Can Irving, Lourdes and Shantell say which country they are working from please.

It will be a great pleasure to hear the different countries participating in this forum.

Good evening everyone.  I too, echo the sentiments of those before me who have thanked Lerdon for the invitation to join this group.  I am a proud Bahamian and I am also very excited about this program. I eagerly look forward to sharing and learning as we collaborate on strategies that can  strengthen critical thinking in our students in the Bahamas as well as those around the world.

Hi everyone,

I'm so blessed to be apart of this skills development and sharing. I look forward to this training so that can impart all that I've learned to those around me.

Keep safe and see you all soon from Jamaica.

Hello everyone,

I am from the beautiful island of St. Lucia. Hope I find everyone in good spirits. Have a great day.  

HI everyone my name is Rocha Tobierre I am from St.Lucia.  I am looking forward to course

Good day to all,

I am Stephanie from Grenada. 

Very much looking forward to what's to come from this group.

Blessings.

My name is Kathleen Edward.  I am from the beautiful island of St- Lucia.I have a passion for special education. I have been a teacher in that field for the last five years. I look forward to being part of this program which will better equip me to impact knowledge on my students and my fellow colleagues. 

Hi,

I think I posted my hello in the incorrect space. Sorry.

Joann

Good evening Colleagues,

I hail from Trinidad and am really looking forward to interacting with each of you.  I find critical thinking to be an area that is not focused upon in our schools and this often impacts the outcomes for at-risk children negatively.  I am in the field of inclusive education and remedial education

Hi! My name is Julissa and I am glad to be part of this group. It will be great working and learning from you. Best regards,

Good day.  I am happy to be a part of this training.  Can't wait to get started.

Hi Everyone. My name is Macian and I am from St. Lucia. I look forward to this experience and hope to gain insight into my teaching skills so I can foster change in Education as we collaborate as Educators. 

Good Afternoon,

I am Janelle Thomas from St. Vincent and I am looking forward to learning a great deal!!!!!!!

Hi All,

It is great to see many teachers from the different Caribbean Islands all meeting in this ITEN discussion forum.

Yes we are here to learn and reinforce new skills but it will be great to hear something of yourself.

I have been teaching since 1983 when I graduated from the Valsayn Teachers' College in Trinidad. I have worked at all levels of the Education spectrum - early childhood, primary, secondary, special education and tertiary. This teacher Education program can assist by increasing my skills for specific tools to use in the schools.

All the best to the new members.

Hi my name is Jessica and I am looking very much forward to this wonderful learning opportunity.

hi is a pleasure to be in this group , I love to critical that's why I am here so I ready to learn more and develop my ability my idea.

Hi Everyone. I am Shonella and I am originally from Guyana, but I am residing in Trinidad and Tobago. I am happy to be here and I do look forward to learning and sharing with you all. Thank you.

Great to be part of this group. I am trying to access the audios to start with No. 1,but I cant find it. Comments, please. thanks. Glenda

Dear colleagues, 

Thank you for joining this group. I am thrilled to see the enthusiasm for this opportunity, and I hope you learn something new for your teaching practice and thoroughly enjoy yourselves along the way. 

A few members have alerted me that audio programs 1 and 2 are not functioning properly on the podcast site and are therefore not available. We apologize for the inconvenience and are working to correct the problem as quickly as possible. I will post here again when the problem is resolved. 

Warm regards,

Dan Pier, ITEN 

It is great to be back in the forums.

I do hope the experience will be enriching as we have persons from many Caribbean countries and can share their experiences.

Hello! I am Anabela from Guatemala. I am so excited for this opportunity. Blessings.

Can someone please guide  me to the podcasts?

Tracet ingresa a E-libreria

Has anyone been able to locate podcasts 1 and 2? Or have they not been uploaded yet?

I have not been able to locate them. However I saw an earlier message from Daniel saying that there were some technical issues which he would rectify and notify us when all is well.  Also I would like to know exactly where to go/link so that I can access the audios when they are available. Thank you.

Hi everyone, did any of you could listen to Audio video 1, because it is not on the videos, they start from 3, 4, 5...but not 1 and 2. did you have luck listening to them let me know how to find 1 and 2 thanks.

You are right Shonella, I got that

message, too. We will be in contact. Thanks. pleasure. 

Hi everyone,

For the newbies, there are two moderators in this forum. Daniel is working on opening the first and second link to the audio program so we will need to wait and study the document we have in our possession showing the lessons in the program.

I am seeing everyone asking about the same issue and I believe we can exert some patience by following my advice until we get a note from Daniel saying the links are open and ready.

To access the link just click teacher Education and you then click on audio program, until we ate told differently.

Let us keep our focus please. The excitement is appreciated. I am sure.

Dear colleagues,

Good news! The problem with the audio files has been corrected. Please go ahead and start listening! You will meet Ms. Dominguez, Ms. Brown, and some of their students, beginning with Charles and Henry.

