Part of the series: The 30 Goals Challenge, Goal 9: Be a Guest Blogger

Image courtesy of Photobucket butterfly pictures

So many butterflies were fluttering around frantically in my stomach when I did my first guest post last year. As a relatively newbie blogger, I was so nervous, I couldn’t sleep the night before. It was a big stage.  I was at the right place and at the right time when I saw the opportunity via a tweet to do a guest post for Richard Byrne’s Free Technology for Teachers blog. I remember feeling very excited when I saw The Voyage of Discovery had published ok, and it really made my day.  Since then I have done quite a few more guest posts, including this one here for Shelly on the subject of Phrasal Verbs, and I  have not felt as nervous as that very first time. Those butterflies have now developed powerful wings to make them soar as high as they want to go.

The Impact of Goal Challenge 9: Be a Guest Blogger

You may be thinking, “Ok, you’ve done a few guest posts already, including one for Teacher Reboot Camp, so how could this be a new challenge for you? Well, when I read Shelly’s 30 Goals Challenge for Goal number 9 – Be a Guest Blogger, it inspired me to be even more pro-active and embrace any opportunity that I came across. The words that touched me were  “One of my long-term goals is to post more guest pieces on other websites or blogs.  I love having my writings published on other websites….” That really made me reflect, and I realised that I felt exactly the same way, but earlier this year, I wasn’t really pushing myself to achieve this goal more fully.

In the Flow

When I recently saw a tweet from OUP ELT Global blog asking for guest bloggers, I had Shelly’s motivational words in mind when I immediately and without hesitating, actually volunteered to go for it.  Up until then, I had only been invited personally to do a guest post by members of my  PLN that I had good social contact with.   “Renew the Passion and Go with the Flow” was a post I wrote to help teachers experiencing a loss of flow in their teaching.  It was a way for me to share my thoughts and hopefully impart some helpful advice and re-ignite the flow.

At the same time by sheer coincidence, a member of my PLN, Eva Buyuksimkesyan from A Journey in TEFL, asked me if I would like to do a guest post for her.  The result is The A-Z Files.  Again, my confidence had grown by then, and I saw it as a great way to share some more tips.

Below is a mind map I created with bubbl.us.  It shows the reasons why I think being a guest blogger is a great goal to achieve. Please press on the image for a bigger view.

It’s All in the Timing

Well, I can’t really think of any specific reason why being a guest blogger is not a good thing for you!  Maybe, the timing has to be right and that is the only drawback, as far as I can see.  You need to devote enough time to ensure that what you write is of a high standard.  My motto is that I would only publish a guest post if I would also publish it on my blog. If you are really too busy to contemplate doing a guest post, and you don’t want to offend by saying no outright to an invitation, then just explain and make a note in your diary to  find some time to write the post at a later date.  Make sure you really want to contribute by asking yourself the question, as Larry Ferlazzo suggests here, before you decide on a goal. I am sure the blogger who invited you will not be offended by your honesty and will look forward to your contribution at a later date.

My Top Tips

• Share your knowledge with your PLN by accepting any invitations to be a guest blogger
• Do not be afraid to reply to requests for guest authors outside of your PLN
• Do not be shy to offer to do a guest post on a related subject matter
• Be confident in your abilities
• Write about the particular subject matter that you are passionate about
• Research your topic matter as thoroughly as you can
• Enjoy the different environment
• Learn about a different blogging tool if it is not the same as yours
• Enjoy the experience
• The time is NOW!

Photo courtesy of KRB, then made into my own motivational poster by using bighugelabs.com

All Credit Due

I’d like to thank Shelly very much for creating such a wonderful set of 30 goals, which can be realistically achieved if you really, really set your mind to them. Shelly continues to surprise me with her amazing and boundless enthusiasm, her great acts of kindness and altruistic endeavours to help so many people. I learn so much from her truly unique sense of motivational powers. The makebeliefscomix below says it all. Please click on the image for a clearer view.

