Who's reading ?
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Invitation
Please feel free to visit my class blogs at :
http://cami-7thgraders.blogspot.com/
http://cami-8thgraders.blogspot.com/
http://cami-6thgraders.blogspot.com/
http://cami-5thgraders.blogspot.com/
Waiting for your comments .
All the best,
Camelia
http://cami-7thgraders.blogspot.com/
http://cami-8thgraders.blogspot.com/
http://cami-6thgraders.blogspot.com/
http://cami-5thgraders.blogspot.com/
Waiting for your comments .
All the best,
Camelia
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Week 10; Appreciation Poem for My Colleagues
C is for your countless ways of helping me,
O is for your observant comments,
L is for your lively attitude,
L is for your luminous presence,
E is for your effervescent Nicenet discussions,
A is for your accurate responses to tasks,
G is for your generous sharing,
U is for your unimaginable help,
E is for emotional messages posted as “good bye”,
S is for your style as teachers.
Thank you all !
O is for your observant comments,
L is for your lively attitude,
L is for your luminous presence,
E is for your effervescent Nicenet discussions,
A is for your accurate responses to tasks,
G is for your generous sharing,
U is for your unimaginable help,
E is for emotional messages posted as “good bye”,
S is for your style as teachers.
Thank you all !
Week 10; Appreciation Poem for Deborah
D is for your determination to make us better,
E is for your engagement in your role as an instructor,
B is for your brightness that inspired us,
O is for your omnipresence throughout the course,
R is for your reliable presence all the time,
A is for your availability 24 out of 24 ,
H is for your helpful guidance.
Thank you, special teacher !
E is for your engagement in your role as an instructor,
B is for your brightness that inspired us,
O is for your omnipresence throughout the course,
R is for your reliable presence all the time,
A is for your availability 24 out of 24 ,
H is for your helpful guidance.
Thank you, special teacher !
Monday, August 23, 2010
Week 10; Acrostic for Webskills course
Hence our course is ready this week,
One of my feelings is that I have reached a peak.
Thus I promise to use every technology-enhanced technique.
Week 10 ; Beware of ...blogging
As you already know class blog enhanced with other Web 2.0 tools is my idea of my project plan .Anyway , things are not as easy as they may look .
Reynard (2008b) notes five common mistakes when using blogs in instruction and how to avoid those:
1. Ineffective contextualization: For students to benefit, instructors must have clear planning as to "exactly where the tool will be used in the flow of the course, how often the tool will or might be used, and how necessary the tool is to the learning process. In the case of blogging, the most effective use of this tool is in the area of self reflection or thought processing" (online p. 1).
2. Unclear learning outcomes: Learning outcomes are more than course objectives. "If the instructor is unclear as to what the learning outcomes of the course are and is focused only on course objectives, the potential of the blog tool may not be maximized." A blog can be a place to help students process their thoughts and ideas for analysis and synthesis, capture new ideas well for others to view and absorb, and a place where they can articulate how new ideas they've acquired can be directly applied in real life contexts of practice and use (online p. 2).
3. Misuse of the environment: What is the purpose intended for using the blog? Blogs are not the same as wikis. Reynard believes "The essential difference between a blog and other online tools is that it is intended to be an individual publication: a one-way monologue or self-post to which others may comment but do not contribute" (online p. 3). The blog entry remains as originally posted.
4. Illusive grading practices. Students need rubrics to know how they will be graded. As blogs contain a series of statements, an assessment rubric might address specific statement types such as reflective statements, commentary statements, new idea statements and application statements (online p. 3).
5. Inadequate time allocation: Students need adequate time to process information and then post to a blog. Reynard recommends the blog remain open throughout a course (online p. 4).
Advance preparation is needed, including preparing students for how to write to a blog so that what they say is LARK, the acronym for Legal, Appropriate, Responsible, and Kind. Julie Sturgeon (2008) also provides some pitfalls to avoid when using blogs in the classroom:
1. Educators should not just jump in to blogging. Before students blog alone, Anne Davis (Sturgeon, 2008) says that teachers should "spend time letting students see samples, understand guidelines, and anticipate blogging and what it can mean to their learning" (p. 26). Consider using Anne Davis's Webquest, Blogging: It's Elementary!, to introduce your elementary students to blogging.
