Week 10 - Just a "Click" away...

I leave you with my sunset. Ready for a new beginning. Ready to implement new ideas.

It has been a pleasure to share with so many colleagues from around the world. So many teachers who want the same thing “become better educators each day”.

Each one of us has a different experience every day, we all face different situations, cultural backgrounds and number of solutions we create for various issues that arise in class.

From a kindergarten kid up to teacher training courses, from language classes to university subjects we have created a system in which we could discuss, share and learn from each other.

Thank you Robert for all your support, for guiding us and trusting that we were going to be able to get to the objectives. For knowing that we were going to find different ways to accomplishing the objectives proposed.

Now I feel my hand full of tools, like Ceci mentioned. My mind is full of ideas, a bit overwhelmed to be honest, but it feels good. Good because now I don’t fear the technological tools that were far from me. Now I feel them close and know that I can explore them and apply them into my profession.

To the newcomers, I suggest you all to enjoy the courses you take. Take your time, set up an agenda, try to implement as much as you can while you are actually reading the articles and doing the assignments. Everything is useful and beneficial for you and your students.

Thanks to the University of Oregon to providing us with this opportunity to meet professionals who shared their expertise in the field of education. I do hope to continue having the possibility to take more classes helping me to become a better professional.

And thank you all, my peers, my colleagues, for being there, for sharing, for being part of this wonderful educational field. We are just a Click away J That feels good, doesn’t it?

A big hug from Paraguay – Heart of South America

Carolina Ortiz Ruffinelli

Week 9 - Becoming more concious about myself

This was an exiting week reading more about Multiple Intelligence and Learning Styles. I found myself thinking about my childhood and how many times I could feel that teachers would impose a certain way of teaching and I basically "accepted" their rules or concepts presented but classes were not meaningful for me.
Now, I find myself reading these articles, sharing my thoughts and opinions with such a nice group of professionals, and I see myself invited to look for better options to share knowledge and learning experiences for my students and for teachers who share this experience with me as a coordinator.
I am committed and invited to share about a number of tools that will make learning more beneficial to others, guiding colleagues to be aware of their own learning styles and helping them to become conscious about ways in reaching kids with different interests or priorities. Why favor only verbal and spatial students most of the time? What happens with kinesthetic kids? Do they need to be told to stay still all the time? Isn't it about time to let them express themselves? Or auditory learners, intrapersonal ones. They also have their needs, and they can share so much with their own perspectives.
Learning more about Project Based Learning, Learner Autonomy, models of creating objectives, creating presentations and being able to upload things I created by myself gave me a lot of confidence to continue searching more about education. Now I find myself thinking about ways I could share this materials with colleagues and how I can influence to make an impact at the institutions I work at implementing more technology. Creating a blog with my students was something I honestly did not think about before. Now, they ask about it and they want to continue sharing thoughts. I know this will be a great way to continue improving their language skills.
I will continue fining out more about getting connected to webminars. For some of you this may be something too easy, but I need to be honest. I still have a lot to learn, which is good. I still have so many things to continue discovering and by taking the risk and trying out new things I know I will be able to make my classes more interesting and make my students’ learning an unforgettable experience, sharing tools with them that they will be able to use in their lives. I think that this is my mission. Give them tools for life!