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Janet Bianchini (@janetbianchini) has been an EFL teacher for over three decades.  She still loves teaching and she is enjoying the challenge of learning more about new technologies and how to integrate them into her lessons. She writes a blog called Janet’s Abruzzo Edublog.  When she is not writing her blog, studying, editing or teaching, she loves to spend time in her rather wild garden with her menagerie in tow.

Challenge:
Submit your own guest post to this blog when you complete one of the goals or to another blog.

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!

Part of the Goals 2010 Challenge Series, Goal 9

One of my long-term goals is to post more guest pieces on other websites or blogs. I love having my writings published on other websites. Writing a guest post improves your writing in numerous ways, because naturally many of us hold ourselves to higher standards when we are guests. The wonderful part is you do not even have to be a blogger in order to write guest posts. Some of the most prominent members of our Personal Learning Network (PLN) do not have blogs, but guest blog regularly. These include @nmhs_principal and @tomwhitby. Guest posts help you gain a positive web presence, help distinguish you as a subject matter expert (SME), help you gain exposure to a wider audience, and boost your portfolio.

Tips

Here are some useful tips, I learned from my experience:

• Have a short bio prepared- In your bio you may want to include your job position, related experience, a link to your portfolio or website, and a link to your Twitter or LinkedIn accounts.
• Have a nice profile picture prepared- Most people recommend having a picture of your likeness versus an avatar or logo.
• Write the best types of posts- Remember this will be your first impression on many new readers.
• Grammar check your posts!
• Ask the guest blogger for specific guidelines and keep to these guidelines- format, length, whether images are necessary, and what type of topics they are desired
• Reply to those who comment- at the end of all the comments you should be able to see a button that gives you the option to subscribe to comments so you are notified each time a person comments. Leaving comments is important for engaging readers in the discussion.
• Study the audience!

Where to Submit

Here are a few places that welcome posts from guest bloggers. Contact these websites through their contact pages or through Twitter. Introduce yourself, send them a bio, and your ideas for a guest piece.

• Guest series- contribute to a blog’s guest posts focused on a theme
  • Investigating Global Edtech Issues- I am looking for contributors from various countries, please check here to make sure I do not have a post from your area.
  • Cool Sites- I accept posts that lists favorite education technologies with examples of how you used them with your students.
  • What Did They Tweet?- Choose your favorite tweets of the week and provide pics, video, and descriptions.
  • Stories From the Front Lines of EFL-  Barbara Saka’s series on teaching young learners English.
  • 52 Teachers, 52 Lessons- Provide advice to new teachers
• Any ning site you are a part of has an area for blogging, but you can try these as well.
  • Second Life is Life ning- Are you a part of Second Life, we are always looking for posts.
  • Educator’s PLN ning
• Prestwick House, @PrestwickHouse
• The Educators’ Royal Treatment
• The Lesson Machine blogezine, @MyschaTheriault

To see some examples, you can visit the guest posts I have made.

If you are new to the 30 day Goal challenge then you may want to read this post with more details!

Challenge:

Choose a profile picture for your upcoming guest post. Write a short bio.

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

This is goal 9 of this series! If you’d like to join the challenge, please read this post!

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

What are you passionate about writing?

Part of the Cool Sites weekly series!

Like most of us, I have only just recently (about a year ago) began to use web2.0 tools in my classes. It wasn’t easy at first. There is a myriad of tools at our disposal and new ones keep emerging at such speed that it’s enough to make your head spin. So, when I choose a tool to use I always try to think of what my students can get out of it, how tool A is more beneficial to them instead of tools B, C or D. I have tried quite a number of tools and I’m sure I’ll try many more, but at the moment my personal favourites are:

English Central – I love this site, because it allows my students to practice their speaking/reading skills, providing them with immediate feedback. HERE you can check the sort of assignment I give them.

Glogster – I guess this is already an old favourite of many of us. My students love the possibility of putting text, images, audio and video together in one place. HERE are some glogs they created.

