I can´t wait!

It´s curious. This year I´m posting material more often than last year. I hope I can keep doing it. I admit I´m more excited about it than before. New term, new students, I can´t wait.

I can´t wait!

It´s curious. This year I´m posting material more often than last year. I hope I can keep doing it. I admit I´m more excited about it than before. New term, new students, I can´t wait.

Why teachers tend to avoid digital tools

We created this video to introduce our presentation in the 8th CTJ TEFL seminar. It was suppose to be our "hook". We liked this idea because it perfectly illustrates why teachers tend to avoid using technology in class. I was one of these people. However, if you stop to think about it, these reasons are not really obstacles for you to use webtols in class. Let´s see, shall we? Reason 1: It´s too difficult. (Well, actually, it doesn´t need to be. There is always someone who knows the tools and uses them effectively and who is generous enough to teach you. All you need to do is ask. Besides, there are online courses, take advantage of the courses offered in your school, for example.) Reason 2: It´s too slow. (Of course that you can´t always count on the internet in class, so choose activities that are downloadable. Keep them in a flashdrive and your problems are gone). Reason 3: I don´t have the time. (A possibility here is to adapt an activity you have already planned to assign, by adding a webtool). As you can see, you can at least try.

Why teachers tend to avoid digital tools

We created this video to introduce our presentation in the 8th CTJ TEFL seminar. It was suppose to be our "hook". We liked this idea because it perfectly illustrates why teachers tend to avoid using technology in class. I was one of these people. However, if you stop to think about it, these reasons are not really obstacles for you to use webtols in class. Let´s see, shall we? Reason 1: It´s too difficult. (Well, actually, it doesn´t need to be. There is always someone who knows the tools and uses them effectively and who is generous enough to teach you. All you need to do is ask. Besides, there are online courses, take advantage of the courses offered in your school, for example.) Reason 2: It´s too slow. (Of course that you can´t always count on the internet in class, so choose activities that are downloadable. Keep them in a flashdrive and your problems are gone). Reason 3: I don´t have the time. (A possibility here is to adapt an activity you have already planned to assign, by adding a webtool). As you can see, you can at least try.

Jerry´s morning

I used this activity with my teen students last semester. They were very participatory and cooperative. In this activity, they were supposed to watch the first 7 minutes of the movie "Three o´clock high" and then discuss and put slips with sentences in the past (provided by the teacher) in the order they appear in the movie. After that, students wrote a paragraph describing the segment. It was supposed to be a graded task and I evaluated the use of the verbs in the past, sequence and linking words.

Suggested sentences:

Yesterday, Jerry had a very busy morning.
He woke up.
He looked at the clock.
He got up
He washed his hair
He looked for clean clothes.
He found a pair of jeans.
He found a wet shirt.
He put the shirt in the microwave oven.
He also put a cookie in the oven.
He grabbed the tooth paste and the tooth brush.
He grabbed his sweater.
He put on his shirt.
It was hot.
He grabbed the keys and his books.
He ran to the car.
The car had a problem.
He took his mom´s car.
He brushed his teeth in the car.
He put on his sweater.
He stopped to pick up a friend.
He drove off to school.
This is why Jerry´s morning was so busy.

Tip: Not all of the slips have to be used.

Jerry´s Morning

These are my students first drafts.

Jerry´s morning

I used this activity with my teen students last semester. They were very participatory and cooperative. In this activity, they were supposed to watch the first 7 minutes of the movie "Three o´clock high" and then discuss and put slips with sentences in the past (provided by the teacher) in the order they appear in the movie. After that, students wrote a paragraph describing the segment. It was supposed to be a graded task and I evaluated the use of the verbs in the past, sequence and linking words.

Suggested sentences:

Yesterday, Jerry had a very busy morning.
He woke up.
He looked at the clock.
He got up
He washed his hair
He looked for clean clothes.
He found a pair of jeans.
He found a wet shirt.
He put the shirt in the microwave oven.
He also put a cookie in the oven.
He grabbed the tooth paste and the tooth brush.
He grabbed his sweater.
He put on his shirt.
It was hot.
He grabbed the keys and his books.
He ran to the car.
The car had a problem.
He took his mom´s car.
He brushed his teeth in the car.
He put on his sweater.
He stopped to pick up a friend.
He drove off to school.
This is why Jerry´s morning was so busy.

Tip: Not all of the slips have to be used.

Jerry´s Morning

These are my students first drafts.

Digital Communication: Our wiki

Our project is divided in four lessons, in which you´ll find a lesson overview, a final outcome (proposed by the teacher), resources (produced by the teacher) and the students´work. In case you want to take a look at our students´production, our wiki is http://www.tellingstoriesinclass.pbworks.com/ . Every picture is clickable. You click, and you´ll be there.When planning your lessons, you can adapt them to your students needs, but remember, young learners need to be guided, so the resources should be there, so they know what is expected from them.

