Traveloteacher

We were eased into the new academic year by visiting Boogersburg School  in Pleasant Hill. This one-room school where students were taught from 1877 - 1952 is now a museum where local school children and visitors from afar can come and see what it was like to teach and learn in the times past. Teachers in period dress, a register book with names of children and their grades, a pot-bellied stove, slates, small desks and chairs, some now funny, yet strict rules for teachers (" Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly. Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed .") brought us back to the times when education became public and free for all. During the first week, which is also known as "add and drop week" we visited different classes and by the end of the week we had to choose those that we would take for credit, audit and sit in. (Almost) all the classes...

It's been ten days since my arrival in the US. Ten days so busy that it seems to me that I've been here for at least a month. On the first morning when I entered my unfurnished apartment, I thought I would never furnish it! But thanks to Janis, my amazing, amazing host, only four days later my apartment already felt like home. Those first four days were all about the bare necessities - buying an inflatable mattress to sleep on until I get a proper bed, buying kitchen stuff, pillows, comforters (even though I still don't quite get the difference between a duvet and a comforter, I bought a nice zebra patterned comforter), visiting yard sales and giveaways (my first yard sale ever). Also, getting my student ID, opening a bank account, getting a new sim card and finding a plan that will allow me to be connected on the go, registering my computer for the use in my apartment are just a few things that we managed to do successfully during the first week. Our three wonde...

My Humphrey Fellowship officially begins tomorrow. I'm about to embark on a new ten-month learning journey at the Pennsylvania State University, one of the leading US universities. I'm thrilled  to take part in this year's program at the College of Education along with 9  fellows from 8 countries. We're part of a 2014/2015 cohort of 150 fellows from all over the world. As I'm the first Croatian school teacher to have been selected for this prestigious scholarship, I'm going to blog about my year as a Humphrey Fellow as often as possible. So I'm writing this pre-departure post from my home in Zagreb. My bags are all packed and yes, I've packed everything but the kitchen sink, which was actually quite easy. But parting from my family is not easy at all, it's unbearable! But I'm sure we'll manage to go through it.

I gave my first plenary to an audience of 300 educators at the eTwinning / SIRikt conference in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, yesterday. Before I got on the stage, seeing 300 people in the huge conference hall sounded intimidating for a shy speaker like me, but once I started my talk I felt more confident and happy to be there.  Another great thing was involving the audience in my talk with the interactive Kahoot quizzes and the response I got was terrific. The future is now from Arjana Blazic

Recently I discovered Getkahoot,   a classroom response system that completely engages every single student, without exception, even those who are always reluctant to do whatever I tell them to do. Getkahoot fully captures their attention and what's more, not only do they want to answer the questions in the quizzes I prepare for them but they also want to make their own quizzes! Of course, I grabbed this opportunity with both hands. And used it to make a boring lesson from the textbook exciting and fun. The lesson was about the scientists of the 20th century and my students created their own Kahoot quizzes about it. As I strongly believe that they must have a choice when doing a task, I didn't tell them what they should do -OK, I gave a few hints, like they could create vocabulary quizzes or a reading comprehension quiz about any of the scientists mentioned in the book, or about any other scientist they know and like. I also told them they could make flashcards with Quizlet ...

Ever since I was 13 I've had this dream: to live and study in the US! And last Thursday (on Happiness Day)  I was notified that my application for the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship was accepted! This means that I'll be living and studying in the US for ten months, starting from August 2014! Every year about 200 fellowships are awarded to working professionals from across the world. They are selected based on their potential for leadership and their commitment to public service. I'm the first high school teacher in Croatia who has been awarded this prestigious honor. I still think I'm dreaming!

eTwinning and Social Media , the learning event that Bart and I are running is in the full swing and tomorrow we're organizing a Twitterathon - a 3-hour Twitter chat for educators. We're going to discuss three  educational topics chosen by teachers from the learning event and beyond. We invite you to join us for the Etwion and vote for the topics. The poll will be open till midnight, March 6. The Twitterathon will take place on March 6, from 7-10 pm CET. (check your time zone here.)