Second week in Oakton

Class: Psychology
Teacher: Butterfield

This is a new subject for me. Students are taught in topics such as: Learning, memory, Thinking and intelligence, Stress and coping, stress test, Ways to improve memory, defense mechanism , psychoanalitic theory, Developmenyal psychology, pshycological disorders (sleep disorders).

Today they had a quiz, but before this, the teacher make a short review using Kahoo with 15 questions about Freud, personality, mechanism of defense. Students were in pairs, join Kahoo.com with the PIN of the quiz and answered quickly the questions. The ones who got more points won +1 for the quiz score.

Then studensts had an independent work, anwsering questions in a workshop using a enciclopedia for a while. After that teacher went over and lecture about sleep disorder, showing some videos en Youtube about narcolepsy- cataplexy.

Mrs. Butterfield explained me she has all her lessons in blackboard, so students have access to the information all the time.

The county has set some guidelines for this subject and the teacher is felxible with the topics.

Mrs. Butterfield manages differenciation in the classroom  in a different way. She considers all the students can do the tasks and she fosters everybody to do it, but if some studenst needs more time to do an activity she gives extra time. She gives the confidence to the students to talk to her about things are uncomfortable for them in the class.

On the other hand, many students don't feel well in Oakton. They feel under pressure all the time because of the First position they are. In spite of this, many of them are part of religious groups after class, such us Muslim club, Black people club, and others.

Sports are a strength of the school, they have basketball and soccer teams for females or males. 

Class: English 2
Teacher: Dr. Cruz

The class started with a Reading. First, they read the cover (image). It was about Batteries, and then teacher read aloud the whole teaxt and students read one paragraph each one. Then teacher showed in the Document camera  a wrong sentence and students observe it in detail and see what is wrong andg  For example: The word order, spelling, etc.

Later, guided reading. Students read some texts and answered comprehension questions. At the beginning the teacher helped them to answer, then ask them to do it by themselves.
After that students work on spelling workshop and they filled in the blanks together with the teacher's guidance. Later they had another text to read and answer some comprehension questions and grammar issues as well.

Writing task: students complete sentences in a  Compare /contrast paragraph frame form given by the teacher.

My presentation
I had a presentation about my country Colombia with students of English Level 4 and Creating writing. It was very meaningful for me, showed a different face of my country, fighting against the steretypes people have about it. I could connect my presentation with the curriculum of the class. They were making a project in Gobal Citizenship about Single stories and stereotypes.

Teaching with Technology. Seminar 5

The technology that improve our teaching is the one students use to create knowlegde for an authentic audience, no only for the teacher. Creative a website, for example, can be showed for many people, no just the teacher.

First of all, the class started talking about our experience in the school we are attending, more specifically what we have seen about technology in the classrooms. We conclude that technology can make our practice stronger when we use it to connect the school with the comunity or viceversa. For instance, we can skyping an expert to talk to students.

After that, we as podcast producer evaluated the podcast done in the session before. We listened about Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King, Jefferson memorial, Washington Monument, George Mason, among others.

We check a rubric to assess the outcomes and we analized regarding the DEAPR (Design, Encode, Assembly, Publish, Revise), ACTS (Authentic, Clear outcome, Thinking, Skills), ABCS (Authentic activity, Background Building Activities, Constructing Activities, Sharing Activities). We identified our goals as students and teachers goals.

Finally we received a new project to work on. We are going to make a documentary film of 2-4 minutes , which will show a public issue we care about. For that task, we watched a video with the steps to have a good outcome. In this opportunity I am going to work with Miriam, Vyktoryia and Trust about Fast food in US.

Special Needs. Seminar 1.

Special Needs

This seminar was incredibly useful. We have many students with invisible disabilities that are undervalued. We learned the laws for special needs in the USA and I think a country should offer all the necessary support for these students to succeed, open positions for them to study and to work.

