Teacher Training Blog

A week later...

2005-03-07T19:27:00.000-03:00

It's been more than a week .... but it seems ages... I really miss those free holiday afternoons with my notebook sitting at my desk...
But nothing lasts for ever, right? Hands on work, now.
I´m still tryning to figure out how my blogging poject would be... Furl, Bloglines, Flickr... are tools I really want to introduce and make good use of them. The potential bloggers are EFL student teachers in their last year... so they don't have much time to spend on blogging.. (reading, writing, searching) the question is How to motivate them and as it has been said many times during this workshop, how to keep them motivated...
Hope to think it over a little bit more and turn my ideas into sentences, phrases and weblogs!
Changing subjects, I love yesterday meeting in Tapped in... I thought I wouldn´t be able to make it, but suddenly plans changed and there I went! Thanks everbody for being so charming and for sharing your experience, knowledge and expertise with the whole group.... (the whole Community List is now on my blog, WOW!)
No way I want to miss any novelties in technology or blogging at all!

Culture Shift or Paradigm Construction?

2005-02-22T18:43:00.000-03:00

After reading most of the articles suggested for the 5th week's assignments, I've realized that much more than highly developed, friendly-use and free Internet technology is needed to develop successful electronic portfolio projects. What follows is just a brief summary of the matters that concearned me most... (when thinking about designing my own eportfolio project)
It is clearly stated that portfolios are not new at education, that - generally speaking - students have always showcased, selected and stored artefacts such as special assignments or outstanding tasks, etc. Definitions of eportfolios include notions of digital resource, flexible expression, accomplishment record, competence demonstration, collection of evidence, among others. Moreover, benefits for the users include learner's autonomy and meta-cognition; authentic assessment; life-long learning; creative thinking and collaboration; self-evaluation and reflection. Although the evidence showed during this week speaks positively about eportfolio projects, there exit certain "factors" that should be taken into account when considering "a shift" at teaching practice or classroom settings. To begin with, curricular prerequisites ,... and the question is: Are faculty members or EFL teachers ready to share with their students a precise curricular design? Isn’t it true that classroom settings differ (sometimes much) from study programs? And what about conveying standards? Quoting EDUCAUSE's review:

"...as the culture of the e-portofolio proliferates, it will contribute to an ossification of the current prefabricated, one-size-fits-most eporfolio model."

Other critical success factor is the change in the teachers' and students' roles, student-centered vs. teacher-centered paradigm (not a new discussion, of course) the need of facilitation, coordination and feedback allowing active involvent and meaning construction from the part of the learner.

Not to mention technology infrastructure and administrative support and faculty compensation, significantly essential at any stage of project development.

Implementation comes last but not least, what motivating stimulus will lead to it? Is it an idea or a fashion, a change of policy or some compelling reason which will avoid faculty from questioning about its use every step of the way?

However the five rules for students when implementing eportfolios appear to be clear enough:

1. Mandatory involvement and participation...
2. Computer literacy requirements...
3. Self-evaluation encouragement...
4. Regular feedback deadlines...
5. Imitation fostering and Success...

Future challenges include a rigorous evaluation strategy, a new paradigm development, a public policy, changes in technology and financial support, according to the above mentioned review.

Authors and projects explored are only the beginning of a practice that could radically change the way we teach and learn, not because this practice is new in itself, but because its purpose and current definition in relation to New Technologies have renewed it.

Shouldn’t focus be driven from cultural practices to the teaching paradigm? Once again, I ask myself, Aren’t we more than one hundred years from the firsts EFL's classroom approaches?

Reflecting about Electronic Portfolios, over and over again...

2005-02-17T09:44:00.000-03:00

I've been busy this week trying to read all the very interesting and full of details material about eportfolios (theory and practice) ... summarizing important elements, critical issues and factors in order to answer the question:

What makes a good weblogging project good?

As the Taxonomy of Electronic Portfolios distinguishes among portfolios based on three main determinators, CONTEXT - AUTHOR - PURPOSES;
It led me to the idea of a Community of Eporfolios for teachers' learning, exchanging, guiding, communicating and growing up in "new tech literacy competences"...

The idea of "Preparing Tomorrow's teachers to Use Technology" addressed as the implementing force in CLU's School of Education Web-based Portfolio , has broadened my scope in relation to what a weblogging project could mean and how it could be used at teacher training colleges for student teachers' learning and career development.

