Teacher Trails

What´s the topic today? Can you guess? If you could give a name to this image what would it be? Do you know who this person is ? Do you know what EI is? What is Emotional Intelligence? Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to perceive, control and evaluate emotions. Some researchers suggest that emotional intelligence can be learned and strengthened, while others claim it is an inborn characteristic. Source: http://psychology.about.com/od/personalitydevelopment/a/emotionalintell.htm Let´s read an  analyze  the following article: 12 Elements of Emotional Intelligence   By Marcia Sirota MD Would you like to read some more? Here´s an article written in 1998 regarding Leaders and Emotional Intelligence What Makes a Leader?    by Daniel Goleman http://www.undp.org/content/dam/samoa/docs/UNDP_WS_TLDP2_Whatmakesaleader.pdf Sources:  OM Times:  http://omtimes.com/2010/08/12-elements-of-emoti...

One of the most dreaded and disliked aspects of our profession could be lesson planning.  I think I have never come across a teacher who expressed her / his love for it.  This acknowledged, we also need to agree on its importance, how it shapes our time inside the class, defines whether we´ll achieve our goals and objectives; it can even explain how tired we feel at the end of the day!    Lesson planning is not just choosing activities and giving them an order. It has to do with making wise decisions about strategies we will employ to help students learn. The more we have this clear before we go into our class, the more effective the teaching and most important: the learning will be. 

At the end of the year, teachers have tons of dates and assignments we need to comply with, that is the case here and in almost every educational setting I can think of.  Last weekend I wanted to send a reminder of the dates we needed to take into account in the following weeks but I wanted something that could make it memorable, I didn´t want to send an ordinary reminder.  Something different...  a   card ? a short video?  a  presentation?  Bearing in mind one of my main objectives is to show teachers different tools and how they can be used for educational purposes I wanted something new...  that´s  when I remembered QR codes. Just what I was looking for, and I could show how they could be used!  What are QR codes?  Mashable  explains:  QR Code (abbreviated from Quick Response Code) is the trademark for a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) first designed for the automotive industry. More recently, the sys...

We´ll read the following article and the video and take down notes.    33 Digital Skills Every 21st Century Teacher Should Have A Vision of 21st Century Teachers Activity:  Have a look at the list of web tools included in the article. Choose one and prepare a presentation to share with your peers next class. 

Building Excellence in Student Work Through Critique and Revision What do you know about peer feedback? Have you ever tried it in any of your classes? Now let´s watch the following video. "This six-minute video gives a clear picture of how student work can improve through focused critique. It shows the evolution of a scientific illustration of a butterfly through multiple drafts toward a high-quality final product." Austin's Butterfly: Building Excellence in Student Work from EL Education on Vimeo . So far so good, but....  is  there anything we (teachers) can learn in relation to our own learning? State 3 ideas you can pick from the video which  describe  the aspects  you´d  highlight.  The following article provides some ideas particularly suitable for young learners. Have a look at the four ideas described and share your ideas with the group.  Strategies to enhance peer feedback Two stars and a wish Plus, minus and what...

A new year is starting.  It is a time when energy is at the top, we are full of expectations, projects, and ideas.  It is also a good time to reflect, consider and share views.  I´ve chosen 2 different inspirational videos from this site:  Best Kickoff Videos Choose one and generate your own video as a response. You can include your views on the topic, what you think, how it relates to your teaching situation. You can use your own photographs, images you get online, music... you can even record yourself!   Making your own video is very simple, probably one of the easiest ways is using   Windows movie maker   (you can download it from this site if you don´t have it in your computer already)  once you have it ready you can upload it to youtube and share it. 

Jonathan Acuña is an ELT Instructor & Trainer. He was hired to train a group of teachers in Costa Rica. He starts by addressing an interesting question,  Why were/are they so reluctant to using technology? Read his blog post and go over some of the highlighted concepts:  comfort zone  develop technological competences  self-training Exploring ELT Teachers' Reluctance Towards Technology 1. What do you understand by "comfort zone"? 2. What type of "technological competencies" do you think teachers need to develop? 3. Do you think it is possible to self-train in order to develop these competencies? If not, how do you think this could be done? 4 Have a look at this image. What message do you think it is trying to convey? Do you agree? 5. What about you? How many hours of computer training did you receive? What do you think about technology integration to classroom settings?

