EFL Professionals

Working on my presentation on DIGITAL LITERACY

2011-05-28T12:31:00.000-03:00

I found this great blog I strongly recommend (it's in Sapanish) and then a colleague delivered a presentation where she referred to this great page where we can see Bloom's taxonomy but expanded into the digital world. Enjoy!

SUCCESSFULLY FACING THE DIGITAL CHALLENGE

2011-05-05T19:13:00.000-03:00

I've decided to keep posting in this blog again, beginning with this presentation I deliverd in URUTESOL in April. The handout is also available in my slideshare account.

Successfully Facing Digital Challenge

View more presentations from Mariana Porta

No more posts here

2010-11-06T20:46:00.000-03:00

This blog will not be updated for the moment being.

Youtube and teachertube

2009-05-28T20:54:00.002-03:00

One of the most amazing and attractive tools in the internet is YOUTUBE and similar sites to share videos. Advantages over the regular video; here we can jot down some obvious ones:

Variety
Availability: available any time.
Using different videos catered for different needs, with different students at the same time in case you work in a room equipped with many computers
Sts can watch it as many times as they wish. They can work at their own pace.
Used in class or assinged for homework.

Let's explore teachertube. There are a variety of very interesting resources to use in class. See this for example

Implementing tools in teaching

2009-05-23T19:43:00.002-03:00

I'll publish a few links that I find particulary interesting and useful for any teacher of English you wants to start using NTICS in the classroom. Here goes the first tool: webquests.

Students blog

2008-11-27T16:26:00.004-02:00

I would not want to finish the year without publishing something about the great blogs that have been developed at Alianza Costa de Oro and Alianza Carrasco!! I am so proud of them!!

These are teenagers in a Pre Proficiency course
These are younger teenagers in a Teens High Intermediate course-
These are adults in a First course
These are adult basic students

Congrats to all of these teachers and students!

Back from ABS!!

2008-08-31T21:56:00.005-03:00

I have just come from ABS Congress of Coordinators, a great experience!! I upload the presentation delivered with Leonardo Castelluccio. Comments welcome. I can also email the handout if you get in touch with me.

From Super Vision to Teacher's Vision

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

RETHINKING TEACHER'S LIFE AT WORK: THREE DIMENSIONS TO ANALYZE (II)

2008-07-04T23:29:00.003-03:00

The second dimension to be considered will be POWER.

POWER

What can I do?

being able to

control
decide
supervise
access information
access restricted information
set my own goals
develop my project

-What power of decision do they have?
-Can they get to choose anything at all? Ex. courses they teach, time they work at, levels, resources they use?
-Do they have access to information that is not only related to their immediate job? Ex. school projects.
-Do they set their own goals and develop their own projects?
Is there a promotion system?

RETHINKING TEACHER'S LIFE AT WORK: THREE DIMENSIONS TO ANALYZE (I)

2008-06-21T17:01:00.006-03:00

I'm currently perparing resources to be shared in a presentation in ABS convention in August in BA. Currently I'm working on a chart to better understand teacher's life at school. It considers three dimensions: possessions, power and value. Here's the firt part. I'll publish the following ones soon.

RETHINKING TEACHER'S LIFE AT WORK: THREE DIMENSIONS TO ANALYZE

Anybody's life at work can be analyzed from these three perspectives. In the case of teachers there is a tendency to focus on their activity inside the classroom disregarding the rest of their life in the organization. The following chart can help you analyze other aspects of teacher's life.

POSSESSIONS

What do I have?

“having”

a salary
a job description
a role
a status
benefits
perks
an office or any physical area
furniture and equipment
time

-Do teachers have a job description?

-Do they have any role other than that of teaching? Ex. mentoring, counceling novice teachers, developing resources, student follow up.

-Do they have an area of their own or any bulletin board of thier own?

-Do they have the right equipment?

-Do they have any payed time to work on anything but teaching? Ex. planning, in service sessions, attending academic events, etc.

