Shameless Ana or what happens when a teacher puts herself out there

Photo by Sebastián Suarez Meccia

One of the most inspiring people I have listened to is researcher/storyteller Brené Brown. She shared her findings on the Power of Vulnerability at TEDx Houston 2010. Even though she was not satisfied with her performance, the talk was so enlightening that it has become one of the most watched on TED.com (more than 9 million views). That’s why she was invited to give another talk at the 2012 TED Conference in Long Beach. This time she focused on Listening to Shame.

What is Brené´s message? Her research shows that connection is what gives purpose and meaning to our lives and that in order for connection to happen, we have to allow ourselves to be seen, deeply seen , VULNERABLY seen. Brené encourages us to face imperfection, to have the strength to love ourselves no matter what, and the courage to let go of who we think we should be and become who we really are.

What am I really like?

Well, most people think that because I’m a teacher and work with others I’m an extrovert, but in fact I’m not (in case you are interested my personality type, according to the Myers-Briggs test, is INTJ). I suppose saying I’m an “outgoing introvert” would be more appropriate. I’m challenged to put my feelings out there and when I feel insecure I usually wear my armour- nice and tight.

Of course this affects my professional life. I prefer interacting with students, the people I am familiar with, rather than with a wide circle of colleagues. I feel the classroom is my territory and I am comfortable there. I enjoy the autonomy and creative freedom making decisions on my own gives me.

However, a few months ago, I began asking myself: What would happen if I shared my points of view, if I let others scrutinise my work? Would I feel confident enough to face criticism (or applause)?

Shameless Ana

“You can be amazing, but if you do not share it, no one cares”, says actress/photographer Maya (better known as “Shameless Maya” on Youtube). With her bold an “ in your face” style Maya convinced me - I should embrace vulnerability and become “Shameless Ana” . After months of doubt I embarked on a journey of personal and professional development.

The first step was to give a presentation in front of more than 100 EFL teachers. Yes, I decided to start sharing classroom experiences with complete strangers. I knew making my reality visible was necessary to grow as a professional so when my colleague and ex-high school classmate Carla Raguseo told me about a conference in Villa María, Córdoba I decided to apply for a place in the “Teacher’s Forum”, and I got it. Carla and I gave our presentations on My 24th ( you can read a detailed post describing our experiences in her blog).

I talked about Facebook in education and how I am using it with colleagues and students. The presentation was well received, so much so that the topic was mentioned in an article published on the UNVM website. And then, something amazing happened, a local newspaper got interested in the story, I was interviewed and an article was published. The impact of a front page story with a lovely photo was huge. My face, and my ideas, were everywhere!! A couple of days later, my students and I were interviewed, this time at school, and the story was...on TV! If you want to know more about this “media boom”, have a look at the brand new blog Carla and I have created and the article I wrote on my experience.

What have I learned?

Embracing your vulnerability, taking off your armour and sharing what you know (and what you DON’T know) is a powerful experience. It leaves you “naked”- and I know, that’s hard- but your ability to be okay with that can bring surprising results.

If you are still in doubt, just remember what Marianne Williamson says “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us…Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do…And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

When in doubt, choose change

Image: 'artjournal4'

I always tell my students: "If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten”. For me, learning means changing. I know what many of you might think, change can be messy, frightening or frustrating, but I suppose you'll agree with me it is undoubtedly necessary. Making progress means facing challenges, developing new skills and solving old puzzles.

Sometimes life runs smoothly and learning becomes a slow process, but that is not what has been happening to me since August. From that moment I have been experiencing a deep transformation which has set an inflexion point in my personal and professional life. Embarking on this whirlwind adventure forced me to take a break from blogging, but now that I have gotten into a new routine, I have finally found some time to sit down and write.

Let me share with you the biggest changes I have undergone and the best lessons I have learned.


Change #1: Home alone

For the 1st time in my life I’m living on my own. By the end of July my boyfriend, with whom I had been living for 8 years, moved 250 km away to do his residency. He’s a doctor and it’s too hard to get a position here, in Rosario, so he had to go. We chat almost every day (now I know more about skype, facebook chat, and google + hangout than ever before, hehe), but do I feel lonely? Well... sometimes. I must confess living by myself is not something I would have chosen, but it does feel good, at least at times! 

