Resources Every Teacher Needs to Know About

My 2nd post about this Teacher Learning Community

Very Proud of being a Member and an Ambassador

One month ago, after participating at RSCON4 (Reform Symposium Conference), I was selected as one of the 5 Ed Teachers Inspire and I won this wonderful prize: Having a full membership to this Teacher Learning Community. 

I was a member already, but with a limited access and I really didn't pay a lot of attention to it. Once I became full member, I log in very day and I participate in forums, in webinars and in sharing resources a lot! I can say that I've become "addicted" to it.

I've met wonderful teachers and have interacted with lots of presenters not only in the webinars I've been attending but also in Twitter (SimpleK12 in Twitter). All of them have been very kind and helpful.

Now, after this month, I applied to become an Ambassador and to my surprise... I've become one! I've been promoting the community among my colleagues and at school. Now, it's time to promote it everywhere I go, esp. all the conferences and congresses I attend. Unfortunately, we start our summer holidays in Argentina, but I'm sure, I'll be able to start doing it next February when we go back to school.

There are tons of resources, tons of webinars, tons of lessons, tons of forums... tons of everything! And of course, tons of awesome educators! 

Why did I write in the heading this is my 2nd post about SimpleK12? Because I wrote one when I started participating actively in the community. You can read about it here: My 1st post about SimpleK12

So do you want to ...

* Learn about the latest technologies helping other teachers excel?

* Join discussions with other educators about implementing new standards? 
* Stay in tune with what matters most in today's schools?
* Feel up-to-speed on the "latest and greatest" strategies and tools?

If you answered YES to any of the above, join me inside the hottest education resource: SimpleK12’s Teacher Learning Community.

==> Create a FREE Basic Membership Today. http://community.simplek12.com/scripts/student/courses/view.asp?lid=1003116

SimpleK12, the leading provider of 21st century teacher professional development, brings the fun, energy, and excitement back into learning.

200,000+ educators from around the world have access to SimpleK12's PD resources, information, and training ... and you can too!

Take learning into your own hands and explore the fastest-growing social network and Professional Development community for educators...

==> Create a FREE Basic Membership. http://community.simplek12.com/scripts/student/courses/view.asp?lid=1003116

Thanks Ayat for having nominated me, thanks RSCON for having selected me and thanks SimpleK12 for teaching me everyday!

I'll be looking forward to seeing you inside the community!

I love the bunnies :)

The world of puppets

Why are puppets useful in the EFL classroom?

Some time ago, I started using puppets in the classroom. Some of them were simple socks and some others were more sophisticated as I bought them. However, after seeing that my students thought puppets were silly, I put them aside.

This year I met (virtually speaking) Juan Alberto Lopez Uribe who showed me how important puppets are in the classroom. He shared some wonderful videos and interesting blog posts so I decided to bring puppets back to my class.

Juan's blog about puppets

Also, when I participated at RSCON4, I listened to Sam Pattersen who also works with puppets. He showed funny puppets in action and some days ago, I listened to him again in another webinar by "Classroom 2.0" talking about... puppets!!

Sam's site about puppets

Why are puppets useful in the EFL Classroom? Because they can be used in stories, songs, chants, roleplay and pairwork. They provide motivation even if the students think they are silly.

Puppets are fantastic for meaning, for fluency, for communication, for cross-curricular activities. They are great to teach vocabulary, to teach language and of course, to evaluate.

My experience with puppets this year has been awesome.

First of all, I have to thank my dietitian because she sends my lunch very well wrapped in paper bags. As I have tons of those paper bags, I decided to recycle them by creating puppets. I browsed tons of websites to see how I could make them. I pinned them and then I let my creativity run!

My Pinterest - My pins about puppets

The original paper bags - My 1st puppet

When I taught "animals" to my 6th graders, I told them they had to make a puppet so as to round up our term. They loved the idea immediately. So I gave them the paper bags and they came with lovely "puppet animals". It was such a success what they did, that I invited the kids' parents to attend a "puppet show" in the classroom. My students had to describe their animal to three different parents. It was an incredible day as both parents and students got surprised with all the English they had learnt in 3 months!!!!

Students talking to parents in our classroom

I also did the same with my secondary students. My 1st year students had to talk about pets so... I told them that they had to create a puppet and I was going to evaluate them with the puppet. The kids did beautiful puppets and the test was oral, of course. Our school principal congratulated them because they could produce tons of vocabulary.

My Secondary School Students' Puppets

So... give puppets a try! You'll surprise with all your students can do and say!

Thanks Juan! Thanks Sam! You have inspired me a lot!! Smiles for you both! :)

Thank you for reading :)

SimpleK12 - Teacher Learning Community

An Addiction?

G

Some time ago, I came across SimpleK12 which is a teacher learning community. I became a member and as I didn't pay, I didn't have full access.