First steps towards teachers' vision

2008-04-24T01:16:00.001-03:00

As I wrote in my last entry, this year I wanted to explore what I shall call the "third layer" of communication. Why third layer? Because if we are to build the structure of organizational communication we should start by an effective information system, then build effective interpersonal communication and then get ready for true participation. What is true participation? It is that which reaches beyond opinion exchange and becomes action. In other words: make information readily available, get the meaning across building healthy relationships and then you will be ready for working together implementing the changes that your organization needs. Much more easily said than done, isn't it?

We educators, are used to the paradigm of cooperative professional development. So this year I am trying to involve staff in a teacher development program whose objective is to improve classroom management skills, but not in the regular supervisor-supervised framework. The aim is to involve all teachers in a cross-visiting experience which shall be documented and eventually shared with the larger community. I'll be telling you about it.

I'm back

2008-03-02T19:40:00.004-02:00

I've been away from this blog for too long!! First it was too late in the year and we were already finishing, then holidays and I needed a rest, then too early and little time to write throughout the registration period. Wow!! I was even thinking that I had started too many web initiatives and had no real time to work on them! Maybe ... however, that is the way some of us naturally react when we get so excited, trying, exploring, getting involved!! You get to know about blogs and you start one, then you discover wikis and you want to try too, then social web sites, pages, etc. But what is the right use of each tool? The answer shall come with more practice...

The main topics I am interested in this year have to do with TEACHER PARTICIPATION and its role in management. The fist question I have in mind is: How can teacher participation be structured in a way it enriches educational management? Can educational management be participatory without becoming chaotic? Is participating simply "giving an opinion? How can teachers take responsibility and develop commitment beyond the opinion-giving forum? How can those bright and interesting ideas be considered and reach implementation stages? Then this also takes us to reflect upon management styles. Well ... let's keep exploring this on the following days.

New Slide Show Available!

2007-12-22T00:45:00.000-03:00

I have just published a presentation I delivered in the last URUTESOL SYMPOSIUM on Language and Culture. It is called STORIES FROM A CULTURE WITHOUT BORDERS. It means a lot to me not only academically, but also affectively. It pictures all my personal experience in having access to Internet, as I keep on exploring the world of English teaching. Thanks to all the people who so kindly contributed to this presentation with their words, images and anecdotes. It was an honor!

Two presentations uploaded in slideshare

2007-09-30T11:38:00.000-03:00

I have just uploaded two presentations here. One is on assertive behavior and the other is called Can conflict in communication be avoided? This one was delivered in ABS last year. I strongly recommend slideshare, a great site to share presentations with the whole world. This site is a great discovery too.

Marcela's contribution

2007-09-03T10:23:00.000-03:00

My colleague Marcela, a teacher I have met online, has just suggested that we view this presentation- It goes in the same line of I-need-help-with-this-new-paradigm kind of thing.

Have you been to "The Fischbowl"?

2007-08-30T12:07:00.000-03:00

This link is to a great blog by Karl Fisch, somebody we all need to learn a lot from. He created "Did you know/Shift happens" and here you will find the second version.

What's a wiki?

2007-08-28T15:18:00.001-03:00

Want to know what a wiki is? Check this out.

ECCE

2007-08-27T12:54:00.000-03:00

Great site for ECCE

Presentation available

2007-08-26T18:47:00.000-03:00

My presentation Improving Interpersonal Communication Skills, delivered in ABS Congress of Coordinators, August 18, 2007 is available in slideshare.

Great teachers who take risks, let's follow them!!

2007-08-26T11:19:00.000-03:00

I was quite impressed by two presentations about the use of internet tools in for teaching and learning. Watch this presentation and this blog and you will have a much better idea of what working with technology means. They are all teachers just like us, no computer geeks, simply people who have dared try and take risks and they have learned in the process. This is a presentation by Gladys Baya and Clauda Bellusci and here you will find Jennifer Vershchoor's blog "Open ESL Classroom".

It would be really great if you could leave a comment on your experience visiting them. These people are doing great things!!

Congress of Coordinators and DOS. It was great!!

