follow your dreams

Hi, guys,

The end of the course coincided with another memorable event in my life - the concert of Sting along with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra on 7th June. That would never been  possible if the world had not changed so dramatically 20 years ago. 

I love the feeling of completeness which engulfs me when I listen to Sting, he is undoubtedly a musical genius, but I also admire his talent as a writer - do read Broken Music - it is a  revelatory book, and a real treat to people who love the English language. There you can almost physically experience his life as a student and a teacher. We are lucky that the world has changed beyond comparison.

Here is a song for all who chance upon the blogs.

 Hope you will enjoy it :)

A real find!!!

Hi guys,

Look what I have found!!! http://www.voki.com/ 

Can't stop myself from playing with it - it's such fun! And it can " talk" in different accents, male and female, and can be embedded in blogs, Moodle in my case :) 

And that is what I found on their facebook page:

Youth is not a time of life, it is a state of mind. It is a temper of the will; a quality of the imagination; a vigor of the emotions; it is a freshness of the deep springs of life. Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over a life of ease. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years; people grow old by deserting their ideals.
Samuel Ullman, 1840-1924

Enjoy :) Ellie

Final week 10 - not good bye

Sadly this great experience is over. Sharing thoughts with people around the globe  in this very way was unthinkable just a couple of years ago. Teaching the way we did a couple of years ago will fall flat among a generation raised on computers and the internet. This amazing course more than met my expectations - I got a lot more than I could possibly imagine, and not only in the field of technology. Actually I regard the concepts of Project Based Learning, Multiple Intelligences, Alternative Assessment as the ones which would make the differences in my teaching, assisted by the technological tools.

I learned also how to manage time, to learn from others, to share. And this is also the first time I feel some people so close without even meeting you. I cannot fathom that this great community is going to end now. 

I suggest we continue posting in our blogs and share ideas on teaching and life. Thus we would miss each other less and the spirit of the community would be retained. We'll also share  if we are climbing up the LoTI scale. 

I am not saying ""Good bye", only "Chat to you soon"

 

 Ellie

Week 9 - drawing to a close :(

Time has flown in the blink of an eye. Before we even have time to notice, the course is over. It seems like yesterday when the panic seized me when I read the schedule and  thought I wouldn't be able to keep to it, because of the trip. Just to think what I could have missed:

• meeting and discussing issues with Donna, Helo, Eldin, Mariangel, Katty, Ale, Ili, Mariah, Laye,  Eve,  Gilmar, Marci, Gabi,  Kafa, Alex,  Fernando, Luis, Annie, Harold, Galo,  etc
• the mystery of interactive PP, Hot Potatoes, ANVILL, ABCD objectives, etc.
• the stress when creating delicious pages, a blog, the interactive Power Point!!!! and the crash of the Internet when you mostly need it :(
• the pleasure of creating the webquest and seeing the concentrated faces of my students;
• the pride of having accomplished something new on my own - i.e. submitting the project report before the deadline despite the crashing Internet;
• the feeling of having developed all kinds of intelligences, even the existential one,  in no time :D

 

I could compare the course to a good book or a film - at certain times you are stunned by the  sudden revelation that somebody out there can word the truths that we have sensed but never been able to express so clearly and profoundly. Here I mean the ideas of Alternative Assessment, the Multiple Intelligence Theory, and above - our ultimate objective - Learner Autonomy!

Teaching will never be as it was for me. Maybe in a small way but on a daily basis I will be using the things I have learned.

 If you do not believe me, you can come and check on me, and then we'll have a beer in the park.

 Love you guys

Ellie