Please, imagine the following composition:

CONTEXT: Inter-weblogging EFL communities - Teacher Training Colleges - EFL's Tech expert teachers

AUTHOR: Student teachers - teachers - students - faculty members

PURPOSES: Documenting - Building - Advising - Adding to knowledge - Demonstrating - etc. the creation, development, outcomes and results of a new literacy built up among EFL learners...

I wonder if creating a community eportfolio as a collaborative project among participants of this group (it's just an example) could help raise awareness on how EFL and ESL teachers can cope new technological challenges in an effective way (I was about to say simple... but I recognize some technical and technological mastery is needed)with the purpose of enhancing learning processes, being updated and inserted in a global community for global and particular objectives.

Certainly many of you have been working on this for a while... but have your efforts been done collectively or individually? I feel somehow challenged... close to the front door, but not yet inside... Are electronic portfolio projects a way into....?

Having fun with weblogging...

2005-02-11T17:49:00.000-03:00

A summary of Teresa Almeida d'Eça ‘s Presentation at Learning Times

“Have Fun with English!”

Last Tuesday Teresa presented her EFL teacher – student writing project at LT. She addressed it as her 1rst experiment in blogging, adding that as she wasn’t sure if it was a web page or a blog, she started calling it a Plog

Have fun with English is a beginner EFL blog for 5th grade absolute beginners aimed at generating a two-way communication in English outside of class. It’s purpose is to stimulate practice of the language learned in class 'anytime, anywhere', giving students a voice of their own.
Teresa’s objective has been creating an open door to an authentic and broad audience that can comment and suggest on her students’ interest and writing experience.

She faced many challenges when starting to develop this project, among them were:
- How to spark motivation in absolute EFL beginners?
- How to keep the flame lit?

First decisions were related to:

Internet providers: She chose custom-made blog because it meant more layout flexibility, more control over content and less hassle

Sort of layout: She applied a simple, colorful, 3-column layout, with icons and images, specially attractive for children.

Type of content: Teresa thought it could be anything that interests her students, as far as they follow a RULE: Always in English. “…the only 'obvious' imposition on my part…” she quoted. (However there appear some translations in students native language on the page)

First page was released in 28 November 2003, it included the announcement about the blog project, an invitation to send messages and some interactive exercises created in (Hot Potatoes), but first message didn’t arrive till 6 December 2003.

The presentation continued with the explanation of some add-ons at blogging project. Theresa recalled them as “unexpected but welcome”, and they truly are…

In this matter, the group experienced with Voice Mail, Photos, E-Cards and Photo Stories, among other things. They had the opportunity of an exchange with a group of Polish EFL students through HandyBits, which allowed voice emails accompanied by the corresponding text, just perfect for young learners…

The potential of this tool broadened when Student " Teacher " Student, and Colleague " Students exchanges took place. In case students hadn’t direct access to Internet, or couldn’t send a voice message by themselves, handouts of an email template were given at class, so Teresa compromised to allow all students the chance to send messages and see them answered online. (Low Tech – High Tech Flexibility, as she calls it.)

The blog also included pictures, photos and drawings were posted or uploaded to the web; e-cards for special occasions, happy birthday songs into the e-card and, the latest trend: Photo Stories.

Conclusions lead to the following reflection:

Have fun with English is a simple experiment in writing to practice the target language that has taken on different dimensions contributing to add motivation and new learning horizons to students and teachers….
Here the unexpected has become reality and has gone beyond any 'wildest dreams'!!!

Congratulations! Teresa for such a success and thanks for sharing all your knowledge and expertise with this international weblogging learning community of EFL teachers. Your experience teaches us that we need to be well prepared for a new generation of kids that is not afraid to take risks… accept challenges…. and prove right!

You can see the complete PowerPoint presentation.
And also have a look at “Have fun with English” actual page.

Did I do it? YES! I did!!!!

2005-02-10T18:08:00.000-03:00

I can't hardly believe what I've accomplished a few minutes ago... (an you wouldn't believe my emotion when having this task accomplished, me and my kids jumping and singing "I did it" "I did it" - they followed my joy, indeed...
Thanks to Bee, who is always on alert, just as the rest of the coordinating team. (thanks Aaron, I haven´t thought about that...)
I signed up for a free account in a server, uploaded the voice file and managed to past the HTML code correctly! I still can´t believe it worked!
Thanks everybody for this wonderfull learning experience that teaches us much more than "ways of using Internet tools"... What follows is also amazing:

Task # 4 Test, Is audioblogging free?

