6/22/16

Global Citizen

Becoming global and having all my school involved into the project, has been one of the most highlighting experiences I have had.
Not only because I enjoy the lessons as much as the kids but also because I notice my students´ meaningful learning. Ms Susan Wallace, who participated in one of my global projects, shared this poem written by a student in fifth grade and it definetly triggered off my reflection.







2/15/16

Teaching is HEART work!

This year, as every year,  will bring lots of challenges and new opportunities; those opportunities will make us grow as 21century teachers, who apart from the challenges of discovering and leading a new group of kids, will have to be innovative enough to break the model of the traditional school, and train students for the real world we live in and they will soon discover. Among my basic requests for this year, I consider:


  • it is essential to permanently  reflect upon our practices so as to achieve the best result and by reflecting we will be ready to adapt, rethink whatever strategy we need to cater for our students’ needs.


  • It is  fundamental to provide students with educational opportunities together with the integration of technology into teaching and learning; and to do this ,it is necessary to visit and participate in virtual communities. Many of the opportunities are definitely there! Being able to notice the opportunities and the arrangements with the people involved will be part of the new way of  planning, This brings new demands on teachers apart from the need  to prepare young learners  to use the tools appropriately. Today we can communicate in a variety of formats, either asynchronously through text messages and blogs, or in real time through Twitter or Skype or Google Hangouts.  All we need is a device, an internet connection!

  • We often ask students to answer questions such as What? Who? How? and How Much?, when in reality we need to move beyond these questions that typically have one right answer.   We now have instant access to information and a range of people who can help with finding possible solutions to our questions. So we need to move beyond asking students questions that they already know the answer to or that they can search for online instantly.  We want them to construct knowledge by engaging in deep learning where they have to interpret, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information in order to construct understanding. 
          We need to develop inquisitive minds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u84ZsS6niPc


  • There is a need to push our learners to work in teams, to engage in complex problem solving where they are required to take initiative, and in order to achieve this we need to make them aware of the importance of self regulating their own work , giving effective feedback,that goes beyond simple praise or comments such as “good job” or “great work”, this will be fundamental to get improvement.
We have the opportunity in our hands, let´s make the difference with our work and with the compromise we feel towards our students; We will not achieve the results we want without passion, and I am definitetly convinced that both passion and enthusiasm are the best gifts we can offer to our kids.