Puppet show in 8th grade!

Yesterday I observed a puppet show extravaganza presented by Alina's 8th graders based on a chapter of The Island. The kids brought lots of props and you could tell how the activity had compelled their imagination. This kind of activity really taps on their creative reservoir and motivates them to give a different kind of life to the story they've been reading.

I'd like to stress the importance of taking risks when dealing with a literary text. In the implementation of the idea, the kids found different unexpected challenges, such as building the appropriate setting -they used cardboard boxes- and constructing the character figures -they used tin soldiers, little plastic dolls, added miniature ships and even included weather changes that had an impact on the plot. They had prepared the script in class together and had to agree on who was which character for the performance. There were, of course, some aspects that Alina and I discussed could be improved on a subsequent presentation, such as rehearsal sessions, a bigger setting already made that would allow them to focus on the characters and action instead. We also talked about the idea of preparing a full text performance that could be presented to younger students.

Above and beyond the difficulties encountered, I appreciate Alina's willingness to take risks with creative projects for the class. It made me think that once we implement an idea, we come across different challenges that need our attention. Meanwhile, both our students and we have learned quite a bit in the process. Without taking risks, we hardly ever reach a breakthrough in our practice.

No meeting Monday!

Today, Filomena asked if we could put off our meeting with her, Diana and Andrea till next Monday, Oct 6. So, I hope you can all change your calendar and fit in the rescheduled meeting. Thank you!

Soy un maestro

Soy un maestro.Nací en el instante en que surgió una pregunta de la boca de un adolescente.He sido muchas personas en muchos lugares.Soy Sócrates animando a los jóvenes de Atenas a descubrir nuevas ideas a través de las preguntas. Soy Anne Sullivan horadando los secretos del universo para ponerlos en la mano extendida de Helen Keller. Soy Aesop y Hans Christian Andersen revelando la verdad por medio de innumerables narraciones.Soy Marva Collins peleando por el derecho de todos los niños a la educación. Soy Mary McCleod Bethune edificando una gran universidad para mi pueblo, usando cajones vacíos de naranjas como pupitres. Soy Bel Kaufman luchando para ir en contra de la corriente.Los nombres de quienes practicaron mi profesión han ganado el reconocimiento de la humanidad... Booker T. Washington, Buda, Confusio, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Leo Buscaglia, Moisés y Jesús.Soy también aquellos cuyos nombres y rostros se han olvidado hace mucho tiempo, pero cuyas lecciones y carácter se recordarán siempre en los logros de sus alumnos.He llorado de alegría en las bodas de los antiguos alumnos, he reído con regocijo en el nacimiento de sus hijos, y he permanecido con la cabeza inclinada por el dolor y la confusión en las tumbas cavadas demasiado pronto para cuerpos demasiado jóvenes.En el transcurso de un día se me ha pedido ser actor, amigo, enfermero y médico, entrenador, hallador de objetos perdidos, prestamista, chofer de taxi, psicólogo, padre sustituto, vendedor, político y defensor de la fe.Dejando a un lado los mapas, planos, fórmulas, verbos, historias y libros, no he tenido en realidad nada qué enseñar porque mis estudiantes han aprendido por sí mismos, y sé que se necesita el mundo entero para decirte quién eres.Soy una paradoja. Hablo más alto cuando escucho más. Mis más grandes regalos son lo que quiero recibir, agradecidamente, de mis alumnos.La riqueza material no es una de mis metas, pero soy un buscador de tesoros de tiempo completo, en mi búsqueda de nuevas oportunidades para que mis estudiantes puedan usar sus talentos, en mi constante búsqueda de esos talentos que a veces yacen enterrados en la autoderrota.Soy el más afortunado de todos quienes trabajan.A un médico se le permite traer una vida en un momento mágico. A mí se me permite que esa vida renazca día a a día con nuevas preguntas, ideas y amistades.Un arquitecto sabe que si construye con cuidado, su estructura puede permanecer por siglos. Un maestro sabe que si construye con amor y verdad, lo que construya durará para siempre.Soy un guerrero que batalla diariamente contra la presión de los amigos, de la negatividad, del temor, de la conformidad, de los prejuicios, de la ignorancia y de la apatía. Pero tengo grandes aliados: la inteligencia, la curiosidad, un espíritu crítico, la individualidad, la creatividad, la fe, el amor y la risa. Todos ellos me ayudan a levantar mi bandera con su apoyo insuperable.¿Y a quién tengo que agradecer esta maravillosa vida que tengo la suerte de experimentar? A sus padres porque me han concedido el gran honor de confiarme su mayor contribución a la eternidad: sus hijos. Y a uds mis estudiantes que me permiten vivir un diario sentido de redención a través de nuestro contacto en la clase.Y gracias a esta profesión tengo un pasado rico en recuerdos. Tengo un presente desafiante lleno de aventuras y entretenimiento, porque se me permite emplear mis días en el futuro.Soy un maestro... y doy gracias a Dios por eso todos los días.

