FireFox Add-ons

Wow, I have recently discovered firefox add-ons and am very impressed. First, I would recommend getting a multiple line bookmarks toolbar. That is awesome. Also, there is an add-on called clipmarks that lets you take stuff from certain web pages, blogs, articles and past it/email it places. To practice clipping, I want to past a video about clipmarks below. In order to get clipmarks, just google firefox add-ons and then search for clipmarks.

wiki, linkedIn, twitter, converting to PDF

I have learned a few new skills in the past few months I forgot to mention in my last post.

First, I found out how easy it was to convert word files into PDFs. You just use a website from a google search. Takes like 5 min.

In Prof. Ferree's class, we learned how to make/use a wiki. While I didnt practice with it much and don't see much of a difference from a google doc (besides having many pages within the wiki), I want to keep working with them a little over break bc wikis are popular and useful.

Also, I have been using twitter more lately, but just from the perspective as a reader. I try to get on once a week but that sometimes doesnt happen. I am follower to a few educators tweets. But my next goal with twitter is to learn how to have conversations with people...you type in like @smith or whatever the person's name is...I think that's all but not positive.

Also, I have been using LinkedIn, which is a networking/job site where you post resume and profile of yourself and you link yourself to contacts and you can write people recomendations and people can look at your profile and jobs can search you and check you out. Pretty cool.

Next batch of things I want to learn: how to convert youtube files to regular ones so I could use them in a school if I wanted..I know there is some site out there that does it.
In addition, here are some more things I wanna do with technology in the weeks that come:
-work with that site where you can teach ppl languages and they can you
-i want to find some good education blogs and podcasts
-want to find a site where I could make a newsletter pretty easily
-want to learn some digital art stuff (photoshop, etc) that I could possibly use with students
-I want to work on my google site

excel skills are growing...

Hola, this week I learned some tricks with excel and word tables. Basically, you can take text and convert it into tables. Also, you can highlight on the boxes and adjust one and it will adjust all.
To make a new row, you can edit copy it in word table or in excel. I forgot how to make a new column, but it is not too bad I would guess.

Right now I am using excel to keep track of my field placement hours and also how much I am working for my job as RA.

Another tech skill I have used lately is creating google forms. Wow are these cool. In order to poll some Spanish house members on where we wanted food from for our end of semester feast, i set up a google form. 17/23 residents responded and because the data was tough to read, I put in in graphs and it tallies up who had most votes and everything. Pretty amazing.

In addition, I know doodle polls a bit, too, and survey monkey. So my skill with numbers is growing a little these days, which is good bc I will be in the classroom as a student teacher in like 7 months or so.

getting inspired again with technology

Last spring I took an amazing classes called Teaching with tech. During that class I was really inspired to use some of the skills with my students because it is true we are living in an era where kids crave tech and are used to using it for everything: (internet, cells, facebook/myspace are a few examples).

In this class I learned: photostory, blogging, podcasting, making a site through google sites and some cool smart board techniques.

However, 6 months later I am struggling to recall what I learned and realize I need to stay up to date and practice this stuff, especially since I am going to be in the classroom for real in less than a year. In conclusion, I not only want to practice and maintain what I learned in the class, but I want to build on it. Any suggestions?

4-20-09: Mariokart tournament night

Hola, chicos. Hoy en mi dormitorio tuvimos un torneo de Mariokart. Fue muy divertido .Yo hice ok, pero uno de mis residentes, Derrick, casi gano. Andrew de los 130s gano.

Me dolia la cabeza por todo el dia hoy; en una escala de 1 a 10, fue un 9.5. Ahora, me siento mucho mejor. Estoy en los stacks de Thorton trabajando un poquito. Esta semana es ocupada para mi, y estoy nervioso de tener que introducir a la profesora Harold el miercoles en Last Lecture. Pero esta noche, de hecho, ahorita, voy a escribir la intro. (dos minutos).

Manana voy a visitar Burley para hacer voluntario.

???????

?Cual es su cosa favorita de la facultad de Curry?


"What is your favorite part about the Curry school?"

Es viernes

Caramba. Es viernes. Es el fin de semana. Pues, casi. Todavia tengo una clase de espanol el viernes por la tarde. Tambien, tengo una reunion con un TA para comentar sobre un ensayo. Vamos a reunir en Bodo's. 