The inclusion of students with disabilities is not a overnight process. It took almost 15 years in the USA, to change from the social inclusion to the content inclusion. However, both steps should be taken. In Colombia, not even the social inclusion is done. We are trying to include students with special  needs in regular school, but most of them don't have adapted currriculum, or flexible content. 

We experiences the feeling of somebody with dyslexia. Sometimes, we put reading activities, set time and it becomes in a frustrating task for students with this learning disability.

Friday in Oakton!

English 9-10
Teacher: Mrs. Raad
Classroom 226
Global citizen project

Students chose a topic related to Saving the Earth for instance Air pollution, endangered animals, solar energy, among others. They read at least three different sources and summarize the information. Then the ESOL gave them a pattern of a text that summarized the information, with quoates, links, bibliography, indent and tab, in general some requirements (font, size, highlight, etc) and students should do the same in google docs with his own information.

With these projects students learn how to type a document, how to edit it and how to quote sources

NOTES

ESL Students can get graduate up 22 years. When they come here they just receive ESOL subjects (government, Math, biology, English language development, creative writing, literacy essencial).
The requirements class should be repeated if they fail, until 22 years old, if they don't pass high school they can complete a course and make a test to get diploma and to go into college.
If don't get it, school let them go without a high school diploma


Usually American students get graduate  around 18 years old.



Recommended Mrs Raad room 226
11:20 am
Routine activities
Students read a book, select a word and make a sentence each day. They complete a worksheet, which has 5 blanks, one for each day of the weak. At the end of the week if they have the five correct sentences they get extra points. Students write the sentence of the day on the board and all the students correct it.
Then students went to have lunch for 30 minutes. When they came back, teacher asked them to read independent for 5 minutes. When the timer is over, students read aloud one by one to correct pronunciation.
Then  the teacher projected a Story map about the text read, which includes story name, author, Setting (place, time) Main characters, beginning, middle, end.


Grades
A excellent
B
C Regular
D
F Failing


Dr. Cruz
Creative reading

Routine activity
Sentence correction.
After checking the corrections the teacher wrote on the digital document called "Paragraph construction Argumentative. Day 4", students collected all the sentences they had written on that  form and copy on a new document to have the complete essay. Then they did a peer reviewing  and peer editing with a new form. Students highlight the mistakes and type the suggestions. The owner of the text double check and finally correct it.



Websites for teachers
www.superteacherworksheets.com
www.readinga-z.com
www.padlet.com
www.flipgrid.com
www.kahoot.com

Here are some websites and tools I observed during the filed trip.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/

http://www.hgtv.com/

https://quizizz.com/

https://edpuzzle.com/

https://quizlet.com/

http://www.gomoodboard.com/

https://busyteacher.org/

https://www.classdojo.com/

 Powerpoint(Hypermedia)

Fourth day in Oakton

Class English and History
Teachers
60 students approximately.

Ap Advance Placement  is a class for preparing students for college

Sophomores 10° can choose the combined class or separated ...Seniors 12° have te option too.
Teachers works together ..For instance History class teaches the French revolution and English read a book about that .... English assess with projects or group work, presentation and History assess with written test. At the end of the year students shoul take a big test about history, the test is set by an independent company. If they pass the get  a college acreditation.

Standard world History Class
9th

50% have learning disability, it requires two teachers: the general education teacher and a special education teacher.
Today studenst work independently

Kahoo is  website to test students ... It says who answered first  in the scoreboard.. teacher gives candiues to the winners.

School Counseling
There are 7 school conuselor n the school. Each one has 300.
They should have a master's degree in counseling
They identify things but, they don't do therapy
Guide students about the courses the can sign up for next year
The main role is to keep students of the academic track, school behavior problems, guidances for college admissions, give lesson about the classes toy will have next year, the graduation, career for seniors, stress management, team work, smoth problems between students and teachers. Parents are too involve with the education and they complain by grades, Students text their parents as soon as they think something is wrong and parents inmediately call the counselor.  Many parents have economic power and talk directly with the intendent or the board.

