My Testimony about an E-teacher Online Course

Here is a link which has a number of testimonies from the participants in a 3-week workshop that took place at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), USA., in 2011. My testimony is that last one in the video.

Click Here to Watch the Video

Teaching - does it create confident and successful learners?

One important aspect of good teaching is enabling students to become confident in their abilities to learn. Teachers need to be really good communicators so that they can bring out shy students and encourage them to talk and ask questions. Fostering confidence in students is difficult to measure though because confidence is not something that we can learn or get out of a bottle; it is something that people get after successfully achieving their goals on a consistent basis. What teachers might need to do is to treat students as individuals who have their own unique abilities rather than treat them in a one-size-fits-all approach. Students need to find their niche in education in order to become confident and this is the role of a good teacher to help them achieve that.

The following video discusses some of the issues raised in the above.

Teaching - why is the quality of my practice so important?

It is not enough to get a degree in teaching and become content with the knowledge and skills you have. Teachers need to develop their knowledge, skills and competencies on a continuous basis. There is no end to learning as there will always be new things to learn. Teachers are not just deliverer of skills and competencies but also passionate learners. In today's rapidly changing world, students have a plethora of digital tools to get the knowledge and information they need. Hence, they do not want teachers to just give them knowledge and information. What teachers need to do today is to model the passion for learning to students.

The following video reinforces the above ideas.

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Teaching - why do the children always have to come first?

As teachers, we do our job to serve the best interests of our students. If our students do not feel that what we teach them relates to their lived experiences, then it is of no much use. What counts as effective teaching is the one which caters for the students' needs. The following clip discusses the principle of putting students first.

Teaching - what are its values, ethics and codes?

Is teaching a profession? This is a thought-provoking question that we need to discuss as teachers. I will be posting videos on this issue in the following days. Today's video is an introduction. Feel free to post your comments!

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My Project in the USA

Here is a link to a proposal of a project that I presented at an E-Teacher Conference at the University of Maryland, Baltimore Country (UMBC), USA, in 2011. I also presented the same proposal at the US Department of States in Washington DC two weeks earlier to the UMBC conference.

Click Here to Watch the Video 

Thanks

Discover Your Potential

Many of us have brain powers to do at least twice as good as we can do right now. The problem is that we may lack the self-confidence to unleash the power within us. The phrase that we use to discourage ourselves from discovering our potential is: 'I can't do it'. Then we come up with every possible reason to back our decision for not trying. The best way to combat this is to say to with affirmation and involvement of physiology: 'I CAN DO IT'. When you repeat this phrase to yourself again and again, you make yourself believe in your abilities to achieve whatever you dream of.

Attending Conferences

Yesterday I presented at a conference in the Gulf Hotel in Manama. The conference was organized by the Bahrain ELT (English Language Teaching) Professional Network under the theme: Empowering Teachers, Empowering Learners. This is my second time to present in this yearly conference. It was an extraordinary experience for me because I was able to discuss my research findings in public and get insightful comments to improve the research.

In addition to the wonderful workshops and lectures that I attended during the conference, I met many new people and wan many prizes (five free books and teaching materials)!

Forget about the past

Many of our personality problems are caused by our obsession with the problems that happened to us in the past. If we just think about it logically, we will realize that we cannot change the past! It's gone forever! We can't even predict the future!

Hence, let's just live our our present day.

Reading makes you see what others don't see

It says that reading allows you to see what others don't see when they do not read. But knowing is not enough, I believe. It has to be followed by action. If you just read for the sake of reading, this might not be as effective as when you read and act on what you read. We see many qualified people in our society who stay stuck in their lives because they don't act on what they know, while many less qualified people move up socio-economically and socio-culturally because the act on what they know. Hence, knowing is important but what is probably more important is acting on this knowledge. 

Sart you day right

The first thing you do when you wake up in the morning determines the course of your day. If you get up and exercise, for example, you will feel physically fit all day long. And, if you get up and read something educational, spiritual and up-lifting, you will feel mentally good all day long. But, if you get up and eat junk food, you will feel sluggish all day long. And, if you start your day with watching TV or reading the newspaper, then you may feel aimless all day long.

Hence, the first hour in your day is the most important hour. It is called the golden hour. You'd better make the best of your first hour!

Writing Blogs

The thing I like most about writing blogs is that whatever you have in mind you can share it immediately with the rest of the world. It doesn't matter how many people read your blogs. What matters is that you nurture the habit of sharing.

When you express your ideas in writing, you will have the chance to examine them in a more concrete way than when you just leave them to spin in your mind. You will develop a dialogue with your text. Therefore, you will develop a more complex and a nuanced understanding.

Everyone of us has a powerful message to share. Striving to find the best way to express your message is vital. Sometimes, a message is best expressed orally. Sometimes, it is better expressed in written. Therefore, being able to express ourselves in a variety of ways is important for our self-esteem and confidence. Never underestimate your contributions to the world!  

