Get connected! Engaging in authentic global learning experiences

Get connected! Engaging in authentic global learning experiences: IB Online Professional Development

 

After four weeks, I am completing today the IB Online Workshop:  Get connected! Engaging in authentic global learning experiences. The learning experiences were very enriching in my opinion. During these four week, I started using my blog again. From now on, I will try to post on it more often.In addition, I took part in a Twitter edchat about formative assessment. I liked the connections we made. Moreover, I read interesting articles and blogs.
My next steps are to have a group of students I have to post on Kidblog and receive feedback on Twitter using the hashtag #comment4kids. It will be the first time the students use Kidblog but not the first time they post on a blog.
Thanks Jason Graham for leading the course and thanks for everyone who took part in the course.

 

“Learner profile and digital citizenship”

 I read two interesting articles about Digital Citizenship and Learner Profile

BUILDING AN UNDERSTANDING OF DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP…

Digital Citizens and the IB Learner Profile  

My thoughts are in the picture below:

Connecting my classroom with the world

Getting connected with other classrooms and bring different perspectives to our classsroom. Nowadays, it's not difficult for students to find answers for their questions/inquiries.
After reading the article Five Practical Ways to Connect Your Classroom to the World   I decided to connect a small group of EAL Grade 5 students I support using  KidBlog                   and #comments4kids.
KidBlog has many options that teachers want. "Setting classes up with blogs can be done in minutes. Blogs — and the comments left on them — can be as private or as public as teachers want." I've had an account for a long time and decided to use it (I have never used it).
For the first time, I will use #Comments4Kids. According to the article  read by Matt Miller, "Comments4Kids is a great resource to connect students to a real, authentic audience. Interaction is what has made social media so popular. When students can connect with their readers, they can get that same thrill in academic writing as they do when their Facebook posts get lots of comments and likes."
My students haven't written any posts yet. However, I believe it lbe very enriching. 

        

Being a Connected Educator

Being an English as a Foreign Language makes you want to connect with other people. When I started working at an international teacher this connection with teachers and learners from all over the world ended up being easier. I started connecting with teachers from my school who would move to other schools in the world to teach. Then, around six years ago, during my Master's course, I started using Twitter to connect with other teachers, educators, and other professionals.  My PLN has grown a lot. I have learned a lot.

By being a connected educator, I was able to make a connection with a Grade 5 teacher from Florida who was looking for Grade 5 students to be interviewed by her students who were getting ready for the PYP Exhibition. I talked to one of the Grade 5 teachers at my school whose students were also getting ready the PYP Exhibition and a Skype conversation was scheduled.  It was a rewarding experience to everyone who was involved with that experience. some months later, I connected again with the same educator I met on Twitter for asking her some ideas and suggestions when I was applying for a PYP coordinator at my school.

By being a connected educator,  I decided to start a TED-ED Club at my school. I had a group of middle schoolers during an elective class. I followed the TED-Ed club program with the students for a semester. During this semester, I had the opportunity to connect with other TED-ED Clubs from all over the world by video conferences. If you want to read more about this, read my article on AASSA Blog Amplify Student Voice: Be a Facilitator of a TED-Ed Club at Your School

I am lucky to work at a school where we have many resources available for teachers and students. (not yet a common reality in Brazil) However, social media is still blocked for teachers and students to use. If I want to use Twitter with my students or for professional development, I need to use the 4G from my cell phone. I understand the school's perspective because students bring their own device, they might use social media, not for educational purposes. As they have Internet on their phone, I believe they still access it. I do not know the answer to it but I think it is an issue to be discussed. Another feeling about posting on social media is that I do not feel comfortable to share photos or videos about the students. Our school has some guidelines for teachers about that.

Being a connected educator has been great for me. there are some constraints but I think it is rewarding.

TEDxYouth@PAS

On November 23rd, 2017, a group of students who are members of the National Junior Honor Society of Panamerican of Porto Alegre organized a TEDxYouth@PAS event. The speakers were students, parents, and people from our community.
Check some of the event photos.

TED, TEDx and TEDxUnisinos

I have been a fan of TED talks since I watched the very first one. I like them so much that a became an official volunteer for the TED Translation Project, a volunteer for TEDxLaçador in Porto Alegre, and the final paper for my MBA in translation was about the TED Translation Project. First of all, let me give a brief explanation about what TED and TEDx mean:

TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. 

TEDx was created in the spirit of TED's mission, "ideas worth spreading." The program is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level.

Many TED talks can be powerful and valuable to use as a tool to enhance learning. Therefore, TED launched TED-ED, Lessonl that are worth spreading, as a tool to support teachers and learners, to use the videos to enrich the teachinng and learning. Using the videos from TED and TEDx talks in the classroom or  flipping a lesson can be very meaningful to take a lesson beyond the limits of a school. My son's Science teacher has already made  use of this engaging tool. To get to know more, check TED-Ed webiste.

