Part of the Cool Sites series

Photo adapted from Flickr by kevindooley licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic.

Summer has officially started for many of you! I know that you will probably be relaxing for the first few days, but eventually you may feel the need to be inspired and motivated for the upcoming 2011-2012 school year! Social media provides us with incredible opportunities to choose the way we want to develop professionally. You can choose the topic, the medium, and who you want to learn from. You can choose the way you like to learn, because social media provides us with several multimedia experiences, such as webinars, LMS, live video, and more. The experience is usually dynamic and motivating because you are learning with others around the world! Additionally, you will be developing your Personal/ Passionate Learning Network (PLN).

Professional Development Opportunities to Choose From…

Free Programs:

• The 30 Goals Challenge- Over 5000 educators have participated in the 1st and 2nd editions of this global challenge for educators with the premise of getting you to complete 30 professional development goals by 2012. These are short-term goals, such as guest posting, changing your classroom environment, providing effective feedback, establishing an online presence, and more. How do you participate?
  • read the 30 challenges here!
  • add a video blog as a response on The 30 Goals Youtube Playlist
  • add your blog posts and thoughts to the 30 Goals Facebook group
  • add a comment or link through Twitter using #30goals as the hashtag
  • Got a smartphone?
    • Subscribe to the podcast through iTunes! Scroll down the page to see the button!
    • Subscribe to the Youtube Channel then click your Youtube icon, go to more, and the most updated videos will be listed under Subscriptions!
  • Download the free e-book if you want to accomplish the 1st edition goals.
• SEETA Courses- The South Eastern Europe Teachers Association offers several week courses with a guest author or expert in the field. You will have to register, but the courses are free!
• 31 Days to Become a Better Edtech Leader- With his vast experience, Terry Freedman offers excellent goals to accomplish each day that help you use educational technology effectively. Goals include conducting a SWOT analysis to organizing an inservice! Here’s a handy list of each post and the links.
• The 23 Things Project- Take Steven Anderson’s 10 week course that shows you how to use various web 2.0 tools effectively in the classroom.
• ASCD Free Summer Boot Camp- Webinars by various guests. First one is Lisa Dabbs, @teachingwthsoul
• Arts Integration E-Course on Education Closet- Registration is happening now for an online arts integration professional development course this summer. This was submitted by Susan Riley!
• Integrating Technology for Active Lifelong Learning (IT4ALL)- provides free online workshops on Moodle for Teachers (Orientation, Beginners, Intermediate, and Advanced), Professional Electronic Portfolios (PEP), WebQuests, Facilitating Online Classes, Grant Writings, TESOL, Integrating Technology and using Web 2.0 in the classroom. This was submitted by Nellie Deutsch!

Attend Live Events in Real Time!

You can attend several free conferences, webinars, Twitter chats, and presentations online with your PLN! These usually last one hour, but many conferences also offer free all day live streaming of their keynotes.

• Free Friday Webinars- Thanks to the American TESOL Institute, I conduct free 30 minute online webinars on the Adobe Connect platform every Friday at 4pm EST (New York Time), 3pm Austin, TX, 1pm LA, California, 9pm London Time, 10pm Paris Time, 11pm Athens/Istanbul Time, Sat 8am Sydney time, and Sat. 6am Tokyo time. Check your time zones here!
  • This is the Adobe Room to join! http://americantesol.adobeconnect.com/terrell/
  • You can even join on your smartphone using the free Adobe Connect app!
  • Check out the Livebinder resources that accompany these presentations!
  • Catch past video archives here, http://americantesol.com/cafe/
• Attend the free Reform Symposium E-Conference along with 8000 other educators from over 50 countries. This takes place Friday, July 29 to Sunday, July 31, 2011 and we hope you will join us for what promises to be our biggest yet global online conference for everyone concerned with education. With up to 60 presentations and 12 keynote speakers it is sure to be an incredible event!
• The Educators’ PLN Ning Live Chats with Guest Experts- The Educator’s PLN is a great place to interact and learn from other educators. Join us for free live chats with various authors. In the past we featured Alfie Kohn, Howard Rheingold, Diane Ravitch, Chris Lehmann, Steve Hargadon, Jim Burke, and others.
• Watch Live Streams of the 140 Character Conference- Jeff Pulver has been amazing in getting celebrities, educators, and leaders in various fields to speak passionately about how social media is revolutionizing their fields. If you cannot attend physically, then attend virtually. Jeff live streams the talks! Follow the hashtag, #140Conffor continuous updates.
• Edublogs Live Events- Every week, attend a free webinar on various topics. Usually, Jo and Phil Hart hosts these free webinars that cover effective use of web 2.0 tools or instructional methodologies.
• Future of Education- Join Steve Hargadon live as he interviews some of the greatest minds in education. Past guests included Sir Ken Robinson, Alfie Kohn, Diane Ravitch, and more!
• Classroom 2.0 Live Events- Every week, attend a free webinar with an expert in a field or listen to some great authors speak live and ask them questions.
• Simple K12 webinars- Attend free webinars with experts on various topics.
• Attend Second Life Live Events- Second Life has several educational groups that meet weekly for free conferences, talks, workshops, and more. Download the software and register for free. Consider joining these educational groups:
• ISTE on Second LifeDiscovery Educator NetworkEDTECH RetreatEDTECH CommunityVisit Edunation Island- a safe place for educators
• #Edchat- Join over 2000 educators every Tuesday to discuss various topics you get to vote for and suggest.
• Education Chats on Twitter- Find out the dates and times of educational conversations that occur on Twitter.