Adaptación de las palabras de John W. Schlatter en:
http://www.angelfire.com/az2/yaz2000/hd/maestro.html

Minutes Meeting Sept 16

Members present: Sofía, Graciela, Norita, Janine, Alina, Cecilia, Silvia G, Omar, Silvia I, Pimpa Excused: Paula
Absent: Carolina

Announcements:
Books: Cecilia told us that she got the Activate Series (three levels) from Longman’s rep. We agreed that we would keep the books in the office for a week or two before anyone teaching those levels takes them for classroom use as extra-material.
Teacher’s day ceremony: Carlos thanked the 1st Polimodal team for taking care of the ceremony last Thursday Sept 11. They said there had been some criticism of improvisation from the Administration because the text to be read by the MC was not ready. Carlos reminded everyone he had been sick the whole week and had not had a chance to put it together. Still, at home he did search on the web and sent the text for the speech which they informed everyone liked. We agreed we would put more attention to the organization of ceremonies in the future.
Congratulations: Carlos congratulated Cecilia on her presentation about "The Use of NICT in the EFL Classroom" at the Primeras Jornadas de Actualización en el Uso de la Lengua Inglesa organized by the UNT CELALEI last August 21-23.

Needs
Carlos informed that upon the concern expressed earlier that day about the lack of good cassette and CD players, Mercedes and Filomena authorized the Department to purchase two units that respond to our needs. Cecilia and Alina agreed they would get together soon to get them.

Alina expressed concern about the lack of available times for her class to use the Computer Lab. She requested a schedule be set so that she can have access to it once every 2 or 3 weeks.

Silvia expressed the same type of concern about the availability of the library. Since 8th graders use it at the same time 9th graders sometimes do so too, it was agreed that since the latter only need it every so often, they would communicate the 8th grade team a week in advance so that alternative arrangements can be made.

Professional Development

- Eleven members of the Department attended the UNT Jornadas mentioned above. Five of them are working on the written evaluation for accreditation.

- Apart from her CELALEI presentation, from May to mid July, Cecilia was part of the program "Del Pizarrón al Monitor: la funcion tutorial en los entornos virtuales de aprendizaje", an online course for teachers sponsored by UNT. She also took the graduate course "Analisis del discurso de los aprendientes a proposito de la lectura" taught by PhD Mark Souchon.

- Omar attended the talk on evaluation given by Miguel Angel Santos Guerra at Tulio school on Monday, Sept 15.

- Carlos attended the presentation of the Department of Psychology on their Tutoring System last August 22. He will also be giving a professional development training session at IES Lola Mora on the use of blogs in the classroom.

- Silvia I. and Pimpa will be attending this year’s FAAPI in Santiago del Estero from September 18-20.

More opportunities

Carlos announced that the UNT Formación Docente Department is going to publish its annual magazine and has invited people to submit articles. It would be great to put our work on paper and publish it in this prestigious journal. Further details about length and deadlines will be given in the Dpt blog.

FCE/IB News
Carlos informed that the note for parents with information about FCE payment is posted on the Dept blog. Grace, Silvia G., and Cecilia asked whether the note could be adapted for those students who are not entirely prepared but could take the exam if they work really hard. Also, another note could be drafted to send parents of kids who want to take the exam even though they are really not ready in their preparation to pass it. We agreed that for the latter group, the same letter could be sent, but the parents of these kids will be called by the teacher in charge of the language class.
This year’s 2nd Polimodal students that pass the FCE will be added to the A2 group next year. These kids are likely to sign up for the A2 Standard Level, whereas the group that started A2 this year in 2nd Polimodal will be able to take the A2 Higher Level exam.