Digital Communication: Our wiki

Our project is divided in four lessons, in which you´ll find a lesson overview, a final outcome (proposed by the teacher), resources (produced by the teacher) and the students´work. In case you want to take a look at our students´production, our wiki is http://www.tellingstoriesinclass.pbworks.com/ . Every picture is clickable. You click, and you´ll be there.When planning your lessons, you can adapt them to your students needs, but remember, young learners need to be guided, so the resources should be there, so they know what is expected from them.

Digital Communication: Our Final Project

Web2.0 and Young Learners

The computer went crazy again. Go figure! Anyways, these are just "some" of the tools we experimented with. There are so many more out there that you´ll be speechless. Scribd enables you to make a book with your students. Have fun.

The tool used here was Voicethread, which allows you to post a picture and record your voice to leave a coment. If you don´t want to record your voice, you can also type a comment.Take a look and leave a comment for us. We´d love to know your opinion.

Digital Communication: Our Final Project

Web2.0 and Young Learners

The computer went crazy again. Go figure! Anyways, these are just "some" of the tools we experimented with. There are so many more out there that you´ll be speechless. Scribd enables you to make a book with your students. Have fun.

The tool used here was Voicethread, which allows you to post a picture and record your voice to leave a coment. If you don´t want to record your voice, you can also type a comment.Take a look and leave a comment for us. We´d love to know your opinion.

The beginning

Here´s the video I made for my final project in the "Webtools for Educators" online course. Participants were supposed to make a storytelling project using a digital tool. It´s funny because I don´t like sports, but at the time I was teaching an advanced group and the topic of the unit was soccer. I made this activity for our blog, the blog I had just started, so they could write about a game they had watched. It was originally just the text, so students could read and understand what they were expected to do. The idea of making a video with illustrations was Carla Arena´s, who suggested that I should do what I could do best, which was drawing. It took me the whole day to draw everything, but it was worth it to see the result. I made the video and a lesson plan for it to be posted in our wiki (a space for the participant teachers to share their final projects). Funny how things started out. It was then that I had a glimpse of what I could do with webtools. My colleagues, the ones that saw the video, strongly advised me to post it in this blog.  I should have done it right after I finished the course, but I never did...go figure. I think that it was because I didn´t see any relation between the video and  the blog at the time. Anyways, since the whole digital journey started then, I think it´s fair to post it now, at last. Hope you like it.

Text: I´m not a sports fan and I have never been. However, in 1994, I was lucky enough to watch what I consider the best game ever! The whole family was gathered at my grandma´s porch. On TV, Brazil and Italy played in the World Cup Final, held in the United States. I had never seen Brazil win a Cup before that day. I was born in 1970, when they won their third Cup, so 1994 was my chance to see it happen. At the time, we had Romário, Bebeto, Dunga and Taffarel, to name just a few. The Brazilian players entered the field holding hands "again", a ritual they had been repeating for awhile and which they believed had brought them luck up to that moment. We loved to think that their holding hands had something to do with their getting to the finals. It was kinda magical! We sat on the edge of our chairs, bit our nails, prayed and suffered. Despite all that and the breathtaking moves and dribbling, they ended up in the extra time. That was it. I will never forget that moment and I believe no one will. The streets outside were all quiet. Everyone was in front of a TV at that very moment. Roberto Baggio kicked the ball out of the net and it was a thrill impossible to describe. "We" had won the game. "We" beat the Italians. "We" were four times the best. "We" were so proud of our country. The players were like children crying, screaming, celebrating, running around the field and also praying, a mixture of different reactions. The crowd invaded the field wanting to be part of that, wanting to hug, touch, talk to the players. Finally, that glorious event was crowned when Dunga kissed and held up the trophy, the "cup" they deserved to win after playing so beautifully and winning every single game. For these reasons, I think the 1994 World Cup Final is the best game I have ever watched in my entire life.

I simply couldn´t resist and posted the soccer game. Although I don´t watch soccer games, I get goose bumps whenever I watch this one ( for sentimental reasons, of course, I mean, impossible not to get emotional when you see your country´s soccer team win the World cup for the first time). C´mon, wouldn´t you?