On November 31st, I had the opportunity to watch for the second time a TEDxevent here in Porto Alegre called TEDxUnisinos. The theme was Education( same as last year since Unisinos is a large private university in rio Grande do Sul). It was nice seeing different speakers with different backgrounds, nationalities, experiences talking about one theme: Education. The event was held on a Thursday different from last year that was on Saturday. Luckily, I was able to get a leave from my school to watch it. The event was bigger than last year's. This year was a large event for 1,000 participants. However, it was very well-organized.

The event started with Rafael Parente who holds an important positition at the Secretary of Education of Rio de Janeiro and talked about Educopedia, an oline collaborative platform, used at city hall schools in the city of Rio de Janeiro. After Rafael Parente, other speakers/teachers came to talk about their experiences as teachers who try to enrich their classroom through fieldtrips, songs, videos and project-based experiences. A director from a large private school talked about a guide her school created to help teachers, students, parents and community when using the social networks. Gustavo Reis,a math teacher, talked with a lot passion about being a teacher. Iberê Thenório talked about how we can raise students' curiosity through videos about science. His Manual do Mundo is fun and educational for kids and adults.  There were some international speakers as well. Sara Elisabeth Ippel talked about a charter  school in Chicago called Academy for Global Citizenship and her project that teaching kids is much more than preparing them for exams and geeting high grades. It is worth visiting the school's website. The school's mission "is to develop mindful leaders who take action both now and in the future to positively impact their communities and the world beyond". Justin Reeves ,who is the the director of the NGO 10x10 Rising Girls , talked about the project 10x10 Educate Girls. Educating girls is extremely powerful and it can really change the world. Last but not the least, I was really impressed and touched about a project called I.D.E.A em movimento developed by a group of 13-year-old girls  attending grade 7 at a private school in Porto Alegre. The project wants to help change the reality in the classrooms.  I like every and each one of the talks, they were all very inspiring. The videos of some of the talks are already available at the TEDxUnisinos webiste.The subtitles in English are not available yet but it is worth watching them.

I think this is my last post from 2012. Merry Christmas and Happy NewYear!!!!

Education and Technology to build the future

On October 31st, I was able to attend some lectures at a conference (5º Congresso Internacional de Inovação) that was held in Porto Alegre at FIERGS. 
This was the introduction of the program:

Experiences of schools and teaching methods that stand out in the world, new teaching approaches, and education innovation cases. An innovating example of the use of technology in teaching is the "totally online school" that reaches millions of people and allows them to learn a wide variety of subjects free of charge. Classes follow pioneering teaching methods, use a clear, informal language, and make the most of the interaction with the objects on the screen. Dozens of countries have been translating the courses. In Brazil, NGO Fundação Lemann is providing the videos dubbed in Portuguese.

The first lecture was about Khan Academy,  Sundar Subbarayan from the USA who is " in charge of disseminating and implementing the Khan Academy methods in conventional schools. " I have known Khan Academy for some time because I have already helped my own kids and my students with the videos on Math and Science.I have also used the videos dubbed in Portuguese provided by Fundação Lemann. Sundar talked about how Sal Khan started with the videos and how they started to be spread all over the world.
Billal Musharaf also from the USA, who coordinates the global operation that translate Khan Academy into other languages, talked about their translation project. 
I think Khan Academy can be an effective tool that can be used in class as well as a tool to support students at home.
After these two talks, it was Andrew Hargreaves's turn to deliver his lecture: "Teaching in the Society of Knowledge" . His talk was amazing! He talked about improvement and innovation in Education.  He said that teaching for the knowledge society includes creativity, flexibility, adaptability, teamwork, networks and continuous learning. When he talked about education in Brazil he stressed out that there is no quality without equity; about the large achievement gap between students from poor families and wealthy ones. He pointed that technology , per se, is not the answer for the educational problem. It is a tool but cannot be used as the only way out. Finland and Singapore are examples of countries that are maximizing innovation and improvement in Education (two among the top-three PISA). Regarding Finland he listed some important characteristics: high-quality teachers, inspiring sociteal vision, hearing weak signals (early intervention), testing by sample,among others. I really recommend reading his website:http://www.andyhargreaves.com/. It is really interesting.
The next speaker on the program was Rubens Alves who could not come to Porto Alegre. Celso Antunes, founder of the NGO "Todos pela Educação", who came do talk about Education in Brazil: Present and Future. His talk was impressing!  It was rewarding watching this 75-year old man telling funny and interesting anedoctes to illustrate what he wanted to say.
His website is a good source to learn more about his life and work: http://www.celsoantunes.com.br/pt/publicacoes.php
Finally, Denis Mizme talked about the project sponsored by NGO Fundação Lemann that uses Khan Academy videos to support teachers in some public schools in  Sâo Paulo.

