Is the internet/social media bringing people closer to each other or separating them??

 

Hello everyone, 

 

how are you feeling today ? Are you ready to start a fresh week with me, as always ?!  

I know that my blog topics are always about technology but what can I do ?  They are really interesting and I enjoy writing them. So today I am going to discuss about a topic that really concern us. Nowadays we have people that stand for both parties, people who favour internet, and those who don't. We have mentioned a lot of advantages of technology and specifically internet connection. Internet helps us communicate with people from all around the world. Especially in Albania, a lot of families have their relatives abroad and they try to communicate with them via internet, whatsapp calls or messenger ones. At the beginning people didn't know how to use their computers in order to communicate, so big companies took advantage of that and they start to modernize even more smartphones, including on them different apps in order to become easier for people the use of internet. 

The biggest advantage I believe is that big companies profit from their smartphones by selling them. Then other telecommunicating companies profit from people who went there to full their smartphones with internet. Another advantage was of course the internet connection that people had with their relatives who lived abroad and maybe they had years and years of not seeing them. 

At the beginning it was really nice, but then it started to become an addiction for the whole population. Today people can not go anywhere without their smartphone. They need to post something on their social media so that others know what they are doing. We are constantly on our phones from the moment it sunrises until it dawns. And here we come to the question, does the internet unite us or is it separating us every day even more from each other? I personally believe that the internet is separating us. The best example that I can give is that we forget about our family at home. A lot of times I have realised that I am constantly at my phone or at my laptop doing something and I am forgetting the most precious thing, which is family. Maybe one day I will be abroad as well and then I will  be 'forced' to talk to them from a screen phone. So why do I need to wait to go abroad in order to talk to them, I can talk to them everyday face to face. Appreciate these moments because unfortunately, not everyone has the opportunity. 

I will leave you a little bit to think about it. Who knows maybe we will give to ourselves the chance to have a day off or maybe a weekend off from social media, internet connection in general, and go out have some fun with people that surround us!! Appreciate the moment and not just get lost into the world of internet. I know that it is really appealing but please, don't! 

I hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts one more time. Feel free to leave your comments down below, and thank you very much for being so attentive readers every week !!! 

                        HAVE FUN AND ENJOY LIFE CAUSE IT'S TOO SHORT. 

Can Technology replace humans?!

 Hello everyone, 

How are you feeling today ?! Are you ready to start this week ?! 

Today i would like to talk about a very important topic which is technology. I know that we have spoken many times about this term and technology in general but today i would like to go further on a more specific topic which is 'can technology replace humans'? 

How about you what do you think ? Can it be possible?

I mean, i know that technology is evolving day by day, and i also know that a lot of works which were made by people have already  been replaced with a robotic machine that can do anything on it's own without any help. They can do like a lot of factory jobs which automatically means that a lot of people will remain jobless. I can still vividly remember the movie 'Charlie and the chocolate factory', when his father lost his job, which was putting cups on toothpastes, just because they replaced him with a robot that could do that job and didn't get paid as his father did. I felt a little bit bad, like how can you leave a human being without work and money, especially when they have a whole family that rely on him financially. I do believe that a lot of people will lose their jobs just because they will be replaced by machines, technological ones that will serve for their personal purposes. But still i personally don't believe that technology will replace human beings, and that is simply because i don't believe that robots for example can do all works that humans do. They can do them but not with a perfectionist hand of a human being. Let's take for example doctors, even though a robotic machine can do that job, we as human beings, would like to talk to a highly educated person that knows the proper diagnosis, knows how to deal with your treatment or knows how to give you the right antibiotics, which means that we don't trust easily, especially when we have to deal with such a delicate theme which is our health. However even though they may replace a lot of works still, they will luck the ability of emotions. For example a 'human' teacher knows her/his students very well and understands them equally well when they don't understand the lesson, when they haven't done their homework, or when the teacher is explaining the lesson. Which automatically means that they luck that ability that a human teacher has to understand his students if everything is alright, the machines will just elaborate on that specific part of the lesson and that's it. It will not be the same. Even though they are trying like really hard still they are facing a lot of  problems and damages on these machines. 

