"Words As Big As The Screen: Native American..."

Wow. I'm flabbergasted. This reading is so unique, so... so... relevant! The coolest of all? I knew the authors mentioned! I thought it was well-balanced piece-"language death" vs. "language revitilization"; language and culture vs language without culture; traditional vs. modern. What do Native Americans want? That is the ultimate question. In terms of using technology to advance/save our language? The possibilities are endless. Imagine the jobs our students could have-designing web pages for us, creating CDs/DVDs. After having taken Language Policy and Planning class, I cleary understood how the dominant society can "encourage" yet have a "leash" on what indigenous people can and cannot do. Ironically, this can happen within the community too. It's like the phrase-"damned if we do, and damned if we don't". Sometimes you just can't please everybody-especially in regards to preserving language and culture. I feel like I'm taking baby steps in learning to implement technology in my classroom and teaching-I want to take advantage of it, but I don't know enough yet. The world is so huge and accessible via internet that it's a litte intimidating. This is something that needs careful exploring because I tend to be cautious about new things-Wow. How to make a difference in saving/keeping Yup'ik strong in the 21st century? Wow.

PowerPoints

Moses and Samson's papers on PowerPoint made me realize that this "new" tool isn't really new-it's just a modern version of overhead projectors (which I still one in my classroom!). I still use transparencies every now and then... The overarching "problem" I noticed that both brought out was this: how does one use the powerpoint? I have seen many presentations-not each one isn't done the same way! The ones I dislike have so many words that the presenter just reads off of it. Yes, exactly what is the purpose? I have made a few powerpoint myself-but I find it more fun when students use it for their presentations. In fact, for my Junior High Reading class, I let them have a "taste" of using powerpoints. They were making "presentation" on a story we had just finished reading and were making a story map using the elements of characters, setting, plot, theme. While they were experimenting with it, they were using "major characters", minor characters" in their language. That's using repetition. In the high reading classes, one indicator n the reading phases is "oral presentation". Most have used powerpoint to do presentation as part of their book project too. We have used powerpoint during our graduation-and have been for several years. Although I don't see myself using it too much... I don't have the patience nor time to sit down to make presentations using powerpoint for two reading classes, a writing class, Junior High science class and a fine arts class. Maybe I just need to keep practicing until I learn how.

Laptops are here/Blogging

McFarlane's "Laptops Are Coming!" article reinforces what the high school is going through. It's
not fun having to deal with "discipline" issues in regards to students' usage of their laptops. The idea was wonderful at the time, but in reality, we are faced with "new" problems that we have no answers for. McFarlane's article made me realize that we had no definite plan as to how we would implement the laptop project. The irony is that our students are "learning" but not the stuff we "teach" them. Our situation is a management issue-moreso because teachers tend to have their own expectations as to how the laptops should be used. Another is that our ELL students are learning to write in English- but not necessarily to speak it "correctly". I'm continually harping to students that their laptops are "tools, not toys!". But what do I mean? MaFarlane made me realize that. I think I need to document what the expectations should be like curriculum's do. Blogging? If our kids write the way they do when using First Class, I'm not too thrilled in implementing blogging to them. Again-if I were to implement it, then I would have to have a set of standards or expectations if students are to use it to learn the English language "properly, appropriately'. In addition, the blogs I've glimpsed at (ie, ADN.com) have been opinions that are somewhat out of line. Laptops and blogging-great ideas, but now I'm cautious. My experience hasn't been that positive. I think I just need to remove myself from the this situation and reevaluate what needs to be improved so the benefits can be aplenty!