Free Online Classes:

Ever dream of studying at Stanford or MIT or being taught by George Siemens? Well you can attend several free online courses taught by authors, subject matter experts, and university lecturers. Below are useful links to find a free online course in any subject!

• MOOC- Massive Open Online Courses where 1000s attend for free through discussion forums and free webinars. Follow the hashtag #MOOC for the latest MOOC. University professors, TED speakers, and notable educational theorists moderate these courses. You learn from the very best in our field! Topics range from Personal Learning Networks to Mobile Learning!
• MIT Open Course Ware offers over 1900 free online courses in over 20 subjects. You can subscribe by RSS or get e-mail updates.
• Stanford on iTunes- Download courses, faculty lectures, interviews, music and sports that will play on your iPod, iPad, iPhone, Mac or PC.
• 17 Universities with free online courses- Find out how to access these free courses from some of the most respected universities in the world! This article also describes the experience of learning through these online classes.
• 250 Free Online Courses- Find a list of several more free online courses from the top universities categorized by subject.
• Edufire Free Live Online Classes- Register for free and have access to various topics such as using various web tools or learning a different language. You get a live tutor on a video.

Find several more professional development opportunities by clicking on the tabs of Mike Fisher’s Live Binder.

Challenge:

Try any of these professional development opportunities and blog about your experience. Blogging helps you reflect and decide how you can apply this learning to improve your instructional methods.

If you enjoyed this post, you may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!

What are your favorite ways to learn online? Did I miss any other great professional development opportunities?

Goal 13 of The 30 Goals Challenge 2011

Goal

Short-term- Have students write a reflection about what they feel they fail at and what they learn from failing and how it impacts them.

Long-term- Find ways to allow room for failure in your classroom and have students reflect on it.

Quote

“Don’t look where you fall, but where you slipped.” ~Proverb

Fantastic Posts about this Goal!

• Terry Freedman’s free Amazing Web 2.0 Projects book with real reflections even failures mentioned about integrating technology in the classroom!

Challenge:

Have students write a reflection about what they feel they fail at and what they learn from failing and how it impacts them.

Did you reflect on this goal? Please leave a comment that you accomplished this goal by either posting your own video reflection on Youtube, using the hashtag #30Goals, posting on the 30 Goals Facebook group, adding a post to the 43 Things web/mobile app, or adding a comment below! Feel free to subscribe to The 30 Goals podcast!

Keep an eye out for the book, The 30 Goals Challenge for Educators, that will be published by Eye on Education in the Fall of 2011!

Background music is Lassitude by Dupoxy from CC Mixter

If you enjoyed this post, you may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!

Goal 1 of The 30 Goals Challenge 2011

Goal

Short-term- Offer a student or other educator you see struggling support. It could be a colleague who is stressed or a student struggling with another subject. Who in your life needs your support?

Long-term- In what ways can we help students learn to support each other throughout the learning process? How can we build a supportive community with the colleagues in our school? How do we get away from the “us” versus “them” mentality?

Quote

“You cannot force commitment, what you can do…You nudge a little here, inspire a little there, and provide a role model.  Your primary influence is the environment you create.”

by Peter Senge, suggested by John Evans (@joevans)

Need Ideas?

• Create a Wallwisher to celebrate someone’s birthday, achievement, anniversary, etc!
• Help a teacher with a lesson plan!
• If a student is having a bad day, tell his/her parent something nice!
• Send a message through social media outlets!
  • Dedicate a song through BlipFm.
  • On Facebook or Twitter send a nice DM showing support.
• Send an e-card wishing a friend well or give them a happy post-it note or a greeting card. My favorite e-greetings site is Care 2 Cards where your card supports a cause.
• Make an Animoto video or Blabberize the message. You can find more services to show appreciation here!
• Try these mobile apps to show appreciation!

Challenge:

Be a beam and show support for a colleague or student by the end of today! Don’t forget to reflect about the goal after you achieved it and share!