Animoto – Simply brilliant! You upload your photos (and now even short videos!), add some text and music, let Animoto work its magic and you’re given back a wonderful video that you can post anywhere. No fuss, no muss! HERE are some examples.

GoAnimate – The possibilities are endless. From digital storytelling to book reports or simple vocabulary practice, you think it and GoAnimate will bring it to life! HERE are some of my students’ animations.

MyStudiyo – Great tool to easily create multimedia quizzes. I usually get my students to create the quizzes themselves and then use an interactive board to get the whole class to try out the quizzes. HERE is one.

Vocaroo – I use it  to give my students extra practice on their reading and speaking skills. They record themselves as many times as they want and then just post or e-mail me their recordings. Here are some examples.

VoiceThread – A recent favourite. Great tool for collaborative projects and to provide students with their own niche where they can practice and interact. HERE is my first project.

Last, but not least – Livetyping – It allows me to witness my students’ writing process, showing me what they corrected and rearranged before submitting their final text.  HERE are some examples.

So here you have it, my favourite tools. Am Looking forward to reading about yours!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Shelly for giving me the honour to contribute for her Cool Sites series, and also to express my sincere gratitude for all that she does for all of us.

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Alexandra Francisco is an EFL teacher in Madeira, Portugal. She has been teaching for 15 years at the secondary level and has only recently began to be involved in the teacher training area, providing short (25 hours long) workshops on the use of web2.0 tools in EFL classes.

You can follow her web2.0 experiences at her tech blog: ZarcoEnglish – Tool of the day. You may also check her assignments blog and her students’ showcase.

Part of the Cool Sites weekly series!

Web 2.0 tools I’ve used so far…

Web 2.0 tools are great help to jazz up your classrooms, help students practice the language, motivate the digital natives with their own weapons and boost creativity. Nowadays the more I learn, the more motivated I become and I’d like to share the ones which I’ve been using.

Glogster is a great tool which helps the teacher and now with the edu option you can compile all the students’ works in one place. I’ve used glogster to assign homework, for a listening activity for pre reading. My students used glogsters for their presentations. You can see some of them here.

Animoto is one of the coolest things I’ve discovered. I have used it to raise awareness before an activity, revise vocabulary, and introduce a topic. My students also used it for their presentations. You can see some of them here.

Photopeach is also similar to Animoto and you can use beautiful slide shows with background music. An example of how I used it is here.

I used Voki to assign homework. You can also use it as your voice whenever you want.

Wallwisher is something I really enjoyed. I used it to help my students for their research on their project.

Eyeplorer is something that I used for the same purpose -to guide them in their research.

Bookr and Bubbler are great tools that the teachers and students can use in many ways. Here are some examples how we used them.

Wordle is a cute tool and I used it as word posters of the units and to preteach vocabulary. I also used it for a writing activity.

Bombay Tv is a great way to jazz up your classroom. I’ve used it to introduce the target language.

With the goodies of fodey.com I’ve sent some messages and set homework.

Authorstream is a great help. I publish my grammar explanations on my blog by uploading my PowerPoint presentations.

I’m trying to keep up with the new ones but there are so many. I really want to hear what else we can do with them so I’m looking forward to hearing your suggestions.

After preparing this list I came across with Pin Dax which is an online message board service and with an inspiration from Dodie Ainslie’s post. I decided to add this and hope to get some ideas for my notice board collaboration.

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My name is Eva Büyüksimkesyan. I’m an EFL teacher working in the same high school where I graduated from and it is a dream came true.

I’d like to thank Shelly Terrell for this great opportunity. This is my first guest post and I feel so honored to be asked to do that. She is a great inspiration for all of us and I admire her motivation and enthusiasm. Shelly, you are such a great support and inspiration.Thank you…

Since I stepped into this great virtual world, I’ve been learning loads of things from all of you. So I want to thank everybody from my PLN and hope to increase the number to learn, share and work together….

You can read more about Eva’s use of technology in the classroom on her blog, A Journey From TEFL or find her on Twitter, @evab2001.