The beginning

Here´s the video I made for my final project in the "Webtools for Educators" online course. Participants were supposed to make a storytelling project using a digital tool. It´s funny because I don´t like sports, but at the time I was teaching an advanced group and the topic of the unit was soccer. I made this activity for our blog, the blog I had just started, so they could write about a game they had watched. It was originally just the text, so students could read and understand what they were expected to do. The idea of making a video with illustrations was Carla Arena´s, who suggested that I should do what I could do best, which was drawing. It took me the whole day to draw everything, but it was worth it to see the result. I made the video and a lesson plan for it to be posted in our wiki (a space for the participant teachers to share their final projects). Funny how things started out. It was then that I had a glimpse of what I could do with webtools. My colleagues, the ones that saw the video, strongly advised me to post it in this blog.  I should have done it right after I finished the course, but I never did...go figure. I think that it was because I didn´t see any relation between the video and  the blog at the time. Anyways, since the whole digital journey started then, I think it´s fair to post it now, at last. Hope you like it.

Text: I´m not a sports fan and I have never been. However, in 1994, I was lucky enough to watch what I consider the best game ever! The whole family was gathered at my grandma´s porch. On TV, Brazil and Italy played in the World Cup Final, held in the United States. I had never seen Brazil win a Cup before that day. I was born in 1970, when they won their third Cup, so 1994 was my chance to see it happen. At the time, we had Romário, Bebeto, Dunga and Taffarel, to name just a few. The Brazilian players entered the field holding hands "again", a ritual they had been repeating for awhile and which they believed had brought them luck up to that moment. We loved to think that their holding hands had something to do with their getting to the finals. It was kinda magical! We sat on the edge of our chairs, bit our nails, prayed and suffered. Despite all that and the breathtaking moves and dribbling, they ended up in the extra time. That was it. I will never forget that moment and I believe no one will. The streets outside were all quiet. Everyone was in front of a TV at that very moment. Roberto Baggio kicked the ball out of the net and it was a thrill impossible to describe. "We" had won the game. "We" beat the Italians. "We" were four times the best. "We" were so proud of our country. The players were like children crying, screaming, celebrating, running around the field and also praying, a mixture of different reactions. The crowd invaded the field wanting to be part of that, wanting to hug, touch, talk to the players. Finally, that glorious event was crowned when Dunga kissed and held up the trophy, the "cup" they deserved to win after playing so beautifully and winning every single game. For these reasons, I think the 1994 World Cup Final is the best game I have ever watched in my entire life.

I simply couldn´t resist and posted the soccer game. Although I don´t watch soccer games, I get goose bumps whenever I watch this one ( for sentimental reasons, of course, I mean, impossible not to get emotional when you see your country´s soccer team win the World cup for the first time). C´mon, wouldn´t you?

Technical problem

Due to an unexpected glitch, I had to remove my last post. Hope you don´t mind. I´ll be soon posting it again.

Technical problem

Due to an unexpected glitch, I had to remove my last post. Hope you don´t mind. I´ll be soon posting it again.

Digital Communication: My Digital Journey

A year ago, if you asked me how I felt about the use of technology in class, I would definitely answer "I don´t know about that! It´s too complicated to deal with and time-consuming. I just can´t handle that. I have a 40-hour job and a tight schedule." When I look back and think about it, I´m flabbergasted to see how much I´ve changed, how the way I see technology in class changed. I absolutely love teaching and I don´t see myself doing anythingelse in life, but now I have something ELSE to help me get there, reach a teaching goal, reach my students.And all it took me was a little practice, time to use, explore the tools I had available and see what they could do for me. Choose from, experiment. And that´s what I did this year, while working on this project. I realize now that all I needed was a little push and  I realized it´s not that hard. We´ll never learn to do something unless we try. I was known as a digital illiterate (and there is still a long way, I know)and people might wonder why I am involved in a digital project. The thing is, I needed this little push to get started and the love for writing was what brought me this far.I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I did.

Digital Journey (Cool) on Prezi

Digital Communication: My Digital Journey

A year ago, if you asked me how I felt about the use of technology in class, I would definitely answer "I don´t know about that! It´s too complicated to deal with and time-consuming. I just can´t handle that. I have a 40-hour job and a tight schedule." When I look back and think about it, I´m flabbergasted to see how much I´ve changed, how the way I see technology in class changed. I absolutely love teaching and I don´t see myself doing anythingelse in life, but now I have something ELSE to help me get there, reach a teaching goal, reach my students.And all it took me was a little practice, time to use, explore the tools I had available and see what they could do for me. Choose from, experiment. And that´s what I did this year, while working on this project. I realize now that all I needed was a little push and  I realized it´s not that hard. We´ll never learn to do something unless we try. I was known as a digital illiterate (and there is still a long way, I know)and people might wonder why I am involved in a digital project. The thing is, I needed this little push to get started and the love for writing was what brought me this far.I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I did.

Digital Journey (Cool) on Prezi

A way with words (part 3)

The blog I referred to in the previous post is by Karl Fisch. He developed the presentation I posted previously. An updated version can be seen here, by the way.

