Project Based Learning and Webquests

I am convinced project based learnisng affects student motivation and behavior,as well as webquests.

They are most of all authentic,students are learning through a content they have previously negotiated ,so theiur interest arises exponentially . they involve students creativity because they have to decide on the way they are going to present it,negotiate with classmates who  are working with them,which involves a lot of learning in working collaboratively and specially critical thinking,when they are working on projects,they have to prioritize,discard,explain,all activities which involve criticakl thinking.I also believe PBL is a very good tool for Differentiated Instruction ,because it gives each student a chance to do their best,and time to finish and present when they are ready.

It is the same with webquests ,this year I implemented several ones but there was one specially that worked very well the topic was "How Media Influence Famous Couples ".I gave students several webpages to look at,and they prepeared excellent Power Point Presentations to class ,they were highly motivated with it,and as a result their behavior was better than usual,they really worked harder than ever.

Week 4

Hello,it was my birthday this week,and it came loaded with lots of reflections, as birthdays usually are for me.

And my family all together at home is the reason I am posting so late today,exhausted but happy. 

I have  a lovely husband ,"the wind beneath my wings" as I like to call him, two adorable children,Juan and Cecilia both of them married ,and a 18-month old grandson,Massimo,they are my first motivation to continue developing myself.

My second and great inspiration are my students,and this week was so so special.

I was every day with computers in class,working with them,something that ,I believe, happens for the first time in my life.

I planned my lesson with the technology enhanced template and I also worked with the revised version of Bloom´s taxonomy for the 21st century.

It is a complete new challenge for me ,thinking about how to apply technology in my classes on a daily basis,to be honest,I used to plan something with PCs about twice a month,which for most teachers around here is normal,not to mention rare.

So,here I am now, with different tasks planned for next week and wondering about Donna.I have heard in the news that there has been an earthquake in Turkey,and she mentioned she was going to be there.I hope,she is in good condition.

Maria Elena

Week 1 Reflections

I found this first reflection was never published.I decided to post it anyway beacuse that was the way I was feeling ,incredibly I have learned so many things over these 3 first week I feel a lot more confident.
"Well as I am sitting here trying to create my first blog,I do not feel any confident.I feel brave because of what I am doing but I am not sure I will be able to keep the pace of this new tool.
I do not even understand if I have to write my own reflection here on in another page,but I am absolutely sure someone will come up to help me.
All I know is I want to learn and keep the pace of new technologies to be applied in the classroom and if I want this to happen I have to try.
You know,I do not even know if when I close the page I will be able to find it again.
I hope so..."
Marilen

Dr.Deborah Healey visit

As I commented in my previous post, this is the quotation with which Dr Healey opened her presentation.

                
                 Technology will not replace teachers,

                   but teachers who use technology 

               will replace those who do not (Ray Clifford)

I wanted to share it with you because this sentence was very inspirational for me

Maria Elena

Weekly Reflection

Today was a hectic day for me.I traveled to Montevideo(Uruguay capital city )to work with my colleagues and our supervisors ,on new standards we are preparing for next year.
This is the first time we are asked to work on standards directly,in fact our role is new in Uruguay.We are PADs, which means teachers who articulate in each province,between our two supervisors and the teachers in the nineteen provinces my country has.
Our supervisors had told us we were going to have a surprise...Prof..Deborah Haley was there!We met her and ,thanks to the U.S.Embassy,which brought her to work in a Linguistics Forum and today with us,we had a workshop on the topic of Technology standards for teachers and for students.
I learned a lot today,she started her presentation with a quote I will upload separately,because I want to transcript it correctly,but it says that technology will not replace us teachers,but other teachers with better use of technology.
I learned a lot this week with all the links Donna shared with us ,I would summarize it in one reflection.
I must use technology on a daily basis IN my classes,not for planning them or presenting to my students ,but WITH them.
Maria Elena   

Is there anybody out there?

Hello ,everybody:

I think I have made the necessary changes so that anybody can see my blog .I hope so.

I was feeling alone in the cyberspace.

It is Sunday night in my country now,so I do not have too much time left to check if someone is able to see it.

I do not have Internet access at home,I live in a country farm so I came to my office and checked.

Welcome

Maria Elena

Blogger Pictures

Here I am

I am so happy I found my blog at Donna´s Wiki blog roll .Now I feel I am into this  world.This week has been so hectic .I worked yesterday with the discussion topic I commented in the discussion section about the search.It worked very well.Students were so  enthusiast with the topic ,that I again recommend
www.iseek.com and its links to work in class