Social worker helps to connect the school and agencies, for example If they have food problems they conect with the institute to solve the problem, the same with transpostation, etc.

Psychologist have 22 students to apply therapist.
89% of students in Oakton go to college.

Students use a "bathroom pass"bn to go to the bathroom during classes. It can be a toy or a symbol the teacher gives them. If a assistant principal see them aoutside the classroom they just show it.

English 4
Dr. Cruz

Pop quiz online. Students logged in Google classroom and found a quiz of 5 sentences with multiple choices about the topic the learned the day before. Teacher  gave a feedback of each single sentence, explaining the grammar rule that follows and the correct response.

Second, the teacher talked about the singles stories they had heard the class before, gave some real explamles about her and asked them to talk to their partners about the single stories they has before coming to the U.S, then single  and hidden stories about high school. after that, they read a text about single stories teachers have in the world. It was a result of an exercise someone did with pupils of elementary school. She asked them to complete the sentence "I wish my teacher knew..."

Later, they listened an an audio about the sentences high school students said about their teachers.
I wish my teacher knew... Students expressed their feelings aout what they had heard.
They open google classroom and complete the first assignment ... I wish my teacher knew... (3 sentences)

Oakton High school. Third day

Class Spanish 4 
Teacher:

The class started with a Happy valentine's day messages and sharing some mexican candies. Then students had a short vocabulary test.

Teacher has on the board the agenda of the day:
1. Short vocabulary test
2. Sketches
3. Talk: our relatives/ ancestors
4. Grammar in the notebooks: The pronouns of the objects
5. Practice with the pronouns

What caught my attention is that teacher experience some same situations I have in my English class heheheh. Students usually speak in their mother tongue and when we teacher as them to do in the target language they feel ashamed, nervous and sometimes frustrated  Teacher speaks slowly and sometimes we don't use the most accurate words in the language you learned but they make sense and can be understood.

Students presented the sketches using commands, using second person in singular and plural and playing the members of the family, also they should include a negative command and a reflexive verb.




Teacher introduced the lesson about ancestor. Students should think about their own ancestors and write impotant facts about them.
This activity will continue next class. Students will write a letter for the relative they want.


When teacher asked for volunteers to present their task , noboby answered and she said:

"If there are not volunteers, there will be victims"

Second day in Oakton High School

1st Period

Mr. Mcculla and Ms. Hovanec.

Class History and English combined. 66 studensts

Grade: Juniors (11th)

Students presented a group Project called Many stories in Oakton. Topics were chosen by themselves, for instance: Assumptions (people don’t know the reality of your life and they should stop making assumptions), Stress, opinions about Cougar time, exracurricular activities after class, stereotypes of clothing, Esol clases, Assumptions of vegetarian students, Oakton high school students, high school activities today, depression, 10 things boys want in a girl,

Some projects included surveys to get the conlcusions, podcast, pictures, posters, slides. They were posted on the walls of the classroom and the hallways and some sophomores participate in th exhibition.

Teachers concluded the class recognizing students effort and creativity. As well as the interaction they had. With this activity teachers could know more about their students and feelings. Then students shared their feelings about how they felt, what they learnt. And Also Ms. Hovanec encourage students to think about what can they do better next time. (rotational guidances, the owners of the Project should be explaining it and no just let others see it and understand it by their own)

3nd period 

Class: Strategies
Teacher: Ms. Jones


This class is special for students who came to the US recently and the don't know the language, how to be a student, how the log in in a computer, how to use effectively the time, among other topics.

Ms. Jones showed me an app called Recap for teacher, in which students can record themselves answering questions for instance: Tell me the days of the week, who is your favorite teacher? tell me three reasons. The videos are connected directly with the teacher's account and you can the progress on speaking the students have during the year.