Collaboration has become the key concept to learn and engage ourselves through web. Web tools offer us the opportunity to collaborate and learn from each other; so this week, I would like to share my top collaborative tools for Shelly’s Cool Sites Series.

Palbee is a free online service that allows you to set up online video meetings with your friends or colleagues. You also have a whiteboard and it lets you draw, write texts, highlight or erase using different tools. Wetoku is similar to Palbee though you can set video meeting with one person, you can consider Wetoku as an easy interview tool.

Springnote is a web notebook service based on a wiki. You can create your own personal notebook or you can collaborate with others using group notebooks. You can create pages, share links and your bookmarks or share your files. Webnote and Writeboard are similar tools to take notes on net and share and make changes together. We have used Writeboard with Shelly while creating our proposal for IATEFL this year, it really worked!!

Wallwisher is an online and collaborative notice board maker. You can make announcements, lists, share your bookmarks with others or create together. You can add pictures, videos or give links. You can write anything you want to write on post-its and you can do more than that. Have a look at Nik Peachey’s Wallwisher as a great collaboration example.Stixy is a similar tool. You can try it too.

CoSketch lets you visualize and share your ideas as images using a whiteboard with others. You can upload pictures and draw on it, add shapes, you can draw at the same time with others and you can save your sketch as an image to embed it to your blog. DabbleBoard can be considered as a similar site. It’s another collaboration tool based on a whiteboard.

Wiggio is an online toolkit that lets you work in groups easily. You can send emails, text messages,voice mails. It makes it easy to share files and polls. You can set video conferences and also keep shared calendar, keep track of group’s tasks and resources.

Mindmeister is an online collaborative mind mapping tool that you can brainstorm with others real-time. You can create your own mind map on a award winning interface or share your mind maps with your friends or collaborate with others to create a collaborative one. Here is a good example with many other collaborative tools that you can use.

I hope you enjoy all the tools! And don’t forget to check Shelly’s cool sites every week.

Özge is an EFL teacher and a teacher trainer in Istanbul,Turkey. She is also the educational coordinator, script and screenplay writer of “Yes,I Speak English” DVD series in America.

Visit her blog: http://ozgekaraoglu.edublogs.org/ Follow her on Twitter:@ozge

This has been an honor for me to write as a guest blogger on Shelly Terrell’s wonderful blog! I would like to thank her for this opportunity,her inspiring ideas, motivating words and lovely smile. She is forever a favourite on my PLN and real life!!

By Tom Whitby

I am on a flight returning home after a successful Presentation at the New York State Association of Computers and Technologies in Education Annual Conference, NYSCATE. I was pleased with the outcome, but I did make a few observations about how presenting at these conferences is beginning to change and may never be the same.

Presentations for any educational conference are the backbone of the conference. They are usually the main reason why educators attend conferences, wild parties notwithstanding. It is a great accomplishment for an educator to have a proposal for a conference presentation accepted and placed on the Program. Being judged and accepted by one’s colleagues is both an accomplishment and a thrill and for some, the process could also be terrifying. Presenting is considered by many to be one of those thresholds in an educator’s career. I have done several presentations at various conferences over the years and I have been moved by the positive experience with each event. Because it requires putting one’s self out there for all to see, most presenters do a great job of preparing and presenting to the best of their ability.

There has recently come a change for presenters that I just became aware of with my recent experience. I was at a keynote speech by David Jakes. He made a huge impression with his introduction to Augmented Reality. It was very cool. Jakes was engaging and informative, everything we have come to expect from a keynote speaker. He could have smiled more, but otherwise he was great. During his speech my Blackberry gonged. This was not a notification that an angel got her wings, but an alert that a message arrived. As I took out the Blackberry to turn off the sound, I thought I would sneak a peek at Ubertwitter.  Twitterers understand the call of the stream.

I was amazed to find ten tweets about the very keynote speech I was watching. I could not believe how rude these audience members could be tweeting during a speech. I immediately tweeted out to these people. If they could be rude, I should be allowed to be rude too. I sent out about five tweets. Jakes received rave reviews from all the tweeters present. He deserved it, because he was excellent. I came away inspired by Jakes and terrified by Twitter.

