It is not a secret that many teachers are currently struggling with incorporating technology in the class. Terms like wiki and web logs are not new anymore. In fact, the use of technology in the classroom is so vital that teachers around the world are now dealing with what Broussard (2009) calls Digital Natives which he defines as “the generation of young adults who have come of age online and who are totally comfortable with emerging technologies.” Teachers are facing the digital era and to cope with it, they are learning to take advantage of tools such as the blog, google sites, google docs, wiziq, among others. It is also imperative to recognize that times have changed giving importance to collaborative learning among students and professors. Many educators have evolved and believe in the human capacity to cooperate and develop their potential; therefore, countless are structuring opportunities for teachers and students together to bring authentic learning and technological tools to the classroom, driven by personal interests and connected to classroom realities. That is, technological tools are opening new doors and proving to have enough benefits in the education field. For instance, one of the main aspects I have learned this week is the fact that CALL environments bring excellent teaching-learning opportunities and as stated by Thorne, such tools have the power to transform the traditional classroom environment to make it not only student-centered, but also to provide opportunities for pedagogical practices and bring novelty (Thorne & Payne, 2005). Moreover, I strongly believe that we should encourage students to become autonomous learners by using their metacognitive skills and help them become life-long and more efficient learners through the use of technology. Courses like this one help break the gap between us the Digital Inmigrants and our students the Digital Natives.  

Well, this has definitely being an incredible week. Regardless of the many personal difficulties I had to face, I was able to complete week 2. I do not know where to start. I am the kind of person who is always looking for new things, trying to be updated in this century where everything and everyone is obsolete after a week; or at least that's what I feel most of the time. That triggers my appetite for more information and new learning experiences that my students and I will enjoy and benefit from.
After completing week 2 I can say that I still have a lot to learn and many roadblocks to jump, but I am eager and happy to do it when I know that at the end my students will be the ones learning, having fun and getting the proper treatment and the best methodologies to help them be better learners.
This week I understood the importance of not only writing effective and correct objectives, but also the significance of making sure the 4 aspects (ABCD) are present in every objective because as I usually say to my students "If you don't know where you are going, you will never get there" which also applies to this experience. If I don't write accurate objectives, my students will not know what's expected of them and therefore their learning experience  will be affected. Moreover, I need to know where I am going and what I expect from them in order to achieve the best results.
I am already dreaming about the final project, thinking about the zillion possibilities I can incorporate in this new experience. I know that I have to be patient, and I promise to be patient, but I am already wearing my "thinking cap" so to speak.

Thanks for the wonderful experience which I know will continue to grow and grow and grow.

God bless!!!

Roxy!

Hello everyone!

This is my reflective blog for the course I'm currently taking at the University of Oregon. I am really passionate about learning and implementing new and interesting tools that can be used in the English classroom. I am usually looking for tutorials to be able to learn how to use new sites or just add to what I already know. There are so many ideas every day that it is hard to catch up, but I am certainly trying to . I am thrilled to be part of this experience and will continue to work hard so that this experience is really an enriching one. 

I have created some blogs before, and I would like you to see them and perhaps give me some feedback. 

Thanks!

http://lm1361.blogspot.com/

http://pf0313.blogspot.com/

http://lm1471.blogspot.com/