English teachers since the
beginning of the twenty first century were widely known for using those famous
CD players or “tortuguitas” (little turtles) as we call them in Argentina,
showing in a way that they didn’t suffer from vertigo when rolling down in the
increasingly fast whirlwind of advancements in technology. They demonstrated
that they were up to the challenge and even grateful for having the chance of
changing the old and heavy cassette recorder for something more practical.
Nevertheless, in a way that was the only approach to technology teachers had,
because computers were far more difficult to use than they are now, let alone
smart phones, which were inexistent.
Today, we are in 2016 and
undeniably surrounded by technology. Computers are much friendlier to the user
and they also offer innumerable possibilities at the time of creating with
them, also with the help of internet which is an inexhaustible source of
information and materials.
Having said so, and judging by
the title, the reader may have started to think what this is about. The idea is
to enter this full-of-possibilities new world of designing materials for our
students, and to initiate ourselves in the role of the teacher as a material designer
or even polish our existing designing skills, because some may already be walking
in the land of creation.
In that case, why do we
start doing so? Several factors contribute to our getting down to work in this kind
of commitment: the book we are working with is not that good in terms of the
imagery provided by the authors, the activities are not contextualised enough,
there is a lack of the type of reinforcement our students need, the stories are
not catching, etc.
Not only is the teacher a
material designer and producer, but there are also many other roles which we fulfil
when teaching such as assessor, facilitator, prompter, planner, role-model, and
so on. Here my focus is on the former, since addressing all the following could
be slightly chaotic. Nevertheless, there will be a bit of everyone present in
each post, given that they are intrinsically related in the art of teaching.
So, by this way I’d like to welcome
you, the reader, and to make a request: feel free to share your ideas and
contributions, and to take anything that is helpful for your lessons. I won’t
charge for copyright ;) I believe that all teachers should help each other,
especially with ideas and information about where we can improve a certain
aspect of our teaching.
