Teacher's Article

              

This is the Travel story of our School  Teacher Mr.R.Elavarasan who participated in Microsoft  Educators Exchange Conference in Sydney 2020. In this Article he explained how did he transformed his career into a global Teacher.

            Every day, I’m inspired by educators who innovate in the classroom to provide the best learning opportunities for their students and by leaders who continue to pursue new ways to expand access for all, adopt technology and grow economies through education.

                         This is my story of my Journey towards, Microsoft  Educators Exchange  started on July 2016 June 2. Actually it is a journey  from a small village in Tamilnadu, India and  still continues as  Guest Speaker status in Microsoft pages.

 

Background:

    It was my passion and career to upgrade my classroom into global level and meet all the inspiring educators around the world. As a math and geography teacher, i faced hurdles in cultivating interest  in the minds of my students.  As a memory athlete and competitive exam aspirant i always search and try new tools and techniques in my classroom as a ACR (Action research). I started learning about  Microsoft tools and conferences on that day, while sipping a coffee in a coffee shop. I read a few articles about the impression from a teacher story from South Africa who loves teaching with less resources. It was a true inspiration. It was my first spark to start moving. All about started from social media.

Became a Expert:

   I started searching and found correct learning paths. It was not so many info at that time. But thanks to the community helped me at that time. I started using many tools from the self-paced courses offered from Education.Microsoft.com. That was my first experience in becoming an Microsoft Expert. At that time i did not aware even to showcase my MIE Expert achievement. It was fabulous!!  started using story telling tools and virtual tours with my students.  

            It was a real joy the see many 'Wow' moments from my classrooms.  I started 3D tools and self-learning tools for kindling the curiosity.

Participation in Edu-days:

   Even after became an expert i have no interest towards conferences.  At that time i believed, any action should come from my own research findings.  After one year, the message came from One note guidebook advised to join Edu-Days and shared some insights from official pages. It was truly contagious. After that, there was  no looking back. Even i was participated  (Fortunately) form my department, there was a self-paced professional development camp  conducted in mid- July 2017. In that camp, surprisingly i found there were many things which i was an expert while others felt new. I was quite comfortable in Gamification, Online Tests, Story Telling tools and QR Code implementation also ( Even Minecraft).   

           I started self nominations to participate all the events.

 

Edu-days 2018 & 2019:

   

Though i was there in Delhi decades ago for many months, this official visit shed more lights towards my interest areas and pathways. I met many astonishing educators around the nation, because they were the top-100 selected my Microsoft.  The first Event i started learning and plan to  pursue further. Because of photography hobby, i took photographs nearly all the stalls and projects  shared by Educators. Even now many of them were still my friends. After a brief learning curve, i started using the best projects into my classroom.

                 I found Educators exchange would be my best event and can try to upgrade my classrooms in to global level. As a excel programmer and gamer it was always been curiosity to further exploration and connecting Inspiring educators from abroad and bring them into my classroom.  A the "Skyepethon" event in November,  i met Ms.Ivanova from Russia, who spent an hour with my students and guided us for better presentation, She was a true inspiring Teacher.

            I started following her advise through Skype.   

Announcement: 

      I started using most of the tools i found comfortable and very useful  in my teaching. This time i was well versed with all the tools reached 14 countries with my students in 'Skypethon'. My students enjoyed & Leant a lot. This gave further enthusiasm and instill happiness. So i was very able to present my given title 'Promoting Empathy' in "Edudays-2019". There my team was selected as a winner and our presentation was given special prices. We function as a single team and shaped our projects. It was a Team work  taught me how to co-ordinate with other teachers. In mid- December, i was selected for Educators Exchange - 2020 Sydney. 

    It was a joy  & Much curiosity - Excitement!!

The arrangements started:

                 As it was my second abroad travel, i knew the rules and regulations a lot. I prepared  meticulously about my Journey, arrival, presentation, Meeting new inspiring friends, Cover stories even questions to be asked!!    This time, i was happy to share my success story to all my friends through Social Media.  I was been  an inspiration to some of my friends..! I was waiting  excitedly, for March 2020 to get new friends across borders.

       It was looking myself in  a mirror, because there would be 300  inspiring educators around globe - meet in one place.

  Update in Feb-2020:

            𝙀2 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙙 till further notice, of course, a bit disappointing at first, but looking at the current scenario and the 𝘾𝙤𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙖 𝙑𝙞𝙧𝙪𝙨 𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚 all over the world, it is the wisest decision taken by Microsoft. We are getting news on the unstoppable spread of the virus every day, and the delay of the event is to keep our 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙖𝙛𝙚𝙩𝙮 𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮.

Virtual Event:

   Even though the Meet was postponed, we were connected through a Private Facebook Group and joined togather. We discussed many times, chat sometimes  and clear our doubts through messenger and Teams video calls.  Even we created some closed groups for ourselves for better communication. I have joined with Teachers from all the continents and  formed "E2-Friends across Borders!" There were 30 inspiring educators like me.  We  have conducted many workshops between us and do mutual help even now.

               We share expertise and friendship across borders.

  Finally Microsoft conducted Virtual event in October 29 -2020. It was a amazing event. We met some wonderful speakers and share experiences. Most of us were shared our presentation through Flip-grid and Sway. It was really eye catchy and very informative...!!

  

                    Many of us were selected and given special Badges!!

   I was  extremely honored by receiving "Puzzle Master" Badge because of my stand alone puzzle maker tool usage in my classroom! It  was unique!

Thanks to Team Microsoft for providing a wonderful pathway for  Educators around globe!!

It is a  unparallelly unique  service to the Teaching Community!

   

             I   love to be an innovative educator I would love teaching & learning in many directions. so to use the experience and sharing my concept of understanding, nowadays I join with my students, colleague and global educators.  I Believe Sparking young minds with curiosity and imagination is the target of an inspiring teacher..!

Update:

Recently, i received an announcement from Ministry of Education, Government of India has selected me for "National ICT Awards for Teachers" - 2019. It is one of the highest award for the Teachers from  Government of India.  I am truly honored to be selected as a National Awardee in the field of Education. It  was fabulous.  As  a Teacher from a very rural side, it motivates me a lot  &  run more.

 I would like to share this enthusiasm and happiness to all my students and friends.

I salute Government of India, Tamilnadu Government for Motivating us, teachers!