5th Period
English level 2
Teacher. Dr. Cruz

Reading started with an observation of the cover of the book and then teacher read aloud the whole teaxt and students read one paragraph each one. Then independence reading, it starts every Monday. Students go on Book shopping and they selects seven books to read during the week and put them into a plastic box with their name. After 10 minutes they  complete the reading log  (name and author) about what they read and they classified in fiction or non-fiction text.

Then teacher showed in the Document camera  a wrong sentence and students observe it in detail and see what is wrong andg  For example: The word order, spelling, etc.


After that students work on spelling workshop and they filled in the blanks together with the teacher's guidance. Later they had another text to read and answer some comprehension questions and grammar issues as well.


6th Period
English level 4

Independent reading (10 minutes), Grammar topic: Either, Neither, and Subject-Verb Agreement
TED The danger of a single story: https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story
With this video Dr. Cruz introduced her lesson. They talked about stereotypes and how our assumptions about people can be wrong and we can be surprised when we realize about the reality.
Students on the table discussed about this question: Since you have been in Oakton School, do you think that some people think you have a single story ?

Teaching with tecnohology. Seminar 3

During this session we received a special task. Sara van Bruggen, the managing editor of Real Travel Experiences magazine has sent a special invitation:
The magazine has begun a TravelCast series called "Monument Moments," a unique audio journey through monuments and memorials and the lives of the famous people they commemorate and we were invited to participate in the development and production of an episode in the newest Travel cast edition: Monument Moments- Washington D.C. Edition.

For this task Elliot Mashinini from South Africa was my partner and we did a podcast about Martin Luther King Jr. It was a meaningful activity. We can search information about his life and his remarkable role in the Civil rights Movements in the United States.


Design process

Purpose: Your episode is part of the TravelCast (podcast for travelers) series entitled Monument Moments.

Audience: tourists visiting the Washington D.C. area /children

Length of time : 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds.

Style: an engaging audio tour with information about the monument and the person who is commemorated. Ghost from the past.

We had some guide questions to answer (who, when, where, etc), researched and wrote a script and rehearsed.

ENCODE
We included intro and outro sounds, voice recording and sound efffects.

ASSEMBLY
We use Audiacity to assemble the parts, published for ourselves, revised and sent the final version.
PUBLISH
REVISE
FINAL PRODUCT

It was a new activity for me . We used the tool audacity to record ourselves and to get the mp3 file.

First day In Oakton School

Our field experience started today. We were ready at 7:15 am to go to Oakton school. There the staff was kind and politely. The welcome was warm. Teacher Christopher Fowler received us with a box of Dunkin Donuts. Then the tour started. It took  all the morning. Classes starts at 8:00 am. Students in their classrooms honor the flag and make a patriotic prayer. Then they are told some daily annoucements for instance about the special events they have.

We met the interim principal Daniel Meier and some of the assistants principal.

I was amazed with all the facilities they have. The auditorium is just as big as the theater of my city. It has a capacity of 1176 people. The library is a comfortable space with fiction an nonfiction books, magazines, newpapers and computers. The art classes are marvelous. They have band, choral and orquestra classes, professional photography (even with black room and studio) and graphic desing. The school have plenty of prizes, medals and awards in atlethics, music, academy. We visited most of the classrooms. I was suprised with a special class that combine engineering, design and Maths. Students were using lasers, 3D printer.... Wow!!! We met also the police officer and the security staff. 

We visited some science, history and world languages classrooms. students were excited. I saw some spanish classes for few minutes and I felt students behave like my students when a native english speaker come to my class and speak in English. They don't want to speak and they show a blue face like they don't understand when talking in the language they are learning.

In the school schedule is not connected with the days of the week. There are just two changes (two different days): Burgundy and Gold (their represenative colors). Burgundy has a set of classes and Gold other. Everyday they have Couger time, is a period of 45 minutes, in which students choose a class to go. This time allows students to be responsible with the time, to use effectively the time, to make wise decision about where to go. The idea is to create the responsibility sense and the independence in students. Freshmen normally choose classes to waste their time, but as they become mature they use this time to do homeworks, group projects, ask questions to the teacher about topics they aren't doing well, in general to save time after school in homeworks.

