Week 10:

Tis' been a good week filled with discovery.

I use PowerPoint for almost every class I teach so I decided to skip to newer presentation tools.

At first I tried Emaze. It was truly Emazing... but it was so much more futuristic than anything Iv'e ever done! I felt like I was in the Matrix. For students that learn best visually this may be a great option because it will definitely get their attention. However, for me, the one who prepares and gives the presentation, it was too much and distracting.

Then I found Prezi. Prezi is an alternative presentation tool that lets you add pictures, videos and all sonts of media, and it's all online! With Prezi i created a short presentation and i was able to design it exactly as i wanted. The main ideas is that the screen looks like a path and as you move along the presentation, you feel as if your walking down the path, moving forward, and learning things on the way. I think Prezi is the perfect combination between PowerPoint and Emaze. It let me add all the information I needed and let me present it in an engaging way that draws in the audience without disorienting them.

I also tried Takk. Feeling like an artist while online is always exciting for me because I feel like i can't always do exactly what I want the way paper and scissors can. Takk solved a large portion of that problem being very art oriented. It takes a pretty artsy kind of person to really enjoy Takk since it helps you create collages that mix color, writing and media.

Personally I'm not sure I would use this tool at this point in my education because it is meant to be part of a social network (for instance - connected and appearing on Facebook), and I'm just not sure yet how the two can produce something educational...

I do look forward to using Prezi in my next presentations and seeing the students reaction! 

I'll let you know how it goes...

Tal Berlinger

week 6:

Follow up on last week's audio lesson, I deciced to try Avraham Roos's advice and give podcasting a shot. 

Podcast week 6:

I look forward to any comments about how I can make this more interesting for next time... all criticism welcome :)

Tools I talk about:

- Voice chat

- Skype/video chat

- Voice threading

- Spelling bee

- Story jumper

I Hope you enjoy the podcast (or are at least suprised with something a little different)...

Til' next time,

Tal Berlinger

Week 4:

I can't believe this is my fourth week assignment. I'm a month into my second year first degree acquisition process! (Only 2 years and 7 months to go...).

This week you showed us some useful visual aids. Some I've tried before and some not but it was fun playing around with then anyway.

Linguistic Landscapes Are series of pictures taken or the road of signs, store fronts, and other places where language appears on a day to day basis. A Linguistic Landscape would make for a great homework assignment for middle-school and up students, as they see lots and lots of English on the street every day. Maybe this would make some of then more aware of the language uses around them. (while others will at least have fun playing around with their smart phones). And sharing landscapes with the class will produce English output. amazing.

ToonDoo Is a website that lets you design your own comics - very useful! I mean, we're always looking for stimulation and kids really enjoy them. How many times have you looked for they right quote to explain a lesson or an image to add something more to your words and couldn't find just the right thing... You don't have to worry anymore! just register for free and start cartooning!

Paint. Is there really anyone here that has never used paint? If you haven't, I strongly advise to take a morning off this week and see what it can do...

Photofunia as you can see is a total blast. you upload pictures onto different objects or landscapes and it creates the illusion that they actually exist there. It's hip and visually engaging, I plan to use it in my power-point presentations from now on. (Unless it takes up too much of my time...).

That's all folks!

Tal Berlinger

Week 3:

This week has been stressfull for the whole Anglo-saxon community and the blogs I followed showed no acception.

Though I can't complain about how every website is exploding with post-election articles (since the issue really must be addressed... really.) I, personally don't believe in combining political views and subject matter so I will only discuss one article today.

CoolCatTeacher's article "The Secret to Effective Technology Integration in Schools" popped out at me this week as if it were created for this course.

we've all been thinking of ways to Integrate technology into our lessons for some time now. When I make lesson plans I think of ways to make my lessons fun and I ask myself how the students will best remember the matirial. That is why I was suprised to find this arrticle.

The article talkes about how many schools translate "Integration" in to "the buying of new tech supplies" (computers, Ipads etc').

Guys... THIS IS NOT TRUE!

CoolCatTeacher: "Technology can make a good teacher better, but there is no technology fix to make a poor teacher anything but poor."

Yes, technology is important for many many reasons but first, let's make sure we are educaters, not babysitters. Let's make sure technology is an aid in our classroom and not a crutch.

"The greatest things in this life aren’t for sale. The greatest things in life always have to be worked for, and  an effective education technology is no exception."

Tal Berlinger

Week 2:

It's officially winter so i'm not mourning the loss of these week nights at home as much as i would during the summertime :)

I am, however, learning about some interesting contraversies in regards to technology integration in schools.

For example: Lisa Nielsen of The Innovative Educator,  posts alot about bringing the use of technology to life outside the school setting as a tool for homescoolers and those frustrated from the structure that the education system sets for us. In her comments she often steers the reader to step outside the walls of  'school' as we know it and to find ways to connect with our students through whatever means best suited for them. 

On the other hand, Nielsen concedes in her post "When Tech Teaches, What do Teachers Do?" that when speaking of todays classrooms, the technologically oriented ones are better at putting the student in the center as the individualistic methods of todays' education would aspire to, than those who dont integrate at all.

We see this through aspects in the class, such as:

• Relationships - when technology provides lectures and feedback, teachers have more time to get to know their students interests and weeknesess.
• Guidence - all students want and need guidence. teachers can do that if they are not matirial oriented.
• Tutoring - when the whole class is using technology, struggling students can get the suport they need to norrow the gap in matirial understanding.
• Cheerleading - digitally, teachers are far more able to notice students' complishments and give them support where needed.
• Digital literacy - teachers using technology can help students use it safely.

Edudemic's Leah Levy published also speaks highly of integration in her 2014 article on the "10 Ways iPads Teach Kids with Learning Disabilities". Here she lists some of the ways that iPads can help compartmentalise among children who have trouble doing so on their own, and are benificial theraputicly do to the childs abillity to control apps and information.

I think having digital access at hands reach in not only helpful for the learning disabled anymore. All students want to succeed and need the information to do so and we can direct, guide and steer as well as simply having the knowledge of our field. When used properly, technology should definitly be a blessing rather than a crutch.

 I strongly recommend Lisa Nielsen's article at the top. It gave me alot to think about regarding our role as educators of any era.

The key words being: Integration and inclusion... as always :)

Tal Berlinger

Week 1:

Hi Everyone,

My name is Tal Berlinger. I'm a second year student at Levinsky College of Education. I study elementary to high-school level English education. Our course is about integrating technology into the exsisting curriculum, so that as teachers, we will be able to attempt to connect with our 21st century students. (The "i" generation). 

Interactive technology use in the class-room is not another tool for educators. The way i see it, and according to the short film we just saw on Moodle, this is the language of our pupils. If we choose to avoid using technology in our lessons we are essentially avoiding the students' native language and causing barriers in comunication.

Personally, I believe in the importance of clear (and affective) comminication and the comfort of common territory; However, i'm terrible at communicating with my computer so i'm hoping this course lets me practice the skills that i have and gain the ones that i need to succeed.

Looking forward to hearing from some of my classmates :)

Until then, have a happy winter...

Tal Berlinger