Manana hay dos eventos con comida gratis. Recientement yo empece una lista de correo elctronico que dice muchos eventos con comida gratis. Mientras la mayoria de los eventos tienen pisa gratis, no es una dieta muy balanzada, pero espero que en el futuro puedo encontrar unos eventos con comida gratis que no es pisa...para dar mas variedad y mas nutricion!

Si esta lista con comida gratis te interesa, dejame saber. 

No me gusta usar el termino "grounds." Pienso que alguna gente es muy "snotty" cuando se usa el termino. Tambien, no me gusta hacer lo que hace los demas. Prefiero ser diferente. Es ironico que yo solicitara a la misma universidad de que 15 mil gente ha solicitado. Si te interesa conformidad y nonconformidad, debes hablar con profesor Handler, el decano de CLAS y un profesor de antropologia; el es muy interesante. 

Wow, it's the weekend. Well, almost. I still have spanish class friday afternoon. Also, I am meeting a TA at Bodo's for lunch to talk about a paper. There are two free food events tom. I recently started a free food email list with some of the events around grounds that have free food. Most of them are free pizza, so it is not a very balanced diet, but hopefully over the next few weeks I can find events that add both nutrition and variety. If anyone wants to get on the email list, I would like to share the knowledge about all the free food on-Campus. 

Don't get me started on the whole grounds vs campus thing. I tend to think it is a bit snotty, but then again I despise doing what other people do; I like to differentiate myself. Kind of ironic when I realize that I applied to Uva just like 15 thousand other people. If anyone wants to hear a cool professor talk about conformity and non-conformity, seek out Richard Handler, the dean of the CLAS and anthropology professor; he is very interesting. 

This summer...

In mid-June I am traveling to Mexico for six weeks. In the past few summers I have worked the best job on earth, teaching Spanish and English to middle school students who are trying to get ahead during the summer so they can go to college. This job made me want to be a teacher. This summer, however, I have to move away from teaching so that I can satisfy my study abroad requirements.

The program I have applied to is in Queretaro, Mexico through the University of Oregon. In Mexico, I would be staying with a mexican family and taking classes at the Universidad Autonoma de Queretaro. 

So far, I have met a lot of resistance from many people about my wanting to go to Mexico. The truth is, I am fascinated by the country and want to learn more about it and its people. Due to a war between drug cartels and the Mexican government, the country is under a travel alert by the state department. So I understand the danger, but I have spoken with professors and people in charge of the program in Mexico and all the violence is far away from where I am going to be. The violence is along the US-Mexico border, while I will be more toward the center of the country, two hours outside of Mexico city. 

Before I would leave in June, I will (hopefully) work in the restaurant back home that I have worked at for the last few years. I do not know if I will be able to wait tables since I have always been a busboy, but that is my goal. I also want to try to substitute teach, but I realize that my chances for doing that are going to be slim because I have heard that there are more subs than ever in Va Beach now because of the unemployment rate and bad economy.

In conclusion, I hope to continue my blog from Mexico this summer. I have applied for a few different scholarships, which would help me pay for the trip as well as update my digital camera so that I can fill up my blog with pictures. Going to Mexico will give me a better perspective that I want to give my students as a Spanish teacher. I also want to work with latinos in the U.S. Since 60% of Latinos here are from Mexico, I think that going to this country and learning its history will hopefully give me a better understanding to why so many mexican citizens leave everything in Mexico to try life in the U.S. 

april fools day

No much happened for me on this unique day. I watched the U.S. men's soccer team beat Trinidad and Tobago. I also watched South Park. Never watched an entire episode before and I am not sure what I thought of it. 

I never understand why I always come home from school at night tired, and I haven't really done any homework yet. This is why I continue to go to bed at 3 am and wake at 1030 or 11 am everyday. 

Lastly, I went to the Casa Bolivar tonight for dinner; it was fun. 

No paso mucho hoy. Vi el partido entre los EE UU y Trinidad en la tele. Tambien, mire South Park por la primera vez en mi vida y no se lo que pensar en ello. 

No entiendo por que siempre regreso a mi casa despues de un dia en Grounds y estoy cansado sin hacer ninguna tarea. Esto explica porque siempre me acuesto a las 3 por la manana y me despierto a las 11am. 

Finalmente, fui a la Casa Bolivar para cenar esta noche; fue muy divertida.