I had the opportunity to go to my Partner teacher's class after lunch. It was good experience. Dr. Cruz has creative writing class. I really liked the way she introduced the class to write an essay about Volunteering. She started talking about the word volunteer, students participated answering if the word was a noun, a verb, an adjective or a preposition. Then they defined what Volunteer is and the teacher asked them their opinions about volunteering as a compulsory action to get the diploma in Virginia. Differents opinions came up. With this Dr. Cruz made students to have an argument and Counterargument brainstorming. Then Students thought about a thesis for an essay. Something innovative for me is Ms. Cruz uses a document camera projector to show students how to write correctly, where to write, correct words, etc.

It was a shame I couldn't see the end of the class because we arranged to be at 2:30 pm at the teachers' lounge. But I can't wait for tomorrow to see the whole English class.

New Pedagogy, Reflection and Leadership. Seminar 5

Our session today was quite different. Dr. Baily had the first session with us. We talked about our experience so far and discussed a little about the first chapter of the book: "The courage to Teach". The chapter is called "Exploring the inner landscape of teacher's life".

I found these ideas interesting of the book. Good teaching is not based on the teacher’s technique, it comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher. Good teachers can connect with their students, and connect them to the subject being taught. Good teachers don't depend on methods and techniques. Instead they make themselves available and vulnerable to “the service of learning.”

 Later, we focused on  seven (7) moments in our lives that have made who we are as persons and teachers today. We represented in fine cardboard the journey to become teachers and shared it with some other fellows.

New Pedagogy, Reflection and Leadership. Seminar 4

In this session we started reminding that moral purpose is connected with the Leadership. 

From these two concepts Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common global". And teacher leadership "Skills demostrated by teachers who continue to teach but who influence practices of other teachers and activities in other classrooms"(Charlotte Danielson) we gave opinions or insights  that were really connected with them.

Teacher leadership is the best hope for sustaining School change

We have a Life-long learning Teachers never stop learning.

• Know yourself and where you are going (a teacher leader need to be self-reflective and think about the future)

• You cannot be overly prepared (there are always things to learn).

• Link with others (not only teachers from your school but also from other schools, parents, students in general with the community)

• Measure your words (they can impact positively or negatively on people around you)

• Take resposibility (when you make mistakes)

• Keep others informed 

• Maintain perspective (don´t give up  with obstacles, keep on track of the goal, students' learning is not an overnight process)

• Enjoy yourself

 A leader is made up of:

Loyalty

Emotional intelligence

Affiliative

Democratic

Effectiveness

Relationships 

Later, we have a talk with Dr. Tamas about Fairfax County Public Schools. I am so proud we are going to be part of three remarkable schools in the county for a short time. I hope this experience enhance my skills as an English teacher. 
The  schools we are going to be are: Oakton, West Field and Robinson. They are on the top of the US schools. That is amazing!


Today I have a new commitment which is to reflect on myself more often and to be careful about wrong attitudes with students,  fellow teacher and people around me,  being more democratic, taking care of my words and taking resposabilities when I make mistakes. These changes are key point to be a great leader.

Assignment 
 Complete the Teacher Leader Self-assessment (TLSA) and update our journals.

Leading in a Culture of Change. Chapter 3 and 4.

Chapter 3. Understanding change

• "Change cannot be managed. It can be understood and perhaps led, but it cannot be controlled" (p. 33) An effective leader lives with the change and develop great potential for creative breakthroughs 

• "Effective leaders have the right kinds of sensivity to implementation. They know what that change is a procces not an event" (p. 40). It means not everything will work since the beginning: Leaders  resist the urge to focus on short term results by placing emphasis on long-term results. They are empatethic to the people and appreciate the resistance, because dissents are potential sources of new ideas. 