Human beings are irreplaceable, they still matter. The best solution would be for technology to interact with human beings but not to replace them at all. 

That was my opinion about this topic, i hope you liked reading it and see you soon on my next post. Bye!!  

Benefits and Challenges of Technology in the Classroom

 Hello everyone, 

I hope you are doing great and you are ready to start a new week with different challenges as well. As i started the week and as our classmates presented their presentations today i came to realize that even though technology may have it's benefits, it might as well have challenges during an online classroom. So i personally made a little research and i found a lot of interesting information that i would like to share with you. 

I personally would like to start with, benefits of technology in the classroom and then proceed with the challenges that we may encounter. A lot of educators might be wondering why it is so important to include technology in a classroom. But i think that the benefits stretch far and wide for both teachers and students. Traditional teaching has gone out of fashion and what i mean by that is that students would like an interactive power point presentation than just the blackboard. Another advantage is that students will develop a lot of new skills as digital learners. But let me cut it short for you. The benefits of integrating technology into an online classroom include: 

• Increased student engagement
• Encouraging teamwork and collaboration
• Preparing students for life after graduation
• Connecting students and teachers 
• Improved teaching outcomes 

Even though technology is being utilized more and more frequently, still there are teachers that struggle to integrate technology into their classrooms. Actually there are a number of factors which we may take into consideration( cost, ease of use, ongoing support etc.), that of course will have an impact on when and how to introduce technology in our classrooms. Common challenges that teachers experience while integrating technology vary as follows: 

• Students misusing technology
• Teachers knowledge and professional development 
• Keeping students safe online 
• Cost of new technology 
• Keeping up with changes

These are all different factors that play an important role in order to integrate or not technology in our classes.I believe that we should take them all into consideration and do what is best for the students and then for us, as teachers. 

This is all for me tonight, i hope you enjoyed reading this post. 

Feel free to leave your comments down below. 

 

Technology Tools for Teaching Grammar

 Hello everyone, 

I hope you had an enjoyable weekend and you are ready to start a fresh week. 

Teaching in general must be very hard. Especially for new teachers that are on their first steps of their careers must be a struggle with a lot of stress and not feeling good psychically in a kind of way. So you can imagine how it would be Teaching Grammar. Of course it can’t be easy, but it can’t be inaccessible as well. In order to Teach Grammar you need to have a lot of background knowledge and to be confident on using the correct terms and explaining these. You can’t just wake up one morning and be like” oh…I am going to teach grammar cause I know English”, trust me it’s not enough. 

Teaching Grammar is not simply for us as teachers to correct students when they express themselves wrongly, but it’s for students being able to express complex ideas, being able to select from the wide variety of tenses in their mind, differentiating between adverbs of manner and adverbs of place and not only. I can’t say that Teaching Grammar is fun for students, because sometimes they may not understand, others they may feel bored, so in order for them to make Teaching Grammar better and more attractive I have chosen 4 different technological tools that I would like to introduce in my future classroom.

 The first Technological Tool that I would like to introduce is:

QUILL

On Quill students will be able to have fun with free grammar and writing activities. Students can get instant feedback and explanations on sentence structure, fragment and run-on sentences so they can both correct and understand the grammatical rules they’re following. On the teacher-end of Quill, you’ll get a diagnostic summary detailing the areas in which each student should focus more of their learning.

Another one is:

 Grammar Wonderland

Grammar lessons don’t need to be boring and bland. Grammar Wonderland takes students through the wonderful world of verbs, nouns and adjectives as they travel through the different areas of this virtual world.

The third technological tool is:

 Mobilibs

Improvise with your creative storytelling, while getting valuable lessons in grammar with MobiLibs. With twenty great stories to draw from, students will be able to ad lib stories on the go with their mobile device and share with others.

And the last but not least important is:

 Comparative Adjectives

With more than 350 beautiful images held in its library, the Comparative Adjectives app lets students engage in learning in a fun and easy to understand way. The ability to compare and describe differences between objects is a key component in language, and this app gives students an opportunity to explore this area of language in a fun and interactive way.