There are 2 main things this experience is teaching me:  

• The gift of quiet: A teacher’s world is filled with bustle and noise, but life has given me quiet! After school, when I close the door behind me, I have nothing to distract myself from the thoughts and feelings I don’t focus on during the day. When I am alone I can unwind and learn. What I learn about is myself, my own strengths, my weaknesses, my insecurities. Knowing myself better will help me become a better person and, hopefully, a better teacher. If you can, spend some quality time with yourself.You’ll be surprised how much your “inner voices” can tell you about the aspects of your life you must work on.

• Time alone is important and so is time spent with others: When my boyfriend was always around, I did not cherish every moment with him. Now that we see each other once or twice a month, I listen more closely to what he says and choose more carefully what to do with him. I suppose we can also apply this to sharing time with colleagues and students. Every person around us is important, but we are usually too distracted to really connect with all of them. Let's cherish every moment we spend with the people we love!

Change #2: Officially a student 

Ever since the beginning of the year I had been meaning to start formal training on ICT but it was not until August that  “Postítulo de Especialización en Educación y TIC ” ( Post Degree in Education and ICT) started. I’m so happy I'm officially a student again! Up to now, we have only focused on analyzing our context, needs and ideas. I hope in the future we’ll learn much more. I keep my fingers crossed!

Change #3: From working with colleagues to working with students.

In May I was chosen to train a group of colleagues at school in the use of ICT. The experience was time and energy-consuming, but absolutely fantastic. However, in August I was informed my role had to change. The Ministry of Education decided it was time students produced digital material. What do I have to do now? Basically I have to find out what cross-curricular topics students are interested in and what projects on these areas are being carried out at school so that I can help students create videos, digital posters, audios, etc to express their ideas. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Well, it is very interesting but I would say this is definitely more time-consuming than my previous task, at least now that I am helping students get organised and teaching them about “Audacity”, “Movie Maker”, “Glogster” and other useful tools. This is a huge challenge even if students know a lot about web 2.0 tools. The thing is, they need to become a cohesive group working effectively and that is the hardest part.I'll keep you updated on our progress.

What about you? Has your life changed recently? Do you feel you need to modify some aspects of your routine? Why?

What really matters

Image: 'LTHE : Learn - Teach - Help+-+Enjoy+/+FOSS'

Time pressure and deadlines. Piles of ungraded tests and forms to be filled in. During many weeks these were my constant worries. There were so many responsibilities I had to take on and roles I had to fulfill, that I simply couldn’t enjoy anything I did! For almost a month I had no free time, no fun and, unfortunately, almost no sleep.

Many of my students also looked completely drained. I believed most of them were also suffering from this end-of-term stress. I could hear many of them complaining about the lack of time to study or having too many exams on the same day. However, these were just some of the problems they were confronted by. When I finally had some time to talk to them I did discover the hard facts. Apart from having to earn good grades, many were being bullied at school, some had terrible problems at home and others, unfortunately many more than I had ever expected,  were fighting serious illnesses such as bulimia, panic disorder and even cancer.

Discovering the uncomfortable truth gave me a totally new perspective. First, I felt incredibly lucky. I’m much older than my students are (in fact, I am as old as many of their parents) and the most serious problem I have is lack of time. I am healthy, I have a loving family, a job I enjoy, and plenty of interesting projects for the future. Why should I be worried? Once again, my students were teaching me a lesson: I must not complain, I have all I ever dreamed of. The only thing I have to do is learn some techniques that I can use to deal with occasional stress.

After this initial shock, I started thinking about the way I teach. Was I placing too much emphasis on testing and subject matter, and not enough on serving as coach, counselor, or mediator? Maybe I was. Maybe I was forgetting what really matters: outstanding teachers are not people who know a lot, they are those who have a thorough knowledge of, and an excellent relationship with, their students. The teachers I remember the most are the ones who developed a personal relationships with me.When I was at school I wanted to be listened to, to be respected as a human being with needs, fears, and emotions. And, above all, I wanted teachers to help me become a better person, not a more proficient student.

I have a good relationship with my students, but is there a way I can help them deal with at least some of the problems they are facing and achieve their full potential? During the last 2 weeks I have been reading a lot about building a stronger relationship with teenagers. These are the aspects most authors agree teachers need to focus on and some of the things I have done recently:

• Make an effort to learn who your students are and what they need

The more we know our students, the more we can build learning environments that are going to work for them. So,how can we get to know them better? Well, a few weeks ago I wrote a post on why and how I use Facebook with students. I can’t explain how useful it has been. I have really learned a lot about their life outside school, their tastes, hopes and difficulties! Of course, talking in person is crucial, too. That’s why last week I forgot about curriculum and had a serious conversation with each and every class I have. We talked about the problems at school, about who they can talk to in case they need a helping hand, and what we (students AND teachers) need to do so that school becomes a more welcoming place. After this conversation I instantly felt a stronger bond and a more relaxed atmosphere. More conversations such as this one are due to come.