• "Successful organizations don't go with only like-minded innovators; they deliberately build in differences" (p. 43). It allows to think of other ideas, have a brainstorming and reach consensus.

• "Effective leaders know that the hard work of reculturing is the sine qua non of progress".(p. 44)

• Leading in a culture of change means creating a culture of change. It does not mean adopting innovations, one after another; it does mean producing the capacity to seek, critically assess, and selectively incorporate new ideas and practices"(p. 44). It means get people involved in the process of change with an active participation.

Guidelines for understanding change:

1. The goal is not to innovate the most. Innovating selectively with coherence is better.
2. Having the best ideas is not enough. Leaders' help others assess and find collective meaning and commitment to new ways.
3. Appreciate the implementation dip. Leaders can't avoid the inevitable early difficulties of trying something new. They should know, for example, that no mater how much they plan for the change, the first six months or so of implementation will be bumpy.
4. Redefine resistance. Successful leaders don't mind when naysayers rock the boat. In fact, doubters sometimes have important points. Leaders look for ways to address those concerns.
5. Reculturing is the name of the game. Much change is structural and superficial. Transforming culture - changing what people in the organization value and how they work together to accomplish it - leads to deep, lasting change.
6. Never a checklist, always complexity. There is no step-by-step shortcut to transformation; it involves the hard, day-to-day work of reculturing.

The following are the six leadership styles Goleman identified (p.35)

1. Coercive—the leader demands compliance. Do what I tell you.

2. Authoritative—the leader mobilizes people toward a vision. Come with me.”

3.  Affiliative—the leader creates harmony and builds emotional bonds. “People come first.”

4.  Democratic—the leader forges consensus through participation. “What do you think?”

5. Pacesetting—the leader sets high standards for performance. Do as I do now

6. Coaching—the leader develops people for the future. “Try this.”

Chapter 4. Relationships, relationships, relationships.

If moral purpose is job one, relationships are job two! (p.51)

• "When the individual soul is connected to the organization, people become connected to something deeper- the desire to contribute to a larger purpose, to feel they are part of a greater whole, a web of connection" (p. 52). Leaders work on the sense of belonging to involve people in the process.

• "The most effective leaders are not the smartest IQ senses but are those who combine intellectual brilliance with emotional intelligence" (p 71).  Emotional intelligence is at the core of successful leaders in a culture of change. It allows them to improve relationships in th eorganization.

• Business and schools need to be concerned with moral purpose and good ideas if they are to be successful and sustainable organizations. (p 70)

From these chapters I have learnt that a good leader should combine the styles of leadership to have success in an organzation. Above all the Authoritative, democratic, Affiliative and coaching styles have positive impact on climate and  performance and show emotional intelligence.  Also I learnt the relationships have power as positive  as negative. To have success in any organization people need to be involved in the change process and leader should be relationship builders recognizing the diversity, the resistance  and the difference.

Teaching with Technology. Seminar 2

INFOGRAPHICS

Today we designed an infographics about ourselves using the website Piktochart. The most important learning was following steps to design something, in this case the infographics. So, we started designing it on a sheet , deciding relevant words, pictures and color before do in it on the computers.



Every projects needs to be thought step by step to save our time and using it in the most important steps.

ESL Research, methods and strategies. Seminar 3

We started with a warm up activity called A to Z race. In groups we think about objects that can be taken to a holidays or vacation. The name of the object should start with the letter of the alphabet. It was a nice game tolearn vocabulary.

"Vocabulary is learned form the context"

We talked about tier words and we played with opposite cards, looking for a person who has the contrary picture. After we found her/him we said the  words in our languages and define it in English.

After that we played Mismatch card. We received two pieces of paper. In the blue one we wrote a noun and in the yellow one the definition of that word. I wrote Country: The territories in which a continent is divided. We handed in to the teacher and then we chose a pair of pieces randomly. We read aloud the noun and the wrong definition and then figure out who had our correct definition. Mine was Daughter: A girl that a woman gives birth.