Thank you again for your enthusiasm. I look forward to reading your reflections and feedback here.

A question for you: We chose to share the audio files via SoundCloud because it gives you the option of playing the episodes live online or downloading them as podcasts on your computer or mobile device. Would there be advantages to ALSO posting the audio files on our YouTube channel? It would play as a video, but with a static image of the OAS and/or ITEN logo.

Thanks and have fun listening,

Dan

Dear colleagues,

You will receive instructions in a welcome email in the next few days. However, if you would like to get started, I recommend that you begin with your audio page:

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

Here, you can download the program guide, a useful document that will orient you to the concepts and exercises presented in each episode. Then you can click through to any episode and start listening.

Warm regards,

Dan 

Thank you for the timely replies.

Your efforts are appreciated. I am comforted and feel a bit settled now that I know how to access some materials and what to expect in the near future.

Hello all,

I received my welcome email; I hope you have yours.

One note on scheduling: there is no prescribed schedule for listening to each episode, but do keep in mind that by November 28 all participants to have not only participated in the seven episodes, but have used the ideas learned in the course, and be observed and documented doing so. Therefore, I would suggest getting started this week with at least one episode, perhaps two.

Enjoy. 

Warm regards,

Dan

Episode 1 reminded us of the levels of questioning which we should engage our students more in.  A lot of times our teaching is geared towards rote learning and examinations.  However we as teachers need to realize that our students will be going out there to function in society so they need to learn to assess and be reflective.

There is no doubt about it that in our lessons we do  incorporate critical thinking.  As a primary school teacher teaching grade six students although the majority of the final examination  paper is multiple choice the structure of some of the questions allows them to think critically.  

In a few words I will say Critical thinking adds depth to learning. The higher order questions provide students with a depth of learning as they have to reflect, compare and contrast differences and similarities etc. using the skills of critical thinking.

episode 2 is writing clear and defined learning objectives,using the acronym SMART. For example: An objective will be: Students will be able to use the new vocabulary in a innovative poem.

I am thankful for the information in this program. My take away so far from Episodes 1 and 2 is what critical thinking is Not and how to write effective learning objectives to promote critical thinking in the classroom. It has been a practice of mine to use 'know' and 'understand' in writing objectives, but now I am aware that these do not allow students to think rationally or be reflective.

The first episode of critical thinking provided a clear definition of what it is and what it is not.  I think that it reinforced that this is a skill that is needed for life living and that one, while students do not by estimation think critically on a daily basis, they do.  They are just not aware of it.  In addition it made me realize that students need guidance in the art of critical thinking.  I am reminded of the kinds of questions that I should be asking to encourage the development of critical thinking.  Because we are encouraged to pay specific attention to Bloom's Taxonomy in the writing of our objectives in order to encourage higher order thinking, I am satisfied to know that I have been heading in the direction of encouraging critical thinking.    The questioning exercise was  a bit of a work out but it make your reflect on your questioning strategies and how to improve them. Feeling empowered already.

I recieved an email asking for proof that i registered here how do i get this sortrd out? Please help

sorted*

I am learning a lot with the critical thinking audios. I am on Nbr. 3. I have reviewed more about the Socratic seminar and probing questions. Do you know websites where I can find more information about the Socratic seminar?

After listening to Episode 1, I conclude that in also asking the What, When and Who questions, we must also ask Why and How. These questions (why and how) initiate critical thinking. To me, encouraging critical thinking is like encouraging persons to develop using their common sense, it helps persons to analyse, evaluate, synthesise and apply. These skills are very important in this ever developing era. I also noted that critical thinking encourages reflective thinking and that there is no right or wrong answers when you ask the critical thinking questions.

I am off to a late start . However I hope to review materials and catch up soon. I am looking forward to learning new things and the conversations relevant to thinking critically 

Episode 1 allowed be to clarify exactly what critical thinking is.  To me it involves meta cognition as one is expected to use information to make good decisions.  This involves asking a lot of 'what if' questions (among others) as the example of the conversation between the two students showed.  The importance of developing this skill cannot be over emphasized as in today's work there are many young persons who are making impulsive decision instead of thinking things through.

I am a little late in the discussions going on, however, I still want to share some of my takeaways from Episode 1.

Before I listened to this first episode of the program, I thought of critical thinking as a process in which someone is engaged in deep thinking about something in order to make the best possible decision among several.

After I listened to episode 1, it became clear to me that critical thinking is also an ability to assess conclusions based on evidence. I understood and learned that there are techniques to help develop critical thinking.I am now able to differentiate shallow questions (asked with who, what, when, where) and deep questions (asked with why, how). The questions asked with the WHY and HOW are the ones that encourage critical thinking. They force the answerer to go beyond the surface when providing answers. I have made several questions of both types to use with students this week.