2005-02-10T13:33:00.000-03:00

In order to fulfill task 4 (practice posting a sound file to your blog) I've downloaded HandyBits and Audacy into my PC. Yesterday I had my son's recorded a short passage with all the words he knows in English (he's almost five...) Anyway, I converted the record into a MP3 file, according to Michael Coghlan's instrucctions in his page http://mikecogh.blogspot.com
The thing is I'd love to post my son´s recording to my blog, but couldn´t fine any free tool (I mean, some tool like Audioblog.com) and I don´t have any server to post it first and take the HTML code later. Is there anything I can do?

However, I successfully managed to copy and past Michael's audiopost from his page. (That cheered me up a little bit! Thanks Michael ....) What follows is his voice:

Santiago, a funny little one

2005-02-08T18:05:00.000-03:00

This is Santi, wearing the Buzz's suit his elder brother gave to him...

Federico - my sunshine

2005-02-08T17:54:00.000-03:00

It was hot that morning in December, when Santi, Fede and I went together with their grandpa to a school celebration ... "Fede was performing a monlight walker"...

Creating you own Web?

2005-02-06T16:30:00.000-03:00

This question came as an affirmation for the first time in my cyberlife... "aggregators help you make your own internet" WOW!!!

Unbelievable and Unthinkable before this week!

I must say last weeks' learning has been much more productive and promising than I ever imagined... enrolling in this course has shown me how much is still there.... to be discovered about new technologies and its possible uses for teaching and learning.

But now, the real question is... How to put together all this new knowledge in my classes? How to foster blogging with student teachers at teacher training college? Is it possible to change years of traditional classrooms settings into a new modern educational environment? Do students embrace this "virtual existence" because they believe in it, or because teachers require them to do so? Which of the following strategies will be most appropriate for triggering "blogging habits": (Some brainstorming I want to share and exchange ideas with this blogging community)

Asking students to post their comments about classroom topics on their blog or on a collective blog or wiki,
Encouraging them to post their own thoughts and appreciations about what matters the teaching profession, how students learn, etc...
Setting writing, researching or investigative assignments to be posted or worked collaboratively on their blogs or the class wiki,
Using feeds and aggregators to gather useful material and information for EFL teaching,

Developing virtual bounds with other ESL or EFL teachers around the world
Helping them viewing the future with their eyes wide open...

Althought many questions still remain there, my biggest reward is that knowledge has been triggered... and learning is taking place!

Bet ()

PS: A word on this week's collective task: It has been a delight to work with Nancy! Thanks.

Impressions on Learning Time

2005-01-27T16:49:00.000-03:00

I've the most amazing experience this morning... while my two little boys where still asleept, I decided to click on link sent to our list posting on The recording of Will Richardson's presentation at LearningTimes.
I felt in the cyberspace... I couldn´t believe this recorded online conference what taking place "live" from my PC... I've learnt a lot.. as you said, I had no idea about RSS before, but after the session, I knew I could do it.
It's really amazing how much can be done with little money and up-to-date technological tools. I do agree with you, however about the advantages of syncronous environments... hope to catch this friday's session.
Thanks for listening, I mean, reading...
Bet :)

The "blogolingüistic" community of bloggers

2005-01-27T16:20:00.000-03:00

This weeks’ tasks have been challenging..., visiting and almost analyzing other people’s blogs has taught me that I’m not a single soul… trying to survive from students and teacher’s resistance to using new technologies at classrooms. I enjoyed it quite a lot!

I’ve noticed that not every student’s blog, not even the teachers’ are aimed at posting assignments, something that surprised me since that’s the first idea we got as teachers when we think about mixing blogs with classrooms. Both use them to record school experiences, although only one of the blogs visited was actually discussing themes an topics related to EFL class… however I was surprised to read blogs devoted to personal stuff only! It resembled some kind of personal diary.

Reacting to events is not a strange thing for bloggers… so I found many comments about current affairs in them… (world wide known and not that much)

What I liked most was the fact that cultural insights aren’t set aside… bloggers are aware that their thoughts and ideas are being exposed to the world and they respect that… I think that lingüistic constraints are surpassed by some kind of blogolingüistics… or sth…
No doubt interaction is the KEY, students and teachers look for ways to be in contact with equals; resources like smilies, colorful templates, images and interesting links make the weblogs more attractive inviting visitors to stay, read the messages and post a comment.

The question is how do teachers cope with students’ needs without being invasive.. Should we let them decide what and when to post a thought giving them space to grow up while learning… to discover the cyberworld in front of their eyes… to talk a new language….
They’ll show us the path….
we just have to set them free...

