Hi Daniel,

The teachers whom I have invited to the training would like to know if they would be getting a certificate at the end of the training? They are interested in doing the program, but this is an important aspect that they want to know of. Thanks in advance for your response.

Best Regards,

SM

Hello again,

In one of the earlier email I received, it stated that I have to complete the training of the 5 or more teachers by June 30. However, I realized that in one of Daniel's comments, he mentioned March 1st. Can someone kindly verify which is the correct date so I can plan accordingly.

Many thanks!

Dear Stephanie and colleagues,

Thank you for pointing out this discrepancy. ITEN apologizes for any confusion this has caused. To clarify, June 30 is the administrative deadline for the program, which is why that date was first named. However, the technical team here at OAS felt that it would be advantageous for teachers to facilitate the program with their colleagues much closer to the time that they themselves participated. Therefore, we named the earlier deadline. Considering these factors, here is the amended statement of deadline:

Reports regarding the completion of the training of five or more colleagues are due March 1st, 2017. Participants needing additional time may request it, and OAS will make a determination on a case-by-case basis, with June 30, 2017, being the latest possible date for submission.

Certificates of completion will be shared with participants once the report is received and approved. Thank you for your understanding. We look forward to seeing your reports.

Warm regards,

Dan

Thanks Daniel.

Your explanation cleared it up nicely.

Hello, colleagues.

I am reviewing the lesson plans, observation forms, and training plans coming in. I am thoroughly enjoying your work. Most of the lesson plans demonstrate a very clear application of the principles explored in the audio program, and they are applied to a wide variety of subjects and age levels.

I welcome you to share your lesson plans on this comment wall so your fellow learners can see what you have done. Just click the paper clip icon above a comment and you should be able to upload a file from your computer. This is a completely voluntary exercise simply to enhance the learning experience.

Warm regards,

Dan

Hi Daniel,

I am placing one of my lesson plans in this forum to share with others. I will like them to comment on it please.

Gale

OASITEN%20Lesson%202.pdf

I looked at you lesson plan. I realise it is for a primary school. I want to find out what areas the students will include in the school conservation policy?

Do you have samples of the work they will do?

The topic is a very interesting and can be a very interaction one also.

Colleagues

This is a copy of my lesson plan, feel free to make comments. Thank you

Lesson%20Plan%20-%20Complement%20of%20Sets.pdf

I am attaching my lesson Plan. This is a 1st. semester English at college level.

This is a great experience and feel happy to put it on practice with the students. Feel free to make comments. LESSON%20PLAN%202014%20FULL.docx

LESSON%20PLAN%202014%20FULL.docx

Dear Daniel,

I would like to know please about one ALAIN PIERRE  who in boxed me. Is this person part of the course? Can you guide me accordingly as I am in doubt. Thank you. Urgently awaiting your reply.

Dear Shonella,

Thank you for your message. The individual who used this name is NOT a member of the course.

Please be aware that the ITEN virtual community has terms of use and that the community is monitored actively to prevent violations of those terms. For example, we review every submitted profile before prospective members are allowed to go live. Unfortunately, some individuals disguise their intentions to use the community inappropriately by providing legitimate-appearing profiles. We further monitor the community a minimum of once every work day for inappropriate messages in violation of the terms of use, remove individuals who engage in such activity, and remove the offending messages.

The profile under the name you mention is no longer part of the ITEN virtual community.

Please let us know if you request any further guidance or action on the part of ITEN to address the message you received.

Warm regards,

Dan

Dear Evelyn,

Thank you for also alerting us to the situation.

Let me first assure you that ITEN fully understands your concerns, is committed to addressing this particular instance of violation of the terms of use, and is committed to maintaining a safe community.

The community is constructed such that email addresses are not public information, and ITEN does not share this information. Am I to understand from your message that this individual has somehow obtained your email address? If that is the case, we will need to follow up with you offline.

Further, ITEN has removed all messages from this individual which it has discovered. If you still see the offending message or messages, please log out and log back in. If an offending message or messages remain in your inbox, please notify us immediately so that we can remove them and further investigate.

