Google Workshop - Happiness!

Google Workshop on Internet Safety for Educators

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to take part in Google Argentina's workshop for educators on Internet Safety. It is truly refreshing to see so many like-minded teachers willing to spend a whole morning during winter break to learn a few tricks to apply in class (and in daily browsing) 

Internet safety is definitely something we all deem vital, but know very little of. These are some of the things I learned yesterday:

• Passwords: We need to stop thinking of passwords and start creating passphrases. For example, let's say your favorite book is One Hundred Years of Solitude. Your password could then be: OHYoS#1967 (the year it was written) This way, your password fulfills all the necessary requirements: 8 characters minimum, upper/lower case letters, special characters, and numbers. And, most importantly, you will remember it. 

Source: http://www.someecards.com/

• Two-step verification: Enabling two-step verification is basically adding an extra layer of security to your account, especially those which have sensitive information. Every time you sign in, you'll be asked to type in your password and also include a specially generated code you'll be given.  There's even an app to make your life easier. You can learn more about two-step verification here.

• Chrome Safe Search: By turning safe search on, you'll be making sure your students/kids will not be accessing inappropriate content. It is dead-easy to enable. You just need to visit your settings page. More detailed instructions here. 

• Youtube Restricted Mode: Worried that your kids/class might watch something inappropriate on Youtube? You can replicate Chrome's Safe search by turning on Restricted Mode. You'll find this at the bottom of the home page. Interested? Click here for further instructions.  

Computational Thinking

This week I started this online course on Computational Thinking. It is a self-paced course in which you can learn different problem-solving skills that can be applied in any field. I found it incredibly interesting, not just for class, but for real life as well. You can check it our on its official site.

Ed Tech Newsletter - July #2

Remember you can sign up to get this newsletter straight to your inbox here. Hey, there!  Welcome to your dose of ed tech tips.

Hi, Wow! The winter holidays have finally arrived with the promise to recharge our batteries for the second semester. I hope they deliver. I sure need them. I'm writing this today to keep last newsletter's promise of telling you more about TED talks. With their slogan in mind, "Ideas worth spreading", let's jump right into it.  Site of the week This week's site is (no spoiler alert) TED.com. Now, some of you have probably heard of TED talks, seen some, or are big fans of them. Who has not heard of Sir Ken Robinson's famous TED talk"Do schools kill creativity?" (if you haven't, then I strongly - strongly - advise you to spare 20 minutes of your time and check it out. It is to date the most popular TED talk, with over 10 million views) TED, which stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design, originated as a one-time conference 30 years ago, but went viral in the last 10. The popularity of the talks grew exponentially and there are now thousands of them, amassing billions of views. There are three "official" annual events and countless independent conferences around the world (easily identified by their 'x' in TEDx (there's even a TEDxRiodelaPlata, aTEDxBuenosAires, and a TEDxCordoba) TED talks cover a plethora of topics, some of which you will find interesting as an educator, as a mom/dad, a life-long learner, you name it. Video of the week It's incredibly challenging to choose just one TED talk to share with you. In fact, I have a Youtube playlist of TED talks that keeps on growing and growing. No end in sight. That being said, there's one talk that comes to mind for this newsletter and it is Rita Pierson's 2013 TED talk "Every kid needs a champion". Why? Aside from her vast experience as an educator and her fantastically timed humor, Rita has a compelling message to share: the value of human connection in teaching. A powerful reminder as we round off this first half of the year and embark on our second one. I couldn't have said it better myself: "every child deserves a champion, an adult who would never give up on them".

Rita Pierson: Every kid needs a champion

App of the week Remember Pocket? That very useful bookmark that lets you save websites for later? Boy, do I have something for you! I like Pocket. It's been life-saving on numerous occasions, but I definitely have a soft spot for Pinterest. Ask anyone who has used it in the past and they'll probably go "Aww, Pinterest...". Why, you may ask? Simply because it allows you to bookmark pages with an add-on just like Pocket, but you get to organize them in different boards. And since it is a social bookmark you can follow other pinners (for example, me!) and get inspired by what they find (which also saves tons of time). Curious? You'll find out more about it here. A word of advice, though. Once you go Pinterest, you never go back. I kid you not. There's such a thing as a "pinterestoholic" and a "pintervention". You have been warned.  Happy holidays! See you in 2 weeks!