2007-08-19T19:18:00.000-03:00

I was at ABS Congress of Coordinators and DOS. Buenos Aires was as exciting as always, but it is nice to be back home, here in Ciudad de la Costa, Canelones, Uruguay. I'm helping my daughter do her homework as I catch up with mail and answer some nice comments from colleagues I met over there. To give you a more graphic representation of my mind after this event, it is a boiling pot!! Hope we can cook some really good stuff in the upcoming months!!

First thing I realized after so many talks about the use of Internet tools in our profession: I am not using this blog the way I should. I am mostly using it to share links, and I have been extremely ... shy?...lazy? ... to write. Which is actually very funny since my first and most successful blog is a poetry blog where I dare express myself freely. Maybe it was harder to find my professional voice. The truth is, I'll be changing it and redesigning it as I also explore other tools and resources. So now, I'll be sharing this jurney of exploration and learning.

I was particularly impressed by those colleagues who shared their experiences at implementing Internet resources with sts. GLADYS BAYA & MA. CLAUDIA BELLUSCI talked about implementing wikis and blogs. They recommended great sites I'll be visiting soon. Another highlight: Athena in the classroom: on becoming a mentor by GABRIEL DIAZ MAGGIOLI & MARINA GONZÁLEZ. That showed how binational cooperation, high quality educational management and expertise can walk hand in hand!! Another great one: my dear colleague Silvia Laborde who always has a great way of putting educational management tools in our hands.

My presentation was Improving Interpersonal Communication Skills, and I'll tell you about it in the next entry. Anybody wants to comment? Just click here in comments and leave yours.

A three -step approach to interpersonal communication

2007-08-15T10:53:00.001-03:00

STAGE

FOCUS

Pre

ALIGN THE HORIZON

Reflect upon the situation.

Set reasonable expectations.

Make the right choices of timing and channel.

Attitude

While

PARTICIPATE IN THE INTERACTION

Use your resources: apply a variety of techniques to communicate.

Make choices.

Stay focused.

Monitor

Performance

Post

LEARN FROM IT

Reflect upon the interaction.

Follow up

Steer the wheel yourself!!! More Net Gen

2007-07-28T11:19:00.000-03:00

TV is controlled by adults. Kids are passive observers. In contrast, children control much of their world on the Net. It is something they do themselves. They are not viewers; they are users and they are active. They do not just observe; they participate. They inquire, discuss, argue, play, shop, critique, investigate, ridicule, fantasize, seek, and inform.

This makes the Internet fundamentally different from previous communications innovations, such as the development of the printing press or the introduction of radio and television broadcasting. They are very hierarchical, inflexible, and centralized. Not surprisingly, they reflect the values of their adult owners. By contrast, the new media is interactive, malleable, and distributed in control. As such, it cherishes a much greater neutrality. The new media will do what we command of them. And at this moment, tens of millions of N-Geners around the world are taking over of the steering wheel.

This is a quotation from Don Tapscott's article The Net Generation and the School.

Don Tapscott is Chair of The Alliance for Converging Technologies a think tank conducting a series multi-million dollar investigations into how the Net is transforming business strategy, government and society. He is the author of 7 books, most recently the bestseller Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation, McGraw Hill 1998.

Net Gen

2007-07-18T23:31:00.000-03:00

I keep on navigating searching for information about Information and Communication Technology and new ways of learning. I have just found this great site of ELI, Educause Learning Initiative. I was particularly impressed by the free resources it provides. This link is the site on Net Generation Learners

You can also download a pdf. e-book Educating the Net Generation by Diana and James Oblinger.

Here you can see ELI focus areas on learners, learning and technologies applied to learning.

"The 7 things you show know about ..." ELI series focuses on differente pieces of technology. Browse it and clear your doubts.

From teaching to learning.

2007-07-18T13:26:00.000-03:00

Talking about paradigm shift, let me tell you about this great article published by Robert Barr and John Tagg in 1995, 12 years ago!!!! One wonders what is really "new" about a paradigm shift that was evident for some more than a decade ago. This article is absolutely groundbreaking because it diagnoses the change not only in its academic components, but in its organizational impact. Here you have it in pdf. format.