Did you reflect on this goal? Please leave a comment that you accomplished this goal by either posting your own video reflection on Youtube, using the hashtag #30Goals, posting on the 30 Goals Facebook group, adding a post to the 43 Things web/mobile app, or adding a comment below! Feel free to subscribe to The 30 Goals podcast!

If you enjoyed this post, you may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!

Wow! It’s 2011! 2010 rushed by so fast. Sorry for not posting in 18 days but quite a lot is taking place and I have been trying desperately to catch up! Usually, I do an update of each month but since it’s the New Year I’ve decided to also update you about the year and upcoming 2011 projects. Sorry if this becomes a long post, but as you know there are several tips, resources, and tools shared on Teacher Reboot Camp that I don’t want you to miss.

December Recap

Your favorite posts based on comments and overall traffic:

• 14 Apps That Should Accompany You to the Next Conference!
• Let’s Play! 20+ Sites for Young Learners
• The Beauty of Sand!
• My Favorite Tech Tools, Apps, and Resources This Month-
  • PodOmatic- Easy way to podcast for free with embed and iTunes option.
  • Mindblowing- Gather audio, video and photos into a colorized mindmap. Enter the main topic, title, or theme in the main node then create branches with images, audio, or video attached. Send the mindmap with the attachments through email. Free version available on the iPhone. This is my recent review of this app which gives several ideas on how to use it with students.
• Interviews!
  • Building the Twitter Academy: Interview with Kelly Tenkely
  • Student Perspectives on Digital Natives & Technology in Schools
• My Guest Posts!
  • Living My Passion- Giving this interview was really motivating for me. I really loved the questions asked.
  • Bullies, Victims, and Voices- Posted on the Cooperative Catalyst blog! Lessons learned about dealing with bullies from my father.
  • Education Needs Reflective Educators- This was a repost on the Project PLN Ezine that comes out monthly.
  • 2ft Tall Tropies- This podcast/prose was written for my father, a championship bowler and inspiration in my life.
  • I write the weekly summaries for Parentella’s #PTChat, the parent and educator discussion, which occurs every Wednesday at 9pm PST. I also write posts covering the educator panels at the 140 Conferences.
• My Wikis and Presentations:
  • Blog4Edu- Several Blogging resources! If you need help gaining a wider audience or would like to have a crew send anonymous feedback on how to improve your blog please visit this great project!
  • We Connect- Updated! This is my PLN wiki where you will find several resources, tutorials, videos and more on helping educators join a PLN. Please feel free to use the resources in your presentations on PLNs and social media.
  • Technology 4 Kids- Updated with new resources and pages!
• Other NEWS!!
  • Thanks to American TESOL I will be conducting free 30 minute online workshops on various topics every Friday at 4pm EST (New York Time), 3pm Austin, TX, 1pm LA, California, 9pm London Time, 10pm Paris Time, 11pm Athens, Sat 8am Sydney time, and Sat. 6am Tokyo time.:
    Join me in this Adobe Room at the time http://americantesol.adobeconnect.com/terrell
  • Happy to announce The 30 Goals Challenge, 2nd edition will be on bookshelves by the end of the year! Thank you so much for your support of my free 30 Goals Challenge E-book. Over 4000 of you have read it and I am truly grateful! Download your free copy here, print it out, share it with your staff! Join our new Facebook Group, 30 Goals to receive support and mentorship! Thanks to Lisa Dabbs, @teachingwthsoul, for her help in co-moderating this group!
  • Heike Philps, Berni Wall, and me are heading to the prestigious ELTon awards in February! This is an incredible awards ceremony held in London on a blue carpet with spotlights. We would like to thank all participants, volunteers, and presenters who have been part of the Virtual Round Table free E-Conference for educators! Wish us good luck and hopefully we bring home the prize

2010 Favorite Posts

Your favorite posts based on overall traffic:

• 25 Resources About Personal Learning Networks
• What Will You Learn? 35 Professional Development Resources
• Free E-books and Resources!
• Learning Beyond Walls: 21 Skype Resources
• 14 Apps That Should Accompany You to the Next Conference

You may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!

Perhaps you have been busy organizing your classes or preparing for the end of the semester! If so, you may have missed some of the tips, resources, and tools shared on Teacher Reboot Camp.