We will carefully monitor attempted registrations, aware that this individual may attempt to re-enter the community with altered profile information.

Again, ITEN is committed to resolving this situation and ensuring that its community is safe. We deeply regret the stress and concern that has been caused despite our efforts to prevent this kind of misuse.

Warm regards,

Dan

Wow! This person is a real nuisance and it would seem he was trying to tackle females. I also got an email but did not respond as I was immediately alarmed and suspicious based on the contents of the message. 

This shows the need to remain vigilant not only where social media is concerned but in all aspects of our lives as well. 

I am however comforted that OAS/ITEN was able to intercept and deal swiftly with what could have been potentially dangerous. 

Regards

Macian

OMG Daniel,

this is crazy. This individual sent me a mail stating he saw my profile and would like to discuss something about it. I thought at first that it was you. Also he gave his email to email him as I can. So I am thinking that it has to do with my Lesson plan and responded only to get an email with one long request which I cannot share here, but can forward to OAS if needs to. Then I thought that something is amidst after reading the contents of his second email to me. Hence I notified you immediately as this second email is very questioning.

Thank you.

Can anyone tell me how can I block this person from my email? Thanks in advance.

Regards,

SM

Hi everyone:

I am attaching a copy of my Lesson plan. It is for a Form five (Grade 11) class. I welcome your constructive criticism!

Regards

Macian

LESSON%20PLAN%20ITEN.docx

Hey Shonella:

I am sorry to hear that. There are so many predators out there. I am not sure though that someone can be blocked from sending you email but maybe if you set the mail as spam it will go straight to junk mail and you will not have to deal with it. Hope this helps!

All the best

Macian

I am sorry to hear of this situation colleagues.

We have  to be careful when opening any suspicious email. Yes it can be misunderstood for authentic mail but the name must be double checked before responding. This is a good lesson for us all.

At the same time Daniel needs to have the email checked as there may be a compromise in the room. We must all remember to sign out when leaving the room. Daniel please request that all emails forwarded and copied to our mails be stopped please. Every time someone writes we get a copy of the email and this can help compromise our emails allowing whoever is trying, to enter our systems.

Hi Daniel,

Thank you for the information.  I, too, received an e-mail from the individual but immediately deleted it based on its contents.

I too received an email. When i first saw his request , I thought was one of us requesting help with the audio and the whole course but when I read the email, I noticed is one of the scammers who are saying they have some large amount of money that the need someone else to receive for them, etc. I did not reply

Dear Colleagues,

Thank you once again for the information regarding the individual sending inappropriate messages.

We believe we have blocked this individual from the community, but we will continue to be vigilant and we request that you contact ITEN if you have any further concerns. If you would like to send a message privately to the ITEN team, please write to ried_iten@oas.org.

A message will go out to all community members soon reminding them to be vigilant regarding cases like this. In the cases in which an individual has obtained email addresses through deceit, I will check with our technology team as to what, if any, advice we can offer. I will also address the specific requests made regarding the email forwarding; there should not be any way for anyone to gain access to your system through participation in the community.

Warm regards,

Dan

Dear friends,

I am happy to share my lesson plan with you. Here is the link: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/0B4zEtEobMvD4a3JiSm9IZ1l...

Please let me know if your thoughts.

Thanks,

Michelet

Thank you, Michelet!

Dan

Dear colleagues,

In a moment I will post a comprehensive email from the ITEN team regarding the recent spam incident. I hope this will be the last word on the matter in this group, but please continue to be vigilant. 

Thank you,

Dan

Thank you Macian

Dear colleagues,

Thank you for your messages and for the concern you have shown as we address this matter.  Indeed, we do need to be very alert and careful when opening any email or messages. As noted, the ITEN team vets all users before allowing them access to the Community of Practice and reviews messages for violations of the community’s terms of use.  Unfortunately, this user built a profile that appeared legitimate, but then violated the terms of use.  He has since been blocked from the community and his further attempts to enter it have also been blocked. To our knowledge, all his messages were taken down as of 9:30 am (Washington time) on Tuesday, November 29, 2016, and he should have no more access.  

