I don’t know how this happens, but it’s more than just commenting. It’s a deeper connection which is not limited by geographical distance or the fact that we’ve never met f2f. The fact is that because of blogging and the conversations going on more intensely for the past months, Cris Costa and I have been sharing and blogging more than ever. I care for all who’s out there, my readers, but sometimes I feel I HAVE to blog because of Cris, and she always mentions something I’ve shared with her. Deeper conversations, stronger connections.
Well, in one of our conversations I mentioned we should have a selective “share button” in our minds for everything we felt like blogging, be it personal or professional. It’s not an ideal world, but Cris compelled me to share here after
her wonderful post about teaching, teaching practices and memories. I guess this is also part of our comment challenge challenge! I’ve been making new connections, strengthening old ones as a group of highly excited, passionate bloggers are willing to take their time to keep hitting the share button every single second and it’s been a huge collective knowledge builder. I’ve been learning in every possible way from this journey.
Well, going back to Cris and teaching and me. Cris talked about her own experience, how she’s changed as an educator, how she understood that the human touch and connecting to students was what really mattered. I, too, learned that books don’t teach or enhance learning. We, educators, together with learners, do! I remember how I’d rely in tons of papers, activities, games to have the feeling that I was teaching, that I was being approved by my students. Then, I realized that what really made a difference was the human touch, the personalization, the intimacy a classroom with so many brilliant souls provides.
I realized that what really made a difference was harnessing individual talents, encouraging students to be and do their best, tapping into their interests, passions. I learned that we didn’t need tons of papers, resources, activities…We needed to connect, to be good listeners, guiders and followers.
My teaching changed and I changed along the way.
I’ll never forget, for example, a conversation class on teens we had.
I showed my teens this video. Then, we talked about it, they taught me some teen slangs in Portuguese and they produced cooperatively wonderful poems on our class wiki. These are the connections I look for and I miss now that I’m not currently teaching f2f, though I’m having a wonderful time with my online students and connecting in unexpected ways, but this is another story, blog post…
Their poems:
Teenagers want to discover things,
Passing through unbelievable experiences
With their body and their spirit
Meet every kind of people, culture.
And more than this.
They want to enjoy their lifetime
To know themselves,
To know what they like
And expect about them and the world.
by Andréa and Joanna
_____________________________________
Teenagers
Some teenagers are okay
And others are wicked insane
Even if some people say
they are always the same
They can´t understand
that this is part of their games!
Yo, man.. fo sho..
Some like soccer
Others prefer the Net
They can be rockers
and bum a cigarette
Probably lives with passion
Maybe in need of an exercise set
Or don´t live without fashion
They are different, I bet.
by Joseane, Felipe and Leonardo
____________________________________________
Teenagers want to be more informed
Know about what the world can offer,
New cultures and different people Teens want to enjoy their lives
They want to have as much as possible
Teens are always under pressure
But they were made to be freeThey are always trying to find the real liberty
Without getting out of reality
They want to find new feelings
New love and new experiences
Matheus and Breno
_______________________________
Living in a Dream
Every teenager has a dream
It can be like Martin Luther King.
They want to make the difference
Also looking for love and peace.
If you do have a dream,
Make it real.
It can be just like having an ice cream
or as hard as living in Rio.
Never give up.
Keep on going.
So start cheering up
‘Cause the world is rolling.
Patrícia, André and Gabriela
_____________________________
What do Teenagers want?
They want parties
They want to go out
They want to enjoy their life
They want to know about everything
They don´t have feelings
In reality, they have nothing
That´s what they say about who is never working…
Is that a real conclusion we can take about them?!
I will tell you what
A teenager is more than a friend…
Teenagers dream
Teenagers sleep
Teenagers cry
Teenagers think
Teenagers die
Teenagers drink
Teenagers dance
Teenagers decide
They come to the conclusion
By heart or outside
They are just younger
But they are people, anyway
People that are always learning
And that can teach too..
You should dream as a teenager
And think about what is true…
Roberto
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No. I’ll never forget those teens and many students who changed me, who taught me, who are my inspiration and my optimistic view of education.
Just by being online, I can be everywhere. However, for the past two days, I’ve been to very specific destinations. First stop was Hanoi with Jeff Lebow’s vietnamese students. I could feel their excitement. They had very little experience with computers, and Jeff has led them to discover a whole new sphere of teaching and learning through blogging, bookmarking, podcasting, oovooing… Jeff has, like always, been fearless. It’s such a huge endeavor to teach at a distance teachers with low-tech skills and low connectivity. However, excitement and motivation surpass the technical difficulties. I still remember the goose bumps I had in my first voice chat, and now those Vietnamese were there bravely oovooing, skyping and laughing. What a joyous group! We planned to talk about blogging, education, EFL. We did a little, but, in fact, the teachers wanted to share about their personal lives and wanted to know more about Brazil, my life, Brazilians. Human touch in action orchestrated by Jeff’s flawless streaming skills and empathy.
