WEEK 4: A New Perspective

While I was reading the instructions for this week's task about creating a lesson plan enhanced with technology I realised that so far my lesson plans have been very detailed which I don't find very useful. What counts for me are the general aims and the specific objectives the teacher has for each class she teaches and not so much the procedure and the timing. We cannot disregard the fact that the class is defining the pace of teaching and learning as the lessons must be student-centered and not teacher-centered.
Most of the times I have used technology was to add something to my lesson, to make it more up-to-date, to intrigue the students and sometimes facilitate the learning process. Never before had I seen the use of technology as a way to solve learning problems or suit learner's needs.So, it is a new perspective for me to try to see things from this angle, i.e to first think of a problematic area and then try to find with the help of colleagues a solution using technology. How many things we're learning and how many things are left to be explored...
Maria

WEEK 3 - COPING WITH WORKLOAD AND THE COURSE!
It has been a hectic week! How tiring, creative and stressful at the same time!
Of course, it wasn't because of the course I'm attending but my job requirements. I had an assessment interview for my teaching position. Also, we're heading towards the end of the school year here in Greece (lessons end on May 15th) and the beginning of exam period from 21st May to 14th June. Thankfully this Friday (26th) we have our Easter break, celebrating the Orthodox Easter and I will have more time to devote on the course and assimilate the wonderful things I've been learning so far!
So, to be honest, I did all the tasks and projects hurriedly this week! However, I really like Delicious tool for bookmarking and I'm planning to explore its possibilities further. When I'm reading my e-classmates notes I realize how many experiences, thoughts we can share and I take notes when people suggest things that I can try and experiment with.
So, let's keep up the good work!

Week 2 on the webskills course

Well, on the second week I realized how organized the whole course is and felt relieved as I have never attended an online course before!
I've learned about various search engines which I'm planning to also give my students to explore and make use of!
I didn't know the ABCD model of phrasing objectives and honestly I had to study certain of the models-examples to complete the task.

Week 1 - First thoughts
I'm eager to start learning new things through this web-skills e-course I'm attending. I was impressed by how far away all the participants are from each other and how close we can come through technology and sharing ideas! Robert, our instructor is very helpful, giving us clear instructions and since there is no face-to-face communication this is definitely valuable!

 Well , it seems that I forgot to introduce myself in this blog!
I'm Maria Pitsaki and I live the city of Heraklion in Crete, a wonderful island in the south of Greece! I've been teaching English since 1998 and I pretty enjoy it! I'm currently working at the Pilot Secondary School of Heraklion teaching teenagers! I also have 10 years experience at working with university students teaching ESP (English for Specific Purposes) at the University of Crete. I'm a translator as well.