Professional Development and Teaching E-tools

By Yesika H. Samuels

ESL/EFL English Instructor

Saturday, March 9, 2019

Professional Development and Teaching E-tools

During the teaching journey, educators need to be in constant feeding and updating with new ideas that help to make learning process meaningful, accessible and guided into the right path. In a daily basis, teachers should read and practice new ways of teaching that can help learning to be fun and applicable to daily activities. There online, is a good sources organizer called feedly, it helps with instructor’s professional development. Another incredible teacher’s assistance is Google Forms; this e-tool is useful for assessments. Included in google forms, there are graphics that help teachers to reflect on teaching and observe areas that need improvement. All these aspects are key components that facilitate effective learning, as well they give teachers the chance of self-reflection which leads to a successful learning environment.

Feedly is one of the amazing sources organizer tool that can be found online, it is an excellent source for teachers, but specially helps with teacher’s development. This application is integrated with a great variety of sources that can help educators to be updated in different work fields. Instructors are able to access and receive information on different topics from a variety of web-pages, all in one place. This is relevant for any professional, but specially educators that need to be in constant learning and updating according with the new learning generations. Feedly is a very good application that help teachers are to constantly improve in the professional ground.  

Another great online instrument is Google Forms; teachers can use different sections specially the area for assessment, specifically the one for quizzes.  This amazing tool is found in My Drive, when teachers are creating an assessment pictures and videos can be link for easy access for students. Quizzes can be created using different formats like multiple choice, short answer, paragraph and more. As a great tool, indeed help instructors specially  to save time because results can be check automatically.

Include it in Google Forms, it is also an excellent source that is called Forms Graphics. This tool provides teachers a summary of the of the overall or individual responds in a graphic format, which allow then to see areas of improvement or review. This graphics, provide specific data that reflect students’ needs and teaching improving areas, in order to facilitate the learning process.  After assessment applications, there is an area that shows students’ performance in a graphic way for each question and each student, as well as a group. Therefore, access to this type of information help to find out weakness and straights for specific content.

Reflective educators must be straightforward about strengths and weaknesses they possess. They need to acknowledge which areas have room for improvement in the professional feel. By recognizing vulnerabilities help educators to do the best is possible and better results come along with the improvement. Feedly helps to improve specific areas and also be updated, but teachers should activate information that is need it for professional development. Google Forms and graphics are great tools to implement, maybe be at first will take time for teachers and students master usage but in the long run will save time. Additionally, graphics provide a great source of information that is valuable for teacher in the areas of improvement.