Random Quote
I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.
---- Albert Einstein
Don't knock the weather. If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn't start a conversation.
---- Kin Hubbard
Those who know nothing of foreign languages, knows nothing of their own.”
---- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749 -1832)
There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.
---- Pablo Picasso
Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
---- Lily Tomlin
Drink coffee! Do stupid things faster!
---- unknown
One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothin' can beat teamwork.
---- Edward Abbey
The least of learning is done in the classrooms
---- Thomas Merton
Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation.
---- Author Unknown
The important thing is not to stop questioning.
---- Albert Einstein
"It was on my fifth birthday that Papa put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Remember, my son, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.'"
---- Sam Levenson
Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.
---- Edward R. Murrow
Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.
---- Leonardo DaVinci (1452-1519)
Isn't it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists?"
---- Kelvin Throop III
The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.
---- George Orwell
Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
---- Lily Tomlin
This may be the most interesting blog theme I've ever seen. http://eflgeek.com/index.php Definitely in my top 5 at least.
---- Steve Dembo
Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.
---- Abigail Adams (1744 - 1818)
It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.
---- Arnold Toynbee
Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.
---- Robert Frost
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
---- Thomas A. Edison
It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.
---- Franklin D. Roosevelt
Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.
---- Isaac Newton
Technology will not replace teachers...teachers who use technology will
probably replace teachers who do not.
---- Ray Clifford
Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.
---- Arnold Lobel
Why would you teach without technology?
Langwitches shares a powerpoint presentation created by another teacher on why tech is important for teachers.
I wanted to share, but also highlight for my own sake, the following PowerPoint that was created by datruss on Slideshare.net.
I like the point this presentation makes. Teachers can continue to:
* teach the way educational institutions have taught for the last 100 years
* ignore new tools that will bring the world to their students
* tell themselves that materials they have used successfully in the past will continue to engage and challenge digital nativesbut they have to realize that they are placing themselves and their students at a disadvantage.
It is not about using the latest and greatest technology tools. It is about the way we think about learning and teaching that is undergoing a revolution.
It is not about using “insert newest technology…” to lecture, visualize or document a lesson, if the lesson stayed the same, No matter when (on a time line) teachers lived and used corresponding technology tools, learning always depended on the way teachers were able to connect with their students’ world and previous knowledge . If the learning outcome stays unchanged from the learning that occurred without the tech tool, then the “new” technology merely is a glorified (and usually more expensive) version of the traditional one used in the past.
We need to shift the focus off the technology and emphasize the way it can affect the teachers’ teaching style and ultimately the students’ learning. IMHO, today’s students’ learning is influenced by multimedia, interactiveness, connecting, communicating, and creating. if technology can allow us to do that, then we can reach our students in a whole new way and on a different level than ever before.
See the slideshow below
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Monday Apr 28, 2008 at 09:45 AM
Teaching | teaching_application |
Woland wrote 111 words on Monday Apr 28, 2008 at 11:23 AM
Nice slideshow. The text accompanying makes the right point, though, that it is the pedagogy, not the technology that is really the important thing. Scott Thornbury has written (don’t have the source right here) about how sometimes reducing technology (and in his case he is talking about working in environments where this may be necessary) can make us think more about the pedagogy involved in creating effective lessons. I think it cuts both ways, and the essential thing is to think about the pedagogy, both with and without technology. We should be able to make decisions about what we think will work best to promote learning and move forward from that.
ZenKimchi wrote 43 words on Monday Apr 28, 2008 at 01:03 PM
This reminds me of something I heard somewhere… can’t remember the source. It’s funny that a doctor from 100 years ago would be totally lost in today’s hospital, but a teacher from 100 years ago would be just as comfortable in today’s classroom.
Sean. wrote 82 words on Monday Apr 28, 2008 at 05:26 PM
ZenKimchi,
it’s sad but true in most cases - at least in the Korean EFL classroom.
Woland,
I agree that technology can be overdone. The key is to not using tech for technology’s sake. i.e. if you’re doing it because it’s flashy or because of buzz that is probably not the correct reason to use it. However if you use a principled approach to tech and forcus on pedagogical reasons then you’ve probably got a good lesson and reason to use technology.
Kerry wrote 124 words on Tuesday Apr 29, 2008 at 08:44 AM
I love this powerpoint and commentary. I just took a course on incorporating web 2.0 tools into my teaching. I learned about wikis and blogs and the importance of incorporating these and other technologies into my teaching whenever possible. If I had not taken this class, I never would have found this site. (If you’re interested in this online course, email me and I can get you more info) Many of my students are without the advantages of having computers and the internet in their homes, which makes it even more important for me to incorporate technology into my lessons. Knowing how little their classroom teachers do, if I don’t incorporate techonolgy into my lessons, then I’m actually putting my students at a disadvantage.
Sean. wrote 40 words on Tuesday Apr 29, 2008 at 02:45 PM
Kerry,
Thanks for your comment and I’m happy to hear that you are exploring blogs and other 2.0 content for your teaching. Last fall I taught a course to Education majors on incorporating internet in the the language teaching classroom.