What you might have missed…

Your favorite posts this month based on comments and overall traffic:

• Educators as Collaborators: 25+ Resources- Are you thinking of having your students collaborate in teams? Check out these tips and free resources for getting your students to collaborate with their peers in their classroom or worldwide!
• Education Needs Reflective Educators- Read about the Blog 4 Edu (The Blogging for Education project) project, a Twitter account (@Blog4Edu), wiki, Posterous blog, and Facebook page to help support bloggers, blogging projects, and blogging challenges. Our vision is to persuade as many educational stakeholders worldwide to blog.
• My personal favorite post this month was, Sharing Our Voices & Reaching Our Audience- In order to get buy-in from other educators, our administrators, and the general public, we have to show them the impact of our online professional development on our teaching and the impact on the students. We need to communicate our passion effectively. We have to persuade, convince, and change minds. Changing minds means we have to get folks to listen. Therefore, I’m collaborating with other educators in starting a virtual Toastmasters to improve our speaking skills! Our first meeting will be on Saturday, December 18th at 12noon EST, 9am PST, 5pm GMT, 6pm Paris, 7pm Athens/Istanbul, 2pm Argentina Time! Enter the Elluminate room here, https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/dropin.jnlp?sid=vclass&password=LPCBZLAT4D3Y921591JT! Thanks to Edublogs and Elluminate for the opportunity! Fill out this form if you’d like to receive updates or help organize the event!
• My Favorite Tech Tools, Apps, and Resources This Month-
  • Posterous- The easiest way to blog through e-mail. Watch a video tutorial here!
  • Dragon Dictation- I work on so many projects, it is awesome I can use this app to give my fingers a rest and speak my tweets, emails, and blog posts. It’s a free iPhone app!
• Interviews!
  • How Do We Animate Lessons? Interview with Ken Wilson
  • What Does the Innovative School Look Like? Interview with Dr. Tom King
• My Guest Posts!
  • Passion: PASS It ON- This post was part of the excellent Passion series on Angela Maiers’ blog.
  • How Do We Motivate Students to Collaborate with Peers Worldwide?- This is the #Edchat summary posted on Berni Wall’s blog!
  • #Edchat: The Education Conversation- If you’re new to #Edchat, the largest education conversation on Twitter, then read this post with tips and ways to participate from the Really Good Stuff blog!
  • Learning Beyond Walls: Games and Wikis- This was a repost on the Project PLN Ezine that comes out monthly.
  • Goal Setting with English Language Learners and Motivating Adult Learners Using Skype- This post was shared in the BE/ESP Blog Carnival by Anne Hodgson.
  • Goal Setting with English Language Learners and Motivating Adult Learners Using Skype- This post was shared in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) EFL/ESL/ELL Blog Carnival by Sabrina De Vita.
  • I write the weekly summaries for Parentella’s #PTChat, the parent and educator discussion, which occurs every Wednesday at 9pm PST. I also write posts covering the educator panels at the 140 Conferences.
• Guest Posts
  • Everybody Can Paint by Sabrina De Vita- In this post, Sabrina shares an incredible classroom learning experience when one of her students took over as the teacher.
  • If you would like to contribute to this blog, please follow these instructions in this Google Doc.
• My Wikis and Presentations:
  • Blog4Edu- Several Blogging resources! If you need help gaining a wider audience or would like to have a crew send anonymous feedback on how to improve your blog please visit this great project!
  • We Connect- Updated the ELT page! This is my PLN wiki where you will find several resources, tutorials, videos and more on helping educators join a PLN. Please feel free to use the resources in your presentations on PLNs and social media.
  • Technology 4 Kids- Updated with new resources for Global Collaboration and Drama Resources!
• Other NEWS!!
  • Thanks to American TESOL I will be conducting free 30 minute online workshops on various topics every Friday at 4pm EST (New York Time), 3pm Austin, TX, 1pm LA, California, 9pm London Time, 10pm Paris Time, 11pm Athens, Sat 8am Sydney time, and Sat. 6am Tokyo time.:
    Join me in this Adobe Room at the time http://americantesol.adobeconnect.com/terrell

Thank you so much for your support of my free 30 Goals Challenge E-book. Over 4000 of you have read it and I am truly grateful! Download your free copy here, print it out, share it with your staff! Join our new Facebook Group, 30 Goals to receive support and mentorship! Thanks to Lisa Dabbs, @teachingwthsoul, for her help in co-moderating this group!

Please feel free to use any of the resources shared here or in the wikis because the ultimate goal is to get other educators involved in our PLN.

You may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!

I hope you moved your clocks an hour behind. Perhaps you have been busy organizing your classes, carving pumpkings, or dressing up this month! If so, you may have missed some of the tips, resources, and tools shared on Teacher Reboot Camp.

What you might have missed…

Your favorite posts this month based on comments and overall traffic:

• Learning Beyond Walls: 28 Resources for Your Students to Connect Globally- Are you thinking of having your students connect with students in another country? Check out these tips and free resources for getting your students to collaborate with their peers worldwide!
• Survival Tips for Teaching Kids English: 30 Tips and Resources- Are you new to teaching children or struggle with classroom management? Check out these free resources and my Pecha Kucha video! You’ll laugh, relate, and possibly find some great ideas to inspire the little angels in your classroom
• My personal favorite post this month was, How a Whisper Becomes a Roar- What do we need for education transformation? I believe we need educators, parents, and students in our social networks to collaborate and share our ideas in order to be heard. Collectively, if we collaborate, we have a pretty powerful voice that should lead education transformation.
• My Favorite Tech Tools, Apps, and Resources This Month-
  • Wiggio- I will definitely blog about this fantastic free tool for collaborating on group projects. Included are calendars, updates, scheduling, a virtual video meeting place and so much more! I love this tool!
  • Wetoku- Are you enjoying the interviews? I use a free tool, Wetoku, to conduct and embed the interviews. This is so easy to use and I love the side by side cameras.
  • Story Robe App- With this free app students create a story on the Iphone or Ipod Touch by using pictures or videos they upload. Then the students narrate the story with their own voice and publish it on Youtube or email the story to their parents, teachers, or others.
• Interviews!
  • Mobile Learning with Kids! Tips and Resources by Scott Newcomb
  • Effective Leadership: Interview with Patrick Larkin
  • Using Skype for ELT Lessons: Interview with Marisa Pavan
  • Teachers as Leaders and Continuous Learners: Interview with Dr. Doug Green
  • Blogging with Students: Interview with Greta Sandler
• My Guest Posts!
  • How a Whisper Becomes a Roar- This was a repost on the Peoplegogy blog.
  • Global Netweaver, Curator, PLN Builder- Howard Rheingold interviewed me about educators building a Personal Learning Network (PLN). I really enjoyed this video interview with Howard who been an inspiration for educators worldwide.
  • Mobile Motivation: 17 Digital Storytelling Apps for Kids- In this post for Tech and Learning, I share resources for using digital storytelling apps with your students.
  • Learning Beyond Walls: Games and Wikis- This was a repost on the Project PLN Ezine that comes out monthly.
  • Learning to be a Better Educator- This post was shared in the ELL Blog Carnival by Ms. Flecha.
  • My Cooperation vs. Competition post was featured in ESL-Library’s Follow Friday blogs.
  • My blog was featured as one of the top 50 for special education.
  • I write the weekly summaries for Parentella’s #PTChat, the parent and educator discussion, which occurs every Wednesday at 9pm PST. I also write posts covering the educator panels at the 140 Conferences.
• Guest Posts
  • ELearning on YouTube by Kimberly Bowen
  • 5 Reasons Schools Should Switch To Online Tests by Shankar Ganesh
  • If you would like to contribute to this blog, please follow these instructions in this Google Doc.
• My Wikis and Presentations:
  • We Connect- Updated! This is my PLN wiki where you will find several resources, tutorials, videos and more on helping educators join a PLN. Please feel free to use the resources in your presentations on PLNs and social media.
  • Technology 4 Kids- Updated with new resources for Digital Storytelling and integrating Mobile Learning to help language learners!
• Other NEWS!!
  • Thanks to American TESOL I will be conducting free 30 minute online workshops on various topics every Friday at 4pm EDT (New York Time), 8pm GMT:
    - Using Wikis to Integrate Effective Online Tasks for Learners, Nov. 5th
    - Cooperative Learning to Motivate & Effectively Manage Young Learners, Nov. 12th
    - Enriching the Young Learner Classroom with Drama Tasks, Nov. 17th
    - Using Graphic Organizers to Enrich Discussion, Nov. 26th

    This is the Adobe Room that you can join http://americantesol.adobeconnect.com/terrell

  • I will be presenting at the TESOL France Conference in Paris from November 26th-28th. I will be presenting, Global Class Projects: Extending Learning Beyond the Classroom.

Thank you so much for your support of my free 30 Goals Challenge E-book. Nearly 4000 of you have read it and I am truly grateful! Download your free copy here, print it out, share it with your staff! Join our new Facebook Group, 30 Goals to receive support and mentorship! Thanks to Lisa Dabbs, @teachingwthsoul, for her help in co-moderating this group!

Please feel free to use any of the resources shared here or in the wikis because the ultimate goal is to get other educators involved in our PLN.

You may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!

Part of the series: Teacher Development Reflections

I should be putting the finishing touches on my lesson that I’m teaching tomorrow but I wanted to pause and reflect on my new August teaching post in Athens, Greece. I believe teachers are better educators when they reflect on their learning and for this month I’m learning so much as I work towards receiving my CELTA. A CELTA is the most sought after qualification for teaching English abroad. I quickly learned this when I moved to Germany 3 years ago and searched for teaching jobs worldwide having my Masters in ESL. The teaching positions I wanted required a CELTA.

I decided to study with my friend, Marisa Constantinides, who is an incredible teacher trainer and runs a teacher training center in Athens, Greece. I believe teachers should continually reflect on their experiences so I will be blogging about what I am learning from having such an experienced and creative tutor but in this post I want to tell you about my students.