The terror came in the fact that the next day I had to present my PLN Presentation and I knew many of those same tweeters would be in my room. I attended a panel discussion the next morning and there were over a hundred people in attendance. The Panel was again excellent and again several tweets went out saying so. In addition Tweeters were quoting the pearls of wisdom from the panelists, word for word. I had two hours to go and no pearls of wisdom from me were even on the horizon.

The idea of a Twitter test entered my mind and now I had another standard to meet. Not only did the presentation have to be accepted by educators in general, but it needed to be accepted by Tweeters specifically. In my mind’s eye I envisioned my three thousand followers opening their Twitterstream and seeing a tweet “Whitby sucks in Real time” or worse “RT: Whitby sucks in Real time” GLOBAL sounded in my brain. Even Europe, Asia, and Australia will know I suck in real time.

I showed up in my room early and of course, the technology that we tweet about all the time, let me down. The computer screen appeared sideways and it was the same on the projection screen as well. A frantic call to the tech folks scrambled three techs to the room. Any more than one is a problem, since there is not one opinion but three to resolve the problem of the sideways screen. I am a dead man in the eyes of the world. It was time to start, and I could not wait for the fix, so I began the presentation. Shortly after my introduction, the techies came through and the projector and computer were up and running with a picture in the correct orientation.

Somehow I managed to conceal my fears until this public outing in this Blog. The point that I think needs to be made, however, is that twitter, or whatever app is to follow, will forever change the way we receive Presentations. Hopefully, Twitter will force us all to do better or be exposed globally. A real concern is what about those twitterers who don’t get it and tweet out bad stuff about the speaker with little regard for reason or feelings. Twitter will have a significant effect on presenters and presentations. Maybe we should ban it?

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Tom Whitby is a Professor of Education in Secondary English, Linkedin group founder and owner of Technology-Using Professors, TWITTER-Using Educators, as well as NING-Using Educators.>

Read Tom Whitby’s PLN Blueprint series to learn how to develop an effective PLN.

Guest post by Neal Chambers

Most technologies that are easily adapted and made widely popular are usually improvements of things that already exist. Mail replaced messanger services; the telegraph replaced mail; email replaced mail; Google Wave (might) replace email. It is the same with Twitter. Twitter replaced online chat which (kind of) replaced parties. There are some key differences that Twitter adds to the table though. For example,

A) You can join anyone’s party, and anyone can join your party. If you have your feed unprotected, and you do have your feed unprotected right?

B) You can throw anyone out of your party if you need to. You usually don’t but it’s always nice to have the one button option of doing so.

C) People from around the world can join your party.

D) The party is going on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

E) People are asynchronously enjoying your party. One conversation can last a day, weeks, or even months.

With all these changes in mind, it’s still important to understand that it’s a party and it’s your party. You should keep in mind to be successful you need to be a good host. Let’s go over the basics:

Send Out Invitations

photo: pareeerica

Every good party starts with inviting people over for a drink. This can start with listing yourself in the various Twitter directories out there on the Internet. I just recently published an article on the matter – 14 places to find good quality followers. There I have listed all the major directories and follower recommending websites. It should be a great place to jump start your following.

There are other options though. Something that I regularly do is look at my friend’s ‘following’ list. These are Twitter users that your friend has actually chosen to follow. This usually comes up with better results than the ‘followers’ list because they might be spammers. When looking at this ‘following’ list, be sure to click through to the user’s profile and read their bio, last few tweets and check out their blog if they have one. Then add a few people you like.

Greet your Guests

photo: RuTemple

Okay, now the party is starting. Guests are arriving at all times of the day and night because after all this party is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s important to try to acknowledge any newer followers. It might be good to greet them and ask them where they are from and make sure they don’t need a drink or something.