Cheers
Bet :)

Blogging at journalspace

2005-01-25T17:24:00.000-03:00

Creating my second weblog wasn’t hard at all. I picked journalspace.com because it was says to have pictures, links, members and other stuff posted easily. And it did!

http://betspace.journalspace.com/ (Click in this link to visit it)

I found this one less attractive than blogger, it has less colours settings, and font types seem all the same to me!
Although there is much more stuff under builder control, and I tried to arrange settings in the page as much as I could. But Menu and Visitors at bottom still remain there…. Couldn’t find that out… :(
I would like to View possible templates like in the other hosting... but in this one I could post my picture at once, create a photo galley for my family pictures and found out how to add links, that's something I'm still trying to do in here.

Some extra features I found in www.journalspace.com are:
Spell checking (great for students writing)
Edition is easier, since you are not asked to index you blog
I could set an instant signature
Instant message is possible (Yahoo, MNS, AOL)
I’ve chosen my favourite 15 words:
You may send your posting to a friend via email
Oh! And I also created a Webmail account: betspace@journalspace.com so I may receive messages directly through this hosting (see Check your Webmail)
Statistics are available for knowing who saw your web in the last couple of minutes
Menu is at hand, for new postings and other stuff

The following features are available to administer the blog:

Read your journal
Write in your journal
Your journal's statistics
Customize your journal
Configure the home page
Your account
Private messages
Check your Webmail
Your profile
Your favourites
Your friends
Your bookmarks

Hope this review is useful!
See you soon….

Bet :)

Toons Ahead!

2005-01-23T17:09:00.000-03:00

After a week of posting, reindexing, checking and delating... I should say: I love blogging!
It's my first time in this side of the web. Couldn´t cope with everything but still trying!
Thank you all for sharing your knowledge and expertise in this Community of Practice...
Bet :)

Coming into terms with weblogging

2005-01-21T15:27:00.000-03:00

From today's chat "What are weblogs?" a question remained unanswered...

Are blogs for everybody?

If keeping students motivated is hard, what about motivating teachers to use this tool?

Teacher training is evolving, new technologies are being introduced in students curricula, but some other social and "traditional" matters still remain unchangable.

How do we encourage student teachers to embrace tools like this and other very useful ones in the web helping them to shorten their way into this New Era? What can be done?

Bet :)

So far so good

2005-01-19T08:49:00.000-03:00

My feelings so far... excited, happy, enthusiastic but a little frustrated too ...

My expectations... really HIGH!!!

My back... it hurts after hours of "trying"

My Wishes... the best for all of you.

Week's special: Writing & Websites

2005-01-19T08:35:00.000-03:00

Tips for Writing:

Letters of Recommendation http://gradschool.about.com/cs/writingletters/a/writeletter.htm

Effective Speech Writing http://7-12educators.about.com/cs/speeches/a/speechwriting.htm

Principles of Composition http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/composition.htm

CV Writing advice & tips http://www.alec.co.uk/cvtips/

Recommended Websites:

Noticias Universitarias http://weblog.educ.ar/noticias/archives/cat_futuro_universidad.php

Servicios de Empleos http://empleos.universia.com.ar/home/

Foros Universia http://www.universia.com.ar/servicios/foros/

Agenda http://www.educ.ar/educar/superior/agenda/

Bookmarks at hand...

2005-01-19T07:33:00.000-03:00

Some useful sites for ELT you may visit:

About Newsletter: Edición semanal de artículos temáticos sobre educación en los distintos niveles. http://www.about.com/education/

Portal Edu-car: Recursos para docentes y alumnos, capacitación docente yformación laboral. http://www.educ.ar

Portal Universia: Punto de encuentro para la comunidad universitaria. Ofrece noticias, enlaces a bibliotecas, empleos, entre otros. http://www.universia.com.ar

Nueva Alejandría: Ofrece cursos a docentes y estudiantes. http://www.nuevaalejandria.com

Newsletter onstopenglish.com: Artículos, foros, recursos, noticias, y más... http://www.onestopenglish.com

Biblioteca Virtual Cervantes: Acceso virtual a documentos, publicaciones,investigaciones y tesis.http://www.cervantesvirtual.com

The Herald Tribune: Periódico en línea, USA http://www.heraldtribune.com

Diccionary.com: Acceso a diccionarios y traductores en línea. http://www.dictionary.com/