Hope you enjoyed reading this post and i also hope that you find it interesting! Feel free to leave your comments down below on the comment section. :)))

My reflections and feelings in relation to our project.

 My reflections and feelings in relation to our project. 

Hello everyone, 

I hope you had a lovely weekend and that you are doing great. Full of energy to start a new and fresh week. My blog post for this week as you can see from the title will be about my reflections until now on my group project. Personally i believe that working on a group has its benefits. Because you know that both need to work hard to achieve a great result at the end. When you have an individual project you know how much you want to dedicate on that and you set your standards about how much you want to achieve, but when you work on a group projects you need to work hard not only for yourself but for the other members of the group as well...It's a team work. 

Until now i can say that my team member and i, are working hard. Doing a collaborative work, help you develop as an individual and learn from each other. When you bring together two different people in every kind of aspect, then you understand how important is working on a group together. Exchanging ideas is the key component in a group work. Also breaking complex tasks into parts and steps is very relieving for us because we know that we can work on them step by step. Whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. But what do i mean by that is: when somebody is working on a group they tend to get more work done than if, an individual took on a work by it's own. We have come to great results until now, team work is not only hard work and dedication, but it's also fun. Especially nowadays with this pandemic, we need to work with different programs in order to make our work as interesting as possible. This automatically includes video calls with our friends in order to work together as it is impossible for us to meet in person. Video calls include not only work but also jokes with each other during the whole process.

To sum up working on a group work online, doesn't mean that we know everything about these programs and how to proceed if something doesn't work as we plan to. We have had a lot of troubles using them but that is why we are on a group to help and support each other when something goes wrong. Henry Ford once said: "coming together is a beginning, keeping together is process, working together is success", and i totally agree with him. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this post, feel free to leave your comments!!! 

Technology tools in lesson planning. (Answering questions)

Hello everyone, 

I hope you are doing well and enjoying the beautiful weather nowadays!!!  

This week i am asked to answer some questions and specifically two. The first question is: "What technology tools are important for your students to know how to use?" 

I made a lot of research and i came up with different technology tools that students need to know how to use them. The first tool that i would like to mention is, Buncee. It understands how much more kids learn if they’re engaged, so their platform makes it easy to engage students from anywhere. Teachers have the flexibility to create activities that their class will enjoy with over 1000 templates, and students earn badges as they complete their work. Buncee also makes it easy for students to collaborate with sharing and discussion functionality. 

Another one that i would like to introduce to you is SeeSaw.Rather than limit students to one method for demonstrating their knowledge, SeeSaw allows students to show what they know with tools like draw+record, collage, video, and more. Educators report that SeeSaw is intuitive for students to use, so minimal support is required to use this tool!

The third technology tools is called "Learn Around The World". The goal of of this tool is to use technology to connect students and educators globally. They have events and collaborative projects where students can work with people in different countries, and virtual field trips for exploring foreign lands. LATW also has guest speakers and private events that teachers can take advantage of. Imagine speaking with someone who lives in Buenos Aires while learning about Argentina. Your students can ask questions and use their curiosity to spur discussion.

Flip Grids, do you wish classroom discussion could continue after the bell rings? Do you wish you could encourage quiet students to speak their minds without feeling intimidated? Then this is the right technology tool for you. teachers create discussion topics and students can respond with video recordings. Their peers can respond to keep the discussion going. This tool helps students formulate their ideas in a pre-recorded setting, which means no one gets talked over or ignored by louder voices.

These are some of the technology tools that not only students but also teachers must know how to use them! But let's pass to the next question that is: "What technology tools will best enhance your students project work and presentation of the results?" 

Here i would like to mention Padlet. Padlet is a great tool to encourage student communication and collaboration, and is used in my classroom at least on a weekly basis. Teachers can use a collaborative tool like Padlet as a bellringer activity, a backchannel for class discussions, a review or research activity, or to introduce themselves to students from around the world!