Challenged by ICT

2007-07-12T20:00:00.001-03:00

ICT means information and communicaton technologies. If they pose new challenges to education? Of course they do. I've been searching for interesting sites about the topic. Many of them have been developed by educators in other areas, not in EFL o ESL. One that called my attention was from the National University of Singapore. ... And we wonder why they have such a developed economy? See this.

Also see this presentation created by a teacher from the Polytechnic University of Hong Kong. Again the east ... The future has arrived, these people have realized ... have we?

Managing change

2007-06-17T13:41:00.001-03:00

I keep digging in this site I recommended yesterday and I keep finding great resources. Now I'm browsing this link where you can access wonderful articles about managing change, leading change, understanding negative reactions to change, etc. Those of you who have witnessed great changes in educational paradigms, methods, managemente procedures and the like may know very well the strong feeling of vulnerability that changes bring along. Here's to you to reflect, change and help others change.

Robert Bacal and his highly recommended site

2007-06-17T00:08:00.000-03:00

I was just surfing in the web for anything else in communication and came across this site. It is a real exaple of how brilliant, resourceful people are very generous too. Robert Bacal started this site and I invite you to discover it. Now it is huge!!!!!!!! Lots of free material from a very serous source.
Here for you.

Great experience

2007-06-15T10:31:00.000-03:00

Yesterday I delivered a presentation about assertiveness to a group of teachers to be from Alianza. It was great to be there, work with them, listen to their questions. They are bright, inquisitive and very communicative. I invited them to visit this blog, so ... dear young colleagues, if you are over there on the other side of the screen, I would really love it if you could keep in touch and tell me about your experice with the other links you can have access to here. I also promise to see a way of uploading the presentation. So far, I can send it to you if you contact me :)

About Conflict in Communication

2007-05-26T22:57:00.000-03:00

Online experiences open up a new world for interaction. But the principles of communication remain the same. So here we go with a good site to understand online communication conflict.
Great article on the online disinhibition effect. Have you experienced it?
Treating communication problems This site offers you strategies to deal with conflict: stereotype breaking, active listening, dialogic lestening, opening lines, and others.
Small group communication conflict A great site about small group communication: definition, development, types, conflict, etc.
This site is about communication that creates conflicts. It lists many interaction mechanisms that lead to conflict when repeatedly used. Very good to analyze how we ended up in the middle of a conflict. We might have done some of these.

Assertive Behavior

2007-05-26T19:04:00.000-03:00

Good site for teachers with classroom situations to get training about assertive discipline.
Here you will find five steps to assertive discipline.
Irrational beliefs about assertive behavior.
Definition, assertive rights, exercises, assertion training.Improving Assertive Behavior
Assertive, unassertive and aggressive behavior.
This site deals with the assertiveness continuum of behavior (passive-assertive-aggressive) and it contains a good list of adverse reactions to assertive behavior.
This one is great because it shows you techniques to act assertively and very practical examples.

Communication Style Inventory

2007-05-26T18:36:00.000-03:00

This site offers you an informal survey. I generally don't like those tests that oversimplfy behavior, but I should say it is a good "first approach" to help you in an insight into your ways. Go to communication style inventory. It's pdf.

This is a good site that shows communication styles in two very clear charts.

Interpersonal Communication

2007-05-17T23:38:00.000-03:00

This topic has always been one of my main areas of interest. So here I am again preparing a workshop on ... interpersonal communication. Those of you who coordinate or direct might find it useful, but actually everybody might profit from learnaing a bit more about how it works. I'll post some sites I've been visiting.

Definition, functions, relational develpment, conflict, etc.
Four Principles ...
Daily Interactions ...
From Small Business Encyclopedia: Six interpersonal communication styles used in business settings.
Nonverbal Behavior
Interpersonal communication involves ...
Improving interpersonal communication skills. Great site for training young learners in the development of good interpersonal communication. Includes free resources such as printable worksheets in pdf format.
Interpersonal communication, questions and answers This is a great site to get a general buy very accurate notion of the complexity of interpersonal communication. It is a very rich site with detailed concepts and practical tools to understand and improve your interpersonal skills. One of the best!!!!!