What an experience, indeed! The sole thing I did before my one-week trip to Istanbul was to announce my decision to all teachers belonging to the iTDi group, partially because we have been sharing all kinds of news lately, but most importantly, because I was hoping that this multicultural group encompasses teachers living specifically in Istanbul. Of course it did! Two excellent teachers, well-known in the blogsphere, Isil Boy and Ozge Karaoglu happened to inhabit, in their own words, ‘the best place to live in’.
A few days later, on a sunny afternoon in Taxim area with a view of Bosphorus and the historical peninsula of the city, the following photo was taken!
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| From left to right: Isil, Christina and Ozge |
Most ‘unpredictably’, the discussion was about teaching the English language in Turkey and Greece. The iTDi project, teacher workshops and further creative work Isil and Ozge are involved in (postgraduate research and book writing respectively) were not left unmentioned. The gossip and other ‘small talk’ that are unique to female companies were, admittedly, the icing on the cake!
I have thanked and exchanged comments with them on Facebook and Twitter hundreds of times. What I now need to share with the readers of this blog is two extracts from these bloggers’ latest posts that grabbed my attention. Starting with Ozge, I reckon my conception of creativity was pleasantly altered when I read this:
I have been creating edtech materials for young and very young learners with my kindergarten kids for the last three years at my school.
Daisy and Drago is the very first animation that has been drawn, coloured, animated and dubbed by children in the world. You can watch the second part of this animation, “Daisy, Drago and the Magic Wand” here.
Last year, we created “Bubble and Pebble” digital games which were drawn, coloured, dubbed and inspired by kindergarten children. Those digital games are, again the very first digital games in the world that were created for children by children. You can play them here.
As the saying goes, I truly believe that “change is good”, but is it also good in education? If it is so, how can we make change happen in our teaching? The answer I came up with is, by means of “theorising”.
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In Chuck Sandy’s inspiring keynote presentation at RSCON3, he also discussed that we can be the change. He believes that “positive change in education happens one student, one classroom, and one school at a time“, and he made an emphasis on “creating real change in the lives of our learners.”
Untitled from tomifune on Vimeo.
A touching video Isil’s students made especially for her.
Dear Christina,
Reading your lovely post was a great start to the week! Many thanks for your kind words! You are such an ispiring lady full of positive energy, and I feel so lucky that we met!
I truly loved the title, by the way 🙂 Hope we can meet again soon!
All the best,
Isil
I also liked the title!
Your post highlights the amazement I feel at howbeing part of "blogosphere" is enriching our lives!
Thanks!
Naomi
Hi Isil and Naomi!
I am glad you both liked the title! I always have weird inspiration when it comes to blog titles, so it is great that you approve of the current one!
Isil, I have mentioned millions of times how lucky I also feel! I am sure I have acquired two good friends simply because of belonging to the blogosphere, as Naomi points out.
Naomi, I totally share your feelings and I have to admit that I admire your involvement as a teacher in so many creative online activities: from the iTDi group to resourceful personal blogging. Hope I get to meet you, as well, one day!
Thank you both for the comments and for helping me, as a reader of yours, improve constantly!
Online hugs,
Christina