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Monday, December 14, 2009

Google Site with LP

JoshThorp_Google_Site

The Big Picture

The big picture for the Oregon Technology Standards are creating students who are technologically literate and good digital citizens. The aim is to create students how are creative and who work collaboratively across the globe developing their awareness of the digital world. These students develop their critical thinking skills and effectively use technology as tools in problem solving. This creates a batch of lifelong learners.

Technology is a powerful tool in any classroom. In my classroom, I will use blogs to communicate with parents and families and to let students know of class assignments and opportunities. We will use skype to communicate with a class in a different part of the country or world to help develop the students' awareness of their country and world. Another way I will use technology is having students use powerpoint to make presentations.

The challenges to using technology can and do exist. Some school districts don't have fancy projectors or computers. Also, some students don't have home access to computers and I must be sensitive to families that might not have computers available to them. Another challenge might be assuming that all students are familiar with technology. I might be in a situation where the students would need to learn even the basics.

As we move forward in the digital age, technology becomes more and more important and I must make great effort to incorporate it as much as possible into my classroom!

Friday, October 30, 2009

INTASC

INTASC_Link

WEB 2.0!!

Web 2.0 is having the world at your fingertips. The ability to access files from anywhere in the world is amazing. I love being able to store documents, keep in touch with friends and family and make and create pojects online.

For instance: a couple days ago for a class, I needed to great a graph for a presentation. I googled "make a graph" and clicked on the first website and made a killer graph. It was awesome. Before, it would have been a time consuming thing to use a program that I probably didn't have or couldn't afford.

Facebook: say what you want about social networking sites, I absolutely love being able to keep track of friend all over the world and communicate quickly. If I have a question about homework, I post it on facebook and I have 12 SOE peer responses within minutes. When I first went to Brasil at the age of 5, it took weeks to get communication from the US. Now, it is seconds away.

I also love blogs. I'm pretty new to them, but my wife has kept a blog of our family for a while. Once again, there are pictures and video that are stored on the internet that my parent in Brasil, her parents in Seattle, and my brother in North Carolina can all access and comment on. I love the idea of a class blog that I can use to communicate with students and parents about what is going on in the class and what things are coming up.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Justin.tv

Justin.tv is a great website that allows you to broadcast yourself (or anything you want to stream through your computer). It is incredibly easy to use. All you need is a computer, a webcam, and a microphone (my laptop has a webcam and microphone built in). By going to justin.tv and signing up for an account, you can create your own internet channel. I find this incredibly useful for doing a live presentation. You could give a presentation from anywhere in the world. Justin.tv also gives you the ability to stream video files from your computer, so you could do a viewing of a video that you created. On your channel's page, you can set times for your broadcasts to let people know when to check back to watch you. You can also set up a chat function to allow people watching your channel to chat with each other and to allow you to chat with them as well. You could also have people text you a question that you answered live.

Watch live video from liabi's channel on Justin.tv

Monday, October 19, 2009

Charts, Graphs, Horror








After analyzing this data, it was interesting to see that the majority of the class scored above the average. Also, by analyzing the google spreadsheet, I realized that I have a lot to learn about spreadsheeting.




Google Spreadsheet Link

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Scribblar and Dabbleboard!!!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

ODE


After looking at the ODE website, there were a couple things that really stood out to me. The first was R. Paul's elements of thought. He had some great ideas about how discussion could really be enhanced in the classroom. One of the things he talked about with regard to discussion was to have an objective or goal. So, making sure that the questions we ask students are leading to an objective that ties in to our overall objectives for instruction is so important. Also, looking at your point of view and then considering the pov's of other is an essential part of the elements of thought. We should be challenging all our students to become high-end learners and so these elements will help do that.


Graphic organizers are another great tool to help present information and even to get students involved in. At the OTEN conference I went to a seminar on concept maps and had some great ideas about about how to integrate those. Vue is a great tool in preparing concept maps that is free and easy to use. In a social studies class, students could create concept maps to show the relationships between events. A Venn Diagram is another great tool that can be used across all the different subjects. KWL charts are valuable as well. Organizational skills are greatly lacking in our students these days, so anything we can do to help them will assist them in higher thinking.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Yodio - OTEN CONF Yodio by liabi

Uses for Bloggings


Blogs are great for getting students involved with technology. They are easy to use in a variety of ways. I could see blogs being used as a journal that can be read, reviewed and commented on by other students. It could be a way to get creative writing assignments peer reviewed. I can be a way for students to get help with math problems. It can be a way that the teacher communicated with the students and parents/guardians. With a little creativity, the options are endless!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Post 1


Hi...Welcome to speedythorpedo. I'm sure you will be very impressed by my blog. I created it by myself. Are you impressed yet? So, what would you like to know about me? I'm 5'10. I always wanted to be 6 feet tall but I'm 2 inches away and I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon. I found out today that I'm really old. I thought 28 was pretty young, but I was wrong. Thanks, Julia. I am married with 2 adorable daughters. I grew up in Brasil. Yes, I am aware that in English it's spelled "Brazil" but I wrote it in Portuguese, so...
I really like sports. Soccer is my favorite, but I also enjoy tennis, volleyball, basketball, ping-pong (it is absolutely a sport). I play guitar. I really like apples. Pink Lady is my favorite. I've never owned a Mac. My dream vacation is Rio de Janeiro. I like making top 10 lists. I love my family, my friends, and my MAT buddies (I made you guys a separate category because you are my friends, but I spend time with you like we're family). I'm still annoyed that Bret Favre un-retired 12 times in the last 3 years. I'm extremely competitive and it usually is one of my least likable traits.
I'm dying to become a teacher. The wait is killing me :) I will be teaching Middle School Math. I absolutely love middle schoolers. I'm not sure why I identify with them so much, but it's my favorite age. Not that I want to relive those years! One of my greatest challenges with teaching will be to keep myself from being the students' friend.
The picture I included is me with my daughter Makenzie. She is the one hanging upside down. It was this summer at the beach. BTW, I LOVE the beach.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

2.5 weeks in...