• Use appropriate language in class

Sarcasm and unkind words when disciplining students are an unfortunate reality.You lose your temper and you forget you should set the example. Right after you open your mouth you can feel it - everyone is uncomfortable.  I make an effort to maintain order using appropriate language.  Being mindful of the choice of words I use contributes to an atmosphere of respect.

• Create a supportive atmosphere where students develop self-worth

“The curriculum should be planned and presented so that all students succeed each day”, says D.E. Campbell in his article about building positive relationships. Wow, I had never thought about it this way but I can’t agree more! Students who feel comfortable and competent at school develop a positive sense of self. The school's aim should not be to transmit knowledge but to build students self-esteem.Campbell adds that, “ focusing on strengths can help students develop resiliency to deal with serious problems, such as teen pregnancy, violence, and dropping out of school.”

What do you think? What really matters in education?

What to do when you have NO TIME to prepare your class

Image: 'Reloj.cp'

In a lot of people's minds, an outstanding teacher is a somebody who devotes all of her time to teaching and has practically no life. If that’s what you believe, then you will agree I have turned into a master teacher! It seems that preparing material for the ICT course I’m delivering, and grading exams (it’s the end of the 1st term in Argentina) is taking more time than I had thought. The truth is I am working awfully hard!  I go to school, deliver classes,go back home... and start working again! At the end of the day, I am so exhausted that I just want to have a cup of tea (or some “mate”),  wind down and go to bed. There’s not much time left to read (or write) posts, plan lessons or design engaging extra material for my English classes.

I suppose the easy way out would be to follow the course book and use the resources there, but what if you don’t want to or it doesn’t provide enough interesting material? Well, after teaching EFL for many years I have a couple of lifesaving resources in my bag of tricks. If you haven't tried them yet, do it RIGHT NOW!!

• What you can do with internet access at school (and a projector or a good computer lab) or a TV and DVD player: Have a look at “Movie Segments for Warm-ups and Follow-ups” and “Movie Segments to Assess Grammar Goals”. These two blogs by Claudio Azevedo have so much interesting material! The first one focuses on film scenes you can use to prepare students for the topic you will discuss in class (brainstorm or activate schemata) or to use as a follow-up activity (to practise speaking, for example). The sidebar on the right shows all topics covered there and the number of segments on each particular theme. There’s always a pre-watch and a  while/post-watch activity. Some videos are quite challenging, but many come with English subtitles. The other blog is even better and I have used the material there plenty of times. You also have a list of topics in the sidebar on the left.  All the videos are graded (elementary, intermediate,etc) and there’s a warning if the material may only be used with adults. There are so many wonderful segments I’m sure I’ll find something suitable for any class. You can print the activities Claudio has prepared or prepare your own (I usually adapt them a little bit ). The only negative thing is the video quality, which is mostly low, but as the films he includes are very popular, you may have the DVDs at home or find better-quality segments on YouTube. You may download the segments and use a TV and DVD player to work with the scenes you need but, of course, that requires more time to prepare your class.

• What you can do without internet access at school (and no material whatsoever): Imagine you want your students to practise a grammar or vocabulary topic. In the past I used to prepare endless handouts with plenty of exercises. Was it tiring? Yes. Were students engaged? Unfortunatelly, not always. Well, forget about this time-consuming and nonproductive task. What I normally do now when students need to revise something we have been working on for some time is to make them prepare the material! How? I divide them into groups and ask each group to create 2 exercises (an “easy” and a “more difficult” one). I monitor the groups, answer questions if necessary and check the activities are fine ( they also write the "key" to each exercise). I give them extra marks for original material.Then, usually next class, they swap exercises with another group. Students learn a lot, love being able to challenge their friends and enjoy so much the creative aspect of the activity!

So, what do YOU do when you have absolutely no time to prepare your class?

What does being an independent learner mean?

