The first week of the second semester is done and over… I could tell because I was face down on the couch at about 6 p.m.last night wondering if it really was too soon to go to bed (the answer: no). I am starting this term a bit off kilter. Our Educational Technology Specialist(…)
This sign was on the door to my building the first week of class. I took the picture, I chuckled, and I stayed calm…I just forgot to post it here More to come.
This entry is part 3 of 4 in the series Teaching what you thought you knewHISP 205 is a conversation class. As the teacher, my goal for the inclass portion was that whatever I brought for my students to see, hear, witness… that those things needed to be catalysts, springboards, starting points for comments, conversation,(…)
This entry is part 4 of 4 in the series Teaching what you thought you knewA thousand years ago, I studied at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. I went during college and then back again for a year after I graduated. Those were important years in my life and in my growth(…)
The last two or three weeks of a semester are hard. Teachers are making the big, final push to the end, covering those last little bits of the content and getting students ready for the final exam. Students are getting sick (or are just coming back from being sick), their brains are feeling bloated and(…)
Time for a confession: I watch Glee. And I love it. Yes, yes I know in real life they are all Broadway stars and/or adults playing people 20 years their junior. The plot lines are wildly improbable, it’s auto-tuned to the max, and hopelessly saccharine, but I don’t care. It’s a great way to pass(…)
As I mentioned in previous posts, when the economy goes sour, that is often a time when language educators and language technologists are at their most vulnerable…not because of anything they have or have not done, but because of how easily our role(s) in the Academy are misunderstood, or worse, dismissed. The economy continues to(…)
This morning I upgraded TweetDeck for the mac. There are a gazillion different twitter readers out there…I started using this one when Twhirl died on me. TweetDeck allows you to not only manage multiple accounts…which I seem to have (personal, LLU, and soon… my class)…it also allows you to search for key words or just(…)
This entry is part 21 of 35 in the series Teaching Transparently My job is a language center director first and foremost, but the opportunity to teach language classes gives me a perspective on teaching and learning that I would not get by just running the CILC. It also helps me do the job better.(…)
This entry is part 23 of 35 in the series Teaching Transparently www.flickr.com This fall we had an overabundance of enrollments in the first semester of 2nd year Spanish class. And with that came the opportunity for me teach in the fall as well as the spring…something that I have been hankering to do for(…)
I have been flipping in and out of webstreams of two conferences that had the good sense to be Ustreamed or Elluminated this week. Webcasting conference content is indeed a wonderful tool in these cash strapped/no travel budget times…allowing folks like me out here in the cornfields to peek in and see what is happening(…)
I was drinking my coffee this morning and reading our local paper, The Plain Dealer, as I do every morning (yes, I still believe in newspapers in print). Aside from reading about the decimation of the Cleveland Indians (the good news? they still have Grady), I came upon this article and almost spluttered my coffee(…)