Hello Everybody!
My name is Adriana Vilela, I am originally from Argentina and I have been working at the OAS headquarters since 2008. At present I am facilitating the creation of the Inter American Teacher Education Network. (ITEN). The other two members of the team are Andrea Aranguren and Monica de la Garza.
It is super exciting to be able to start these forums. When I arrived at the OAS, Marva Ribeiro and David Edwards had been dreaming of this network for several years...! They both were the spark that lit this idea. I would like to honor them both for having been such visionaries, and invite them both to be the first to introduce themselves in this space.
Looking forward to meeting all of you here to chat, get to know each other better and share knowledge, experiences and good practices.
Best to everyone!
Adriana
Hi Adriana and new ITEN members!
I am Andrea Aranguren, from Argentina but based in Washington DC, consulting for the OAS. Before join the OAS I worked in different initiatives worldwide in the ICT in Education field.
More than a year ago Adriana invited me to join ITEN's team to help shaping this wonderful network. We have been working hard to create this space for you all to enjoy and take the best out of it. We invite you to come, share your experiences, point of views, resources..but specially have fun while we all try to improve the quality of education!!
Look forward to getting to know you better!
Andrea
Hi everyone!!
It is a great pleasure for me to be part of this network; I find it incredible to have the opportunity to participate proactively in this project with other like minded professionals all throughout the American continent. I really think this will be a great tool for all of us.
I am a consultant at the Organization of American States (OAS)in Washington, DC, originally from Monterrey, Nuevo León. I hold a Communication degree from the Universidad Regiomontana. (Monterrey, Mexico) I began my work in the field of education launching ITEN with the Office of Education and Culture of the Department of Human Development in 2010.
I am very interested in communication strategies and global cooperation to improve education practices around the world!
Best,
Mónica
Hi everyone,
This is David Edwards, one of the many sparks (with my dear and insighful friend Marva) that helped this idea along the way. Yet the current brushfire you see today is wholly thanks to the dedicated work and vision that Adriana has ignited, fanned and spread to all of us.
My story begins by saying that I am and always will be a teacher. I was originally a US high school German teacher who was enticed to Bolivia to teach and work with teachers and marginalized kids for a few years. I then returned to the US and got a graduate degree in international education policy and went to work for the Office of Education and Culture (then the Department of Social Development and Education but as all who know OAS, a yearly reshuffling is to be expected!) for six wonderful years of Ministerials, CIE and work on issues related to teachers and teaching.
I finally left OAS in 2007 to coordinate international relations for the National Education Association of the United States, which allows me to carry forward that work - not only with our 3.2 million teacher members, but also an international network of teachers organizations representing 30 million teachers the world over, Education International.
It goes without saying that the launch of ITEN represents an important milestone for teacher education in the Americas. Good high-quality, professional teacher education rests on a body of practice and scholarship in areas of pedagogy, child development, adult learning and specialized content that varies as widely as the curricula. As we build upon that foundation, it is important to remember that the learning in this field is dynamic and constantly being updated and informed by new scholarship from academics and practitioners alike.
I am proud to be a part of this initiative and look forward to participating as it expands and deepens the collaboration essentially lies at the heart of the nexis of teaching and learning.
Warm regards,
David
My name is Angelina Polius, teacher educator of the Division of Teacher Education in Saint Lucia. I teach both primary and secondary groups courses related to Language teaching and learning and literacy. I enjoy interacting with teachers and it is this part of my job that i enjoy the most.
I am an advocate of new literacies, and strongly believe that there is an ongoing need for teacher educators across teacher training colleges to equip student teachers with the new literacies of today so that they can be better prepared to effect change in their classroom with technology .
One of the recommendations that i have made at our Joint Board of Studies meeting is that a network such as this one would be created to allow teachers to share best practices, learn from each other and to develop a community of practice. I am grateful to David, Marva, Adriana and the other ITEN members for their perceptual insight and vision in creating such a network. It is a privilege to be part of this community and I look forward to collaborating with you and other teacher educators across the globe. Thanks
Angelina
Hi Angelina. It's been very nice to read your message. I am glad that you find ITEN a useful tool for teachers to interact, share good practices and learn from each other. This has been the concept at the heart of ITEN.
Now, the challenge is how to get teacher educators and future teachers engaged in discussions! Any ideas will be more than welcome!
We have the capability of creating special interest sub-goups. We can, for example, create a sub-group so that future teachers can also share experiences.
Let us know if you have suggestions on how to reach and motivate a critical mass of Caribbean teachers so that they can benefit from the potential of networking.
I also invite you to share your comments on the Blog posting here at:
community.oas.org/.../november-2010-quot-global-community-conversations-of-iearn-teachers-quot.aspx
Best regards and thanks a lot for your contribution!
Hello to all,
My name is Ameena Mohammed. While browsing the Ministry of Education’s website I discovered this forum. I am a primary school teacher on the island of Trinidad. I’ve been teaching at the primary school level for the past 18 years. Two of those eighteen years were spent at Teachers’ Training College and for approximately four years I taught ICT to the general school population.
I value the use of technology in teaching and try to use it as much as I can in spite of limited resources available at my school. In order to improve upon the application of technology, I’ve enrolled in a post grad. Diploma in Instructional Design programme.
I am very much looking forward to sharing and learning from other members of this community. Thank you to Adriana, Andrea and Monica for this invaluable initiative.
All the best to everyone,
Ameena
Hi Ameena, welcome to the ITEN Community! It's been nice to see the announcement of the ITEN's launch at the Ministry's website in Trinidad and Tobago.
I know that this time of year is a bit complicated for everyone with the holidays coming up, but hope that 2011 brings lots of interaction in the network!
Thanks for registering and for your introduction!
Hi,
I am Eleanor Phillip from the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis. I live on the beautiful island of St. Kitts. I am a Curriculum Officer with responsibility for Learning Support. My duties include adopting or adapting curriculum and sometimes designing Individual Education Programmes (IEPs) for students in mainstream schools with Mild Learning Difficulties. ICT is one of the strategies used to assist students with learning difficulties. I also provide training for teachers who work with these children.
Thanks to the ITEN community for providing this opportunity for us to share. I hope to hear from the participants at the 2nd World Bank Learning Event which was held in Maine.