“Students who are loved at home, come to school to learn, and students who aren't, come to school to be loved” Nicholas A. Ferroni

Pinterest

Last month, I wrote about a very interesting tool for bookmarking: Pocket. 

Save to Pocket has proven to be incredibly helpful. It's pretty intuitive, saves content for later access and has easy-to-install add-ons, which means that, with a simple click, your site is saved.

But the real jewel of bookmarks in my opinion is definitely Pinterest. Ahh, Pinterest, you make me waste countless hours sailing through a sea of pins. But I love you, anyway.

It works pretty much the same way. You find something you like on the web and you pin it for future reference. There's also an add-on for Chrome, which you can install from here. You can create different boards in order to organize your content and find it more quickly. 

Bookmarking has evolved in the past years into social bookmarking, which basically means that you can share the content you found and also benefit from what other people have stumbled upon on the Internet. Pinterest has this social component as well, since you can follow other pinners and get inspired by their pins. 

Some of the pinners I find most useful are TED, Edudemic, Edutopia and Humor Train for the occasional laugh. And you can find me as well ;)

Happy pinning!

Ed tech Newsletter - July 1

This is July 1's newsletter.

OK, let's dive straight into today's newsletter. We learn something new every day, right? It's an old maxim, true. But in a world where innovation is pervasive such a concept becomes more appropriate than ever. This is one of the reasons that drove me to write these biweekly newsletters: to share with you those new things that have crossed my path. And it is also the theme of this newsletter in particular: novelty. Let's dig in.  Video of the week I came across Matt Cutts' TED Talk a few months ago. (If you are wondering what a TED Talk is, I strongly encourage you to check them out. I'll be writing about them in the next newsletter, but if you can't wait until then, browse away!) Back to Cutts. I liked his character, his sense of humor, but most of all his challenge: to try something new for 30 days. Repeating what we know how to do is easy, practical. We've learned it, mastered it, and so now we feel comfortable with it. It has worked in the past so why try something new? I could name a dozen reasons why but at the end of the day, I guess I'd say stepping into the unknown is what keeps us alive, moving forward.  I've used Cutt's video in class with my teenage students. His language is fairly simple and his pace is EFL-student friendly. My students came up with amazing ideas. One had always been interested in photography, so she took on the challenge of snapping a photo of something that made her happy for 30 days. Another one had a hard time writing her essays, so she decided to learn a new word for 30 days (You can get them straight to your email from sites like this one) Mind you, I didn't come up with these ideas so I can't take credit for them. I was, in fact, surprised by such an enthusiastic reception. But this is what happens when we open up and share something with others. People take it, own it and come up with ideas we would have never even dreamed of. So in Cutt's words, what are you waiting for? Site of the week So by now you might have seen Cutt's video and thought of giving it a try. But where to start? Let me give you a hand with that. Remember the TED talks I told you about a couple of lines above? Following the spirit of TED and with education in mind, TED-Ed was created. It's a fascinating site that you'll find incredibly useful for your classes. I'll tell you all about it in the next newsletter, but let me share with you TED-Ed's July Challenge. How does it work? You basically sign up and get a video lesson by email, teaching you something new for 31 days straight. I've already signed up. Join me? App of the week Now, the Internet is full of fun new interesting things. But the amount of information can be overwhelming at times. And it takes time to browse through it. Lots of it. This is where Pocket comes in handy. Pocket is basically a save-for-later app, an I-don't-have-time-now-but-I'd-love-to-read-all-about-it-later kind of app. We've all been there. After clicking on a couple of links, we find an interesting article, site, lesson idea that we would love to read more about. But dinner has to be cooked, children need to be bathed, tests must be corrected and we have a life to live. So what do you do? It's impossible to remember every single site we visit. When you find that article you like so much, you just click on the Pocket add-on and it's automatically saved for you. If you've never heard of this app before and want to know how to use it, you can read a step by step guide here.   Wow! You've made it till the end of the newsletter in an age where attention span has significantly decreased (less than a goldfish's, I might add) You deserve an inspiring quote :) See you in 2 weeks! PS: Have you checked out my latest flyer? No? You're missing out! You can find it here. PS 2: If you know of a friend who would like to get this newsletter, you can forward them this email and they can sign up here.