What I’m Learning From My Students

Completing the CELTA requires observed teaching practice with students. For the past 4 years, Marisa has offered free English lessons to refugees. The refugees come from several countries, such as Sudan, Somalia, Algeria, Russia, Afghanistan, Bulgaria, and so forth. They come with very little reading and writing skills. Teaching them English is a challenge, because we also teach them literacy skills. My students have never really been taught to search for context clues, use a dictionary, listen for key words, and so forth. They struggle with basic skills, yet they come everyday for 3 hours a day. They listen, write what they can, challenge themselves, follow instructions, participate in every game, and applaud each teacher after every lesson.

Empathizing with my Students

Teaching them is a gift! Everyday I get to teach them I feel I am the fortunate one. I have never worked with refugees before and they have taken my teaching to a new level. Part of teaching is trying to find materials my students identify with and comprehend. This means understanding my students and getting to know them. I do this with every student I have taught because I believe this increases motivation. I quickly realized that I know very little about their struggles. I will never know what it is like to have grown up surrounded by war and atrocities. I will never know what it is like to survive, have to leave my home for a better life, then learn basic skills as an adult.

Questioning Coursebook Content

When searching for materials and designing my lessons I continually have them and their experiences in mind. Leafing through several coursebooks I often find that most of the materials aren’t easy for my students to identify with and I have to adapt them. This doesn’t always result in success. For example, there was a paragraph describing the life of Catherine Zeta Jones that I decided to change to David Beckham. The reading focused on a British person living in Hollywood and I knew my students loved playing football (soccer). My writing was a bit above their level but I can say they enjoyed hearing about David Beckham. I’m still learning. I have to note, however, that the coursebooks are helping me identify the grammar progression and I’m thankful for the framework they are giving me.

Giant Leaps

I have never cared so much about my students achieving every objective. I guess it is because I realize if they don’t achieve the objective this may impact their lives. They may not be able to do better in their jobs, get something they need, or communicate effectively. My students continuously awe me. Many of my lessons are far from picture perfect, but I did have one incredible lesson recently. My students were doing a listening exercise and I asked them what key words they would listen for, since Marisa had told our class earlier how much we needed to integrate literacy skills into our lessons. It worked. The students after a bit were able to come up with the keywords on their own, because I didn’t tell them. I waited till they told me. Each of them, even the one who struggles the most with writing words, was able to complete their listening questionnaire. In fact, he got every answer correct! In the past, this student hadn’t really completed any handouts because he couldn’t. This time he understood! For me, this was a golden moment in my teaching I will always carry. We need these moments to spur us to be this passionate with all our students.

What My Day Looks Like!

Here’s a video created by Marisa that shows some of the students, previous teachers, and the center. Enjoy!

Challenge:

Try adapting course content to motivate student interest. It’ll force you to think about their situations and build rapport.

If you enjoyed this post, you may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!

Part of the series: The 30 Goals Challenge, Goal 14: Cause a Ripple

Marti Sides, who just celebrated her birthday this past Friday, took the 30 Goals Challenge in January, please read this incredible post about her journey with Goal 14: Cause a Ripple and how she caused a ripple at her school….

“The Butterfly Effect” just happens to be the title that Philip Merilees coined for a speech about the “butterfly effect” by Edward Lorenz when he failed to give it a title himself. The butterfly effect can also be known as the ripple effect, as both terms seem to describe the effect that a single person (animal, insect, etc.) can have on all of the subsequent events that happen. However, this blog post isn’t about butterflies, or rocks, or water. This post is about education and the effects that one single person can have on education.

Today’s goal for @ShellTerrell’s #30Goals challenge, is to create your own ripple. I like to think of myself as a butterfly rather than a rock (I mean, really, who wants to be a rock?). The moment I made my New Year’s resolution to become more technologically innovative was the moment that I began to flap my wings, and this flight has definitely set off tornadoes in (Lubbock) Texas.

You see, I began this blog back in October. As @MZimmer557 mentioned in his blog post on The Pursuit of Technology Integration Happiness, I only had 3 posts between October and December. However, this will be my 14th blog post in January alone. This is largely due to Shelly Terrell’s #30Goals challenge. If it weren’t for these goals, I know that my larger goal of greater technology integration would not be going as smoothly as it is. This is just another example of a butterly (Shelly) flapping her wings in order to make change happen.

I want my wings to make a difference too. I originally began this blog as a way for me to share technology resources with my staff. Instead, this has become a place for me to reflect as well as share. This has lead to greater excitement from me, which has lead to a greater excitement among my teachers.

Last week, I finally shared my blog with my teachers. Since that time, several of them have not only commented to me about their increased excitement for technology, but they have also begun to come to me to ask for help in creating lessons for their curriculum using technology. This is something new for me. In the past, I have had to ask them what they were teaching, and then go to them with ideas. Sometimes they were enthusiastic about the ideas, and sometimes they weren’t.