Reading

Let me share my thoughts about reading today. In the past I used to hate reading. Many of my attempts to read books were unsuccessful. I never went past the first chapter of each book I read. The only thing that aroused my interest in reading was purposeful reading. In other words, I found that when I had a purpose for reading, I became interested. One purpose for reading, for example, is to read in order to write a paper for publication in a peer reviewed journal. This would be like an assignment for me, which I have to complete and submit on a certain date set out in advance.

I also found that reading an interesting book or a paper one time is not enough, because I tend to forget what I read if I do not go back to it. Hence, I re-read interesting books and take notes on the margins to summarize ideas and highlight important passages. Summarizing ideas in my own words helps me to enhance my understanding of what I read. It gives me food for thought.

The one thing that I want to improve is reading critically. It’s not easy to critique ideas promoted by established authors. However, authors are not infallible. They have their own biases and prejudices. Their ideas should not be taken for granted. Everything they write is subject to skepticism and examination. It is this kind of reading that is most beneficial for the reader. Readers should never seek proven recipes. What works in one situation does not necessarily work in others. This means that there isn't always a one-size-fits-all prescription for everything.  

I don't have a topic today

Today I don't have anything to write about. I feel my mind is blank. I attempted unsuccessfully to write about two topics but didn't feel like wanting to continue. Therefore, I just wanted to share this feeling with you. This might be called 'self disclosure'. So, here we go, I have a topic now! It's 'self disclosure'. Self disclosure is when you disclose yourself to someone else whom you trust by telling him or her about a problem that annoys you. This makes you feel better from the inside. Keeping a negative thought inside of you can ruin your life. The best way to get rid of it is to share it with someone or write about it. Sometimes you just want someone to listen to you attentively - someone who makes you feel important because he or she cares about your problems. 

Each Person is a Mystery

Not long ago, I read this line: 'each person is and remains an ultimate mystery'. This expression has a deep meaning in it. It shows that we cannot take people's actions and behaviors for granted and categorize them into certain fixed descriptions. In every person there lies complexities and ambiguities that are difficult to explain. I cannot say for certain that 'this guy is generous' or 'that guy is mean'. Being generous and mean are dependent on an endless number of factors that cannot really be quantified. Some people might act generously in one context but act as mean in other contexts. In other words, people's actions and behaviors are bound to context and time. Therefore, we cannot generalize a one person's actions and behaviors to other contexts. For example, if a person who belongs to a certain Asian county acts in a generous way, we cannot say for certain the all of the people who belong to that particular Asian country are generous. The opposite of this is also true - that's, if one person is mean, it does not mean that his or her peer group are mean as well.

The descriptions we arrive at when we describe people are, therefore, tentative and can be mistaken. There are much, much more complexities and ambiguities in each person that are almost impossible to understand fully. Hence, we should always be careful the next time we attempt to describe people in fixed, normative and generalizable terms.

What do you think?  

Stop Worrying and Start Living

Dale Carnegie wrote a valuable book called 'How to Stop Worrying and Start Living'. I read this book from cover to cover. Although it is a relatively old book, I think it still has resonance in our present day. The book has many stories of people who managed to concur worry and brought happiness to their lives. I admit that this book had an impact on me. I really recommend reading this book.

Here is a short video which contains some of the ideas advocated by the book.

May Allah free your lives from any worries!

Success means helping others to succeed

 
A few days ago I read the above line which translates as 'A candle loses nothing if lights another candle... The goal is not to achieve success for ourselves alone but to help others achieve it as well.' How many of us think in this way? Can we really get to this stage where we selflessly help others achieve what we have achieved? We really need to candidly reflect on these questions and delve deep into our inner selves to see if the values that we claim to have are in line with our behaviors.

Goal Setting

Living in this world without clear goals can make life miserable. Goals are what make you wake up in the morning early and what keep you stay up late working on achieving your goals. One mistake we make is that we do not write down our goals. All goals should be written and rewritten everyday so that they are driven into our sub-conscious minds as commands. The second step after writing the goals down is to have a plan. You need to do something everyday that moves you towards achieving your goals. Finally, set deadlines for achieving the goals. Don't just say that 'some day I will be an engineer' but say 'I am an engineer in September, 14, 2014'. And when September 14, 2014 comes and you do not yet become an engineer, set another deadline. Never give up! Between you and your goals, you are going to fail many, many times. Keep pushing until you succeed!

Please post your comments!

The Concept of Learning

Hi!

Today I would like to talk about the concept of learning. Many of us might think that learning takes place at school or in the classroom. However, learning is more complex than this. Indeed, it is believed that much of what we learn is informal. In other words, much of what learn occurs outside the boundaries of the classroom. Hence, as teachers, trainers, public speakers, parents, etc. we should not really be worried if the efforts that we make to teach our students, children, employees, etc. do not appear to impact upon their learning. We just need to do our part and we leave the rest to other factors that influence learning such as family and community.