There is a current trend right now to do this with an automatic DM or auto-DM. These can be okay if A) it’s not overly generic (e.g. Thanks for the follow! Look forward to your Tweets!) or B) You offer free stuff or more information about yourself through a link.

Personally, what I TRY to do is look through a user’s profile and ask a semi-personalized question like – How is teaching in Detroit? or I love the layout of your Teaching blog. This way they know I’m not just sending them a generic auto-DM. It shows you are actually taking the time to get to know someone which is one principle behind having a PLN.

Introduce Everyone

photo: ItzaFineDay

You know those fancy parties where you show up and some guy in a fancy suit announces to the party that you’ve arrived? Don’t worry if you’ve never been invited to one, because now you can live out that experience on Twitter. When someone logs on to Twitter the first time, chances are they don’t know anyone at the party. They’ve come because they heard it’s where all the action is or where all the cool people are (that’s us right?).

So, it’s good to give them a proper welcome by introducing them to all of your following. Be sure to include a relevant snippet about them in the Tweet and their username. You can do this as soon as they get online or wait for #teachertuesday or #followfriday.

Help the Confused-Looking Guy/Gal in the Corner

photo: CarbonNYC

From time to time, people will need help. After all, that might be one reason why they came to the party in the first place. You can help these guests out by filtering your Twitter stream with a ‘?’. This will give you all the Tweets of people asking questions. Sometimes you will come up with a few rhetorical questions, but more often than not you’ll find a friend in need. This is what having and building a PLN is all about, spreading information and helping others solve problems.

You can also use a neat little service called twithive.com This web app allows you to filter your stream by questions, conversations, links or retweets. It also packs in a few more features like Tweet clouds, which are clouds of the most popular terms for your stream. I find it offers you a way to look at your Twitter stream from a different angle.

Pop your Head in When it Counts

photo: meddygarnet

Since the party is going on all the time, it’s literally impossible to be at the party at all times. Many have tried and all have failed. Don’t be a Twitter addict. You have to pop your head in every once in awhile and make sure every one is still enjoying themselves. The key to this is to know exactly when to do this. There are a couple metrics you can look at to see when your following is online.

1) Click counts – If you use a URL shortener (and you should) then you’ll be able to track your click counts. I really good service for this is j.mp (AKA bit.ly). Take note of when your links are being clicked on the most and what links are more popular.

2) Tweetstats.com – This site can give you some stats on when a particular user is online. It breaks down tweeting frequency by days of the week and even hours of the day. You might want to check the stats of people with a big following and see when they are online the most. However, the more tweets someone has made the longer it will take for tweetstats to compile the data.

Enjoy the Party

photo: Wendy Piersall

It’s important to remember that Twitter is just a tool and not a lifestyle. It’s okay to step away from time to time and take a break. It’s also okay to let your personality and opinions shine through and add to the melting pot. Don’t take it too seriously, it’s party after all.

If you are on Twitter be sure to join me @nealchambers. I’ll see you at the party! Also, if you haven’t already, please take the time to fill out a short survey, I promise it’s painless.

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Neal Chambers has taught in Japan for just about 5 years despite graduating in video production. He is currently teaching at a private English conversation school in Osaka. He is a regular teacher contributor at EnglishSpark.com where he writes the series Teacher Stumpers about difficult and odd grammar. He enjoys attempting to climb mountains without injuring himself.

Part of the Cool Sites weekly series!

First off, I’d like to say how thrilled I am to be contributing to such an important and influential blog, which is a leader in cutting edge technology.  When trying to compile a list of my favorite Web 2.0 apps and sites for education, there were many factors I tried to consider such as: how user friendly is it, is it safe and filtered, and the “why factor” (what separates it from the rest of the pack).

That being said, below is a list of my top 5 Web 2.0 apps for education:

1. Google Apps w/ Gaggle -is such a great free resource for education that it’s hard not to place this at the top of my list.  Student’s can share, collaborate, email,  etc. all online, which makes it ideal for education.