Class visits
Due to his fewer hours for coordination, Carlos announced that instead of formal class observation, he will informally visit classes for a few minutes, especially on Tuesday mornings and whenever else he can be around. So, he may just pop over and visit your class any time to help you continue to do your excellent job.

Meeting with Diana, Filomena and Andrea
Carlos reminded Dpt members that on Monday Sept 29 at noon the Department will meet with the afore mentioned to discuss a mid-year evaluation of our performance and our plans for next academic year.
Carlos mentioned he’s been updating the Department’s Portfolio. If he has the time, he’ll try to finish it for this meeting. He thanked Norita for using her well-organized personal files to rescue our Department mission statement. Carlos has revised it and is sharing it for your comments for further amendment.

Curriculum ongoing evaluation
The 7th Year team informed that their groups have been working really well. Students are responsible and work hard. Discipline is good, maybe due to this year’s smaller groups (18sts). Carlos asked this team if they could make a list of books this class has read. We want to keep track and make sure we keep the momentum going later on in their HS experience.
After this, there was a discussion about how to deal with the language textbook with only four hours a week. Some teachers expressed concern about the poor level of some of the kids all along the curriculum. We agreed we would use the same textbook for two years so that there’s no pressure of using the whole book in one year –an impossible task at this point. We’ll be able to assess the progress of the last curricular changes eventually. The proposal is we find ways to tackle error patterns and work on not allowing gross mistakes go unnoticed in class conversation. Carlos asked everyone to make a copy of the students written production in this year’s final exam (composition, essay, etc.) so that we can assess their progress and spot patterns of error. He also stressed the importance of our continued use of pair and group work in every class, monitoring the exclusive use of English at all times, and not letting gross language errors go uncorrected with covert error correction techniques.

FCE letter for parents

(Fecha)

Estimados Padres:
Nos es grato contactarlos para informarles que su hijo/a se encuentra en condiciones de iniciar la preparación intensiva para tomar el examen First Certificate Examination (FCE) de la Universidad de Cambridge, el cual tendrá lugar en diciembre próximo y cuyo costo es de u$s130. El pago del derecho de examen se debe completar hasta el 10 de octubre en la oficina de Administración del Colegio (Las Acacias 83).
Es importante destacar que se espera de los alumnos candidatos al examen una actitud responsable y comprometida durante los próximos meses, ya que se les asignarán tareas extras para profundizar y afianzar contenidos. Al inscribirse damos por sentado un acuerdo tácito con respecto al nivel de compromiso necesario para pasar con éxito este desafío.
Aprovechamos la ocasión para saludarles muy atte.

Prof. _________________________
Colegio San Patricio

Notificados:

Alumno/a ………………………………………………………..………………………

Fima y Aclaración Padre o Madre ……………………………………………………………

HAPPY TEACHER ' S DAY!!!!!

I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A FANTASTIC DAY!!!!

This video is only 10 minutes of a wonderful movie: "The Ron Clark Story". We saw the trailler in the UNT congress last month. The moment I saw it I fell in love with it. These 10 minutes represent the story of our lives!!!. Even though our students are different, they do suffer the same frustrations and anguish. Sometimes it is hard to feel empathy, but I truly believe this value is the answer to so may problems in the world today.

I invite you to embrace these rules suggested in the film:

1. We are a family

2. Respect others and YOURSELF!

3. TO ME, YOU ARE PERFECT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-OwqrcUlGM

Ps. you can borrow the film from the school library

enjoy your day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alina

No meeting tomorrow!

As a voiceless coordinator I'm not likely to do a good job tomorrow. I have this problem once or twice every year and know that it'll take a couple of days to get better. So we'll need to reschedule our meeting for next week. The only thing is that we are in charge of the acto del Dia del Maestro - I don't even know when, what time, and what forma it is! If you know, or find out tomorrow, and have any good ideas, please let's use this blog to share them!
Thank you and sorry about tomorrow!

Department Meeting!

On Thursday, September 4, we'll be meeting at 12:30pm, to discuss several issues as we face the last third of the year (yay!). I look forward to seeing you all!

Agenda

1. Congratulations, Cecilia!
2. Update on Professional Development
3. Further opportunities: publications
4. FCE News
5. IB News
6. Class visits
7. Evaluation of courses
8. Needs and concerns
9. Acto Teacher's Day

If I'm missing any important point, please let me know! See you there!