Thankfully, after our review of the community, we are confident that the system has not been compromised. When fellow members of a group within the community post messages, you may receive email notifications. Your receipt of these notifications does not allow any other member access to your email address or account; you may note that the “From” line on the email reads “Inter-American Teacher Education Network <mail@itenamericas.org>" and does not include the member’s email address. Attempting to reply to these messages yields only the email address “do-not-reply@itenamericas.org”.

Nonetheless, you may wish to stop receiving these notification emails. In this case, select the option, “Stop Following – Don't email me when people comment," which can be found near the top of the comment wall within each group and will prevent you from receiving emails particular to that group.  You may also update your settings to this option by clicking “settings” under your name at the top right of the site and then “Email” at the top left. Here you can decline receiving emails when messages are posted in any group of which you are a member.  

If you have received unwelcome messages in your community inbox, you can block the sender by clicking his or her name and then clicking “Block messages” at the left. Please also notify our team by emailing ried_iten@oas.org and, if we have not already done so, we will determine whether the messages constituted a violation of the terms of use and, if so, will take necessary steps, which may include removing the messages and removing the violator from the community.

If an individual obtains your email address through deceit and contacts you via that channel, unfortunately, ITEN is not in a position to provide advice regarding this matter. However, your Internet provider and/or your email software should provide options for blocking messages from specific senders.  

We take these incidents very seriously and the ITEN team has jumped into action to deal with it. Going forward, any messages sent or forwarded to you should be those of legitimate and relevant value from and for the community. Please advise us if you have received any unwelcome mail or messages after November 29^th, 2016, and if you have received any other mail or messages that seem unrelated to the efforts of the Community of Practice.  We will send an advisory to the full community about signing in and logging out and about being attentive to any materials outside of the scope of the Community of Practice, so that all users are aware and are vigilant about these types of issues. Please keep us posted on any further issue related to this spammer or any other issues that you may notice.  

Thank you again for your vigilance and quick action. Your engagement is highly valued.  

Respectfully,

Team ITEN

Hello Colleagues,

I came upon a discrepancy in one of my lessons and need your help on solving this problem : Inaccurate content or New Knowledge? I need you to complete this activity before responding. You do not need any previous knowledge in science to this. We were always taught that matter turns to liquid then gas when heated. I did this activity and found some interesting information which I was told is inaccurate.

I did a practical activity with a form 1 class in science.

The topic was : Temperature changes Matter. 

Objective: Students will acquire critical thinking and problem solving skills in particular the ability to:

(a) identify and define what is matter;

(b) prepare a lab note on changes observed in a practical activity;

(c) compare, contrast, interpret and evaluate ice evaporating to water vapor then condensing to water.

You need to know the meaning of  vaporization and condensation.

The activity goes like this:

1. Place a few ice cubes in a clear jar at room temperature.

2. Observe the activity of the ice and write it down. What do you see?

3. After a couple minutes observe what is happening to the vapour. What do you see?

4. After another few minutes observe what is taking place with the liquid that is gathered in and out of the bottle. What do you see?

5. After 20 minutes what happens to some of the water that has gathered? What happens to the ice? What is taking place on the outside of the bottle?

Has the water left the inside of the bottle and passed through the glass? Can you interpret how was this done? What form was the matter when passing through the glass? What form is the matter on the outside of the glass? Can you explain how the glass allowed the matter to pass?

Looking forward toyour responses. Feel free to shae this activity with members of your science teams in school.

Gale

hi guys sharing my lesson plan. 

LESSON%20PLAN.docx

hi Rocha,

I saw your lesson and found it well organised.

What do you think of my lesson on Temperature and Matter/

Gale

Hi everyone my name is Georgia and i am from Trinidad and Tobago.. I am glad to be a part of this program.

lesson%20plan.docx

Good Day folks! Here is a copy of my lesson plan. I WOULD REALLY LOVE SOME FEEDBACK!!!