2. Don't confuse blogging with social networking. An educational blog is about collaboration and expressing ideas related to academic content.
3. Don't leap to freebies. Some free blog spaces post advertisements out of the educator's control. The blog might not be a private space. Students might be able to access the entire blogging world and vice-versa.
4. Don't force a sequential style. Blog posts appear in reverse chronological order and valuable content might be overlooked as time passes. With advance preparation, teachers can add structure to a blog by designating topics for discussion.
5. Don't leave the blogging to the students. Teachers need to join in the discussion. (pp. 26-30).
Reynard (2008b) notes five common mistakes when using blogs in instruction and how to avoid those:
1. Ineffective contextualization: For students to benefit, instructors must have clear planning as to "exactly where the tool will be used in the flow of the course, how often the tool will or might be used, and how necessary the tool is to the learning process. In the case of blogging, the most effective use of this tool is in the area of self reflection or thought processing" (online p. 1).
2. Unclear learning outcomes: Learning outcomes are more than course objectives. "If the instructor is unclear as to what the learning outcomes of the course are and is focused only on course objectives, the potential of the blog tool may not be maximized." A blog can be a place to help students process their thoughts and ideas for analysis and synthesis, capture new ideas well for others to view and absorb, and a place where they can articulate how new ideas they've acquired can be directly applied in real life contexts of practice and use (online p. 2).
3. Misuse of the environment: What is the purpose intended for using the blog? Blogs are not the same as wikis. Reynard believes "The essential difference between a blog and other online tools is that it is intended to be an individual publication: a one-way monologue or self-post to which others may comment but do not contribute" (online p. 3). The blog entry remains as originally posted.
4. Illusive grading practices. Students need rubrics to know how they will be graded. As blogs contain a series of statements, an assessment rubric might address specific statement types such as reflective statements, commentary statements, new idea statements and application statements (online p. 3).
5. Inadequate time allocation: Students need adequate time to process information and then post to a blog. Reynard recommends the blog remain open throughout a course (online p. 4).
Advance preparation is needed, including preparing students for how to write to a blog so that what they say is LARK, the acronym for Legal, Appropriate, Responsible, and Kind. Julie Sturgeon (2008) also provides some pitfalls to avoid when using blogs in the classroom:
1. Educators should not just jump in to blogging. Before students blog alone, Anne Davis (Sturgeon, 2008) says that teachers should "spend time letting students see samples, understand guidelines, and anticipate blogging and what it can mean to their learning" (p. 26). Consider using Anne Davis's Webquest, Blogging: It's Elementary!, to introduce your elementary students to blogging.
2. Don't confuse blogging with social networking. An educational blog is about collaboration and expressing ideas related to academic content.
3. Don't leap to freebies. Some free blog spaces post advertisements out of the educator's control. The blog might not be a private space. Students might be able to access the entire blogging world and vice-versa.
4. Don't force a sequential style. Blog posts appear in reverse chronological order and valuable content might be overlooked as time passes. With advance preparation, teachers can add structure to a blog by designating topics for discussion.
5. Don't leave the blogging to the students. Teachers need to join in the discussion. (pp. 26-30).
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Week 9; Learner autonomy , MI, and assessment
Speaking about learner autonomy, engagement in language learning and Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences, I think we should also take into account the way we assess our students.
The so –called “ alternative assessment “ refers “to any form of measuring what our students are able to do other than traditional standardized tests . Alternative forms of assessment include portfolios that are collections of students' work over time, performance-based assessments, and other means of testing students such as open-ended essays with no single correct answer, and project work that involves collaboration with peers.” .(http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/eric/faq/gt-altas.html)
“Learner portfolios,”– collections of individual work– are common examples of alternative assessment. Portfolios can include such items as reports on books read, notes from learner/teacher interviews, and learners’ reflections on their progress, writing samples, data from performance-based assessments, and scores on commercially available tests (Fingeret, 1993; Wrigley, 1992).
In our case of technology-enhanced classes, I think we could consider portfolios our students’ reflective blogs, a useful tool which gives the teacher an insight into the learners' written ability as well as any problems that they are encountering linguistically or socially.