"If you learn something new every day, you can teach something new every day." Martha Stewart

New workshop coming up on July 11. Creating virtual classrooms.

Save to Pocket

Pocket has proved to be life-saving for me at times. It was originally called "Read it Later", which I think pretty much sums up its purpose. You are browsing the web, find something that catches your eye but then life gets in the way. You have no time to read that article, watch that video, or check out that lesson plan that looks so interesting. No worries; Pocket will come to the rescue.

First off, you'll need to create an account. You can save your finds by simply clicking on the 'plus' sign and pasting the link. Easy? Yes. But there's an even more convenient way. Visit your Chrome Webstore and look for the Save to Pocket extension on the search box. All you need to do now is add it to your browser and voilà, you'll see it at the top-right corner of your Chrome browser. If you are using another browser, no worries. You can easily install it here. 

Save to Pocket add-on

Every time you find something you'd like to save, just click on the Save to Pocket icon and it will automatically appear on your Pocket account.

Pocket even found another way of saving links: via email. All you have to do is send the link in question to add@getpocket.com. You'll find step by step instructions here. 

Do you have a smartphone? Then you can also have the Pocket app. It's available for IOS and Android, so it'll work on most phones.

Now, trust me on this one. He who does not tag will inevitably get a headache. If you end up liking Pocket as much as I do, then your list will grow exponentially and finding that article you liked so much will turn into a headache. You'll be back where you started. So remember to tag your finds with keywords you'll remember easily (such as 'lesson plans', 'recipes', 'sites for school')

Of course, Pocket is not the only way of saving links. You can find out about some others on this old post.

Below, you'll find a short video introducing the app.

Hope you like it!

Ed tech Newsletter - June

I am invading your inbox once again to share my ed tech newsletter. A few months ago, I came across an interesting experiment involving change. It is called the Monkey Experiment or Paradox and it goes something like this. Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water. After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, and the other monkeys will try to prevent it. Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be hurt. Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked. After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys has ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been done round here.  From http://themonkeyparadox.blogspot.com.ar/ The moment I heard this story, hundreds of thoughts rushed to my head. It is definitely easier to remain on known territory, but it is also true that life is full of changes, especially life nowadays. As far as technology is concerned, we are constantly bombarded with new tools, new sites, new apps. The moment we figure out how to properly use the new app we've recently downloaded on our phone, a new update comes out and we need to start all over again. Easy? No. Frustrating? Incredibly. But we can look on the bright side and understand that every new thing we learn is creating new neurological pathways, thus keeping our brains young - and updated. That is the purpose of this bi-weekly newsletter. To share with you what I've discovered and learnt: new trends, new apps, new tools that will help you navigate the tricky waters of an invariably changing technological world. Are you in?

“Change is the only constant in life” - Heraclitus

The Power of Connection

I have been fairly active on social media for some time. Whether on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ (my two favorite ways of building my PLN), I'd always made sure I check posts and keep up with the latest. But I kept having this feeling I was taking the back seat and not really participating actively. Well, that has definitely changed.

Early this year, I posted a question on a Google+ Community and immediately got all kinds of solutions to my problem. It still amazes me how many people are willing to give you a hand, even though they have no clue who you are. One of those teachers who replied was Reinhard, a German Science teacher. A couple of weeks later, he sent me a message, connecting me to a fellow Argentine teacher who was presenting in an ARTESOL conference in Buenos Aires. We ended up meeting for coffee thanks to someone we've never met on the other side of the Atlantic. 

Fast forward two weeks and I'm taking part of my first Mystery Hangout, where I got to talk to people in the UAE, Oman, India, Argentina, Germany, the US. Mind blowing. 

Once you start, there's no going back. Reinhard invited me to a second Hangout with a US teacher form Ohio who was doing a PD meeting and trying to introduce Mystery Hangouts to her colleagues. You can check out Sebastian's Slideshare of the Hangout here. 

Teaching can be quite lonely at times and the Internet provides you with the possibility of reaching out to like-minded educators. Educators from which you can learn. And who can also learn from you. 

June Workshop: GAFE (Google Apps for Education)

This year, I'm starting a series of monthly ed tech workshops.

The first one is starting soon! Couldn't be more excited.