Last week, two teachers decided that they wanted to create their own blogs. Both wanted to create a blog that would engage students at our campus in discussions. Wow! I know that this is not new for many educators around the globe, but it’s new for us and that makes me excited. (One blog is not quite ready for reading yet. You can check out the other at wblibrary’s blog – she would love your comments.)

Perhaps even more exciting than my two future bloggers, was the enthusiasm from my Pre-Kindergarten teacher. She came into my office Wednesday, looked at me and said, “You’ve motivated me.” There was nothing said prior to that so I was a bit confused. I guess I had that quizzical look on my face because she expanded with, “Your blog has motivated me to do better with my kids. I can just feel your excitement about it all so I want to start using technology more with my kids.” This is coming from a teacher who is amazing at teaching computer skills to her 4 year olds.

Within 15 minutes of this teacher walking into my office, we had brainstormed several ways to use email and a blog, create podcast stories and videos, and collaborate with our high school using the ITV lab during her upcoming fairy tale unit. Wow! Can you see what’s happening here? The butterfly effect…

I know that I am just a single butterfly trying to flap my wings and fly. It is my hope that the path that I take during my flight will excite and encourage others to join me. With that being said, I will leave you with this:

The only tangible way to enact change on a LARGE SCALE is to lead by example. It takes just one person, one action, one idea to spark interest and inspire change. ~The Ripple Effect

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Marti Sides is a Curriculum Technologist who works with teachers in grades Pre-K through 5th in order to incorporate technology into their curriculum. She also holds a black belt in Kunami Ryu. You can follow Marti on twitter at @kunami10. Visit her blog, From the Sides-lines.

Challenge:
Try Marti’s challenge and flap your beautiful butterfly wings this year to cause a tornado in your school!

Download your free copy of The 30 Goals Challenge: Join the Movement e-book!

Don’t forget to leave a comment that you accomplished this goal using the hashtag #30Goals!

Submit a guest post for The 30 Goals Challenge Series!

July 2010 edition of the What Did They Tweet series!

Let’s see what our Personal Learning Network (PLN) tweeted about in education and social media this week.

Tweets

Opportunities for Educators

Below is a list of great opportunities for free resources and more:

• Have your high school students participate in the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge to win a $50,000 scholarship and $5000 teacher grant! Details here! Tweeted by @DEN. This contest begins August 17, 2010 and ends March 15, 2011.
• Qwizdom “How Do You Q?” Contest Offers $12,000+ in Technology Prizes! More details here!
• Be a published by The Guardian! They want educator stories! More info here!
• Be a Guest Writer for TEFL.net!

If you enjoy this series, you may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!

For more tweets, check out these posts:

• Monthly Best Tweets by Larry Ferlazzo.
• My PLN Says… by Burcu Akyol.
• Monthly Tweets by Karenne Sylvester.

Challenge:

Share one of these resources with another educator not on Twitter. Then tell them you got the tip from educators on Twitter!

What was your favorite resource on Twitter this week?

Part of the series: The 30 Goals Challenge, Goal 4: Support a New Blogger

Karenne Sylvester, a prolific blogger, offers some advice for new and established bloggers….

With over 70,000,000 blogs written weekly – thousands of which are written by fellow educators – it is actually a good idea today to stop, take stock and look deeply look into why some of these blogs have become internationally popular sites, visited by hundreds of thousands of readers, daily, and why some of them have never got beyond a handful of friends, family members and colleagues visiting.

What are the intrinsic qualities which distinguish a great edu-blogger from a hobbyist?

1. Great edu-bloggers know why they blog

A lot of new bloggers kick off with an almost mandatory post, starting off somewhat hesitantly, with a cry out to the universe of oh, what shall I write about? (I did too) however the what is actually not as important as the why.

Bloggers don’t generally become successful until they have a relatively clear picture in their minds about their reasons for becoming a part of and participating in the vast blogopshere.

Reasons drive passion, you see.

Let’s be immediately clear, if it’s not already obvious to our readers and those who would be bloggers, real edu-blogging is real work.

For the vast majority of us, this activity provides no (or virtually no) income and there is a steep learning curve to climb while we learn all the ins and outs and adopt the jargon as part of our daily lives – and while it might seem, at times, really quite crazy to put this much effort into doing something which does not pay: we are united through our passion for the page.

Ask friends what drives them to get up in the mornings and they may not know but ask a trainer why she travels around the world, educating others, sharing her skills – her answers may vary but mostly you’ll hear:

I love what I do.

Ask a teacher working in a tough inner-city school how they have managed to stay in the classroom and they’ll shrug shoulders saying “dunno” or perhaps they’ll smile shyly with a little glint in their eyes, admitting that it’s because they know that they are inspiring others to reach their own potential.

And so it is with edu-blogging. It is passion which brings us here, lone writers hacking at our pages, honing our craft, very often for years. Conversely, it is the loss of this meaning that leads some of us to eventually quit, to let our blogs die peacefully.

