Sunday, January 28, 2007

Reflections on B4B Weeks 1 & 2

As I mentioned, this year I joined a few EVO sessions, but I've been most active in Blogging for Beginners. Here are some reflections on the first two weeks of the course.

The weekly tasks and activities have really opened my eyes to the possibilities of blogging in an educational setting. I've seen some great examples of class blogs, explored different blog hosts, and read several informative articles on blogging. The academic year has just come to an end for me, but I'm already brainstorming ways to use blogging in my classes next year (maybe for responding to literature, reviewing movies, or sharing cultural information.)

Above all, this workshop has connected teachers all over the globe, and we've been communicating asynchronously through Yahoo!Groups and e-mail and synchronously at Yahoo!Messenger and Alado. In fact, we had so much fun interacting at the last Alado session, with participants from countries such as Argentina, Brazil, U.S., Ukraine, Morocco, Japan--what an international group! Listening to the conversations, following the text messages, and trying synchronized browsing were real eye-openers! Plus, I've had the pleasure of visiting and commenting on many new and interesting blogs written by educators, students, and others. Even though sometimes I feel overwhelmed by all the information and interaction on different platforms, I'm impressed at how much knowledge and experience has been shared, and how much everyone has learned through the contributions of all the group's members.

During the first week of B4B, over 700 messages were posted to the group, and I created a summary of these messages on the group wiki and bookmarked all of the links mentioned in the group's Blinklist. Although these were difficult tasks, I learned that anything can be done when you have fabulous people to help you along the way: Gladys and the moderators were there to provide instructions; Nina in Ukraine inserted all the photos on the wiki page; and all the participants shared their ideas in the messages! It was a great opportunity to get deeply involved in the workshop and to contribute to a group that I've already learned so much from!

Two of my favorite quotations are "Nothing great has ever been achieved without enthusiasm" (Emerson) and "Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it (Anonymous). This enthusiastic and busy group is certainly achieving many things! I'm looking forward to the remainder of the session!

11 comments:

Vita said...

Hello Marry!
I want to say that you are super! I think your students are lucky to have such a smart, hard-working and optimistic teacher!
Your message is like a newpaper`s article, is journalism your cup of tea, too? You should think about:)
Best wishes! Vita Sapfirova
P.s. I wrote down the Words of wisdom. I like them too.

Mary H said...

Hi Vita,
Thank you! You know, you inspired me to use some quotations on my blog! I've never thought about becoming a journalist, but I have been teaching writing for a while now. Let's keep having fun in B4B together!

testecarla said...

Dear Mary,

Without you and all the team we wouldn't have been able to accomplish so much...Thanks for being there for us and doing the titanic threads job and keeping track of our links.

You blog and rock!!!

Beijos,

From a big fan of yours.

Carla Arena

Mary H said...

Carla,

You are awesome! I would have never dreamed of becoming so involved in this online session if it weren't for you "Latin Bloggers" leading the way and encouraging me! You girls inspire us all to do our best and then some more!

Big hugs!!

marcanello52 said...

Dear Mary, your blog expresses what I feel about B4B beautifully! Thanks for your hard work, it's terrific!
I've also learned a lot. And this international group is so supportive!
It was incredible to see someone had actually seen my blog and posted comments! WOW!
Thanks again,
Marcela

Nora said...

Dear Mary,
I enjoyed reading your reflections, you are a great writer! and you are right, having a look at so many examples and sharing experiences with so many creative teachers makes us aware of lots of possibilities, especially to the newborn bloggers.
I also liked the quotations you included. Thanks for being part of the group.
Nora.

Mary H said...

Nora and Marcela,
Thanks for taking the time to visit and leave a comment. The connections we are able to make through our course and the use of technology is simply amazing.

Berta said...

Hi again Mary, Isn´t it great to keep track of what is going on in our lives at a given moment when we feel we are learning and sharing so much? It was an excellent idea to redister your experiences in these past two weeks. I did something similar for the EVO session I registered in.
Cheers, Berta

Mary H said...

Hi Berta!

It is a lot of fun to share our reflections on EVO because we can become more aware and appreciative of our experiences. This is something I'm going to focus on in a new project--more details soon ;)

David Gutierrez said...

Dear Marry
Your blog looks wonderful! I wonder if I ever get to have a blog like yours.
Thanks again for your on-line assistance!
It shows your are a hard-working teacher
With kind regards,
David

Nina Lyulkun said...

Hi dearest Mary,

I wonder how you can manage all this stuff of creating and running this and those wonderful blogs here and there! I suppose that your calendar day lasts 48 hours instead of 24. ;_)
Perhaps, God gifts you longer days for your industry, dedication to your professional job as well as to your family and e-environment. I'd like to note that you and the beautiful team you are working with in EVO_07 are the role model.
I wish you the best of luck now and for ever!


{{{{{BIG HUG}}}}}}

Nina Lyulkun