When the #RSCON4 ended, I won a full year membership to the site and to my surprise... I found it really amazing.

I discovered lots of shared resources, interesting forums and wonderful webinars with extremely interesting presenters like Shelly Sanchez Terrell, Kim Munoz, Melissa Edwards, Jerry Swiatek and my dear friend Jennifer Verschoor.

I have also met wonderful educators like Mariel Gomez de la Torre, who is an active participant and with whom I have started a nice discussion relationship in the forums.

Last weekend, I attended a series of "Digital Storytelling" webinars and I'm looking forward to attending the next one which will have free access to "Google Apps".

Free Online Event - November 16th

If you haven't sneaked around, just do it! You will find a fantastic world of ideas and resources! As Jennifer and Shelly mentioned "it's addictive" and I truly agree with them!

It's an addiction which I hope I can keep having! 

I love the bunnies!! :)

RSCON4

Reform Symposium Conference - 2013

It was such a great pleasure having attended the RSCON4 this year! I got there just by chance or better said, because I'm a member of "The 30 Goals Challenge for Educators" group. 

There I talked about one of my activities and projects with my dear Ayat Tawel from Egypt - "ArgentEgypt"- and Shelly Sanchez Terrell read it, liked it and invited us to participate in the conference as presenters.

It was a fantastic event; there were more than 100 presenters, tons of interesting topics and awesome educators from all around the globe.

I attended some sessions due to time difference, working time and sleeping time. They were marvelous as  I learnt a lot from all of the presenters. I cannot say "I like this much more than the other one" cause they were all great. What I can say is that I learnt, learnt and learnt!!!

To my surprise, Ayat nominated me as one of the EdInspired teachers, and much more surprised I was when I was told that I was one of the 5 "winners" so to speak!

I'm happy to have been there, to have listened to outstanding-ovation sessions and to have met excellent educators cause all that has given me more ideas to keep improving, to keep working and to keep saying "I love being an educator".

RSCON4 Presenters & Volunteers 

 

Aprendizajes en Redes 2.0

Trabajo Final

Despues de varias semanas de compartir este curso "Aprendizajes en Redes 2.0" en Educ.ar, estamos poniendo el punto final. Este es mi trabajo, según lo pedido.

Mi blog, es en Inglés puesto que esa es mi área de trabajo. Comparto notas, ideas y comentarios de otros colegas. Hoy voy a mostrar alguno de los links que les he dado a mis alumnos para hacer sus trabajos como evaluaciones.

El que más me gusta es Photopeach. Es una herramienta donde se suben fotos y queda hecha una presentación formal.

Aquí verán el trabajo de mis alumnos de 1ero 2da con sus títeres.

Títeres - 1ero 2da - 2013 on PhotoPeach

Una herramienta similar es Animoto. De igual manera, se suben fotos y se realiza un album.

Caminitos con Historia - Animoto

Otra herramienta que he usado es Fotobabble. Se sube una fotografía, se graba un mensaje y luego se escucha dicho mensaje.

Tambien me gusta Slideshare porque mis alumnos pueden compartir sus trabajos. En este caso, muestro mi presentación en la conferencia "Reform Symposium" que dí el 12 de Octubre. También adjunto el link para escuchar la sesión.

ARGENTEGYPT - An Online Collaboration Project - RSCON4 from Maria Bossa

Presentación Online de ARGENTEGYPT

Otros sitios que me encantan son "Doppel me", "Be funky", "Build yourself wild" y "Fodey" ya que los alumnos pueden crear avatars y luego así pueden describir en forma oral o escrita ese personaje creado.

Build yourself wild

Be funky

Doppel me

Fodey

Me encantan las historias digitales virtuales y mi sitio favorito es "Make Beliefs Comix" porque los alumnos no solo crean los personajes sino que tambien crean sus propias historias.

Make beliefs Comix

Estas son algunas de las herramientas que uso para que mis alumnos trabajen aparte del libro de clases.

What a wonderful week

Great things happened on...

Monday Oct 7th

My 1st niece was born! Her name is Rafaela, she is so cute and all the family is extremely happy with her arrival. What a blessing for all of us! 

No pics due to her parents' request! Sorry :)

My dear Rafaela is here!!! Love you :)

Tuesday Oct 8th

My b-day! I became 42 years old! Yeap... Life goes too fast! I had a fantastic day with my students at school, friends and colleagues at home and of course with my family.

I had one of the best gifts ever... my dear friend Ayat sang the Happy b-day song in Arabic! It's a tongue twister and I wish I could sing it!!! Shokran ya gamela!!! Ana ba7ebak awee! :)

Wednesday Oct 9th

Online interview with Miss Cintia Costa students. They are from the University of Belem, in the Brazilian Amazon's area. I talked about the resources I use in my classes and gave them some ideas about how to use the book with the resources mentioned. The students were so nice and some have started following me in Facebook!