Yet when we stay, when we push through the beginning days of low readership and poorly crafted posts, we grow.

Ask successful edu-bloggers how they have managed to stay on their pages: they know. Ask their readers why their blogs are read in large numbers and they will tell you – it’s because she’s just so motivated, she makes me want to be passionate about my teaching too…

Passion, it is delicious. Passion, it is the most contagious of all emotions out there.

It is addictive. Elusive and tricky to describe (and even a dirty word in some circles) but whenever you see it, whenever you find it, you want it. It’s the sheer smell of happiness – the quality we all want to have and it is this that gets readers following, readers turning into bloggers themselves, participating in conversations and coming back to the page to read, to write, to grow, to share even more.

Where does it comes from?

Here are some of the reasons why your fellow edu-bloggers blog with passion (a list without judgment or prejudice for no blogian should decree why another blogian participates in the ‘sphere):

• to develop their creativity and test out ideas
• to share lessons plans and ideas with other teachers and get feedback
• to provide one’s own students with easy links to common errors
• to give students a permanent space online to find out their homework
• to share what’s going on in the classroom with parents and the broader community
• to participate and aid the development of democracy in education
• to unite other teachers, globally
• to keep in touch with those they have trained in the past/ will train in the future
• to create a space where they can reflect on their own learning as they develop professionally
• for the discipline of writing regularly
• to hone and tighten their writing skills
• because blogging will eventually replace the paper based notebook and it’s a good idea to get in the practice now – a skill which can be shared with students
• to raise their own and others professional profiles
• to sell a book(s) they’ve written in the past or books they’ll be selling in the future
• to think through, out loud, ideas for new books and get feedback
• to have somewhere to put the book submission that was turned down, may as well put it up for free
• to be hired to eventually write a book which is based on themes covered in one’s blog
• to create an e-portfolio of their knowledge and skills
• to promote their workshops and/or get hired to do others
• to be hired by an e-consultancy business
• to be considered as an expert in edtech
• to get a job as teacher trainer-senior teacher-ICT specialist
• to get a job as a educational company’s blogger
• to make side-cash by selling other people’s products or advertising
• to have the thrill of having thousands of google hits attached to one’s name
• to join the party: everyone else is blogging, might as well too!

Why are you?

No matter the multiplutide of reasons your fellow bloggers may blog, knowing your own reason(s) will help you, like all of the great edu-bloggers to find the willpower to consistently come back to the page.

And if you’re not blogging yet but you are considering it, why?

2. Great edu-bloggers know who they are writing for.

Although a handful make the following type of statement and get away with it:

“I am going to Blog about whatever I Freakin’ feel like Blogging about!!!!!!! Just read and Enjoy…”

Most do not.

The underlying principle uniting all great edu-bloggers is that they understand that the blog they write is not only about what they feel or what they think – a web log is not a diary – instead they keep their audience’s needs central and in focus.

Those who insist on writing on whatever topic pops into their heads, randomly, spontaneously, generally do not ever generate high readership: educators are very busy, unique individuals themselves and if they find this happening over a long period of time, basically articles of only blog-babble or blogcandy, or worse, topics they have already read thousands of times elsewhere, they stop returning.

The most successful bloggers develop a keen sense of what their audience likes reading and write articles aimed at this specific niche, sub-niche or even to a broader field – following trends in the media, classrooms and staff rooms and they learn how to equate these discussions into their own posts; they focus on stories that they know their fellow teachers will be really interested in, saving personal anecdotes of non-related to educational issues for their personal inner circles on Facebook Notes: they don’t assume that educators, parents and students all want to read the same articles, separating these into different blogs; they provide new, unique voices rather than copy popular blogs; they offer a service which really helps their readers and they take themselves, as much as possible, completely out of the ego-equation.

Do you want to be a great edu-blogger?

Ask yourself often:

• Who am I writing for?
• Where are these teachers based?
• What do they teach?
• What are their primary concerns?
• What are they interested in reading more about?
• How can I serve them better?

image credit

Mike Licht, Notions Capital.com: Young woman blogging, after Marie-Denise Villers

(c) KarenneJoySylvester, 2010

This post is part of a new series: Thoughts on Edu-blogging. For part 2 of this particular article, please visit Janet Bianchini’s blog!

Karenne is an ELT edu-blogger, a ESP:IT teacher, EdTech teacher-trainer and materials writer, originally from Grenada in the Caribbean. She currently lives in Stuttgart, Germany and blogs at Kalinago English and BusinessEnglish~5mins. Find her on Twitter as @kalinagoenglish.

Challenge:
Try Karenne’s tips!

Download your free copy of The 30 Goals Challenge: Join the Movement e-book!

Don’t forget to leave a comment that you accomplished this goal using the hashtag #30Goals!

Submit a guest post for The 30 Goals Challenge Series!