AN ENDLESS ADVENTURE

Dear friends,

How have you been doing?.... I am missing you a lot!!!
Well anyway, I hope that everything is great for you.

I am studying my Master degree and in these days coincidentally I am taking my Technology module. It has been a great reinforcement and has helped me understand that the use of Technology in education is an endless adventure.

I would like you to watch this video and reflect about TICs.



Best wishes,

Ale

WEEK 10

Dear friends,

It is incredible, we finish, we did it!!!

With this post let me CONGRATULE ALL OF YOU for your great job and your total support along the course. Your ideas have been pearls of wisdom for me and I have learned a lot from your experiences.
Thank you so much for allowing me to be part of this nice group of CHAMPIONS.

When I started this adventure, because it was A REAL ADVENTURE for me, I had a great expectation but also scared of not doing the things well as Technology has not been my principal teaching assistant, so I was thinking it would be really difficult. Now I have changed my mind and I am not the same teacher as I was ten weeks ago because I realized I am not alone in the road “Technology gave me its hand”

Everything I learned here was very useful in order to create a new and innovating teaching environment so I tried to put into practice as many tools as I could.
Every topic was very interesting, important and fruitful, consequently it is truly difficult to say what was good or not because all was fascinating, all readings really helped me understand better some process, the most that I enjoyed was interactive Power Point Presentations, the most useful NICENET, the tools I am using now NICENET, mails, PPP, TCAST, Easy Testmaker, online readings, news, youtube.
Every part of the course was relevant. Although, it was a shame for me not having enough time to deepen in each one, thus I must review again the themes for improving my gaps. I consider that the course gave me many ideas and assistants so its outline was good, neither a lot nor a little information, enough to potentiate our students’ skills because the main important point for me was to focus in my students’ benefit.

Finally, I think that big goals are divided into small steps and this course showed us a great group of steps to change our methodology, so let’s apply we learned because it is time to make a change in Education.

It was fascinating, wasn’t it?

Best wishes,
Ale

PS. Friends I would like to keep in touch with you, this is my mail tobamorena_afh@hotmail.com and our blogs will continue being a great way of communication.
I hope to hear about you soon.
Good luck!!!

WEEK 9

Dear all,

This week has been productive, I am really grateful of learning more about MI.
This simple grid diagram illustrates Howard Gardner's model of the Multiple Intelligences at a glance.

1. intelligence type/ capability and perception
2. Linguistic /words and language
3. Logical-Mathematical/logic and numbers
4. Musical/music, sound, rhythm
5. Bodily-Kinesthetic/ body movement control
6. Spatial-Visual/images and space
7. Interpersonal/other people's feelings
8. Intrapersonal/self-awareness
http://www.businessballs.com/howardgardnermultipleintelligences.htm

Although, the most important teaching lesson that I learnt was to take into account all my students intelligences in my lesson plans.

As teacher of small or big groups it is necessary to take into account each student with his or her difference and work in his or her strengths and weaknesses.
Fortifying our students’ strengths the answer to the learning process will increase while their weaknesses will develop too.

So let’s work!!

On the other hand this course is almost over and I feel it gives me the motivation to teach in a different way, during the course I have realized that teaching is a wonderful road full of new tools to discover, what I need is to be more curious.

In Ecuador the school year is finishing too, so I have considered that for the new school year wherever I find I will design new lessons integrating what I have learnt to teach my students how to use Blogs, NICENET, Delicious, interactive PPP, TCASTs, online readings and so on….

“It is incredible how many tools I have learnt in this short time”

Well, as I told you the curiosity plays and important role here, so I think if I want to learn more about technology I have to explore and read. I am pretty interested in taking an Internet course in order to improve my computing skills.

Finally the most important thing for me, I hope you Donna and you friends keep in touch because I think your help, suggestions, advice, comments and so on have been and will continue being a great support in this long and wonderful road. “TEACHING”

Ale

WEEK 8

Dear all,

Spectacular weeK!!!

I have enjoyed this week a lot!!! The most I liked was to “create an online course site or exercise” I experienced with Easy TestMaker and Nicenet.

Easy TestMaker was really useful, there you can design objective tests quickly with some tasks such as multiple-choice, true or false options, matching and short answers, all of these activities in one.
I consider it could help us optimize the time, furthermore in Easy TestMaker we can design classworks or extra homework with the format of the test. In my opinion USEFUL!!