Cintia Costa's blog

Ideas and resources 4 the efl class from Maria Bossa

Slides of my presentation

Thursday Oct 10th

What a day!!! Two wonderful pieces of news...

Number one... I was nominated as one of the five individuals to be recognized at the EdInspire live ceremony held online as part of the Reform Symposium Free Online Conference. Again, my dear Ayat is "to blame" for this!!! She nominated me with such a lovely message!!!

My Nomination 

Number two... though this one is still "off-the-records", I will be the new Rotary Club Rio Tercero Secretary during the 2014-2015 period! Thanks "Pepe", the eligible president, for having trusted me (esp because I'm "brand new" in the club)

Friday Oct 11th

The RSCON4 Conference started. It gave me so much pleasure to listen to Sugata Mitra, who gave an amazing open ceremony. The expression that I loved the most was "Pedagogy needs to include the use of Internet". I totally agree as some educators are still in the "Stone Age" as far as technology is concerned!

Awesome sessions 

Saturday Oct 12th

What a fantastic day at RSCON4!! Ayat and I talked about our most precious project "ArgentEgypt", my dear colleague Marijana Smolcec talked about Facebook, Sam Patterson gave us a funny presentation about puppets and Miguel Mendoza opened our eyes to "Diverse and Disability". Of course, those were the sessions I attended. I wanted to attend more but due to time and some other activities... I'll check the recordings!

ARGENTEGYPT - An Online Collaboration Project - RSCON4 from Maria Bossa

Sunday Oct 13th

EdInspire ceremony at RSCON4 where I officially got my "Honoree certificate", listened to Ayat talking about us and read wonderful comments about my job. I also want to congratulate the other 25 nominees and of course the other 4 winners "Fatem, Chaouwki, Vicky and Maggie". They are such great educators! Bravo!!

Such a great honor for me!!! 

So... this is it! Don't you agree with me... "What a wonderful week"!!!

Smiles to you all :)

Aprendizajes en Redes - Curso de Educ.ar

Modulo 3 - Aplicaciones Web 2.0 y Lenguaje Audiovisual

Después de haber descubierto a Educ.ar - el portal educativo del gobierno Argentino - he hecho varios cursos online, siendo éste el 4to. Me han encantado todos los anteriores y por supuesto, éste también.

Como parte de las actividades del Módulo 3, teníamos que leer el material obligatorio y crear cuentas en algunos sitios que se mencionan en la bibliografía obligatoria.

Desde hace tiempo, yo tengo abierta mis cuentas en al menos 2 de esos sitios puesto que aprendí a usarlos en "Webheads" (Community of Practice).

Aqui dejo mis links.

Slideshare: Mi "Slideshare"

Flickr: Mi "Flickr" Este es un sitio que no uso mucho puesto que no me gusta subir fotografías. Cuando lo hago, comparto mis fotos en "Photopeach"...

Mi viaje a Egipto

Aunque también tengo cuenta en Youtube, no subo videos pero sí sigo diferentes personas e instituciones.

38th FAAPI Conference - Buenos Aires

Roots & Routes in Language Education

How do language, cultures and identities interact in 21st-century classrooms?

FAAPI (Federación Argentina de Profesores de Inglés) organized its 38th conference in Buenos Aires from Sept 26 to Sept 28 at UCA (Universidad Católica Argentina). 

Opening ceremony

It was my 2nd FAAPI, as my 1st one was in 2010 when it was held in Cordoba. This FAAPI was much more modern and was seen by people from all over the world due to the online broadcast not only by APIBA members but also by all the delegates who posted all throughout the sessions.

I saw old friends, I met new people and of course, I bought books.

Mady Casco & Laura Szmuch

Myriam Met

The sessions were awesome; I attended 7 workshops, 1 academy presentation and 3 plenary sessions. 

I cannot say "I like this session much more than that one" cause it would be a lie. What I can say is "I learnt a lot from all the speakers and I took tons of ideas from them". 

It was a very good idea from the organization to provide a "Walking tour" around "Puerto Madero" neighbourhood - the newest and most expensive area in Buenos Aires. 

Walking tour around Puerto Madero area

What main ideas can I mention...? Good question!!! 

