relatively new teacher in the Bronks, N.Y. in what he calls “Shitty High School” and he keeps everything anonymous for obvious reasons – but you get an insight into what is happening at that school with the students, administration, and peers. You can find him at: Mr. Babylon. Read his post on Animal Boy - its a hoot!
Other teacher’s blogs with the potential of creating their own Chautauqua are:
Public thought and opinion are changing the world like never ever before – this appears indeed to be a revolution, or as Hugh Hewitt prefers to call it calls it, "A Reformation" akin to Martin Luther's Reformation! A stretch? I don't know - what do you think?
Monday, March 21, 2005
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Blogging Journal Suggestion
The Mail that started it all..... :)
February 21, 2005
Professor,
I am not sure if you are open to ideas - but the more I work with blogs the more covinced I've become of their value both in the business world, the personal world, and I believe it can have an effect in the academic world as well.
Consider the following: right now we are writing weekly journals to turn in to you mid semester and then one at the end of the semester - how about if we as a class blog these for you weekly? We can still turn in the Word document as you require us - but creating a blog would achieve:
February 21, 2005
Professor,
I am not sure if you are open to ideas - but the more I work with blogs the more covinced I've become of their value both in the business world, the personal world, and I believe it can have an effect in the academic world as well.
Consider the following: right now we are writing weekly journals to turn in to you mid semester and then one at the end of the semester - how about if we as a class blog these for you weekly? We can still turn in the Word document as you require us - but creating a blog would achieve:
- Learning the "how to create a blog" and keeping it up to date and all its technology implications - a key goal of Educ 422
- Would provide a way for other students to see each other journals - thus increase visibility and progress.
- We can all put our links in our Yahoo group so we can have access.
In any case - this is a just a suggestion - if this does not appeal to you it is perfectly ok.
See you Wednesday!
Jorge
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