Reflection 8: Time to Act, Time to make a Difference!

It is time to act; it is time to make a difference!

We are here because we love what we do, right? I mean, if you are reading these  lines written somewhere in the cyber world is because there is a part in you that loves education. We have been part of a journey that is getting close to its end; a journey that, ironically, is going to mark a new beginning where we all have to put into action all the knowledge acquired through these weeks of discovery and awe. The moment, my friends, has come to stop being audience and turn into actors of a play that has as its scenario our classrooms. Shakespeare once said that the world is a stage and that we were mere actors, and I guess he was right. The moment is now and we have to start making a difference if we want to change our world. 

There is something magical, almost universal about this week that is finishing. That simple, human act of interacting with other human beings is, at least for me, a moment of perfection that has no comparison in the world. This week Bangladesh, Romania and Costa Rica were linked by education through the cyber space. Alina, Tahsina and me exchanged our final project drafts for each one of us to read and comment on possible changes to improve them. But beyond the act of reading and correcting or suggesting ideas, there lies all this feeling and passion that is not literary seen but felt. Through the drafts of my two teammates, I could see and feel how passionate and professional they are in their role as educators. It is also interesting to realize that no matter the distance or the language, there are certain situations or characteristics that are repeated in all countries when it comes to students of English such as students´ response or behavior and attitude towards the subject or in the classroom.

Luckily, times are changing and we have access to a whole lot of educational tools and devices that can be our allies to enhance and bring color to our classes. ANVILL, for example, fills a very necessary gap in speaking and listening classes. It offers the opportunity to bring practice to the classroom. Just "like the language lab console of old, it's focused on the practice of oral/aural language, but at its core are very modern web-based audio and video tools from duber dot com and the University of Oregon: Voiceboards, LiveChat, and Quizzes and Surveys. Their newest tool, TCast, allows teachers to record and place audio or video files anywhere in a lesson--in 3 easy steps. Each of these tools really opens up the scope and sequence of lessons centered around spoken language tasks."

There are, in addition, the options of Blogger,  Google Docs, www.wizard4teachers.org, and Nicenet; all four provide a wonderful opportunity to take the class out of the room and take it to practically anywhere. Besides, by using these tools, the student will notice that there is a change going and so all the possible stereotypes attributed to education and its connections to  school, high school, or college will disappear. All that is required is the compromise and the active attitude of the instructor to change the world of the classroom. In my case, I decided to implement a site for my new course on British literature. I chose Google Sites to create a site where my students can have access to videos and supportive material as articles and songs. You can take a look at it here:    https://sites.google.com/site/lm1485brittishliteratureucr/. It is not finished, as it can be seen, but I hope it can turn out to be a good, useful resource where my students can find interesting resources to enhance our the material seen in class.

This is the time to act, to be that element that can change a person´s life by offering him or her the chance of rediscovering a whole new educational world and being a fulfilled individual. It is time to start acting and putting into practice our passion and love for what we do. Let´s act for the time to make a difference is now!

Let´s act like we mean it!