What is Global Communication?

“Global communication is the term used to describe ways to connect, share, relate and mobilize across geographic, political, economic, social and cultural divides. It redefines soft and hard power as well as information power and diplomacy in ways not considered by traditional theories of international relations.”

Global Collaboration Norms

Norm #1

Be Prepared! Having a plan is a critical part of being successful in global collaboration. Determine how often, what time, and what tools you will use to collaborate.

Tools you (and everyone) can use… ( These tools must be easily accessible for everyone)

1. PLNs
2. PLCs
3. Video Chatting
4. Skype (check time zone differences first)
5. Google Doc/ Drive

Norm #2

Have a purpose! All global communication must have a purpose. All ways have a set goal in mind when connected globally. Make sure everyone knows and understand the purpose of collaborating.  If everyone does not understand the purpose of collaborating it could lead to confusion. Knowing the purpose of the collaboration will allow you to determine the necessary amount of planning needed by each person.

Possible Purposes…

1. Cultural Exchange
2. Inquiry of a Topic
3. Global Project
4. Student Summit
5. Artifact Exchange

Reflect, Reflect, Reflect

It is so important to reflect on things you learned throughout the semester so far! Some of the things I discussed in last week blog post was twitter, blogging, and flip grid… but there is more.

The Wonderful World of Google

Google Classroom, Google Forms, Google Docs, Google Slides, Google My Maps, Google Sites, Google Sheets, Google Drive, Google Mail, Google Groups, Google Groups… this list could go on forever. Google has many different applications that are useful in the classroom for teachers and students. So far this semester in GEN 2108 we used many of these different tools.

Google Classroom–  is a free web service developed by Google for schools that aim to simplify creating, distributing and grading assignments in a paperless way. Students can be invited to join a class through a private code, or automatically imported from a school domain. In GEN 2108 we have used Google Classroom to submit assignments, submit quizzes, and submit projects. Google Classroom is a very useful tool to allow the students, teachers, and parents to stay connected to the classroom outside of school hours. Teachers can post homework, test, quizzes, grades, and any other information students might need at home. Students can submit work and communicate with the teacher and the rest of the class through Google Classroom. Google Classroom is a tool I will use with my students one day. In GEN 2108 we used Google Classroom to submit some quizzes and assignments.

Check out this tutorial to learn how to use Google Classroom! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0_p0fhdsTo

Google Forms- is a tool within Google Drive for creating an online survey, test, and quiz forms. Learning how to use Google forms is going to be very helpful for me as an aspiring teacher. I learned how to create a test or quiz with 3 different styles of questions on Google Forms. Besides just creating a quiz I have also been on the student side of Google Forms and I have taken quizzes using it as well. This is helpful so I can see not only the teacher side of Google forms but the students side as well. Using Google forms teachers can create a test or quiz, post it on Google Classroom, and the students can complete the assignment and submit it right online. It will also grade any none written responses for the teacher.

Check out this tutorial to learn how to use Google Forms! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxlfPLPI0wM

Google Slides- is a presentation program included as part of a free, web-based software office suite offered by Google within its Google Drive service. The service also includes Google Docs and Google Sheets, a word processor and spreadsheet respectively. Google Slides is a great way to present a lesson to the class by either posting it on Google Classroom or sharing it with someone. Google Slides can also be a useful tool to assign a group project because all students can work on it from their own computer as long as it shared with them. Making a Google Slide is simple and sharing it with people is just as easy!

Check out this tutorial to learn how to use Google Slides!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYA6GLAzz9A

 

GEN2108

What I am learning…

Technology is constantly growing and changing every day. Change is not something I am typically good with. Therefore the growing and changing world of technology is and will always be always been a challenge for me. A class that has to do with technology is probably one of the most stressful things for me. Then on top of it, the class is online so you have no choice but to use technology to take the class.

Now that we are halfway through the semester I am learning so much about technology and becoming a teacher who uses technology in the classroom.

First off Twitter

What is it?  “Twitter is an American online news and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as “tweets”. Tweets were originally restricted to 140 characters, but on November 7, 2017, this limit was doubled for all languages except Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.”