We are 2.5 weeks into the MAT program and I think the only thing keeping my eyelids from being permanently glued shut is Starbucks. So, thanks to all who make wicked iced americanos. Actually the program is going very well. And if you anyone is looking for a highly-qualified middle school math teacher, I'm leaving my next september open for you :) And now off to write an article review, ed psych paper, class man. paper, read 300 pages...all in a nights work. Go Ducks!

Friday, August 28, 2009

Educational Biography
At the age of 5, my life twisted and turned and completely changed. All of the sudden, I was immersed in a culture and language and people that I didn’t know and didn’t understand. In May of 1986 my family and I entered a plane in Oregon and exited in Fortaleza, Brazil. My parents had dreamed their whole lives of living in and working with the people of Northeast Brazil and that hot, humid day their dreams came true. This was my new home and I had much to learn. I start with this because moving to another country and learning a new language and culture has influenced every other area of my life. It feels like my life started in Brazil as I don’t remember much before that. I believe that my adventures in another culture were very influential in guiding me toward teaching.

I learned Portuguese quickly. I was fortunate to be young enough to grasp a new language without much difficulty. The culture took a bit longer, but eventually I assimilated as much as possible and considered myself to be “mostly” Brazilian. I was homeschooled for many of the years between first grade and high school. My mother had a degree in education and a few years experience teaching elementary school children. During my elementary years, it was mostly just me and my brothers. For a couple school years we did school with a couple other American or international families. One year our little one-room school house (in the basement) had an English family and another year a Swedish family. Our education was all in English, using American curriculum. I believe my education was pretty similar to most American children as far as the content is concerned. My parents tried to create an educational experience that was as stable and “normal” as possible.

My family life was excellent. My parents had high expectations from me and my brothers. They expected us to do well academically and to be obedient and respectful children. Our family was run in such a way that my parents valued input from their children. While they always made the final decisions, my opinion was important and appreciated. I am fortunate to grow up in a family that thought highly of the voices of all its members. This is a trait that I hope to carry over to my classroom. As a teacher, I will reserve the right to make the final decision, but not without considering the opinions of my students.

By the time I reached adolescence, I had come to understand that my identity was complicated. I valued my American heritage and embraced my new Brazilian culture. I felt like I was a part of two worlds. I was never completely American and not completely Brazilian. I would describe it as being ¾ American and ¾ Brazilian. As a future math teacher, I realize this doesn’t add up, but it best describes how I felt. Living in Brazil exposed me to experiences that forever marked me. I watched the self-worth of 170 million people rise and fall on the performances of their national soccer team. I saw extreme poverty, racism, and the effects of a male-dominated society. I also met some of the kindest, most genuine and most loving humans on the planet. I lived and breathed and worshiped with people who looked nothing like me and didn’t speak my native tongue and it was the best experience of my life.

In school, I had some rough times. The limitations of home school were starting to show. My mom had a much harder time teaching the 7th and 8th grades. My dad would lend a hand with science and math but it was evident that we would have to do something else for education during the high school years. I did had plenty of social interaction outside of school. Fortunately that was not an area of my life that was lacking. However, my life was about to change again.

Whenever I think of the term “boarding school” I have mixed emotions. For high school, my parents made the tough decision to send me to an American boarding school that was a 20-hour bus ride from my family. I lived in a boarding house with a few other American students from different parts of Brazil. This was a both a thrilling and terrifying experience. On one hand, I had new freedoms that came with living away from my parents, but I also lived in a very strict and structured environment. I also missed my family. During those high school years I was in a more normal school environment with more students than I had ever been. The high school had roughly 24 students who were mostly American-born. We shared many similarities and bonds from having dual cultures. This was a great time for me to finally be around a group of students with which I had so much in common. Unfortunately this all changed my junior year. My family moved back to the US during my junior year of high school. I went from a small high school of students who were very similar to me to a high school of 2000 students who had been together for a few years. I had the same skin color as most of the students, but inside I was worlds apart. I felt very insecure and had a tough year. I did make some very important friendships and that year stretched me as a person. For my senior year, I was back in Brazil and graduated from high school there.

My junior year did help prepare me for college life in America. I was more confident having seen what life was like in the US and had a much easier time fitting back in to American life. I received my undergraduate degree from Corban College in Salem. While there, I had the opportunity to study youth ministry and work for all four years with the middle school group at the church I attended. This, more than any other experience in my life, helped prepare me for teaching. Although it was a group of students with similar religious backgrounds, they were very different in their races and socioeconomic backgrounds. I learned quickly that all middle schoolers are simultaneously the same and completely different. I loved those students and developed some great relationships with them, many that remain to this day. Those students greatly influenced my desire to teach. I thank them for that.

The experiences of my life have shaped me and prepared me for the teaching profession. I know what it is like to feel different. I know what it’s like to not understand the language spoken around me. I know what it’s like to struggle to learn. I believe I can identify with many of my students and find ways to teach them that pull from the ways that I had to struggle to learn a new culture and language as a child.

Monday, August 17, 2009

First Day of Classes





























So, first day of classes here at Willamette
University. Fun stuff. Weird to be back in school after 6 years. I'm a little rusty, but it feels great. Very excited to see where this year will lead and I'm sure it will be an adventure. We'll see how excited I am after a couple weeks of homework :)