A way with words (part 3)

The blog I referred to in the previous post is by Karl Fisch. He developed the presentation I posted previously. An updated version can be seen here, by the way.

A way with words (part 2)

I was wondering if you blog readers could help me out! I was trying to find out the term we use when we change a word to fit a certain phrase or context. For example, I was reading a blog yesterday (unfortunately, I can´t remember the name) and it was written "shift happens" (which totally made sense in the text). How do we call that?

A way with words (part 2)

I was wondering if you blog readers could help me out! I was trying to find out the term we use when we change a word to fit a certain phrase or context. For example, I was reading a blog yesterday (unfortunately, I can´t remember the name) and it was written "shift happens" (which totally made sense in the text). How do we call that?

A way with words

After blogging all day long yesterday, I felt compelled to write a post about words. I have always admired the American way with words and the fun aspect of it, which is something I don´t usually see in my native language, portuguese. An example is the film Bruce Almighty (2003), in which a beggar holds up a sign with interesting messages. Their creativity comes to a point that I often wonder, what will come next? And I often can´t wait.

A way with words

After blogging all day long yesterday, I felt compelled to write a post about words. I have always admired the American way with words and the fun aspect of it, which is something I don´t usually see in my native language, portuguese. An example is the film Bruce Almighty (2003), in which a beggar holds up a sign with interesting messages. Their creativity comes to a point that I often wonder, what will come next? And I often can´t wait.

Who´s willing to get their hands dirty?

I was reading the Weblog "Word and Image" by Sigrid Jones and I saw this picture and I loved it. It says so much to me. It reveals (this is the way I see it due to the experience I had last semester and I´ve been having regarding Web Tools) to me the need to roll up our sleeves and make it happen. This semester, I´m working on a seminar presentation about digital learning for young learners and during this period, which actually started last semester, when I was introduced to web 2.0.(by taking the online course Webtools for Educators), I´ve been facing challenges (and by the way, overcoming each one of them)that for some educators would make them think why bother? , but instead of asking that question, which I honestly was inclined to, I decided to see where this road would lead me. So, challenged (in a good way) by my dear colleague Dani Lyra to be part of this project, I was determined to enjoy the journey, implementing the tools in class and sharing my discoveries. The feeling of accomplishment and the faces of the students after they see their final work posted for everyone to see, parents and friends in particular, is priceless. Cool feeling indeed.

Who´s willing to get their hands dirty?

I was reading the Weblog "Word and Image" by Sigrid Jones and I saw this picture and I loved it. It says so much to me. It reveals (this is the way I see it due to the experience I had last semester and I´ve been having regarding Web Tools) to me the need to roll up our sleeves and make it happen. This semester, I´m working on a seminar presentation about digital learning for young learners and during this period, which actually started last semester, when I was introduced to web 2.0.(by taking the online course Webtools for Educators), I´ve been facing challenges (and by the way, overcoming each one of them)that for some educators would make them think why bother? , but instead of asking that question, which I honestly was inclined to, I decided to see where this road would lead me. So, challenged (in a good way) by my dear colleague Dani Lyra to be part of this project, I was determined to enjoy the journey, implementing the tools in class and sharing my discoveries. The feeling of accomplishment and the faces of the students after they see their final work posted for everyone to see, parents and friends in particular, is priceless. Cool feeling indeed.

A moment of silence: A reason to write

The day after Brazil´s defeat by the Netherlands, we Brazilians still couldn´t believe it. It was like a bad dream we would wake up from. But, unfortunately, it was not. Galvão said: "We must keep in mind that it´s just a soccer game." Julio Cesar, our goal keeper, who was brave enough to talk to a reporter right after the game, said: "The world won´t end". And they´re right. Well, let´s hope they win in 2014. Will they?

A moment of silence: A reason to write

The day after Brazil´s defeat by the Netherlands, we Brazilians still couldn´t believe it. It was like a bad dream we would wake up from. But, unfortunately, it was not. Galvão said: "We must keep in mind that it´s just a soccer game." Julio Cesar, our goal keeper, who was brave enough to talk to a reporter right after the game, said: "The world won´t end". And they´re right. Well, let´s hope they win in 2014. Will they?

Digital Communication

For this digital communication project, Dani Lyra and I expect to make our students go the extra mile in terms of writing. Besides the book, they´ll have the opportunity to create a piece of writing in which the grammar structure learned is used along with a digital tool. Each task is presented with a different tool, chosen by the teacher, according to its practicality.

Digital Communication

For this digital communication project, Dani Lyra and I expect to make our students go the extra mile in terms of writing. Besides the book, they´ll have the opportunity to create a piece of writing in which the grammar structure learned is used along with a digital tool. Each task is presented with a different tool, chosen by the teacher, according to its practicality.