However, with the purchase of a Gaggle ($3.00 per student) a student’s  gMail  account is then being filtered.  This makes it ideal when having to deal with swearing or online bullying, which is a must when facing CIPPA compliance.  Another great feature of Gaggle is the feature of filtered and safe blogs, message boards, and digital lockers for students.  More info can be found here.

2. Wiki - A wiki is a site that can be edited by more than one user.  I like Wikispaces for this because a educator can setup free user accounts for their students and no email account is required.  There are so many beneficial uses to a wiki that it needs to be on any person’s top 10 list. For more info on an educator account visit this website.

3. Mixbook - is a site where users can create online digital storybooks and share them with others in a safe secure environment.  I like to think of it as an online version of iPhoto picture books with a lot more features.  For a more detailed review click here.

4. Voicethread – I don’t think this comes a surprise being that it is probably the most popular Web 2.0 resource for education.  Create an interactive web page or story using this phenomenally easy educational resource.  For more info for educators, click here.

5. Glogster – is one of the newer Web 2.0 resources around, but also one of the best.  This is a place where users can create online and interactive posters for education.  There really is nothing you can’t do on Glogster and with student accounts it opens up a whole new world for collaboration.  For a more detailed review click here.

Just missed: Fliggo (video hosting), Time Rime (time lines), Diigo (social bookmarking)

All of these sites on my list have educational portals which means they have safe student accounts available.  This is ideal when things need to be monitored and approved in an educational environment.

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David Kapuler has been working with technology and education for over 10 years in a school setting. He hopes to incorporate 21st century and Web 2.0 technologies into students teachings, while preparing them for future learning. He is currently looking to get his Mac OS/Repair Certification, as well as, a Masters in Technology Integration.  Also, he has a solid background in professional development, web design, and working with network/server support. On a personal note, he’s a proud father of 3 boys and has been married for 5 years. Read more of David Kapuler’s technology reviews for education by visiting his blog, Technology Tidbits: Thoughts of a Cyber Hero or following him on Twitter (@dkapuler).

Educational System in Argentina

1. Initial education: from 45 days to 5 years old, being this last year compulsory
2. Primary education: from 6 years old to 12 years old (obligatory)
3. Secondary education: up to 18 years old. It is obligatory and includes two cycles:
   • Basic cycle
   • Knowledge-oriented cycle: different areas of knowledge
4. Superior education

The problem is complex and it is necessary to develop strategies that:

Edtech

My PLN list one

My PLN list two

Making a Difference

Thanks to Twitter and to the valuable members of my PLN, I have become acquainted with several tools that have proved useful for learning and teaching English. This year I have created wiki spaces for my classes where I upload tasks to develop the strategies my students need: listening, speaking, reading and writing in a way that is encouraging and highly motivating. In these wiki spaces, my students have folders where they can upload the tasks they do for me to check and they can write messages to me when they have doubts. They were vital during the month we had to interrupt classes in Winter as a consequence of the spread of H1N1 virus (swine flu). During that month, I was able to send tasks for my students and not have to stop the learning process.

Parents have expressed their gratitude to me for having created these sites and are very enthusiastic about their children’s possibilities to go on doing extra practice at home through a means that is more motivating for them. The language school administration has supported me at all times on this development and has congratulated me at all times for this contribution.
I also work as a one-to-one tutor at home and I have also built a wiki space I share with my private students for them to continue practicing at home. This is my website. If you want to visit it, please ask me and I’ll gladly include you among the users.

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Marisa Pavan holds degrees in translation, interpretation and teaching from Instituto Superior Nº 28 “Olga Cossettini”, Rosario and has two decades of experience in teaching English as a Second Language. She has over 6 years experience working as a freelance English-Spanish/ Spanish-English translator. She is  skilled in languages, translation, interpretation, training students to develop listening, speaking, writing and reading strategies, CAT tools and communication. You can also find Marisa on Twitter, @mtranslator.