'untitled'

The day after being chosen to be in charge of “Laboratorio Pedagógico 2012” (an ICT course for secondary school teachers), planning began. My brain turned into “preparation mode” and I compiled a list of things I had to do, find out about and revise. I couldn’t stop classifying the material I had, gathering more, and testing both old and new ideas. As a result of all of this process I have come up with a good teaching plan and I feel confident my first experience as an ICT trainer will be a success. Can you guess how I feel? After evaluating my progress and what I have achieved, I have every reason to be proud of myself. How much formal training in ICT do I have? Well, only two 4-month courses (“Conectar Igualdad” and “Laboratorio Pedagógico 2011”). Most of what I have learnt is basically the result of my own effort, of my own appetite to learn. Formal training just showed me where I can obtain information, how to evaluate its usefulness and formulate my own thoughts and projects . “Well done, girl,” I said to myself “you’ve mastered the art of independent learning. It’s time to share what you know.”

What does being a self- directed or independent learner mean? Basically, it suggests you can make decisions about what, when and how you study and that, little by little, you’ll become your own learning coach. Is this something we must encourage our students to do? Oh, yes, absolutely! I believe students need to become creative, critical thinkers and we must transform from “imparter of knowledge” to ‘facilitator of learning’. How can we do it? In class, there should be enough room to make lots of mistakes and build resilience so that students can become skilled at HOW to learn anything they want to. In the 21st century constant change will be the norm and those who won’t be able to adapt to new situations will be in serious trouble!

 So, what can we do to foster student independence? There are many things you may try. These are some of the things I have done or I am planning to do with my students: 

• Give choices

 Every time I can, I give students opportunities to make choices. Why? Because in that way they can start reflecting on their own interests and preferences, and take responsibility for learning. Examples of choices could be “Do activity A or B for homework” (I usually give and “easy” option and a “more complex” one so that students have to evaluate themselves and their progress in order to choose) or 'Answer 3 out of the 5 questions' or 'Choose one of these three topics to write about.' 

• Involve learners in lesson planning

 I love when students become “teachers” for a day (and they love it, too!). Once I had an intermediate level class every Friday from 5.00 to 6.30 pm. Teenagers hated being busy up to so late and were visibly tired so I decided to change my routine drastically. Forty minutes before the class finished, I would stop teaching and sit among my students. One of them would stand up, show me what he or she had chosen (a song, a poem, a video, etc) and the activities he/she had created. I had a quick look at the material and said “Ok, go ahead”. The student would then deliver the rest of the class. Most teenagers brought their favourite song so we normally listened to it and filled in the gaps, chose the correct option or did whatever the student had planned. After that, we wrote all the words they didn’t know the meaning of on the board and get in small groups. Each group worked with a monolingual dictionary, chose 3 o 4 words to look up in it and then shared what they had learnt with the rest of the class. Finally, we talked about what the song meant, mentioned some facts about the band or songwriter’s life and went back home whistling a new tune. 

Another option I am trying out now is dividing the class into groups, giving each group a text from the course book and letting them “present” it to the rest. They must plan reading comprehension activities, teach the new vocabulary and create 2 or more exercises for their peers to practice the new words. I also told them the most creative groups will get extra credit, so now everybody is interested in doing something original! 

• Encourage self and peer editing 

I have done this regularly and students love it. After each test, students have to correct their own mistakes (I just underline what’s wrong and mark the exam). Then, they get in pairs and, before handing in the revised version, they must check it carefully with this person. 

So, tell me, what are YOU doing to help your students become independent learners? I’d love your feedback so please take some time to comment.

Building Learning Power

'peace with myself'

Let’s take a look at public secondary schools in Argentina. What kind of environment do teenagers learn in? Chances are most schools you analyse will have plenty of dull rooms packed with students sitting still (they simply can’t move!). If you have a closer look, you’ll see some of them are listening to the teacher or copying down facts while others simply ignore whoever stands in front of the class. You may find places where group work is being fostered, but only if students are silent, calm and follow teacher’s instructions carefully. What will happen if you head to the teachers’ room? Well, you’ll probably listen to educators complaining because teenagers do not show respect or accept what they are told.

This sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Even though many of us have been trying hard to make things change, it seems most public schools are they way they have always been: traditional institutions focused on obedience, content and test results. Do we want 19th century values and habits to dominate our school system? What kind of mindset are we cultivating? Are your students becoming 21st century explorers or 19th century clerks? These are some of the topics Guy Claxton focused on in his conference on Building Learning Power in Rosario last Tuesday.

It would take a particularly long post to share all of the knowledge I received (in fact, I am still processing most of the information!), but I’d like to share with you a summary of the things that struck me the most:

1- Your brain is like a muscle (or a group of muscles).