Google Classroom as well is a very good tool for students project works. Google really hit a home run when they unveiled Classroom in 2014. Since then, teachers have been able to share resources, send assignments, and provide feedback using one great site. Google also frequently updates Classroom based on user feedback, and actually asks and listens to teachers who use Classroom when they make updates! Teachers can use Google Classroom as a “landing page” for their class, where all course resources and information are housed.

Many students and teachers may see Quizlet only as a place to access vocabulary information and create flashcards for studying purposes. While Quizlet is a great tool for this activity, it offers a fantastic resource that teachers can use to encourage their students to collaborate with their peers while reviewing/pre-viewing/learning course concepts. What is this, you ask? Quizlet Live, of course! Quizlet Live is a great collaborative formative assessment tool that not only requires students to work together to achieve success, but also promotes mastery learning. While participating in a Quizlet Live game, students are randomly placed into teams and are given an animal mascot, sometimes a real animal, and other times a mythical creature.

Hope you enjoy reading this post. Feel free to leave your comments!!!

Multiple Intelligences!

 Hi everyone, 

First of all I hope you've had a wonderful and unforgettable Easter today. Probably you are questioning yourself why i am posting this late tonight. The reason why, is because i have read an incredible article about multiple intelligences, proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983. Many educators have had the experience of not being able to reach some students until presenting the information in a completely different way or providing new options for student expression. Perhaps it was a student who struggled with writing until the teacher provided the option to create a graphic story, which blossomed into a beautiful and complex narrative. Or maybe it was a student who just couldn't seem to grasp fractions, until he created them by separating oranges into slices. Because of these kinds of experiences, the theory of multiple intelligences resonates with many educators. It supports what we all know to be true: A one-size-fits-all approach to education will invariably leave some students behind. However, the theory is also often misunderstood, which can lead to it being used interchangeably with learning styles or applying it in ways that can limit student potential. While the theory of multiple intelligences is a powerful way to think about learning, it’s also important to understand the research that supports it. The theory of multiple intelligences challenges the idea of a single IQ, where human beings have one central "computer" where intelligence is housed. Howard Gardner, the Harvard professor who originally proposed the theory, says that there are multiple types of human intelligence, each representing different ways of processing information:

• Verbal-linguistic intelligence refers to an individual's ability to analyze information and produce work that involves oral and written language, such as speeches, books, and emails.

•  Logical-mathematical intelligence describes the ability to develop equations and proofs, make calculations, and solve abstract problems.

• Visual-spatial intelligence allows people to comprehend maps and other types of graphical information.

• Musical intelligence enables individuals to produce and make meaning of different types of sound.

• Naturalistic intelligence refers to the ability to identify and distinguish among different types of plants, animals, and weather formations found in the natural world.

• Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence entails using one's own body to create products or solve problems.

• Interpersonal intelligence reflects an ability to recognize and understand other people's moods, desires, motivations, and intentions.

• Intrapersonal intelligence refers to people's ability to recognize and assess those same characteristics within themselves.

But do you really know what's the difference between multiple intelligences and learning styles? 

One common misconception about multiple intelligences is that it means the same thing as learning styles. Instead, multiple intelligences represents different intellectual abilities. Learning styles, according to Howard Gardner, are the ways in which an individual approaches a range of tasks. They have been categorized in a number of different ways -- visual, auditory, and kinesthetic, impulsive and reflective, right brain and left brain, etc. Gardner argues that the idea of learning styles does not contain clear criteria for how one would define a learning style, where the style comes, and how it can be recognized and assessed. He phrases the idea of learning styles as "a hypothesis of how an individual approaches a range of materials." Everyone has all eight types of the intelligences listed above at varying levels of aptitude -- perhaps even more that are still undiscovered -- and all learning experiences do not have to relate to a person's strongest area of intelligence. For example, if someone is skilled at learning new languages, it doesn’t necessarily  mean that they prefer to learn through lectures. Someone with high visual-spatial intelligence, such as a skilled painter, may still benefit from using rhymes to remember information. Learning is fluid and complex, and it’s important to avoid labeling students as one type of learner. As Gardner states, "When one has a thorough understanding of a topic, one can typically think of it in several ways." 

Hope you enjoyed reading this post. Feel free to leave your comments!!!