More Tech TIps

Technology Seminar IH Brno 26 Feb 2011

View more presentations from Sandy Millin.

Tech Tips

Goal 11: Give Students Reign

“It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it.”

Jacob Bronowski, The Ascent of Man




Giving our students reign is another challenge that we face. Why? Times have changed and as we keep on saying, we cannot teach our students in the same way we were taught in the past because in that way, they will learn very little. Despite knowing this fact, many teachers continue lecturing on and on, and their students get bored to death. because they need to learn by doing things. In the past, we used to be recipients of knowledge and we learnt in that way, but not anymore. Our students need to get involved, to become active participants of their learning process. Does this mean that we teachers are no longer necessary? Definitely not, but our role now should be more of a facilitator though we may need to lecture at times.
Have I tried a more student-centred approach? Yes, I have. And it feels so good to make them do most of the talking, to sense that they are the main actors and that they are learning.

Goal 10: Plant a Seed of Belief

“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

~ Matthew 17:20


Reflecting on this goal, I believe that not only do we have to plant a seed of belief in our students but in us as well. We have to believe that we can become better professionals and teach our students in the best possible way. Likewise, we need to believe in our students and the fact that they are capable of achieving incredible things.

One of the things that we teachers do wrong is to label our students, and the moment that happens, this person is bound to fail because he or she will no longer believe that succeeding is possible.

I personally believe in all my students and I show that I do care about them, but it is not easy for them to believe in themselves after years of having teachers telling them that they were capable of nothing. So here we face a huge challenge, but if we succeed, we will feel so much rewarded!

Goal 9: Make a Global Connection

“True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.”

by Socrates

Making a global connection, how interesting but once again, what a challenge!

I have to admit that I haven't been involved in any project that connects students with people from other parts of the world. Why not? I believe mainly because I've been never encouraged to do such a thing, and if I had that idea in mind, I would fear they wouldn't approve of it! But let's face it, we are living in a globalized world, in which our students are fully aware of what's going on everywhere. If we think of it, we are depriving them of the possibility to learn from other people, other cultures.

Another "fear" I have when it comes to getting involved in a global project is lack of support of my administrators as they might fear doing such a project could be "dangerous" in some way or other, mainly because it's unkonwn ground for them. The feeling I have is that here in Argentina people are still quite reluctant to take the plunge and go for technology. We might be starting, but we still have so much to cover.

So, my goal this year will be to try and find the way to get involved in a global project. It will be so exciting for my students as they will be writing, or showing their work not for the teacher but for an international audience!

iGlobal Class Projects: Extending Learning Beyond the Classroom Walls on Prezi

Goal 8: Re think Student Behaviour and Classroom Management

“I’ve come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized.”

by Dr. Haim Ginott






Dealing with behaviour is definitely not an easy task, but it is a challenge we must face. I believe that getting to know our students better will help us understand why on many occasions they might misbehave and think of ways to stop this from happening. I see that many teachers just like to shout, show authority, but don't really care about their students. Of course, we might have a student who was born kind of evil, but those cases are just a few.
I've tried talking to my students after misbehaving and it helped a lot. What I must put into practice soon is to make them reflect on their behaviour and punishment they may get.
Thanks Shelly!

Back to Work!

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn."

Benjamin Franklin

What a good quote I've found to go back to work! It really motivates me to put many new ideas into practice. My challenge this year is to involve my students in the learning process because experience has shown me that we learn the most when we get involved. As a matter of fact, I'm experiencing this myself now that I'm in the role of student once again. And how good it feels to know that you are an active participant and that you are capable of achieving so much!

Dear students of mine, this year I hope I'll be able to more than engage you in your learning process. I'm so eager to start!

Goal 7: Play and Have Fun!

How much I need to reflect on this goal!! Because I'm used to asking my kids to shut up and sit down many times during the day. Of course, I believe that it is something necessary from time to time because there are activities that must be done in a quiet environment, and besides, kids need to develop a sense of respect.
I have to admit that I don't play on a regular basis, maybe because I don't like games that much, but it is true it will benefit my students enormously. What I do though is carry out activities in which they act, move, and I can see how much fun they get out of that.
And yes...it's true, these learners of today are so different from the ones of some years ago, me included. Nowadays, knowledge is constructed by making connections, by doing, by sharing. So...what am I waiting for?
Tomorrow I go back to school, no kids yet, but it'll be a great chance to share everything I've learnt in these amazing personal learning networks and the 30 goals!

Goal 6: Invite them in

With the coming of the web 2.0, now it is possible to show parents what we are doing with their kids. This year in particular, I'm planning to start a wiki or a class blog to make this possible. Before, we would only decorate the school with posters or we would invite parents for special events. But I think it is not enough. If we want them to really see all the effort, enthusiasm and energy we put to our job, let's better do something that can help us be in touch with them on a more regular basis.

What does the future hold?

The following presentation is really enlightening about the future of leraning. No doubts we cannot possible stay behind. We need to change in order to help our students learn in a better way.

The Future of Learning

View more presentations from Steve Wheeler.

Goal 5: Reflect, Step Back, Act

“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”

by Peter F. Drucker

Reflecting upon our teaching, so necessary and crucial in our careers though at times scary because we may feel that we’ve been doing things the wrong way. Cheer up! It’s never too late, and the good thing is that we will eventually learn in order to improve the way we teach. In Argentina, I have to admit that I reflected a lot about my teaching especially during my practice lessons. In a way, I was forced to as I would deliver a lesson with sometimes 10 of my classmates plus my teacher fixing their eyes on me. Good news is, I’ve survived! And I’ve learnt so much! Even today, I continue learning as, from time to time, I have colleagues of mine coming into my classroom to watch me. It has become such common practice that I don’t mind it at all. On the contrary, I feel they’ll be able to tell me things that I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise. Sharing is so important! Not only on the Internet through social networks.

At the moment I’m not teaching since I’m on holiday, but if you ask me about my worst lessons, I remember the first year I spent at my new job giving boring lessons, because I was not really familiar with the material, and I didn’t feel confident enough with what I was doing.

To sum up, my worst lessons took place when I was either unprepared (last-minute replacement), didn’t feel confident with the content I had to teach, or technology wasn’t on my side and I lacked a back-up plan.

Why not? It will be a great idea to have one of my lessons recorded and see me in action. Once gain...how scary!! But so productive!