Category: English
-
Happiness is…
I have a smile on my face, cheerful and totally happy, as I wrap up my guest post of a Day in a Sentence. Happiness is certainly to bring people and thoughts together that represent meaning, dreams, ideals. That’s exactly what we get every week from Bonnie Kaplan’s guest posts. From our readers’ comments, I realize that…
-
A Day in a Sentence – Happiness
I’ve been following for some time now a blog called “The Happiness Project”, which is a call for enjoying life to its fullest. Gretchen Rubin, in one of her posts,quotes Robert Louis Stevenson: “The habit of being happy enables one to be freed, or largely freed, from the domination of outward conditions.” Happiness is about…
-
Identity Logs – Students’ Empowerment, Passions and Micro-revolution
Ever since I listened to George Couros talking about Identity Day in the Reform Symposium, I’ve been pondering about the importance of helping our students develop a deeper sense of belonging, of finding their own passions and drives. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to make our learners’ inner voices bloom into more understanding of what truly…
-
Our 2011 Overture
There is a blog and blogger that keep surprising me and just bringing joy to my daily life. Mission Amy is pure inspiration that brings people together, always with a mission. Amy published yesterday a 2011 collaborative overture. Compelling. Exhilarating. The 2011 Overture: in 25 short movements from Amy Krouse Rosenthal on Vimeo. My 2011…
-
Summer Makeover
In Brazil, before it is summer time, people start preparing for it. Gyms get packed. We try the latest diet, we go on a bikini project. Well, it is summer in the southern hemisphere and my makeover has just started! Time to take a closer look at what has been taken for granted for a…
-
Kids Teaching Bloggers
Kids are an endless resource of learning. They teach us every single day with their body language, words, funny sentences that make sense. In the second activity of the Teacher Challenge, we were asked to analyze a blog post in terms of its effectiveness.If there’s one blogger I don’t miss, Darren Rowse from Problogger is…
-
10 Things You Should Know About Blogging
Though I’m late, it is never too late.As being back to consistency in my blog is a desirable and attainable goal for 2011, I’ll follow the Teacher Challenge and kickstart it with the ten things I’ve learned and wished all bloggers knew about blogging. 1. You never know how your posts will affect readers. Even…
-
Creative Commons – Use it, Reuse it and Remix it!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cambodia4kidsorg/2042494280/in/photostream/ Interesting to notice that there is still this common belief among people that if it is online and it shows in Google, you can use it! No problem with copyright, whatsoever. I’m glad, though, that more and more, as part of a movement towards digital literacy, Creative Commons is becoming more of a…
-
eLearning Speedgeeking
This Sunday, November 14th, 13:00 GMT, join us for an open talk about elearning.Where? http://bitly.com/webheadsroom In a speedgeeking fashion and Webhead-way, we´ll have quick overviews on essential issues related to elearning. It should be was a lot of fun! Materials and recording available athttp://brazilbridges.pbworks.com/w/page/32550995/elearningspeedgeeking
-
What does it take to be an Educator nowadays?
This is a question that has been widely discussed. And I’m sure that better than I could be writing or saying, this blog post resonates with my own thoughts on the issue. However, as I browsed through this wonderful hyperlinked world this morning, I found this:http://classtools.net/widgets/postIt_9/3KrcD.htm Click here for larger version In the past, I’ve…
-
Comics in the Classroom
Creating comic strips in the classroom is one of the easiest ways to engage students immediately. They are glued to the comics creators because they are in charge of their creation, they have choice, and they can fully navigate through their imaginative realms. Every teacher should try to use comics in the classroom. There are…
-
eLearning – Introducing Yourself
I´ve taken many online courses, and it strikes me that it is always the same old tell-me-something-about-you kind of forum. There are so many interesting ways to get started with a group online that I couldn´t possibly list it here. There is video, voicethread, slideshare,a blog post, intriguing questions, among others. However, I want to…
-
Changing Education Paradigms
Every educator, administrator, parent, professional should watch this. Great summary of our historical perspective, but, at the same time, giving perspective to what we do and should be doing. Now, it is up to us make the small shifts to change education. With you, Sir Ken Robinson:
-
Planning Instruction – Don’t Forget the Basic Principles
Still on the topic on how to stomp our classes, this video from Dr. David Merrill is a reminder of what we really need to have effective instruction. With three basic principles, we can stomp it, but sometimes it seems we just forget it… I’m taking a very nice course on Instructional Design with professor…
-
Stomp your Classes Up! 4 Simple Lessons from Stomp
This weekend I finally had some very pleasant hours with my kids, mom, sister and aunts watching Stomp. I was totally in awe with their vibrant beats made of very trivial materials, from brooms to match boxes. My oldest kid was totally glued to the amazing show, and my little one was focused at first,…
-
Get Inspired – Exploring Writing in the Classroom
Today, fewer words, more action. As my head starts spinning around our next Electronic Village Online Session 2011, free online sessions for educators all over the globe, I thought it would be a great idea to start sharing great resources available in what we want to explore in January – Digital Storytelling. So, here’s my…
-
No Helplessness in the Trenches – Take Action!
Funny thing happened this morning. My oldest son is a night owl, not morning person at all. He studies in the afternoon. Yes, in Brazil, there are two school shifts, and kids can study either in the morning or afternoon. Even so, my kids have morning extra activities, like sports and English classes. Well, every…
-
DNA Rescue – Part 2: Skills are Cheap. Passion is Priceless
Still on Gary Vaynerchuk’s book, “Crush it”, I can’t help it, but keep exploring the world of passion and our double-helice (DNA) historical perspective and bring it all together into our professional realm. Because of my last post’s comments, I was taken into the recordings of the Reform Symposium(Thanks, Mrs Tenkely!). If it were in…
-
Value your DNA – Keep Passion Alive
I’ve just started reading a very pleasant book. Nothing new, but simply painfully true. Gary Vaynerchuck’s “Crush it” talks about being true to our DNA in the beginning of his book. For me, being true to our DNA is rescuing our roots and reminding ourselves what really makes it all worth it. I’ve been talking more…