Team Stay Featured is Extremely Happy to declare Dr Irena Biba from Tirana, Albania as Positive Thoughts Achiever Of The Week.
Dr Irena Biba is a Renowned Educator as well as an International Advisor of Positive Thoughts from Albania.
Let's read her thoughts
I am a Master Teacher- Grade Excellent and Mentor Teacher. Chief of Department of Social Studies for 7 years. It’s been more than 25 years, that I am served in the field of Education. I am a librarian too.
I have worked as a teacher of Albanian language and literature for many years in secondary schools and many other high schools. I have also worked as a translator in French and Italian. I always have worked with passion and I am a learner who is willing to learn new things in education and my teaching practice.
Spending 3 years as a principal in a secondary school have made me a leader that makes others follow their mission and vision in school and their lives. I am graduated from the University of Tirana. Also, I have attended Leadership School & AADF, and I am collaborating with them for conferences in Albania. I am also working as a Scientific Editor & Inspector in the Agency of Insurance of Quality of Education. I am also the collaborator of the Ministry of Education in Albania in TV school and E-twinning Europe.
I have participated in different projects about human & children's rights SDG, Microbit, Code etc.
A beautiful project that I was the founder of “I am the voice who has not voice”, it was appreciated by authorities and I was selected to represent it at an international conference in September’21 and We had won two European Quality Label this year.
I am a Certified Trainer & Ambassador in Edmodo, Certified Master Trainer and Expert in Microsoft (MIEE), Ambassador and Certified Educator in Wakelet, Expert in Nearpod and Flocabulary, Leader in ClassDojo, Deputy Country Director in IYS, CK-12 Certified Educator, CEP alumni member, Country Director in International Internship University, International Ambassador of Peace, Global Leader Green etc.
I am working on etwinning projects that collaborate with the Ministries of Education in Europe. A lot of projects has won Quality Label. I am working with teachers from all over the world, and it is a big opportunity to learn and share experiences and best practices for further education.
I am a teacher for TV in Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (National Television). During the pandemic situation, I have broadcast hundreds of videos for students and teachers in online and blended learning in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. I am working with coding, making interesante events in collaboration with British Council. I am a Global Mentor in Minecraft and we have done many projects, also we have participated in Minecraft Edition, I won the title of Scientific Ambassador in European Schoolnet Academy 2 years ago, Cooperating in a STEAM project with European Commission. For the last three years, I am an active member and winner and have got certifications in many modules. I am a writer of many articles like Flipped learning and 21st skills in education SAMR model. I work in cooperation with the Center for Leadership School holding conferences, workshop training sessions etc.
I am a powerful woman and I have collaborated with the different associations here in Albania. Lastly, I am an International speaker on many platforms like Erasmus+ Primera Courses, IGP, Positive Thoughts, Global Education Fraternity, Global Education Network etc. Honourary member and country director of International Internship University, Professional member of Global Education Fraternity, SK Educare India, Oxford Edu India etc.
During pandemics, I have worked with my students online and in blended learning. The videos that I have filmed was broadcast on National Television, and I have embedded them with quizzes. I have also prepared lesson plans for my students with Nearpod and with quizzes, presentations and videos. Quick lunch, was a miracle and students had a lot of fun and have learned a lot.
Some of the students haven’t got access to the internet and in that case, I Voluntarily went to their home with the precautions and have done lessons for them. It was a fantastic experience.
I have worked as Trainer in Edmodo with teachers of many schools in Tirana. It was again a very wonderful experience.
Another beautiful experience that I had was working with etwinning projects that were a collaborative platform in collaboration with the Ministry of Education in Albania and with some other Ministries in Europe. Students in pace have done a lot of projects specifically with the topics related to pandemics. We have done online meetings through the Zoom platform where we shared our experiences, forum discussions and we have used twin spaces for communication. Friendship and partnership have brought students close to each other and everyone had enjoyed it a lot. Everybody felt so comfortable sharing their opinions and we have got immense success in that collaborative work project which we have finished in time.
For the long three years, I have worked as a principal. My school had 970 students (Elementary and Secondary). We have implemented a new methodology in our curriculum. My school was a pilot school in various new approaches. It was a great success. A public school, centre community with great results.
Recently I am licensed to work as a principal and I am looking forward to working in one of the schools of Tirana again as a principal. I am an active member in many prestigious platforms in Albania and in other countries especially in India (They are smart people, they love education and technology). I have also received Honourary Doctorate in Humanity by United Nations and a Royal Doctorate in Philosophy from Brazil, and it is a big achievement for me and my efforts towards Global Education.
My views about online School…
Online school has been a very different experience for all of us, something we had never thought of before. Also, it was very difficult to adapt to, considering the short time we had. At first, we thought it would allow students to have more free time since everything would be done from home, which is also more convenient than attending school physically. I was proved wrong though. Attending online school, especially during the first month, was almost a nightmare for us, chaotic I‘d say. Student’s would often complain about too much homework due to short amounts of time, and it seemed that they had missed the essence of the school itself, the teacher’s explanation, which made it hard for many students to learn efficiently. Some students admitted that they were doing too much work for nothing because the whole system of sending and receiving information to and from the teacher/student’s wasn’t very effective. Even after a couple of months when we finally started to learn how to use this situation for their benefit, they felt like nothing could replace the real classroom, where they could interact with us (teachers) and with each other, even for the smallest things. All the bad things aside, I would also like to highlight that this whole situation was a great experience from which they learned and discovered new things and skills they didn’t know they had. They could stay safe at home, in their pajamas all day, comfortably and work in the peace of their own house, where the pressure of work felt lighter than in school, Ignoring the fact that their amount of work was tripled. After all, most of them feel fulfilled, because they did their best during online school and gave their best in all the work they were assigned worth it or not. Teachers had a very hard time trying to grade them because they could not know for sure whether they were really studying or just getting their work ready-made. All that aside, if they weren’t staring at screens for long enough before, they had to use technology for every process linked with the school. And from time to time they were missing information or just losing their work among the hundreds of unnecessary messages and photos. Except for the stress caused by the clutters of homework, videos, photos they had to catch up with, they weren’t used to staying locked inside, using zoom to talk to the teachers, at different times of the day, which caused a stressful situation of its own.
The article is written by Dr Anuja Malik (Content Head of Positive Thoughts) on behalf of this eminent personality.
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