Dear colleagues,

Good morning. I apologize for my absence for a few days to attend to some urgent matters in my office.

Thank you to many of you for sharing your lesson plans, and especially to those who have provided feedback. The ITEN team does not have the capacity in terms of time commitment to provide feedback on the lesson plans, but we strongly encourage you to review the submissions of your colleagues and to provide comments. One of our goals here at ITEN is to facilitate this kind of peer-to-peer learning.

Warm regards,
Dan

Welcome, Georgia. Glad to see you here! Have you listened yet to "Critical Thinking for Teachers", the ITEN audio program? Be sure to use the user's guide, which you can download on the same page as the audio program:

http://www.oas.org/en/iten/Documents/Audio_Program.html

In this group, there are discussions about each episode plus a few others. We hope you participate and enjoy the program.

Warm regards,
Dan Pier, Inter-American Teacher Education Network

Welcome Georgia! Hope you enjoy the episodes! 

Regards

Macian

Hi Georgia, Susan, Lisa, Nidra and Shelly-Ann. Welcome to the ITEN Virtual Community and most of all to the Critical Thinking for Teachers Audio Program.

Lesson%20plan%20specific%20nouns.docx

Attached is my lesson plan for your viewing

Lesson%20plan%20specific%20nouns.docx

Attached is my lesson plan for your viewing

Lesson%20Plan%20-%20Advertisements%20-%20Revised.docx

Please review my lesson. 

Episode Three: The use of Bloom's Taxonomy to enhance critical thinking has been very useful to me when writing and creating lesson plans for my students as well as for the completion of some assignments in my teaching degree.

Episode Four: The Socratic Seminar method is new to me although it incorporates peer learning and collaboration which I use with my students. I like the use of one student as the leader which encourages independence and leadership qualities.

I especially like the Socratic Seminar for the older children since it encourages a lot of student participation. For the younger age group then the Circle Time is a great  activity that engages the children to use their critical thinking skills.

Hello all, 

For participants in the OAS-ITEN Training Program for Critical Thinking, I hope many of you have begun training your colleagues. Below please see the email you should have received with the template for your training report attached. I hope we can all support each other and have as many of you earn your certificates as possible. 

Please come here to ask me or each other questions if you have them.  

Thank you, 

Dan 

Dear Critical Thinking for Teachers Participant,

Greetings from the Inter-American Teacher Education Network (ITEN) of the Organization of American States; we hope your new year is off to a very good start. As you are aware, in order to earn your Certificate of Completion of the OAS-ITEN Training Program for Critical Thinking, you must complete the training plan you submitted earlier, and submit to ITEN a final training report.

Attached please find a template for your final training report. You are welcome to add sections to the report that you, your school or Ministry/Secretariat of Education, or ITEN might find useful.

The objective of this report is not only to verify your completion of the training, but also to give you the chance to reflect on the outcome of the training and to provide feedback to ITEN regarding the activity. The report should be between 350 and 1,000 words and include as annexes or attachments the required verification documents, including attendance records and a photo from the training sessions.

Please submit this final training report by June 30^th, 2017. However, we encourage teachers to submit this report as soon as they complete the training. 

Please note that participants who did not receive the OAS-ITEN stipend for the Critical Thinking for Teachers program are still eligible for the OAS-ITEN Certificate of Completion of the Critical Thinking for Teachers Program. Simply complete the program and submit the aforementioned documents (training plan and final training report).

We look forward to receiving your documents!

Warm regards,

The ITEN team 

I enjoyed the program. It was a nice practical follow - up to the Udemy course - Pedagogy of Critical Thinking.

It is even better that there is a component which requires us to share with our colleagues.

My efforts to share in the past by using a wiki page was okay but required others to take the first step of logging on and using the internet. Unlike this session which requires face to face contact - a welcomed feature for the many technophobes among us.

Great opportunity to effect positive change.

Thank You ITEN - OAS and MOE(St. Lucia) :)

Is it fair to get all this work done, not just improving oneself but training others and not get the stipend that was promised? is there a criteria to determine who should recieve the stipend and why? Just a concern.