• Self-esteem has 5 componets: Security, Purpose, Identity, Belonging and Competence; The brain loves movement (Grace Bertolinis session)
• "Oppa"=daddy  "Gangnam"=trendy district in South Seoul  The "Oppa Gangnam Style" Song implies 2 cultural modes: a formative and an informative mode. Culture is a "know-what", a "know-of" and a "know-how" (Pablo Toledo's session) 
• "Lean about technology on your own"; we need methodology to teach about technology (Michael Harris' academic presentation)

Michael Harris's Academy Presentation

• Adults need patience; they need to control and lead their own learning. Learning a L2 is learning a 2nd identity. (Mady Casco's session)
• "Stop blaming others and take responsibility for your own actions"; "Seek to elevate" (Laura Szmuch and Jamie Duncan's session)

Jamie and Laura's session

• It's difficult to say "Who I am" cause we should say "I belong" (Gladys Baya's session)
• Tons of free websites (Jennifer Verschoor, Rita Zeinstejer, Gladys Baya and Maria Marta Suarez' sessions)

Jennifer Verschoor and Rita Zeinstejer's session

• "The contact zone"; we should reflect upon intercultural stuff (Claudia Ferradas' session)
• "SAM": Smile, Acknowledge, Make eye contact (Myriam Met's session) 

These are brief ideas of these incredible days. 

Thanks a lot APIBA and FAAPI!! Hope to see you next year! 

As usual, I also have fun with "extra" speakers!! :)

Enjoy some extra pics and "tango" here! :)

FAAPI 2013 - Buenos Aires

Engage Rotary, Change lives

Being part of a Rotary International 

Rotary International Website

Last May 24th, I became a Rotary International member at the Rotary Club Rio Tercero Asociacion Civil, district 4815. After 56 years, I had the honor and pleasure to be the 1st woman to enter the institution in my hometown.

Our President Eduardo Poletti putting the Rotary pin

I had been participating in RI as my parents were active members for some time, so I knew what Rotary was and meant in a person's life.

Service and friendship are two of the top words within Rotary world. Tons of projects are organized and fulfilled, being "End Polio Now" the most famous.

After having had my Rotary ID, I started participating actively in RI website and I've become of the the 1st "early adopters" of the new site. There, I began using the "group discussions" where I met other fellow Rotarians and started friendly conversations with people from around the globe.

Thanks to those interactions, I participated in an e-meeting and I've become member of lots of Facebook groups related to RI. What's most, I met wonderful people like Rachid, Lydia and Amelita.

Rotary Banner e-club District 9220 - Thanks Rachid and Lydia! :)

I have a lot to learn, I have a lot to give and I have a lot to share. I've opened my own group discussion in "My Rotary" page, I've represented my club in some hometown activities and I'll be attending a meeting in Buenos Aires.

My Rotary Discussion Group: Rotarian Teachers

I represented my Club when the journalist Fernando Colautti presented his book called "Rio Tercero tiene historia" at the local library Justo Jose de Urquiza

Thanks Rotary International for giving me the chance to open my life to new ideas and to new relations.

I can say that I'm a "Proud Member" of Rotary International. 

Thanks Dad for having showed me what Rotary is

Around the world with just a click

#30 Goals - Goal # 13

It's been such a long time since the last time I wrote my last post. However, being part of the 30 Goals Challenge for Educators have made me review my blog.

Today, I just want to talk about Goal #13 "Make a Global Connection". I really loved this goal as I made one important connection not only for my professional career but also for my personal life. 

My first global connection was when I did my 1st EVO (Electronic Village Online) session some years ago. I met wonderful teachers from around the planet who helped me in my classes and shared tons of incredible ideas. After finishing "Becoming a Webhead", my entire world had changed! My mind was opened, my knowledge about technology had broadened and my life had a new friend and colleague: Miss Ayat Tawel from Egypt. We both became good friends and started sharing ideas and projects related to our students.

We both decided our students could interview us just by asking different kinds of questions. We were so enthusiastic that the interviews were a complete success. I have to thank Skype for this! Such a new tool for us... Our students were amazing not only with the questions but also with the interviews! My students even danced for Ayat when they interviewed her.
After these online sessions, we decided to create a Facebook group for the kids. They had to strengthen what they had started, they had to post in English and they had to share posts about their culture, their customs and anything they liked and loved. Our group was called "ArgentEgypt". It was such a great success that both Ayat and I didn't imagine it. 

ArgentEgypt

Now, after 2 years, that experience is leading me to another "huge" global connection. As member of Rotary International, I have become part of the #ROSNF (Rotary on Social Network Fellowship) group. There are Rotarians from around the world ready to serve their communities and ready to keep social networks as part of the service Rotary International provides.

A group of Rotarians from Mauritius Island, Madagascar, Canada, the Caribbean and I from Argentina are in the process to create a project where all our students get connected. Lots of ideas are on the table (virtual, by the way) waiting to be fulfilled and ready to become true.

I strongly believe in "Global Connections"; I strongly believe that even if we have different languages, different culture and different customs, people get connected "with just a click"!   

School year 2013

HI.... such a long time!
I'm ready to start teaching web 2.0 tools to my 3rd year students.... StumbleUpon, Twitter, Tweetdeck, Pinterest, Slideshare and many others! I hope I also have the time to teach them how to create a blog and a wiki.

Trying Netvibes

Hi,
This is the 1st time I used Netvibes! Thanks JA!! :)