Later we played with Picture People ... In group of four we represented an emotion, a verb and a preposition and the rest of the audience guested.

Tier 1 words are simple words that we use everyday.

Tier 2 words are more sophisticated for instance Ecstatic (really excited).



For this second group of words we can use in our classrooms activities such as Semantic Gradient, friendly definitions, creating stories to picture the word and using examples and non-examples of the word.


We finished the class reflecting about what we learned, why is important and why we would like to do with it now

ESL research, methods and strategies. Seminar 2

Teaching English language learners: Principles and Strategies

In this session we worked Strategies in action. We started with one strategy called Headlines. We wrote some catchty headlines about what our experiences have  been like so far in the  US with the purpose of synthetize our thoughts. Mine was How different is life in a developed country? -A Colombian teacher's insights. 

At school we can paste these headlines on the door, generating curiosity in the readers. It can generate conversations later among the students. 

Then we talked about phonemic awareness. English language has  26 letters, 42/44 phonemas and approximately 250 spellings, so phonemes are "not logical sound units" and must be taught.

We did a funny exercise pointed the phonems that does not exit in English. We heard them from the different languages we have in class.

Then we played more games to enhance the the listening, the vocabulary and spelling such as "Telephone" (broken telephone), Sparkle. We listed some homophones and we realized we pronounce bad certain words. Finally we learned how to select Robust vocabulary and ways to teach it.

Recommended:
American voices (documentary) PBS
Kevin Stroud (Podcast)

ESL Research, Methods and Assessment. Seminar 1

Dr. Mattix started with a simple activity, we wrote our names, countries and the words which describes us in a piece of paper. It was a mnemonics for her. My word was Visionary, because I like to think about the future with my feet in the present, think about projects for a medium and long term. Like usually Trust was making us laugh with his funny explanation about him. He is happy because in his home is happy, at GMu is happy and everywhere is happy. :)

We played TIC TAC TOE, which allowed us to know each other more. For instance Viktoryia speaks more that 5 languages, Elvin has been in more than 6 countries, Appia had a cat as pet but he ate it, Trust has two daughters and 18 years working as a teacher, Nurgul has no kids, Elliot was invited by his president to have dinner, Marlene is the youngest in the group, and much more.

We identified challenges we have at schools with English Learners that are common in different countries, e.g: English learners aren't motivated in learning english, the pronunciation is a tough task, learners forgets the topics year by year, irregular verbs is difficult for them to memorize, among others. The succesful things we have done with them are for example practicing with online games, combining some topics with kinesthetic activities and songs.

"Teaching English Learners is like track and field athletes in a competition"

Many students start but not all of them can succeed.

There are also factors that influence English learners' learning. My fellow Appia and I concluded:

• Plethoric classes
• Teacher's attitude
• Time for practicing the language
• Content or quality of the curriculum
• Extracurricular activities to suppport the teacher (clubs, karaoke, etc)

Then Dr. mattix shared some others

Two games were played. Why and because and white board slam. We enjoyed a lot. They can be easily played in our classrooms.

Seminar 3. Pedagogy and leadership

In this new meeting we talked about Multiple intelligences MI with Dr. Shahrokhi. This theory proposed by Howard Gardner  in 1983 contradicts the concept of intelligence as a single general ability, instead claims that there are seven  different intelligences and a person posseses all the  intelligences. Then other two intelligences were added. So, nine have been discovered so far. But even most interesting is that the intelligences can work together in complex ways, that means that they don't work isolated, and the majority of people can develop each intelligence in an average level of competency.

A self reflection about ourselves, our most developed intellegences and the least ones was carried out. For me, I am intelligent beacuse I can easily make new friends, socialize with people I don't know, work in teams (Interpersonal intellegence or relating to others) I can easily remember faces of people I have seen before (Visual) and I have a persuasive use of the language (at least in my Mother tongue, he he he), that is a Verbal intellegence, but I  am not good at orientation, find and address (spatial intelligence) and it's not easy for me understand musical structures (musical intelligence).

