Category: Topics

Professional Goals for 2013 – Vladka

vladka-cokoladkaI Am A Teacher. An Artist

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”  ― Terry Pratchett

It has been a few weeks since the time when we were reflecting upon the past year — our achievements, our mistakes and beliefs. Now, already in a new year, I come back again thinking about what I want from the time that will come. Yet, I don’t have any new year’s resolutions, really, because first of all, there is never a clear line between what was and what will be, and secondly, because I would probably fail from the beginning if I made resolutions. It’s better to build on what’s been learned.

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Over the last two years or so I’ve learned a lot about myself. I’ve learned how important it is to respect myself and also a thing or two about the spiritual journey I’m on. I’ve learned it all starts here and now, and that it is about change and respect. Besides that, I’ve learned that change is constant and that you can’t give what you don’t have.

But of course I have new goals and dreams that come from what I have learned, and most of all, I wish to work on the way to build all that I have learned so far into practice. That could be my goal then – to be more organized but not giving up what I need to do in order to stay true to myself — to let go of my fears and situations that stop me from doing the things I can in a way I really want to do them.

What would you think if I said, “I am a teacher – an artist

What? You don’t think we, teachers, are artists? I will believe you if you say you are an artist, too! And I would even hug you in joy because I know what that means. It means you trust yourself and love yourself and that you have learned to pass on that love and respect.

“What is an artist?” I asked a friend recently. Who is an artist?

I don’t think an artist is necessarily a painter, a poet or an actor. These are the most common examples, I guess, but certainly there are more possibilities. An artist could simply be someone who understands feelings and who has a way or two to express and work with those feelings. An artist could be a teacher who is true and authentic in his or her teaching. An artist could be a student who rebels not to prove the teacher wrong but to be heard.  If you think of yourself as an artist, then as an artist you don’t want your students to mindlessly follow your instructions. As an artist you want others to grow into artists as well.  As an artist, you don’t want to hide yourself behind what you don’t even understand just because others say they do. Do you remember? You can’t give what you don’t have. Give what you do have. Don’t be afraid. Aim at being an artist!

With this aim in mind, I would like to be even more present in the classroom this year — with less talking time for me and more talking time for my students. I would like to understand what it really means to teach with your mouth shut, what it really means to teach unplugged – but not by doing activities and techniques in a certain way, but by truly accepting and working with the people who are there. . I want to understand myself more. I want to put more of me into my work as I work to understand others more and see them as the artists they are. This is how I want to do my work better this New Year

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What I learned in 2012 – Scott

A Fairly Tech-y Year  

Scott Thornbury
Academic Director

What have I learned this year? What am I still learning?

It’s significant perhaps that most of my learning experiences this year have related to the uses of educational technology, not in the language classroom, but more as an aid to my day-job as teacher educator.  For example,

I learned how to write and design a complete MA TESOL module, and how to upload it onto a learning management system, without having to prevail upon our IT team back in New York. Previous courses I have written I simply handed over to them to put up. But, having learnt how to edit existing courses, I figured that it was not a major step to design and mount a whole course from scratch. I managed fine, and am proud of the fact that the course is multimodal, including text, videos, links to external material, and so on. The only thing I couldn’t master was pop-up answer windows. A learning objective for 2013?

I learned how to improve my webinar technique – I did three or four this year, including one with 700 online viewers and a Global Webinar for iTDi.  I’m still not happy with the way I handle interactivity in this medium, easier obviously, with smaller groups, but they lack of eyeball-to-eyeball contact, and the continuous chat stream, is a challenge I’m not yet comfortable with. I’m still learning that one.

I learned about the power of blogging, and that even when you stop blogging, the blog has a life of its own. My blog continues to get a fair few hits on a regular basis, even though I haven’t posted for six months. I also learned that it’s very useful to have an index on your blog, and the number of hits this gets is testimony to its usefulness for people looking for specific posts.

I also learned that adapting blog posts for e-book publication is more challenging than I had expected: trying to condense and summarize the comment threads and to incorporate these into the body of the text was an interesting exercise, while the more frozen form of an e-book – more like a book than a blog – requires a degree of concision and precision that blogging normally doesn’t. I’ll be interested to see how it turns out.

I already knew how useful YouTube is as a medium for broadcasting short video clips about matters relating to methodology and language, but this year I’ve learned how to incorporate text and graphics into video clips, such that they have become a substitute for blogging, perhaps.

I learned – through doing a Pecha Kucha on second language acquisition at an iTDi event following the JALT conference in Japan  – how much content can be packed into less than seven minutes:  it’s salutary to know that even big ideas can be delivered in small packages, especially when accompanied by some kind of mnemonic scaffolding – and I don’t mean a lot text! The value of concision, logical sequencing and simplicity was also something that I’ve been learning as I write and edit the lessons for the iTDi Teacher Development course.

I’ve learned the value of occasional Skype calls with my online students, both as an opportunity to touch base but also as a way of personalizing the somewhat faceless online learning environment.

Finally I’ve learned how to use Twitter for mainly public and professional purposes (announcing talks, forwarding interesting links, etc) and to use Facebook for the private and personal. But I’m not sure I haven’t got it the wrong way round!

So, all in all, it’s been a fairly tech-y year.  Maybe, as counterbalance, next year I need to get back in to real classrooms, low tech, and blackboards with a small b?