Next NICENET It was really rewarding, my students enjoyed it a lot, a student told me “It was cool, now we could use more than our notebooks for writing our opinions”

It was not difficult to create the site, we have to go to Nicenet with our passwords, then click in “Create “next the system gives us a code for our students join to the class and it is done.

I feel very happy that my students use Nicenet, it is great for sharing insights, actually the name of the site is INSIGHTS.

ANVILL has been a new world full of helpful tools, the most that caught my attention was TCAST because you can record short audios or share videos in your lessons, unfortunately I cannot run the program, but I asked Jeff for some instructions I hope I can do it later. I really would like to use it.

Sharing the first draft of our Project Reports has been a nice experience because we are practicing peer-assessment, furthermore, we have to put into practice we are learning and it is good to report what we are doing and what happens to this.

I enjoyed a lot reading my partner’s project because I realized each teacher is a world worries about solving students problems, what is more worries about students learning and loving English.

Great week, isn´t it?

Ale

WEEK 7

Dear all,

Technology, pathway to new knowledge!!!

Firstly, I loved to read about autonomous learning because I realized that technology offer us many tools to improve students’ autonomy and independence, but also I understood that a teacher must organize different activities and assign homework that will push students to explore, investigate and analyze new ways of learning. As English teacher is our task teach our students inside the classroom and show them how to learn outside as it is indispensable students take learning by themselves.

Secondly, using a computer in class is really helpful because we can create many fun and interesting activities for students, having an English lab is great, but only one computer can be benefit too so as to make sure every student is paying attention to the proposed task what is more with a good lesson plan it would work really well enhancing the communicative skills.

Finally looking for a partner for sharing my project was interesting because I consider it is extremely important to hear other opinion on how to use all the new tools I am learning to benefit the educational community.

The end is near and I really appreciate what I have been learning.

Week 8… here I go!!!

Ale

WEEK 6

Dear teachers,

Marvelous week!!!

Engaging students, Power Point and Interactive classes, Meeting FORUM Editors, Creating Interactive Power Point…. Interesting, wasn’t it?

Well, the activity I enjoyed the most was Creating Interactive Power Point, I have used it but never interactive, I shared my IPP with my students on Friday and they were really motivated and excited what is more it was fun.

PP is a fantastic tool which helps teachers to create a different environment where students can learn by themselves only following some easy instructions.

Collaborative and cooperative learning, Think pair share, Types of groups was an enriching information, because it lets me realize I am not doing wrong at all and take into account what the best way of organizing my students could be now.

I like a lot to work in groups as human beings are social elements, they need to communicate each others, this communication is knowledge and knowledge is better if shared.

Finally, it is important to know that there are interesting materials as FORUM which can support our work as teachers.

Here I go week 7!!!

Ale

Begin to implement the change

Dear all,

As I had been described my principal concerns about my students are they don't know much about general culture, they do not like to read and sometimes they feel afraid of speaking, so that to strengthen these weaknesses I have considered using some web sites with interesting readings and extra exercises that will have to be sent to my mail in order to assign a grade, in this way they will work in class and at home.

We have been started with http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/ , my strategy was divide the students in two groups to more productive activity. Last Friday, one group had to read "Royal wedding likely to hurt UK economy" and the other "Limits On Non-White Kids In French Football". I sent them to do three exercises which were sent to my mail. We shared our comments on monday at the end of the class. (Cooperative learning) It was a fruitful and rewarding activity because I could appreciate that they used new vocabulary learnt reading the news and I listened some interesting points of view.

This week I introduce a variation during the lab hour, within these two groups students are working in pairs (Think pair share) for reading new topics “Nissan to make future New York Taxis” and” Bin Laden photo to be release”

In their lab hour they had the opportunity to read, listen and comment the news, this weekend they have to complete their three exercises and on Monday we are going to share ideas again, but there will be other variation, I am going to choose one interesting comment and send to their mails in the afternoon so as to promote a discussion.
In this new week I would like to try other recommended web site so as to change the activities.

Ale

WEEK 5

...life is not a multiple choice test, it's an open-book essay exam.
-- Alan Blinder (Princeton)


Dear teacher,

Week full of reflections!!!!!!

