Lindsay's teaching notes

5 "secret" things

2008-02-11T20:49:00.000+01:00

OK, so here's my "belated" homework, in the hope that I'll tag this correctly.
5 things you don't know about me:
1) I'm a coffee-addict (sorry to do no justice to my British heritage)
2) In my free-time I write sketches (in German, usually)
3) For years I've been trying to master French, but I think I'll remain a "slave", rather than master of the language.
4) I don't smoke (only mentally when completing tasks like this)
5) I've never played the lottery.

RSS understanding

2008-02-02T15:52:00.000+01:00

So, we're in the digital age and I'm now a DFT (digitally-facilitated teacher.) Pretty cool letters to have behind my name. There are seemingly endless possibilites to use e-tools and the web, and I'm fairly sure I'll only be able to come to grips with and use only a handful of them. But I'm learning...
Okay, my latest knowledge is that RSS is a syndicating tool which bundles the current information I want to get (from newsletters, blogs etc) and presents it to me automatically. I don't have to spend hours (or perceived days/weeks) searching arduously through my favourite linked sites to be up-to-date. (Is it too early to throw away my "surfing wet-suit"?) Theoretically sounds brilliant...just got to put it into practice...
From a blogging point of view, RSS should not only help me to keep track of my students' posts, but should also enable my students to keep up-to-date with each others and my posts. Of course, I'll have to master all this first before I expect my students to use it.

The beginning of the story...

2008-01-26T20:31:00.000+01:00

I consider myself to naturally be the most unsuitable candidate for using e-tools in my teaching..I was one of a "priviliged few" to have first "encounters of a computer-kind" way back in 1980 at high school in England. However, these encounters were by no means inspiring. On the contrary, I found the whole concept of computing absolutely off-putting and foresaw the breakdown of human relationships and healthy working environments as a consequence! Needless to say, I managed to complete high school without any deeper emotional involvement with computers. Despite successfully avoiding further computer-use in education, I was still confronted with computers in my private-life...My then boyfriend had one of the first Macintosh devices and spent hours playing games on it, much to my dismay! Would this be some sort of "pre-destination" for me???
Years passed and I managed to remain true to my anti-IT ideals...I found myself in computer-free working environments - bliss! I was probably lulled into a state of false security, because then, in the late-90's something began to happen.. Slowly but surely, the modern IT world was preparing to take a grip on me...

First impressions...

2008-01-23T21:23:00.000+01:00

What am I doing here in front of my PC?? How did I mutate from being a "normal" English teacher to this "mouse-aided" language trainer? Now that really is a long story...Too long to tell today, but one day soon I will...All the gorey details...
For the moment that's enough....I'm peckish...must get a "byte" to eat!