What I learned in 2012 – Yitzha

My 2012 Ride Icha

Wow! I can’t believe that this year is almost over! I felt like I’ve only just begun actually. It has been such a full and amazing year for me. I literally started the year as a little Kindergarten teacher who was just starting my PLN and eager to learn a lot.

Well, I haven’t done a lot really, but what I did this year was to be willing to try and learn new things. After joining #teachmeet at the end of 2011, I certainly was ready to take on more challenges. I started my class blog and have been having fun with it. My class has joined some projects —  having skype session with classes from Australia and then we also did a Voicethread project together.

This year with the help of the amazing Vicky Loras and Ceres Pioquinto, I had the chance to write for ETAS Journal for their spring 2012 Issue, and I also had the honor of being featured in one of the #ELTChat podcasts for their 5th episode, thanks to James Taylor.

I think one of the highlights for me this year was being able to present in a conference. My first ever was at the JELTA Conference in Jakarta this September where as nervous as I was, I was very happy to have some of  my PLN around me including the lovely Barbara Sakamoto, Adi Cerman, Marlene Yosefien and Trika Simandjuntak. Marlene and Trika had also helped me to introduce iTDi among the participants of the conference. Now that’s the true power of PLN in my opinion J . I was also very lucky to have the chance to attend and stood by Barbara’s side as her co-presenter along with the incredible Marco Brazil at the 2012 JALT Conference in Hamamatsu, Japan. Not only that, I also got to meet and learnt from a lot of incredible people! It was a wonderful time indeed!

Oh and one other thing that I’m proud of; I have finally been able to present  material at my school’s curriculum meeting! For somebody who just started to learnt about Montessori and in a school where the standard has always been set, it was a major achievement for me! J

I have to admit that my class has been a major force in my life; personally and professionally. My students have been the greatest muse any teacher could ever hope for. And if it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have the urge to constantly learn and grow, so I could be a better teacher for them. Another muse in my personal development is of course my PLN, especially here in iTDi. I have never thought that being active online could give me so much! Not only for my teaching but also for my self.

So my plan next year is to continue what I’ve been doing — but raising the  bar even higher! I’m already excited about the  iTDi workshop this coming February in Semerang, Indonesia, because I’ll get the chance to share and hopefully inspire teachers here to always crave for more personal development and notice the power that PLN could give you. I’m very optimistic for the coming year and to that I’d say : Welcome 2013! Aza Aza Vivacity! ^_^

What I learned in 2012 – Ann

Becoming A Better MeAnnaLoseva140x150

I always enter the weeks before the end of a year with an uncomfortable feeling. There is a lot of pressure at work with papers, credits and exams,  and there’s this fussy pre-New-year time, but those are not the prime reasons. The uneasiness comes when I, following my tradition,  I open up one of my notebooks and write down 20__ __  at the top of a blank page. Then I stare at it — and I contemplate.

I approached the end of year 2011 with a bitter feeling of things going wrong. Being overwhelmed with numerous online activities and new connections, I totally fell out of REAL life. I lost important bonds and unconsciously devalued what is of true worth. Realizing this fact and overcoming its consequences I consider my biggest success of year 2012. By reflection and action, I’ve learnt how to come to terms with these two parts of my life, assigned each of them their own place, established the difference, and I now always remember my priorities.

I am slowly learning to get over my unflattering qualities. I am learning to be less judgemental and critical. I am getting to grips with the fact that everyone has his/her own place and that’s the only place you can succeed in, by doing what is in it for you. I’m learning to be forgiving, too. I used to be very individualistic, but now I’m teaching myself (and my students with me) to cooperate and value the opinions of others. It is not the wise quotes in my Facebook feed that have given me the motivation to change, but the conversations, the kindness of people around me, the diversity of opinions, the good attitude and openness of my PLN. Thanks to them, I have learnt to be more mindful and less skeptical. I have learnt how to socialize and take pleasure in it (something I couldn’t boast of for several years).

As a teacher I have acquired new practical skills. This year I have used several web 2.0 tools for the first time, read insightful professional articles and blog posts, and tried out activities from webinars and conference sessions that I visited. Going to conferences has proven to be especially beneficial as I not only learnt a lot but, more importantly, gained confidence and got an energy boost that empowered my teaching for weeks after the conference itself. With this uplifting feeling I discovered the will power to take action and step out of my comfort zone – to be bold in my ambitions, to formulate my ambitions.

On a more practical level, I’ve learnt how to optimize my note taking and goal-setting with the use of devices and good old pen-and-paper. I am still learning to set priorities and keep promises though, but I’ve learnt not to give myself too hard a time for sometimes failing to do that.

From this year on I want to carry into my classroom what I learn myself in order to share with my students, be it a new word or a phrase, an interesting fact, or a fresh idea. It looks to me that I’ve learnt to teach with intuition: Not too afraid to make a mistake, not too reproachful for being imperfect. Being a teacher, I can allow myself to keep my own personality in the classroom now. It’s another success of this year – I have stopped even the slightest pretense. In my class and after the final bell goes off,  I am one and the same person.

I know this post is neither practical nor useful to readers as it is just as personal as a page of my diary could be, more like a revelation. Yet I know that iTDi is a safe place for me to share and exactly the right place where I would love to share. Everything I have mentioned above has had its effect on my teaching. Every positive change I’ve had in my understanding of myself has altered my way of teaching. Changing as a person, I change as a professional, and that means so much to me. It might seem too bold but that is probably the main message of this post. It is useful to aspire to be a better you.