Guy Claxton says it clear and says it loud: it is possible to get smarter; the ability to learn is itself very learnable. Research has shown that intelligence is not a fixed-sized pot or bucket that you were born with and has to be filled in with valuable stuff. Instead, he compares the mind to a group of muscles. What are the main groups? Curiosity, resilience, imagination, reflectiveness and reciprocity (click here for a complete list). We all know what happens if you train muscles hard: they become stronger and SO DO YOU! Powerful mental muscles will make our students more intelligent!

2- Schools should be mind gyms.

In many of Sir Ken Robinson’s world famous talks he describes the factory/assembly line approach to schooling. Partially complete “products”, that is to say children, are sent to teachers and each educator works on an individual step of the process until students become “productive citizens”. If students fail, it's either their fault for not trying hard enough or the fault of the teachers, who obviously need more training (click here to listen to him explaining this in detail). Guy Claxton’s new metaphor is a change of paradigm. For him, teachers should stop being the experts who add knowledge to students in factory lines, and become “learning power coaches” who will construct “exercise regimes” that will help students get smarter. Subjects must be compared to exercise machines and students should be able to adjust the level of difficulty of each task in the same way we change the weight in these machines. The result of this new approach: smart teenagers won’t get bored and slower ones won’t be left behind.

3- Let’s exercise new habits of the mind!

Classes are not neutral; they are always exercising some habit of the mind. If concepts are presented as facts to memorize, students will be learning credulity, retention and regurgitation. It is by changing the way we deliver our classes that students will start cultivating new habits of the mind. Our schemes of work should be written taking into account the mind muscles. You can learn history AND empathy AND imagination, if you stop lecturing and let students walk in other people’s shoes. If you are teaching the 19th century Italian immigration to Argentina students could imagine they are immigrants who have just arrived in Buenos Aires and write letters to their relatives back in Rome or Sicily. Facts would also be necessary to write good letters, but they wouldn’t be the main focus and the activity would be much more fun! Other, maybe smaller changes, such as letting students decide how many people per group would be ideal for a given task, will also make a big difference in the long run.

What do you think about BLP? I’m planning to start using this approach with my students. Would you use it? Why/why not?

When teachers make mistakes

                                                                         

'Head in Hands'

You write a sentence on the board and continue explaining an activity. Then you go to the back of the classroom to answer a student question, look at the board to give the sentence as an example and there it is: a mistake. There’s a mistake in the sentence YOU wrote. If you are lucky, it’s just a silly spelling mistake anyone can make, but what if it’s more serious? Well, let’s turn this into a real nightmare. Imagine it’s not you, but your students who notice it, decide to record your inaccuracy with a hidden mobile phone and (to your horror) upload the video to youtube. You may think I’m exaggerating but, believe it or not, that’s what happened to a Maths teacher from Catamarca a couple of months ago. The result? The video went viral and hit the headlines last week (if you haven't seen it yet, click here). 

Why did national newspapers talk about this if we know nobody is perfect? Why did some reporters and parents say she should resign? Well, I suppose this incident exposes a deeply rooted misconception: teachers are the experts and therefore should NEVER fail. Unfortunately, we have been socialised into the idea that teachers should know how to respond to EVERY situation. And, would you like to know what really horrifies me? I have even seen teachers taking down notes of colleagues’ mistakes during presentations. I suppose it is some kind of guilty pleasure. It has happened here, abroad, both with experienced and student teachers. It’s sad, don’t you think? A teacher who makes mistakes is not understood or respected by their peers. For all of society if a teacher shows their knowledge is somehow limited, they do not deserve the job. It doesn't matter that we have to make decisions when there’s not enough time, that our context shifts from hour to hour or that we try and look enthusiastic in the 2nd period even if we have been demoralised in the 1st. No, society wants teachers to be 100% reliable all the time.

I don’t believe teachers should strive for perfection. For me even the most decorated and experienced teachers make mistakes every so often. Solid preparation and constant training are necessary but we must stop being "the experts" (I can’t help but associate that term with obsessive, boring and somehow authoritarian people). I see myself as a facilitator and that’s why I usually tell everyone I’m nothing but an advanced student who can help others understand what I know and will learn with them what I don’t. The only difference between my students and I may be that I am more resourceful than many of them. What happens if I make a mistake or don’t know something? Well, I say “Oops, sorry!” explain what is wrong or find out whatever it is I don’t know, and gather my mental strength for the next time it's needed. Teaching is hard enough without the additional challenge of mental anguish over slip-ups and imperfections.

