Week 3: Hard work, lack of time...

It's night, actually it's after midnight now when I am writing and trying to explain the new things I have learned this week. I can't actually believe that the end of the third week is so close. So many things happened...not only here (I will tell you about them at the end of this post).

At first, more precisely on Monday evening, when I read for the first time the tasks for this week I said: well, it's simpler than before. Actually, I was wrong. Even if I thought I can solve everything in a couple of hours...it took me more than 5 days...


One of the best things I have learned about this week is Delicious.com - and I explained the advantages and why I like it so much in my previous post.

Then, I started reading about everything related to the aural/oral skills. The idea became very clear in my mind and while thinking about my post related to this, I had to organize my ideas and everything I know about them, in order to present my virtual classmates the advantages technology brings in our classrooms. I am addicted to technology and to the internet - I can't imagine life without it. I have been using the internet for more than 15 years, and with time I learned I can use it for something different, not only for socializing or entertainment. Now, it's my duty to teach my students this, and make them understand that the internet is the wonder of our lives and we must use it in a fruitful way (as I said in one of the comments on one blog, we should be able to make our teaching pleasant and useful). I got help from the internet thanks to the links Deborah provided. Everything is so easy and nice... I am able now to find to best resources I need and to adapt everything to my students needs. Otherwise, I lose their interest and attention and I am quite useless...

Now, I would like to make a confession: I am a little bit sad and disappointed to see that not all my classmates have comments on their blogs. I have been reading and commenting almost on everybody's blog. I didn't do it be named "creative" or "the most active": not at all. I comment on your blogs because I consider that communication is the most important thing in our lives. I can't live without communicating. I like to express my gratitude, my ideas, my dis/agreement and make sure you know that I read what you write. Otherwise, if I don't write, how should you know I read your posts?

Now, I would like to tell you why this week was so special for me. It's quite a personal thing, but I want to share it with you. Those of you who read what I posted last week know that my school got the distinction of European School for the second time. On Thursday I went to Bucharest (our capital city) and the minister of education offered us the title and the certificate. I dedicated it to all my students as a sign of gratitude for their hard work in international project during the last 3 years. Here I have some pictures:

Week 3: Mmmm, DELICIOUS...

When I first accessed this site, www.delicious.com, I was quite surprised. First of all, the name of the site, then the images (all of them related to cooking and eating and I have to agree I am one of the worst cooks ever). I couldn't understand what's the point. I let it go.

But, the 3rd week came, and with it, this task: creating a personal page on www.delicious.com/nnadina. And I got the point: it is extremely helpful for me. It helps me save time and it allows me to be more organized. I am not the only person who uses bookmarks (so many sometimes) and who simply loses them. I can give you lots of examples from my personal experience.  When I created my bookmarks, I was very satisfied with them, but something strange happened (because of a virus I have to reinstall the OS or the browser) and I simply lost them. Or: I had them on my computer at home and I needed them at school, and of course I couldn't have them. It meant spending time almost on nothing, because sometimes I wasn't able to find what I was looking for.

So, when this week started (for me on Monday night), I explored very carefully the site. I read the introduction and I created my first bookmarks. Now, I have them with me wherever I go. I find this site extremely helpful. Why? Just to give a short example. As I have already told you, I created (actually arranged and searched) my first page at home. Today, while at school, I needed the exact address of a website for my projects. Instead of going through the e-mail and trying to search what I needed, I simply went to my page (www.delicious.com/nnadina) and had everything there.

I warmly recommend it to everybody. It is simple to use, its interface is friendly, the instructions, examples and explanations are clear and you save time by having everything organized as you like / need it.

That's all for now. I am eager to read your opinions about it. For me, it is simply DELICIOUS.

Wekk 2: Instead of conclusion

The end of my second week on the course is drawing near. It was a very hectic week for me: I attended a course on life-skills, I had to keep up with my work on this course, I had to deliver lessons at school, I had to learn, I had to... enough.

First of all I would like to start by the ABCD model when speaking about objectives. If exactly one week ago they were totally new for me, now I know about them, I have even tried to write an objective following this model. And I find them extremely useful. As long as an idea is clear in my mind, I can express it very clearly and make my students understand it.  It's very important for me to know my audience, to know their attitude and behavior, and to know the performance I want them to reach. I will use only the ABCD model now on as I have never found anything more useful.

Then, I would like to tell you that something amazed me at the very beginning of the week, when I had to describe not only one class, but also the setting. I kept asking "What's the point?"... later I realized that the setting is also extremely important for the teaching / learning / assessing process. As long as you don't feel very comfortable in one classroom, it mark your teaching, your behavior and your attitude. I chose a class I am very fond of: 26 students from grade 9 B in my school. I described the setting, I described the students and now I am able to let you see them: 

The last point I want to tell you about is related to the search engines. I have often felt that Google was not enough for me, especially when I wanted to search something more specific. Now, thanks to this course, thanks to Deborah and to my classmates, I know about Noodlle Tools first of all and I am very glad I know more.

I am very impressed by my classmates' work. I read their blogs, I read their posts, sometimes I comment and I am very happy we are virtually together and we share our knowledge, our experience and we are able to learn together.

This is all about my second week. I am eager to start the 3rd one.