Technology Rules!

Jul 16

This was my lovely chat with Wendy about confidence and techology

• me: Hi
• 11: 37 AM so I remember yesterday that you were talking about what you had put into your tumblr on confidence. I wanted to use this chat for my tumblr. Can you elaborate a little on what you put in?
• 11: 39 AM r u still there?
• 14 minutes
• wtraugotfarkas: What I was really talking about was the idea of empowering our students with tools they are comfortable with and using these tools to help them understand the skills we are trying to teach them. In this way they build confidence in their ability to function out of their comfort zones.
• 35 minutes
• me: so do think that the tool's we've learned here at the workshop will help do that?
• 12: 31 PM From what I've learned so far from the tools that I've used here is that the project needed a certain motivation, etc writing from your own experiences. If the tool is introduced alone, the student will probably not feel as motivated.
• wtraugotfarkas: I think to a limited extent they will. Some of the issues I'm concerned about will be hardware availability both in and out of school and adapting the curriculum to make use of the technology. For example, my first unit this year will be personal narratives. I see my students using hypertextopia to brainstorm, then moving to voice thread to actually create the story. But if they cannot upload their photos or videos, then I'm not sure if it will work.
• What about you? How do you see yourself using these tools?
• me: I see, and then at that point the motivation will be replaced with frustration.
• wtraugotfarkas: Yes, that's usually what happens and I give up because I get no support.
• me: I see myself teaching these tools to staff, but many aren't as computer savy, so that's when I need to give them a motivation through maybe showing them the projects i've created.
• plus I thought of creating worksheets for them to follow so they can be more at ease at what theyre doing
• wtraugotfarkas: I agree - I think handouts make all of us feel more secure. Plus I know that when I get home I'm not going to remember half of what we did or how we did it. I spent a lot of time this week writing down instructions such as, then click this, then drag that, look for the text in blue, etc. But I'm still not sure how it will all work in the classroom. Adding to the frustration is the thought that I'll get my students all excited about this and I won't be able to follow through.
• me: writing down instructions is good, but what I learned about technology is continuing to play with the programs so that eventually you'd be used to their functions. Next thing you know you wouldn't be needing the instructions you wrote down anymore...hence...you become more confident with what you're doing.
• 12: 45 PM ;)
• wtraugotfarkas: Yes, this is true too, but I'm often afraid to begin clicking on stuff for fear I'll lose what I have. The nice thing about many of these programs, like Google.docs is that it is automatically saved every 10 seconds. Something like tumblr is a little less user friendly because the tabs are not as self explanatory. But you're right - I think the more I use them the more comfortable I will be and our students have absolutely no fear.

 I chose this photo as a representation for confidence. The message I get from it is that you can view yourself as however you’d like to be.

Jul 15

Today felt better (smile)

[video]

Confidence building research -

I found that the best way for me to build my confidence is through yoga and meditation. I’ve also done research online to find different tactics that would slowly help me build my confidence and feel more well rounded . However, from experience I noticed that what it all comes down to is my motivation and how far I wanted to go with it. I realized that building your confidence level is never a quick process that you can develop like a 4 week dieting plan. It’s something that takes time and individual effort. You can always read books and articles about it, but only use resources that you feel can apply to your lifestyle and that you’d be able to use in a positive way. One of the forms that I felt had helped to build my confidence is yoga. There are many different levels and types of yoga and its important that you find the right type for yourself. I normally practice Hatha yoga. I also found the study of the 7 chakras energy points of the body to be intriguing.

“What you think of me is none of my business. What is most important is what I think of myself. — Robert Kiyosaki” —  I chose this quote because part of working with my confidence level is reminding myself that what feel or think about any given situation does matter and what everyone else thinks can be considered after. Also it reminds me that since I am my own person that what others may think or feel of me is irrelevant and what matters most is what I think of myself. “Myself” is the person that I have to live with day in and day out and people outside of me don’t have to.” So if I’m going to make it count, I’m going to do it for me and not for them.

Confident

This is a word that jumped out at me from my questions that I had created on tumblr because its something that I feel I lack of. I do know that after some time thus far, I have progressed and have noticed a difference in my confidence. I would normally question everything I did or said to another person and felt that their recognition was of the greatest importance all of the, time ahead of my own. I always needed to ask permission in some form for what I was feeling strongly about. Overall, I always needed to find out if I was doing things correctly and never felt confident enough to decide on my own if it was good enough.

     I still feel that I need more work on my confidence level, however I have noticed that I’ve been making decisions that I do feel confident enough not to question and it has worked in my favor.

Start with questions (Tuesday 7-15-08)

Jul 14

so confused today