Some Quotes

I'm trying to catch up on email today, and finding some quotes, about technology and about literacy, that I want to keep. Here are 3.

Computers are incredibly fast, accurate and stupid; humans are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful beyond imagination.
--Albert Einstein

I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
--Stephen Jay Gould, 1980

Just because some of us can read and write and do a little math, that doesn't mean we deserve to conquer the universe.
--Kurt Vonnegut, in Hocus Pocus, 1990

Gabcast

My workshop at the CASAS Summer Institute covered a bunch of things - the OTAN website, the technology integration self-assessment for teachers (only in beta right now - email me if you want to be a beta tester), blogs and podcasts, and 3 pieces of equipment (audio card reader, portable keyboard, and electronic whiteboard). The highpoint (to me) was having participants call in to my channel on Gabcast and record a message that I could then play as a podcast when they got back from break. This is such an easy way for students to post audio - great for speaking activities, and pretty much everyone has a cell phone now. You can go here to listen to the examples we made yesterday.

AND, I did my presentation from a wiki for the first time - no more PowerPoint!! Not as pretty, but if I have more time I can work on that.

Centralized Voicemail

Someone sent me this link to Grand Central, an online service that gives you one lifetime phone number that all your phones can ring to. In other words, my home land line, my work phone, my work cell and my personal cell would all send their voice mails to this number. And, I could have all calls go to the number I choose. So when I'm traveling, all calls could go to my cell. When I'm at work, all calls could go to my work phone. It sounds like a great idea for those of us with too many phone numbers. But it's in beta right now, so I'm wondering if it will grow and how long it will last.

Has anyone else heard of or used this service?

My New Voki

Get a Voki now!

Urban Reading Teacher

Barry's blog led me to another adult education blog by Delondra Williams, called Adventures of an Urban Reading Teacher. Delondra teaches ABE in Los Angeles, and has blogged almost every school night since she started her blog in May, reflecting on her lessons, her students, her CASAS scores, and more. Great example of teacher self-reflection, and she feels like blogging connects her to the larger teaching community, as her fellow teachers leave comments on her posts.

ESL Technology Blog

Just got a message from Barry Bakin that he is reviving his Tech4ESL blog. Barry teaches ESL Level 5 in the LA area. I'm happy to see more adult education teachers blogging about their classroom experiences and use of technology. His latest post is about Bubblr and class projects adding text bubbles to photos. He has some funny examples - check them out.