Alternative assessment and PBL ..What great ways of assessing!!! I really enjoyed every single task I did, but the most I liked was to read about these ones.

As teacher in this new age, we have to promote students’ independence or autonomy and cooperative learning. These new ways of assessing doubtless will help to develop these abilities in our students furthermore we will realize what they know and how they could use it in their daily lives, what is more in realistic and communicative situations.

Meeting Carl was really nice and challenging because of his questions, I really appreciate how he made me reflect about assessment, grades, memorization and other important topics, and I discovered that using Rubrics in Alternative Assessment could be the solution for the endless problem of scores.

Taking about solutions to my concerns using Technology helped me to think how to use my new knowledge so as to introduce my students in a new world full of extraordinary experiences and extremely useful tools which can enrich not only their culture but also their understanding about the current world.

I was speechless when I browsed Web Quests. It was my first time I have seen such a fantastic learning assistants !!! I was experimenting through this tool and for sure I am going to use it.

What can I say?… I love to be here!!!

Ale

WEEK 4

" Let's prepare students for their world, not for our world"

Dear all,

Great week!!!

Multi-skills websites were fascinating; I was spending a lot of time looking for different activities and I realized they are wonderful assistants in order to enhance the four skills. Sharing some ideas with the rest of teachers I checked some suggested sites and I really grateful for the recommendations.

My students do not like to read a lot, so I am going to use these virtual activities for motivating them, in addition, it is important they know about global problems and in this sites exist good materials. I am so excited and I would like to use all tasks I found, but I am aware that big goals are divided into steps.

Talking about steps, planning needs to follow them, I enjoyed planning a new class where technology could be involved. I decided to use Google maps because it was a really impressive tool for my students in a past activity.

Finally, describing my concerns and problems with technology lets me recognize what points I have to reinforce in my students. Technology problems in my high school do not depend on me, so I must take advantage of the available resources.

Week 5…… I hope to learn much more!!!

Ale

WEEK 3

Practical tools, practical teachers!!!

Hello everybody,

Week 3, as the other weeks, has been fruitful. Learning different ways of supporting my work has made me understand I am not alone in the road, what is more it is truly encouraging to know that technology is accompanying the teaching-learning process.

Initially learning about CALL was utterly interesting because I could appreciate that there are a large number of exercises and software which can help teachers and students to enhance their language skills. The most important aspect was to take into account CALL helps students to be motivated and independent as they are going to select what they want to practice and how they are going to do it, moreover, they will use computes not only for playing games or chatting with friends, but also for reinforcing their knowledge, so this fact shows that teachers are not the owners of knowledge, teachers are facilitators of it.

The most of the time I use CALL in reading and listening activities with good results, and I will continue doing it, but trying to be more creative for developing writing and speaking skills. I mean students can do a reading or listening activity using web support, then they have to write a report or discus about the topic. It is going to take time, but I will have to plan better my activities.

Next, becoming skilled at Delicious was pretty useful. I think this is a good manner for organizing, storing and sharing valuable information and it helps people to browse some important web sites quickly. I want to share with my students this tool in order they organize their information, too.
Finally, reading the sample projects and talk about one helps me to clarify the idea about my own one. It was remarkable to know other teachers’ reality and how they planned to use technology with the purpose of motivating and helping their students to use English.

As I said before if we (teachers) learn practical tools, we will be practical teachers. In my opinion to be practical teacher means to optimize time and resources in order to achieve high-quality results in education, these resources are presented by technology so let’s go teachers!!! We must be familiar with all of them, don’t you think so?

Ale

What do you think Einstein would have discovered if he had had tech? Let's go teachers!!! I would like to read your comments.

WEEK 2 USEFUL TOOLS!!!!

Dear all,

Technology helps us to know the wide world it makes us feel we are in the scheme!!!

I am totally satisfied about this week, it has been pretty fruitful. The first week I was so nervous because I have not had enough experience with Technology, but along this second one I have been able to understand that the world is going forward much faster than I can imagine, thus I have to go with it.