In the era of the internet encyclopedic knowledge and accurate retention won’t be as useful as they used to. Do we (or students) need to remember it all if we can simply click on an icon and find more information than we need in a matter of seconds? Guy Claxton, an expert in education, identifies being a better learner in the 21st century with having the ability to tackle problems confidently and having the appetite to keep on learning throughout our lives (click here to listen to him explaining his point of view). Well, that’s the kind of role model I want to be, but what do YOU think? What should the Maths teacher I mentioned before do? Should she be left out of the system, study more or show students that life goes on, even after being bitterly criticised?

To Google or not to Google? (part 1)

'Google logo render - Mark Knol'

What are Google Apps? Are all of them easy to work with and free? And if they are, how can a teacher take advantage of them? These were some of the questions I asked myself the first time I learnt about these applications. I haven’t been able to answer all of them (yet), but I have come to realize how easy to use and convenient most of them can be. Today, I'll focus on one of my favourite tools: Google sites.

Well, after experimenting with this application I can say it is great to create web pages for intranets, class projects or e-portfolios. But that's not all, google sites can also be used to present topics, evaluate them and much more. What I like the most is that making them is free, easy (you don’t need to learn any coding language such as HTML), and the final result is an eye-catching, interactive website ( you can embed documents, presentations, video, etc).

Willing to create a site?

Let’s imagine you have decided to try this application. What will the website building process be like? At first, creating a google site might look challenging, but taking the first step implies just having a google account (if you have been using g-mail or blogger, you already have one!). Then, setting up the site won’t take long. These days it’s easier than ever to sit down and put together a great looking website that will do everything you want it to do- without any hair pulling.  Anyone who is able to navigate their computer’s desktop and internal folders will be able to create their own site. You may need to read or watch a couple of tutorials before you know how to adapt it to your needs, but you’ll have a high-quality free website in a couple of days ( or maybe weeks, at the most). For those who are “just do it” people like me and prefer a trial-and-error approach, learning might be frustrating sometimes, but it will definitely be a lot of fun!

And, what about its design? Don’t worry about that. There are plenty of great-looking page and site templates . If you are creative you can change the site’s layout and experiment with different fonts and colours. However, I would recommend reading some information on the topic  ( “6 Conventions of Web Design” and “Color Selection”, for example)  before changing too much.

My experience

 To start with, I tried using google sites to present, practise and test topics. I was given this idea during “Laboratorio Pedagógico”, a course on ICT  provided by the Ministry of Education in my area. You’ll find a link to the first ones I created below.  My students have enjoyed doing the activities, but I’m not 100 % satisfied with how they came out. The good thing is I can keep editing them for as long as I want to.

And what about having a class site or a personal site? Well, at first I felt very intimidated by the thought of making my own personal website, but as I teach many classes I decided to give this a try and created one called “Ana Miotti” .Now, I see it as my home on the internet. Its main purpose is to publish information I wish students to read (announcements, test dates, useful links, etc), but I believe it will be a great tool to get in contact with parents and learn about students’ needs as well. Some of my students have already had a look at it and given me feedback. What  do you think of it? Would you like to have your own google site?

Google sites I have created:

Numbers (basic level, to present numbers to teenagers)

Lyfestyles (intermediate level/ present and practise present simple vs. continuous and stative vs. action verbs).

Ana Miotti (my personal site)

Let's get started!

Ever since I started surfing the internet and learning about web 2.0 tools, I've been interested in blogs. I've always enjoyed reading posts, leaving comments and even interacting with bloggers. However, at first I didn't dare have my very own blog. In fact, it was not until  2008 that I finally started writing one. It was a kind of online diary in Spanish (my mother tongue) where I would talk about challenges and long-term goals. The experience was great: I learnt a lot about myself and made friends with readers and bloggers from around the world (Spain, Uruguay, Chile, Dominican Republic, etc). Unfortunately,  there came a time when I couldn´t post frequently so I ended up abandoning the blog. It was then that Facebook gained in popularity and I decided to keep in contact with friends and colleagues that way.

Now that I'm learning how to bring the full potential of the web 2.0 to the learning experience, I feel the need to have a place to reflect on my practice. I hope this blog will help me overcome my fears, learn more about ICT and contact educators who are interested in sharing their experiences.