What is the future of the teacher?

The other day, I was reading on the newspapers about a robot that was teaching on the classroom. Most of the students were happy to have this teacher helping them in different subjects. The robot was controlled at distance by a person, who already had the lesson plan and all the activities in advance. So, the robot was more realistic and could interact with the students.

For me, this is was a really interesting news, and it made me think about the future of the teacher. I know that in order to solve a need of the society, teachers (people) won't disappear.

But I was imagining the future, how will be the teacher of the future. And with so many technologies, gadgets, internet and all ... which will be the kind of teachers who will exist in ten or twenty years more? But the thing that worries me the most... is the fact that having so many tools to study and learn new things... the role of the teacher, probably won't have the same importance than years ago.

In order words, if I have all the chances to do all by myself... do I really need a teacher? Probably yes, to tell me what to do, how to do it, when to do, and the reason why I must do it. But I have the feeling that teachers will become just another tool in the process of learning, and they won't have the relevance that they must have.

Debate: must the teacher be the clown of the class?

I wanted to start this series of posts called "Debate", in which I want to leave a question to you, so you can give your opinion and share ideas or experiences.
This time, I want to start with the question: Must the teacher be the clown of the class?
I have always thought about this: am I the only one who must promote the process of learning in my students? What about the responsibility that students must have to study and do their tasks by themselves?
It is true that I am the one in charge of the class, and that in someway, I must inspire my students to learn. But, do I have to come to class, everyday, and act as the clown, to call their attention, to entertain them and make them get interested on the subject, so they can study??
Where is the rol of the student who must understand, that studying is the way, by which they will form their own future?
I would wish that my students understand, that the school is not just a compulsory state, but they way they will improve their own lives. So, they will play their rol of students, and me I will play my rol of a teacher.
Everyone must act a part of this play. Don't you think?

A Classroom Idea: "Verbs Windmill"

I always have the problem on how teaching English verbs. The common way is showing the verbs in columns (which is really boring).
I wanted to create a different way of working with the verbs and at the same time, that students could create a project with it.
Based on the "wheel verbs" and a video I found on ehow.com, I was inspired to create a project that I call "Verbs Windmill".
The idea is that students in groups can create a windmill in which they will add a list of verbs.

MATERIALS YOU CAN USE
A milk carton, long sticks, corks, glue, ruler, scissor, decorating paper.

Once the model of the windmill is done, you add the list of verbs on the blades. So in one blade you add the infinitives, in another blade you add the past tense, and in another one, you add the past participle form. And as a foreign language, in a fourth blade you can add the translation of the verbs.
I will ask my students to create this project by the end of August. So, once the students finish it, I will show the results to you all.

Teacher, how can you improve your performance?

Sadly, I have found that one of my favourite pages has been closed down. Teachers.tv closed on april 29th.

I think, it was at the beginning of the year that I found this spectacular page related with education. And why it was so amazing? Just because it had a collection of more than 3,500 videos full of resources, ideas, tips and interviews of teachers.

To my happiness, I found out too, that those videos didn't vanish. They are managed already by a couple of pages that are keeping alive the idea of helping teachers in the process of improving their skills.I can recommend the following two pages in which you can find all those videos:

http://www.schoolsworld.tv/

http://www.teachersmedia.co.uk/

In the latter one, I recommend the section called "The behaviour challenge: can you handle it?" where you have the chance to choose what you would do in a certain disruptive situation on the classroom. But in both pages, you can find videos related with a specific subject, stage or role, among different topics.

I hope you can find the time to check it!

I don't exist if I don't have facebook?

Ok, you must call me old, not updated, away from the social media, anything you like... shoot me, whatever, but yes.. I don't have facebook.

It is just.. I really don't like it. I don't hate it.. no.. dont take me wrong. I am not against facebook at all. It is just, I don't see the point of being part of a net that I won't use. Probably it is because I don't want other people to see me or find me, especially people you don't like or just you don't know. But I really don't feel being part of facebook.
I know you will defend facebook, you will say it has many application, and you will find many good points on it.

I remember watching a video on tv, about people gathering in a meeting or a conference, and they were saying thanks to facebook because it helped them a lot. And I agree with them.

But look...
I have two accounts on live messenger, emails accounts, I have created blogs, wikispaces, long ago I used to chat, I made many friends, and I say to myself.. do I need facebook? Probably the answer you will give is yes... hehehe. But I still don't want to have facebook.

why is it important the use of videos at the classroom?

I must admit that I love movies. I can be watching movies on and on, and I can even repeat some movies, because they are really good. It is true though, I have forgotten some already (probably I have watched too many movies that I don't have more space on my memory)

But I just need one image of a single film to remember it completely. And this makes me believe that images are so much powerful than concepts. And if this is really applicable to everyone, it means that I can't leave aside the use of videos at my classroom.

If you don´t believe me, let's take this example. Imagine that I ask you to explain the meaning of the word "honor". Probably, it will be a bit hard to explain it with words. And most of the things that will come to your mind will be images of a person doing certain things, that for you, it will explain the meaning of the word "honor". Probably you will just imagine a "person" and not a "thing" or an "animal". This is because abstract words are difficult to explain without associating them with a concrete word. And in this case, we already know that the word "honor" is a condition of the human being.

Taking into account what I have said before, I consider it is so much important to use videos to support the content of the class. That is why interesting activities are remembered by students after many years. Maybe they won't remember all the content, but they will still have in their memories those moments.

Now the question is... if it is really meaningful the use of videos on the classroom?

By my experience. I have noticed, that videos are the most attractive feature at the moment of teaching. It calls the attention of the students, but we can make the mistake of just using the videos to raise their interest, but with lack of content or real meaningful.
One solution is by really planning well the activity we want to work with, and use the video just to help the increase of knowledge.