Well, first it is going to sound absurd, but I always thought that Google was the most interesting search engine, when I browsed the extra resources that Donna suggested about web searching I could not believe how many information I have been ignoring. It was extraordinary when I used iSeek, Sweetsearch, Lycos, Bing, Infomine, Wikipedia, because it makes me realize that there is too much worthless information around the net, but now I am able to look for academic and trusted resources in order to increase my knowledge as a teacher and for sharing with my students.
As I had posted in one of my comments I was going to use Sweetsearch for sharing important information with my students about “The Conservancy of Nature”, I only did it with one course and it was extremely good, they did not know first that Sweetsearch exits and less that there they can find useful information for them, so they were interested and motivated during the class, I gave them the names of other search engines and I am sure they will explore them.

In second place, ABCD objectives?? In the end they were great!!! During my professional life it has been an obligation to plan my classes, the planning has been changed with the time, but I have never used ABCD objectives. The most important for me was to take into account what I have given my students before an assignment (condition) and if they know how much is it (Degree).
I used to tell them what the principal objective of the task is, I mean the grammar or the phrases they have to use, but I never used to tell them the score for each part of the task, I was only accustomed to give the final grade. The last Thursday in my last class I did a speaking activity and I explained the objective and the score clearly, immediately, I could notice the students were worried about each part of their performance. It was motivating for me, I understood ABCD works!!!

Finally, the project!!! My first step!!! It results very interesting for me to create a technology-enhanced project for my school, because it means I will use what I am learning in this course. I think it is going to give me more experience in the teaching-learning process, however, the most important thing for me is to use new methodology related to technology in order to help and motivate my students.

Every piece of knowledge I am getting in these days is pretty valuable and it is helping me to be a better teacher in this new age.

Week 3… Here I go!!!

Ale

Week 1 "A great starting"

This is a photo of my high school students. I appreciate them a lot.

I am really happy about this week, it has been extremely productive for me, and the most important thing is I am enjoying the online course so much because I am learning how to use Technology for motivating myself and my students in the wonderful learning process.

I want to share with you something special that is happening to me every night since I started the course. Well, I go bed and I am thinking and visualizing, listening and feeling the topics I studied and read during the day, suddenly I am dreaming and in my dreams I am talking to the, teachers, about our different points of view. It was strange for me in the beginning, but now it is natural and I like it because I guess this is the way how my brain processes and stores the new information. What is your opinion about this fact? I would like to read your comments.

This week I enjoyed reading my colleagues’ introductions and I realized they are smart and creative teachers. Good for their students!!! In my classes when I start a level I use to create a friendly environment making my students using positive qualities in their introductions. I think it works because it had given me good results.

It was interesting to learn how setting rules in the classroom obeys to some cultural backgrounds, anyway, everywhere the teachers have to establish clear instructions since the beginning for avoiding future problems, so let’s go teachers we have to continue being patient and understanding with our students: children, teens or adults.

The most exciting thing for me during this week was creating a blog. Now I am using it for reflecting purposes, lovely!!! I can not deny I had few problems when I tried to attach the video but clicking here and there I got it. I am going to use blogs with my students in the University for grading writing skills. I want them to create something like a week journal. I am sure it will be fun, motivating and interesting for them.

It was fantastic to learn about goggle maps as an extra tool in projects, I am going to use it with my students in high school because next unit they have to learn about countries and cultures around the world, so I think it will make the class more vivid. I know they are going to use it for looking for their houses, but I will give them extra minutes at the end of the class for enjoying the new tool. I can see their faces!!! Full of exhilaration!!!

One important new resource was Nicenet, doubtless, It lets people share their experiences and different opinions about a topic. It is an attractive tool for students, in my high school in the English lab there is a similar option that lets them share information during the class, so I have to continue using it, obviously this activity needs a lot monitoring, but it is worth doing.

To sum up, this week was fruitful and dynamic. I hope that everybody had enjoyed the new knowledge.

Ready for Week 2!!!

Ale

Motivation

Dear all,

I know this is an educative blog, but let me share with you my principal motivation, my daughter, she is Janis. I have at home my most important pupil and everything I learn is for sharing with her and my students. In this photo she was two months, now she is a beautiful teen. I post this picture because when she was a lovely baby, I decided to be a teacher, so it is my favorite one.

When I am teaching, I always think about her and I do with my students that I would like other teachers to do with my daughter.

Why we need to teach Technology