The intelligence the teacher has, impacts on the materials he/she uses at the classrooms. We avoid using methods or materials that require our least developed intelligence. In spite of the weakness we have in any of these intelligences we should potentiate all of them in our classes.

As a consequence, planning a lesson needs more time and care than before. Teachers should think about ways of developing all their students' intelligences. Following these steps:

1. Focus on specific objective or topic

2. Ask key MI (Multiple Intelligences) question

3. Consider the possibilities

4. Brainstorm
5. Select appropriate activities

6. Set up a sequential plan

7. Implement the plan

Reference:

Armstrong, Thomas. 2009. Multiple Intelligences in The Classroom. Third Edition. Virginia USA: ASCD.

New Pedagogy, Reflection and Leadership. Seminar 2

INSIGHTS, PERSONAL REFLECTIONS AND COMMITMENTS

In this second seminar with Dr. Shahrokhi we discussed about the first two chapter of the book "Leading in a culture of change" by Michael Fullan. One of the conclusion of the seminar is that leadership is an important trait for teachers who wants to have essential changes in the schools, communities or countries they are. Besides, "leadership is needed for problems that don't have easy answers". So teachers are needed to generate those changes our society requieres. As a matter of fact, the deep reforms depend on us, no on extraordinary people.

A leader is not a crucial person form history or a person who was murdered to give freedom to his/her community. Being a leader doesn't mean being a superhero. We have many leaders around us who inspires others, who gives ideas to confront hard situations in our daily lives, who can guide a team to find out differents ways to solve a problem, different perspectives of something or supports others.  

A leader not necessarily born with that ability. This one can be developed over the years or depend on the circumstances you are going through. Here is when relationships have lot of relevance, since they can find people who join him/her to achieve a goal or to make it easier. "Students don't learn from teachers they don't like"

In brief, good leaders need to be aware of the change is part of the society, develop good relationships, promote knowledge building,  have goals with a moral purpose defined, and be coherent.

One of the moral purposes in education is to make a difference in our students' lives. My personal moral purpose is to make my students aware of they are part of a global citizenship, doors can be open not just in our community but also in other cities or countries and English is a key to open them.

QUOTES FROM THE BOOKS

"The more complex society gets, the more sophisticated leadership must become" (p. v)
"Leaders in business and education face similiar challenges -how to cultivate and sustain learning under conditions of complex, rapid change" (p. vii)
"If relationship improves, things get better" (p. 5)

My First Technology Class

In my first seminar of "Teaching with Technology" with Drs. Norton, Hathaway and Tareque we talked about the concept of technology and concluded that Technology is anything that help for us and mediate between us and the world.

We can use tools that helps us to live and understand our world and also to teach in our schools. They are classified in:

• Concepts
• Symbolic tools 
• Electronic

All those tools facilitate our teaching and achieve our goals with Authentic, background building, constructive and sharing activites. For these ones, teachers should assess the technology he/she is going to use, because different technologies afford differents activities and goals.

In this first session we created a blog, which will be a nice resource to keep track of what we are learning in this university and that allow us reflecting in English, developing writing skills as well.

"Teachers are designers of students' learning opportunities"

Introduction

Hello everybody!

I am Andry Cordoba Díaz, an English teacher from Colombia. I am extremely happy for being selected to participate in the Teaching Excellent and Achievement program. It is organized by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the U.S. Department of State. and  provides international teachers with an opportunity to enhance their teaching skills and increase their knowledge about the United States. The TEA program is a six-week customized academic program that includes seminars on curriculum development, lesson planning, instructional technology, and new teaching methodologies. Fellows participate in a practicum in a U.S. secondary school, working closely with US teachers and students. The program provides cultural enrichment, mentoring, and support."

This blog aims at recording all my insights, perceptions, learnings, personal reflection and commitments generated in our seminars at George Mason University GMU in Virigina, US.