Category: English
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Editing Teaching – Roll the Dice
Who doesn´t like to roll the dice? Well, we keep the challenge of changing bits of our lesson plan to make our classrooms more engaging, fun, with powerful human touch added to them. In your next class, try this one! Give each group or pair of students a die. There are different ways to use…
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Editing Teaching – Color
Though I should be expecting the unexpected coming from students, two teachers have already posted their students’ reactions-recordings, and I’m totally in awe! Justine and her student recorded this: http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=ZoIUfHE Dani’s students recorded this:http://vocaroo.com/i/s0WQONEteBaQ Amazing stuff happening with not so much sweat on our part or big preparation, but with very powerful outcomes. Day 2 was about the BOX. Day 3…
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Editing Teaching – Box
First, we had the playlist idea. How about using a physical object today? Find a nice box to take to class. It can be a colorful one, a plain rustic one or even one that has an intriguing detail on its outside. You want to awaken your learners´ minds, spark curiosity, stimulate imagination. Tell them…
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From Inertia to Editing Teaching – A Challenge
Many times we are trapped in our own routines, hectic lives and infinite tasks. It is hard sometimes even to breathe. Inertia takes over, and we see our personal and professional lives as if it were part of a film. I know there are many challenges around for teachers, and I could name a few…
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Roaming Mode & Productivity Tools for Busy Educators
Educators are are always on the move. In many different ways. In class, and according to methodology and findings in the neuroscientific field, we should move around to connect to our learners and assess their activity during the tasks. We ask our students to do the same, moving, standing up, connecting to peers for the…
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Thinking and Re-imagining Education
This video is a call. A call for reflection and action. I agree with much that it is said, but we need to find a balanced view to education. It is not just moving from a controlled, Prussian model of education to an utopian school. We can achieve student engagement, motivation and passion for learning…
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What Yo Yo Ma Has to Teach Educators
As I write these words, I’m listening to Yo Yo Ma, a well-known cellist, who never ceases to amaze me. First, I was totally taken by his music, empathy, charisma. I remember I used to teach using a book for advanced students who talked about Yo Yo Ma and his tribute to Sarajevo during the…
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The Other Side of Pecha Kucha – My Ideal Classroom
Terror, panic, goose bumps, adrenaline rush. Only if you’ve ever done a Pecha Kucha in your life will you know what I am talking about… The model is simple, 20 slides in 20 seconds each. The presentation is no more than 6:40 min. Easy, no? Well,it is my second PK, and it IS terrifying, mainly…
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Facebook Collaborative Efforts Strike Again with Fridges Around the World
Once again, the power of Facebook connections and the willingness of generous educators to share a bit of themselves became a wonderful resource that is now available for teachers to explore with their students. I asked a simple question, “What’s in your Fridge?” I got 21 fridges from around the world, an unbeatable multicultural…
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Giving an iTwist to Feedback on Student Writing
Centuries ago (or at least, this is how I feel!), I used to give feedback on students’ writing by sending a recorded message to my students to personalize learning and encourage them to take process writing seriously. It worked. Students loved to get a personal, customized note from their teacher. Nowadays, this writing feedback experience…
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Love Stories Around the World
Some years ago, I was working on a Unit about Love. First, my students read about how I met my husband to give the lesson a personal touch.http://top21.blogspot.com.br/2006/06/how-we-met-each-other-we-were-from.html They listened to a story of how a teacher met her husband. Then, they wrote about their own love stories. I realized the lesson plan could be…
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Stereotypes – Controversial Topic to Raise Cultural Awareness
Much has been said about the dangers of generalization and stereotypying a certain group of people. Now, how do we approach it in the classroom? Here’s a lesson plan I’ve used it in the past with my groups. The first part is adapted from http://the_english_dept.tripod.com/stereo1.html Choose two adjectives that you think describe different nationalities. punctual tolerant…
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Surfing the Waves of Change in Education: No Action is not a Possibility
Serendipity is one of the strengths of a hyperlinked world in which the network is always providing us with learning moments and reflective checkpoints. As I was browsing my wonderful Pinterest network, I came across, by chance, this clean, unpretentious blog http://thingsigrab.wordpress.com/, and I couldn’t help but start browsing it, scrolling down, with my eyes glued…
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Three Ideas to Foster Self-Directedness through Learning Playlists
Good teachers don’t teach or preach. Good teachers guide learners into becoming more independent in their learning process. Though we’ve heard it a thousand times, we still find it hard to put into practice what we call autonomous learning. Sometimes it is just easier to tell our learners what to do or to do it…
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Online Teaching Videos
Curt Bonk is on my list of inspiration when it comes to online teaching and learning. I’ve gotten some neat ideas for my online classes from his book Empowering Online Learning: 100+ activities for reading, reflecting, displaying and doing. If you are really interested in becoming more proficient in you online teaching/tutoring/mentoring skills, you might…
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What do you LOVE
Use Google app What do you Love to check for information and resources in a very visual way.You get the results from a variety of Google sources, which is helpful for you to see what is out there in terms of videos, images, books, all different resources. Have you ever tried What do you LOVE?…
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Posts of the Week Worth Reading
Here are two of the posts of the week that are really worth reading and reflecting upon If it is broke, fix it!by Lisa Cooley The Three New Pillars of 21st Century Learning by Rob Mancabelli Great texts for reflection and action. If it is broke, fix it!