I used Twitter in the past but I deleted my twitter years ago because it was causing unnecessary issues. Twitter is not a tool I ever thought could be used in an educational way. Little did I know when I signed up for this class I would have learned so much from using twitter. My non-education major friends all unfollowed my twitter page due to my aggressive amount of education-related post in the past 2 months. I love using twitter now! Twitter is such a great way to connect with other educators and future educators and share ideas. It is also a great place to find good articles and learn about other teachers experiences and ideas in the classroom. Twitter chats are also a really useful part of Twitter sharing ideas, answering questions, and chatting with other teachers and future teachers is so inspiring.

Blogging is Actually Fun

What is it? “A blog is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries. Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order, so that the most recent post appears first, at the top of the web page.”

Writing blogs every week is one of the best ways to express yourself and your ideas. Before GEN2108 I was not familiar with blogging or even what a blog is. Now I look forward to blogging every week and responding to other students blogs. Blogging is a great way to have students reflect on a topic in their own personal way. Having a classroom blog when I am a teacher is something I will definitely do. A classroom blog will allow me as the teacher to post work from the students and share our day to day activities.

Flip Grid

What is it? ” FlipGrid is a social learning platform that allows educators to ask a question, then the students respond in a video. Students are then able to respond to one another, creating a “web” of discussion.

I never used Flipgird or even heard of it before GEN2108. Flipgird at first was intimidating because I hate making videos of myself and listening to my own voice is the most intimidating thing ever. Now, I love Flipgrid. I think Flipgrid is so much fun. My favorite part of Flipgrid is that you respond to your classmates with another video rather than just typing something. It is a lot more meaningful to respond to someone verbally rather than over messages. Flipgrid is a tool I will definitely be using in my own classroom one day!

Here is a video on how to use FlipGrid in the classroom!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch1BkotiseM

 

Share your thoughts and experiences on Twitter, Blogging, and Flipgrid with me!

P.S. Downloading Grammarly was my professors best recommendation, it is the best tool for any student.

Extra: Episode 1

I watched the Spanish Television show “Extra”.

The show starts off with the one girl (Lola) getting a letter from her pen pal (Sam) from 7 years ago that is from America. The letter he writes to her says that he wants to come and visit her and stay with her because he got good speaking Spanish.  Lola and her roommate Ana are so excited to meet Sam.

They use stereotypes about Americans and what how muscular and handsome an American boy must be. My favorite line was “an American boy coming here… that’s the same as Brad Pitt”. The girls imagine this American boy to be tall, handsome, and rich due to stereotypes. The girl’s friend Pablo even has a fantasy about what an American girl looks like.

 

 

When Sam actually arrives he has no idea how to speak English and he looks rather nerdy and not handsome and muscular at all.

Pablo has a crush on Lola so he is not happy that Sam is visiting so when the girls go out to get lunch Pablo teaches Sam how to say a lot of awful things in Spanish such as “Ana’s dog is in the oven”

Later, Pablo finds a newspaper written about Sam and his family that says his family is the richest family in all of America.

My Experiences

I felt like I could relate to Sam in this episode of Extra because I went abroad and lived in Spain for 4 months without knowing much Spanish.

One of the aspects of culture that stood out to me was that for lunch the girls went out to get ham. When I was abroad my host mom made me a ham sandwich every single day. Ham in Spain is not like ham in the United States, it is more like what we would think of as pepperoni and after eating it every single day for 4 months its something I never want to eat again.

In between scenes they briefly show the streets of Spain and the farmers markets. The streets in Spain are just like this. People are walking around everywhere and there are minimal cars driving around in the small towns. Farmers markets are a huge part of the culture in Spain. The only form of transportation that was shown or talked about was walking and airplane. Walking everywhere is very common in Europe and different small cities around Spain. All though it did not specify what part of Spain they were in the weather was very nice.

Spain

Spain is one of my favorite places to visit, people are always so nice. Everyone is always very understanding and helpful to people who do not speak fluent Spanish. When I was there it was very common that I had to ask people for help and count not communicate 100%. In the show, the characters show this to be true about them. They did not get frustrated with Sam that he was struggling they helped and was able to understand him even if sometimes.