Given that learning is complex, we should never assume that our teaching is ineffective. We never know the impact of our work. We only know one story about learning, which might not be the true story. In the classroom, for example, we might have 30 students, each of whom has his or her own story about learning. Therefore, we should give up the idea that the teacher is someone who knows it all. The teacher is a learner before he or she is a teacher. Teaching involves learning and it should always be viewed it in this way until we drop dead! Learning never ends.

Please post your comments. I look forward to reading them.

Digital Technology

There is no doubt that digital technology has made the world a small village. Borders between countries have become meaningless as people now can instantly communicate with each other using digital technology. The emergence of digital technology has brought with it new identities and discourses. People have discovered new ways of knowing and therefore old assumptions are now being questioned. Knowledge in many areas of our life is doubling within short periods of time. Hence, in order to stay even, one needs to adapt to these changes. This does not mean, however, that every change brought up by digital technology is useful. This just means that one needs to have a critical and reflexive approach to what they know and do.

What do you think? Please post your comments.


 

Having a Sense of Urgency

Having a sense of urgency is an indispensable quality that all successful people must have. If you move quickly to finish your tasks, rather than put them off, you save time and effort. You become dependable. Hence, your chances of having new opportunities increase, because when you say you will do something, you do it fast. People will like you and will be happy to be around you.

Now, let's see how we can nurture the habit of being urgent.  Here is one tip that might help:

When you do a task for someone, do not expect something in return. That's, do not expect gratitude. You do what you do because you love to do it, not because you look for materialistic rewards. Indeed, rewards might be a by-product of your hard work and perseverance. Therefore, the rewards are guaranteed but do not try to look for them. They will come to you.

Please post your comments. 

Getting Started on a Major Task

Getting started on a major task is not easy. It requires courage. The courage to begin or launch and the courage to persist. Successful people always start with tasks of higher values and get them done before they move to the less important tasks. There is an endless temptation to start with what is fun and easy rather than what is hard and necessary. This is called 'procrastination'. It is an epidemic. If we were to succeed, we have to discipline ourselves to do what is hard and necessary rather than what is fun and easy. When we start on major tasks and get them done, our self-esteem goes up and we start to like ourselves.

How do we stop procrastinating?

Well, this is a difficult question. But there is one strategy that might help. If you have a big task to do, don't try to do it all at once. Divide it into as many small steps as possible, and every time do just one step. It's called 'salami-slicing', that's, don't try to eat a whole loaf of salami at once but slice it into as many slices as possible and then eat one slice at a time.

Hope this helps. I wait for your comments.

Tips for good public speaking

Many of us want to be good public speakers. This requires a lot of effort and experience. But public speaking is not so much different from ordinary conversations. Hence, if we pay attention to how we handle one-to-one conversations and apply these techniques to our public speaking contexts, then we might excel in the business of speaking. Here are some tips for doing well in public speaking:

1- Be yourself. Never try to be someone else. Our society needs more originals than copies.

2- Don't try to empress the audience. Do your best and if they don't like your talk, it's not your fault.

3- Choose a topic that you know well and that of interest to the audience.

4- Prepare well. It's said that for every minute, you need two hours of preparation.

5- Always feel positive even if things don't seem to work well.

6- Don't look for praise from the audience - look for critical feedback.

7- Reflect on your talk taking into account the critical feedback you got from the audience (if there is any).

8- Reserve to do your best every time out and always strive to do it better.

One goal of public speaking is to change others. However, people might not be encouraged to change if they suspect that the speaker has little knowledge in the area he or she speaks about or that he or she does not show interest and enthusiasm in what they talk about. Hence, honesty is important. Never pick up a topic to talk about in public that you have no background knowledge about. In this case you might be deceiving yourself and others.

See you tomorrow with another thought. Please feel free to post your comments!

Free Writing

It's been a while since I last wrote a blog. Today, I decided to revive the blog and post my reflections on a daily basis. The aim is to help me get addicted with the habit of writing. Most of what I will be writing about is about myself and experiences in life. I will be very pleased to receive any comments and answer any questions.

My to topic for today is about getting started writing. Because writing is a complex activity, it is naive to approach it in a normative and prescriptive way. I believe that good writing comes from trial and error. What makes my writing good is when I am free to write. Hence, the motto that I follow in writing is 'Make a mess, then, clean it up!' This means that you start writing about any particular issue of interest for at least ten continuous minutes without stopping to correct grammatical and spelling mistakes. Don't even care about coherence or the link between ideas. The goal is to cement the habit of writing. Editing comes later. It's when you clean up your writing.

This is what I have for today. I will come back tomorrow to add more thoughts.