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domenica 28 aprile 2019

Feeling positive while learning




This morning I came across this post shared online: it is really challenging as it reminds us what we are expected to do when learning and also teaching.



This reminded me how I felt when something  went wrong at school, it was not easy to cope with difficulties . As educators we need to focus on our learners and find the best strategies to get them into the habit of  learning and making progress
I would add that learning by doing and by making  mistakes  is a good way to come to terms with learning difficulties.  If we want, we can achieve what we want to but this implies working hard, struggling and sometimes making mistakes. It is the process of learning that is very important. We do need to empower our learners to work on their  process and their reflections on what is happing. 




Teaching requires the best techniques but also to know more about  mindset and how to grow  it:
here are some resources which might help you do this.




http://growthmindsetmemes.blogspot.com/

http://info.thinkfun.com/stem-education/carol-dweck-growth-mindset-in-education





Click here to open this binder in a new window.

Growth Mindset, by doleole

If only we knew more about these approaches, we would have better learners and perhaps better educators.

Let's begin by reflecting on our approaches and let's all learn about some  ideas worth sharing.

giovedì 25 aprile 2019

Teaching the Holocaust

Echoes & Reflections is an American website  specialized in helping educators involved in teaching the Holocaust.

 They provide you with plenty of resources and also  professional development online.

You can get more information about them by checking their website online:

https://echoesandreflections.org/


Every month you can find  webinars and useful resources for  teaching the issue of the Holocaust and the many atrocities which we still find  in spite of the sad events which occurred during WWII:

next week you could also learn about an interesting story dealing  with rescuing some 5,000 Jews

I have just finished my online professional development course which started three weeks ago.
I was given tips, information about their website and I could learn about many documents which we can use with our  learners.

We learnt about  the best ways and reflected together online:

  • module 1 was about the reasons why we should teach the Holocaust
  • module 2 was about  teaching Antisemitism
  • module 3 was about exploring primary sources

The discussion online was interesting and I really appreciated the way they presented how we should approach this topic in class.

In the final part of the course we were asked to present our lesson plan, it was not compulsory but I decided to work on it. 

Here is the main plan of a lesson plan for the course  which I have created online and I have just  shared by using a modern webtool- Spark Adobe.

I chose the issue of  children and stories from people who survived the sad period of the Holocaust.


Children and the Holocaust

I submitted my lesson plan with more details as I would like to use it with my students next year while working on the issue of the Holocaust.

Link to the document online :
 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-4DXYlhRIeYu89C8Mp3GBOml-EGoufBK9EZ03rUGFV4/edit?usp=sharing










I cannot but say that more educators should learn about this interesting website and the way they work. I could learn about  https://iwitness.usc.edu/sfi/ and the many activities that  the US Shoah  Foundation is carrying out.

We are doing this also in Italy and we will continue it. We do need to work on the past to learn about the mistakes and atrocities in the present. We need to empower our learners to become  aware of what we should never  forget to better human beings.

lunedì 22 aprile 2019

Earth Day 2019

It is  Earth  Day today and we are working online to focus on the issue which needs to be  taught among our   learners.

         #EarthDay2019 🌍 Our earth is precious.




Online I could see a lot of interesting tasks and ideas to be shared among  educators.
On Twitter I found this  weblink    https://www.dictionary.com/e/new-words-surrounding-climate-change/   which is related to the way we  teach the language about climate change. You should all check it.

Tonight I was online and I could see a webinar shared by an E-Twinning Group and the speaker provided this interesting  link

https://www.earthday.org/


The protests of the young on Friday have prepared this day : Greta  Thunberg  has  made a great campaign to present the issue




Hopefully her voice is not alone, we have many more  people, they are  young and older people who care and are engaged in this campaign: social media are also presenting the many voices  of the  ones who really want to stop the destruction of the environment.




I personally feel that it is our great challenge to protect our world, the Earth and I am going to discuss the issue with my learners to promote  a  healthier way of  living and to teach them about their responsabilities. Together we can! 



 

domenica 21 aprile 2019

Happy Easter!





It is a happy and sunny day today in my town. It is  spring and it is Easter time.
Today we are going to be out and spend some time together.

This is everywhere, if you are lucky enough to live in a place where  there is no war.


For some it is  religious celebration- in Italy it is based on the Christian religion. We go to Church and we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and the message of  hope for everyone.



For others it is time to have  a walk and to spend some days out and discover new places.






Today is also the Queen's birthday in the UK- I cannot but think about what is happening there.





For the busy ones , it is  still  time to fight to protect the environment, it is time to empower themselves , thanks to Greta Thunberg



Happy  Easter!!



venerdì 5 aprile 2019

Poetry Month: ideas for Blogging

While online I came across this interesting guide for bloggers.
Edublogger is an inspiring  source of ideas and provides support to any educator who is involved in teaching

Are you taking part in #NationalPoetryMonth? Be sure to share your blog posts with us!


Since I am worried about the great changes in seasons and weather conditions  I have decided to use a free up online  and  I have written my short  poem where I am talking about the importance of rain for all the living creatures.
I have used    https://pablo.buffer.com/  and I have  added my content.






Another  poem is about  Spring and the beauty of this season



I think that this simple tool can be used by any educator for  enhancing the students' writing skills and helping the learners use the words and content they have already done in class.

Why don't you try it in class? The app is free and you can develop  the students' creativity while  getting them involved in writing simple poems in English.  

martedì 2 aprile 2019

IATEFL ONLINE

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/events/IATEFL-Online/2019




Great event  today: starting  in about  an hour

My Presentation LEND REGGIO EMILIA 2019

Here you can find the main notes regarding my presentation for LEND REGGIO EMILIA today:

it is based on my online experience and the webinars and courses which  I have done online.


I discovered blogging online as an educator while I was doing  some  Moocs and then I continued writing and reflecting online.


Blogging can also enhance our students' learning.


There is  a repository online created by using  Google Sites with the mani  links and examples of blogs and portfolios: it will be updated with new resources




Blogging and eportfolios.pptx from Tiziana Angiolini on Vimeo.




 

LINK:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1I3BA6Cww2PCIN6N3hZQuVAJI1BDUQFJ0B1vTcZTg0NQ/edit?usp=sharing




lunedì 1 aprile 2019

Poetry Month











What poem should I read again today? The  English Bard with his great sonnet