Part of the series: Investigating International Edtech Issues (UAE)

Disclaimer: This piece is based exclusively on my own experiences in teaching English in the UAE, I know that there are several institutions (albeit more likely in the private sector) that are much further ahead in the use of technology in education. It’s also obvious that there are great initiatives to improve the standards and the development is obvious. This post aims at trying to find ways of engaging teachers.

Teaching is a TOUGH profession
Teaching English is a VERY TOUGH profession
Teaching English in a public school in the United Arab Emirates is THE EASIEST job in the world.

Unless…..

1. you have principles and beliefs about teaching that you would like to implement
2. you have questions you want answered
3. you refuse to believe that one person can come up with an idea that cannot be improved by collaboration
4. you hold it self-evident that students come to school to use what they know in ways they never thought of
5. you want to help other teachers become better teachers
6. you desire knowledge that you want to discover and not just be told what is good and what is bad, what is right and what is wrong

The last few months in a public secondary school in the UAE taught me to understand a few things:

1. Students come to school without any expectation of it being of any use to them
2. Teachers come to school without expecting anything from the students
3. Students can sit for 165 minutes without knowing what is going on around them
4. Teachers can attend 25 hours of professional development without knowing what is going on around them
5. Students can stay at home if it rains
6. Teachers are happy that students stay at home if it rains

This is a pretty exciting situation. So I can sit back and watch the system malfunction and do disservice to every single participant but most importantly the students, or try to do something about it.
There is no risk involved in the first option: this is what I’m expected to do.
Therefore, this is NOT what I’m going to do.
My aim for this year is to ‘convert’ one teacher.
You might say that this is a minimalist plan, and a few months ago I would have agreed with you. Now, I am not even convinced that I can achieve this.

There are three things that make the situation promising:

1. As teachers in a new initiative, every English teacher has a pretty good HP tablet notebook and they have become quite comfortable with it.
2. There are 6 hours a week allocated to professional development in our schedule.
3. There is wireless internet, which is a bit like a Hungarian Orange: “a bit yellow and bit sour but Hungarian” – it’s slow and unreliable but much more than nothing. (You want to know what a Hungarian orange is, watch this short excerpt from one of the best ever satires of the late communist era Hungary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4wjQrV5A1c)

Let’s see some of the things a colleague of mine would say about the job:

1. Teachers are underpaid
2. Students are disinterested
3. Professional development is a waste of time
4. I can use a computer; I don’t need anybody to help me
5. Lesson planning is a waste of time
6. I’m paid to teach but not paid to attend meetings

Trying to bring the two together we can perhaps start a little grassroots movement:

1. Make a bit of money on the side: teach Arabic/English on one of the Online course providers
2. Get ideas from other teachers through Twitter, get your students on Twitter and see magic happen
3. Spend an hour a day on Twitter and make a list of the most interesting things you learnt– present these at the next PD
4. Having learnt to scavenge the net, add something to it. Create, organise your own content and you’ll learn new ways you can use the net
5. See different lesson plans. Choose a topic and create a lesson plan you might be able to share with others
6. Let’s meet when you have a question or something you want to share with the other teachers. Let’s meet online and talk about whatever you want to talk about.

I know that 4 months ago I would not have been able to come up with these suggestions. I know many other teachers have the same problems. Maybe some of these answers will help us become better teachers and colleagues.
Perhaps, if this model works, it may grow into something bigger and become Web 2.0 in the UAE.

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Tamas Lorincz is an English teacher who believes that a hedonistic search for pleasure in everything you do is a key to success.

After a brief and unsuccessful foray into mining engineering he found his real calling in being a teacher of English. He has worked in Hungary as a teacher, in Britain as a marketing executive and teacher trainer for a publishing company, in Iraqi Kurdistan as a dogsbody, presently trying to help teachers and students in the UAE (most of the time despite them).

He passionately searches for things that make teachers and students tick. This is how he discovered Web 2.0 and became a devoted advocate of using technology to motivate teachers and engage students.

His blog (http://tamaslorincz.edublogs.org) is hoping to develop into a source for sharing thoughts, information and materials with teachers. You can also find him on Twitter @tamaslorincz.