Category: Collablogatorium
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Make it Small, Move Slowly, Make it Big
Still on what I had mentioned for New Year’s with my no-wish-list statement, I just came across a very enjoyable read that is inspiring and plain simple. Mitch Joel, in his post “The Deception os Malcolm Gladwell, Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuk” (no wonder I’m a huge fan of these guys!) mentions the power of…
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No Wish List for 2012
How about starting the Year of 2012 with not so much weigh, to-do lists and wish lists?How about taking a look back and just writing down all the accomplishments of 2011 to come to the conclusion that, YES, we´ve done much, accomplished tons, and still have a lot to do. No wish list, but light-living,…
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Books, Summer, Books
For many, this is a winter list. Well, for us down South it is summer time, a perfect period of the year just to goof off with a great book or e-book in hand just for the sake of our own delight or of catching up whatever we couldn’t read throughout the year. I, personally,…
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mLearning – from Apes to Apps 2
The mLearning course at the Consultants-e is in full steam. One of the highlights of the week is Gavin‘s video of some exciting iPad apps. I do agree with Gavin that real apps, not the ones specifically created for education, are much more exciting and full of potential in the classroom. It seems that publishers…
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mLearning – From Apes to Apps
Since the beginning of our existence, our main goal is connection, learning, survival, evolution. This is what we still pursue nowadays, meaningful connections, lifelong learning to become better human beings. Well, if it’s not everyone’s goals, at least these are mine, and I know a bunch of inspiring educators, like the Webheads, who pursue exactly…
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From Post-Its to Movie Segments in the EFL Classroom
I remember Cláudio as a very tall, charming teacher when I was still a student at the Binational Center we work in Brasília. Now, I feel terribly lucky to have Cláudio as a co-worker, always inspiring us with his fantastic activities with movie segments. He saves us time, helps us have ready-to-use activities promptly available…
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From Tecnophobe to TechnoArtist – An Educator Journey
I’ve known Cleide, Cleidita, Cleidoca since I started working at Casa Thomas Jefferson in 1999. What really stroke me about that lovely teacher with a constant smile on her face was her natural artistic talent. At that time, to find educational resources with the exact pedagogical objective we had in mind was a herculean task, but…
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Learning English with Comic Strips
I’ve always told my students that comics are a great way to learn about language structures and it’s current use, for they: are visually appealing provide the student with comprehensible input are fun and engaging deal with language used in our daily lives give the students a sense of accomplishment as the are able to…
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Culture Gone Digital
To champion the selfless acts of others. This is the motto of a great site to explore the wonders of different cultures around the globe. http://explore.org is a “multimedia organization that documents leaders around the world who have devoted their lives to extraordinary causes. Both educational and inspirational, explore creates a portal into the soul…
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Still on the Mantras for Tired Teachers
In my last post, I talked about the three mantras for tired teachers, and mentioned that my learning goal of the month was to not only learn, but also test the pedagogical possibilites of QRcodes. I’m delighted to say that I followed the two first mantras (learn and try) and am here to share (as…
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Three Powerful Mantras for Tired Teachers
We can easily picture educators who suffer from an ongoing, cronic burnout. No motivation, no strength, happiness in the eye, passion. Many become the complainers, resistant, tired souls that simply let life pass by, waiting for the day they can retire. I’m an optimist at heart and truly believe that if one decided to become an…
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Twisting Homework Work – A tool, A thousand Ways to Engage students
She was meant to be a star. Her photos were all over, Vogue magazine, among all renowned international magazines you can think of. One day, though, … How about a bit of homework revolution for a change? Add this sentence to the board, send the photo to your students and tell them to access http://photofunia.com,…
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Abundance x Scarcity – Digital Literacy in the Equation
In my presentation about how educators have been collaborating in our school, sharing resources, ideas, connecting, interacting, my first slide is about abundant and scarce resources in our workplace. First answer from the audience about scarcity in an educational setting? TIME.For me? INITIATIVE! Some people are willing to follow, but not to start a movement,…
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Talking about Pets
My class tomorrow is about pets. This is a topic that arouses lots of interest and interaction as there are many people attached to their pets. A while ago, I recorded this simple video with a friend. As voicethread is a dynamic tool to create learning objects, now I can use it with my students…
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RSCON 3 – Professional Development in Pajamas
Last week, we had the wonderful Online conference – the “Reform Symposium“. I was delighted to have presented there, as there were so many talented educators presenting. Truly an honor. http://reformsymposium.com As much as I wanted to be there 24/7 for the three inspiring days of the free online professional development opportunity, I couldn’t because…
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Reformsymposium – Your Professional Development Excuses are Over
There’s no way you can keep finding excuses for not learning with other educators around the globe. This is your chance, so grab it and enjoy the ride starting tomorrow, July 29th. http://reformsymposium.com Info about my presentation available at http://brazilbridges.pbworks.com/RSCON3
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Icebreakers, not Sleeping Pills
I remember when I had English classes, most of them started the same. The teacher would tell the rules of our class and write on the board the test dates for us to copy. Then, there would be some kind of warmer that sometimes was colder than being in the Antarctic with inappropriate clothes for the…
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No Excuses for Educators to Go Beyond – Professional Development
I truly believe that institutions are not able to provide all the professional development opportunities an educator needs. In the past, workshops, training sessions, lectures with invited speakers were the only way to go for professional development, and we thought that this would suffice. Certainly not true anymore. One-size-fits-all kind of training seems to me…
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Posterous – Blogging with Style
http://narede.posterous.com I’ve been using Posterous for a while, and if you are considering blogging as an option to keep your thoughts, ideas, resources, comments, audio and video files in one place, Posterous might be what you’re looking for. Its main advantage is its user-friendliness. It is so simple to start using it that the whole…
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Cool Writing Tool of the Week – OhLife
http://ohlife.com Do you want a simple tool to invite your students to write more and keep a journal? It can be a journal about their learning experience, or their daily lives. OhLife! sends them a reminder everyday and they simply have to reply to the message by mail to have their thoughts neatly posted. If…