Online resources

What online resources have you used to improve your teaching, and how do you usually find them?

When I’m out of ideas or simply can’t think of the best way to present a new unit I turn to Google, type in name of a unit plus activities and usually what I read in first 3 or 4 web sites gets my imagination going. The websites that have proven to be quite useful are http://www.hajdeda.org.rs/ or http://www.zvrk.rs/. However, I must say that there is an obvious shortage of educational web sites in Serbian. I often find great ideas that could be applied to mother tongue classes but I need to further work on them by translating which is not always so simple because for example there could be a rhyme that needs to be preserved or a certain pattern that needs to be followed etc. What I lack the most are interactive websites. In one class there could be students of up to three different levels of knowledge and it is hard to work with such a diverse group because you’ll have three students that are finishing the tasks pretty fast and three that will take half an hour and another three that will need a whole class. The third group usually needs a teacher by their side and in these sorts of situations I wish I had a website that the first two groups can explore and do bunch of very fun tests and activities that will be just as amusing to them as they would be educational. What happens in my class is I constantly need to come to all three groups and check how they did and comment on their work so I’m usually a bit torn apart. It would be great if I had a “virtual assistant” in a form of an interactive website that could take half of my load without lowering the quality of what is going on in the classroom.

Then and Now

Think back a few years to how you used to use your computer. Describe any changes you've noticed over that time. Finally, make some predictions about your computer use in 2013.

Before I had my ancient laptop I was always afraid that figuring out how to use different features of computer could lead to erasing valuable files and causing it to breakdown.:)

I got my first computer back when I was in high school. At that time I remember we were learning the basics of MS DOS exploring commands such as time, date, cd, color, dir etc. Whether it will come a day when I will find these things applicable remains to be seen. However, better things were coming my way. Soon enough we started learning different ways of editing text in Microsoft Word and just when I thought things are finally making sense our teacher decided that we spent enough time in a computer lab and that we should go back to the white board and do some Basic Pascal programming…. Oh those days of horror.

At home I couldn’t wait for a friend of mine to come over and set my first Internet dial up connection. I clearly remember his explanation of what Internet is all about. He said that anything I could think of can be found online. Inexperience spoke out of me and I asked him to further clarify his words. He said, I quote – You see this door (pointing at my door) you can find information regarding this very same door online. And I thought to myself I couldn’t be more illuminated :)

Then came the days of advices coming from different experts each having their own explanation of why I should/shouldn’t be using a certain program followed by deleting and installing stuff. When I got tired of this I decided to seek help. This was the key of becoming accustomed to using a computer. All fear was gone and help menu became a true friend of mine.

Today Internet is the most valuable resource for me whether I’m preparing class activities, cooking dinner, figuring out ways to get to a certain location, reading news, socializing with people from other parts of the world etc.

Looking at people who lost the battle with technology I sometimes wonder am I going to become one of them as time passes. Will I be stuck using Microsoft Word when every one else turn to some other way advanced program. I hope not! So far I’m keeping up!:)

Being in a public domain ...

Some people have strong feelings about being in the public domain (meaning their pictures, thoughts, interests... can be potentially accessed by people they don't know). Explain your feelings? How do we address these concerns as teachers and role models? How do we teach this?

I guess I could say I’m among one of those people who have strong feelings about being in the public domain. I was never a big fan of web sites such as Facebook, Myspace etc. However, I am at the same time aware or their good sides and I always end up opening an account and exchanging information. This way I’m balancing between being a bit paranoid and staying open-minded.:) Having never had a bad experience regarding Internet surely helps.

I can’t imagine giving up the ability of having Internet as a resource where everything is just a click away. I also try to encourage my students to fully use it as a resource but to think twice before sharing any personal data online. Since they are very young I feel strongly about supervising the content they have access to both by parents at home and teachers at school. That is the simplest way to make sure they are getting the most out of Internet while at the same time staying safe.