Hace relativamente poco, que empezamos a hablar de modelo 1 a 1. Se generan debates, altamente constructivos y creo que todos buscamos lo mismo, entender, aprender, probar... porque en esto de la inclusión de las TIC "todos somos aprendices". Algunos piensan que este cambio pasa por las máquinas, la tecnología, el software, poniendo el acento en el manejo de herramientas.... quizás sea un punto de partida, amigarse con la tecnología, convertirse en usuario para explorar e iniciar el proceso de cambio. Pero EL CAMBIO no se detiene ahí, hay tanto más, ¡lo mejor recién empieza! La posibilidad de presentar situaciones problemáticas, trabajar en base a proyectos, contemplando los intereses de los chicos, dando lugar a sus aportes, sus preguntas, sus hallazgos. Compartiendo con los de cerca y con los de lejos, construyendo el conocimiento a partir de los saberes previos integrando los nuevos y los aportes de los otros. Borrando las paredes del aula y entregándose a la apasionante e...

Another great post by Dean Shareski “ How To Make Better Teachers “. His idea is clear and simple: use a blog, to connect with others, to tell them about what you are doing, to learn with and from others, and also to show your students you are ready to go through the experience yourself. It is also an excellent way so as to leave a trail of your daily activities, efforts, achievements, reflections, and more. There is a whole community of teachers ready to learn and share with you, so take the plunge and get a blog  How to Make Better Teachers If you still have doubts, here’s a great example of two teachers 565 miles apart who share their class experiences in this blog. So, if you think you are not ready to go alone, grab a friend and jump in hand in hand! Two Writing Teachers In my case, my blog is the place where I record my ideas, think with others, keep track of interesting material I come across. The closest thing to a box or folder where I keep my material, nowadays ...

I read and follow quite a number of blogs and I always marvel at the amazing things people share. Today I found  What Ed said  "A teacher, a learner, an inquirer, and now a blogger."  There are a number of interesting posts, the one that most caught my attention is:  10 ways my thinking has changed…  such a great way to show how our thinking has (or should have) changed! Many times thinking about the changes education is going through and how technology is changing our lives and the way knowledge is acquired/built… I think this post describes it in a fantastic way, I couldn’t have found the words to say it in a better way. There’s also a  “10 ways series”… worth looking into.  10 ways to get students to own their learning 10 ways to foster a love of learning 10 ways to create a culture of thinking 10 ways to grow as an educator 10 ways my thinking has changed 10 ways to think about your learning space 10 ways to hel...

En los últimos tiempo mucho se habla de la integración de la tecnología al ámbito escolar. Es evidente la gran resistencia que desde siempre presentó la escuela a varios intentos de “modernización”; sino cómo explicar que en los últimos 50 años no se hayan observado cambios significativos en su estructura. ¿Qué debe hacer la escuela frente al dilema de la inclusión de las nuevas tecnologías? ¿Qué desafíos pedagógicos generan? ¿Cuál es el rol de la escuela? Y el de los docentes? Las nuevas tecnologías desbaratan las prácticas pedagógicas tradicionales, el modo discursivo, el docente como poseedor de todas las respuestas correctas. Derrumban su estructura, su organización, su planteo áulico y discrepan con las habilidades y el valor de los contenidos que transmite. Algunos docentes por vocación se sienten inseguros, de hecho no fueron capacitados para integrar la tecnología a sus prácticas diarias cuando transitaron el Profesorado; les inquieta ingresar a un aula en la que se s...

Uno de los blogs que sigo es el de Seth Godin siempre tiene temáticas interesantes y que invitan a pensar como esta: "Ideas that spread, win". Creo que ese es el punto de partida y gran cambio, sobretodo para los que crecimos en un mundo donde la idea general era que compartir devaluaba el conocimiento que se poseía.

En los últimos tiempo mucho se habla de la integración de la tecnología al ámbito escolar. Es evidente la gran resistencia que desde siempre presentó la escuela a varios intentos de "modernización"; sino cómo explicar que en los últimos 50 años no se hayan observado cambios significativos en su estructura. ¿Qué debe hacer la escuela frente al dilema de la inclusión de las nuevas tecnologías? ¿Qué desafíos pedagógicos generan? ¿Cuál es el rol de la escuela? Y el de los docentes? Las nuevas tecnologías desbaratan las prácticas pedagógicas tradicionales, el modo discursivo, el docente como poseedor de todas las respuestas correctas. Derrumban su estructura, su organización, su planteo áulico y discrepan con las habilidades y el valor de los contenidos que transmite. Algunos docentes por vocación se sienten inseguros, de hecho no fueron capacitados para integrar la tecnología a sus prácticas diarias cuando transitaron el Profesorado; les inquieta ingresar a un aula en la qu...