Great conference! Amazing company: Mara Rubia Lima and Thomas Lima. I would like to thank the Congresso Inovação organizers for letting me attend the panel (without paying for the whole conference) and my school adminstration team for letting me go to the conference on a school day.

Worth reading  article about Sal Khan at http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelnoer/2012/11/02/one-man-one-computer-10-million-students-how-khan-academy-is-reinventing-education/
You might also to check his TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html

Halloween is coming soon!

A good place to find interesting resources tocelebrate Hallowen and use with students is on Pinterest. I have just found some nice on ideas Edutopia Pinterest . I will share some of things that I will use this week:
A video from National Geographic about the History of Halloween:




The Skeleton Dance is also nice to use with younger kids. It is fun and it can be used to teach left and right.

From ESL library News:

10+ Wicked Web 2.0 Activities for Halloween 


You can find more ideas and resources at 
Pinterest Edutopia Halloween

Have fun!

Cities are big, noisy classrooms.

Isn't this true?

Cities can be large laboratories where we can be life-long learners:

"Cities teach us how to live with and learn from people totally unlike us, draw on the past and push into the future, and be entrepreneurial and resilient. No grades; just transformation."

Get to know The City 2.0

"The City 2.0 website is a platform created to surface the myriad stories and collective actions being taken by citizens around the world. We draw on the best of what is already being discovered by urban advocates and add grassroots movers and shakers into the mix. What's emerging is a complex picture of the future city--a place more playful, more safe, more beautiful, and more healthy for everyone."

Learn more at:

http://www.thecity2".org/themes/education

A Free-to-use Font for Dyslexic Readers

This blog was created as a part of my professional portfolio. During the last school year, my professional goal was to research about technology information to be used to enhance learning. I ended up doing that but not being able to update my blog as often as I wanted. I think it is time to go back and try to share here some of things I read and research everyday.
 October is the Learning Disabilities Awareness Month, a time to make people aware to children and adults with learning disabilities.Therefore, I think it is  a good opportunity to suggest something that will help children and adults with dyslexia.
According to the British Dyslexia Assciation, there are some definitions and descriptions for dyslexia. I picked one from there:

"Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty that mainly affects the development of literacy and language related skills. It is likely to be present at birth and to be life-long in its effects. It is characterised by difficulties with phonological processing, rapid naming, working memory, processing speed, and the automatic development of skills that may not match up to an individual's other cognitive abilities.
It tends to be resistant to conventional teaching methods, but its effect can be mitigated by appropriately specific intervention, including the application of information technology and supportive counseling."

Some recommendations are made to educators and administrators:

" high expectations for all learners with accountability measures that indicate how individual students are doing; early-childhood programs that prepare children for reading and identify young children at risk of having reading problems; curricula, instructional practices and tools, and assessments that are science-based and accessible to all students; and teacher training and ongoing professional development that incorporate findings from neuroscience as well as best practices for how to teach reading." (source: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/speced/2012/10/the_other_achievement_gap_c.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter)

Having all this in mind, some accomodations might be needed. One of them is the use of information technology.  There is a free-to-use font called OpenDyslexic, that can help people to read online. It is easy to download. There are other fonts for dyslexic people but they are paid fonts. This font, created by Abelardo Gonzalez,  can be an option for dyslexic readers.  

My sources: (and suggested readings)
http://dyslexicfonts.com/
http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/about-dyslexia/further-information/dyslexia-research-information-.html
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/speced/2012/10/the_other_achievement_gap_c.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
http://gradelevelreading.net/
http://www.ldonline.org/calendar/ld

A lot has being discussed about  teaching in and for the 21st Century. This aricle shares some advice from some schools in the U.S.A that are preparing their students for this inter-connected, Web-centric world we live in. It is a kind of a handbook that can help teachers to get some ideas from.

21st Century Student Handbook: Teaching Today’s Web-Centric Kids

Finland's Formula for School Success (Education Everywhere Series)

Finland is the  top European performer on PISA. Finland Early intervention and sustained individual support for every student are keys to educating the whole child in Finnish schools. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsdFi8zMrYI

TEDxUnisinos - Lea Fagundes - Um computador por aluno

A Neurologist Makes the Case for the Video Game Model as a Learning Tool

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/video-games-learning-student-engagement-judy-willis

Reflecting on one-one programs

We see more and more schools using one-one programs at school. Are we prepared for that? Read these thought about that!
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/successful-one-to-one-programs-mary-beth-hertz

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Using Technology to Enhance to Language Learning for At-Risk Students

My Professional Development Goal Statement is :Using Technology to Enhance Language Learning for At-Risk Students in order to improve their achievement in all areas.
My name is Mara Pacheco Becker and I work at Pan American School of Porto Alegre. I decided to investigate more about the use of technology to help students who struggle and maybe need a different way to teach. My room is small because I work with small groups or one-to-one. I sometimes use my computer or take my students to the lab so I can use the interactive board.