I know, you will say that they are hard to assess, but what do you think about assessing learners’ ability to use language holistically, in this case reflecting on their process of learning? Moreover, it is less stressful for students and attempt to cater to all learning styles and intelligences because we could give them the possibility of enriching their reflections with a variety of media. Another drawback of assessing our learners’ blogs could be the time needed to read everything. Maybe a weekly checklist for their blogs would be useful. Or the other peers’ evaluation for a couple of week’s .Or a rubric for evaluating their blogs developed with their help. Building the rubric together, teacher and students could make students feel a sense of ownership .More than that, their participation could make the evaluation freely complied, not something threatening and imposed for learners. Trying to include in this rubric technology standards and creativity, I think it would help the students express themselves in a more personalized way, according to their type of prevailing intelligence.
As a goal for assessment process should be the development of the whole child through creative and productive activities.
I understand through productive activities not only speaking and writing, but also any other type of students’ results of their own learning. Even a drawing. We can use drawing dictations (I have used). The students’ task is to draw and colour the description / scene read by teacher .Or they can produce drawings to represent something they have read. This is less stressful for students as they connect it more with learning than testing.
Besides portfolios and drawings, as alternative assessment tools we could evaluate our students’ oral ability through the use of audio and/or video recordings. In the same time role –plays could be another way of assessing them.
During the last three years I have used my personal catalogue .This is a table where I have written students’ grades from written tests and where I kept the record, and graded at some point, of the participation in class .Maybe it sounds too subjective to grade participation, but, in my opinion, the children’s effort and attempts to improve should be rewarded. It has been an alternative way to stimulate and motivate them.
Participation and effort should also be taken into account because I feel that they are important elements of any overall assessment of a child. A child's attempts to improve (even if unsuccessful) should be rewarded in some form.
Alternative forms of assessment, on the other hand, monitor progress and development over time whilst minimizing the level of anxiety felt by the child. In doing so, they also try to accommodate different learning styles and intelligences.
“A more practical idea is to observe the child doing everyday activities in a classroom setting. Gardner points out that this would be time-consuming but time well spent and a worthwhile investment in the student's academic future. Lazear (as cited in Chipongian, 2000) goes as far as to suggest using games such as 'Twister' in order to assess an individual's bodily kinaesthetic intelligence. This is truly at the opposite end of the spectrum from paper and pencil tests and this idea would be welcomed with open arms by children worldwide. Gardner's and Lazear's ideas may be seen as eccentric by many educationalists. Nevertheless, the point that they are making about the need for testing to be multifaceted is one that cannot be ignored. Paper and pencil tests must be complimented by alternative forms of assessment which evaluate multiple intelligences to a greater extent.”(http://www.teyl.org/article7.html )
The so –called “ alternative assessment “ refers “to any form of measuring what our students are able to do other than traditional standardized tests . Alternative forms of assessment include portfolios that are collections of students' work over time, performance-based assessments, and other means of testing students such as open-ended essays with no single correct answer, and project work that involves collaboration with peers.” .(http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/eric/faq/gt-altas.html)
“Learner portfolios,”– collections of individual work– are common examples of alternative assessment. Portfolios can include such items as reports on books read, notes from learner/teacher interviews, and learners’ reflections on their progress, writing samples, data from performance-based assessments, and scores on commercially available tests (Fingeret, 1993; Wrigley, 1992).
In our case of technology-enhanced classes, I think we could consider portfolios our students’ reflective blogs, a useful tool which gives the teacher an insight into the learners' written ability as well as any problems that they are encountering linguistically or socially.
I know, you will say that they are hard to assess, but what do you think about assessing learners’ ability to use language holistically, in this case reflecting on their process of learning? Moreover, it is less stressful for students and attempt to cater to all learning styles and intelligences because we could give them the possibility of enriching their reflections with a variety of media. Another drawback of assessing our learners’ blogs could be the time needed to read everything. Maybe a weekly checklist for their blogs would be useful. Or the other peers’ evaluation for a couple of week’s .Or a rubric for evaluating their blogs developed with their help. Building the rubric together, teacher and students could make students feel a sense of ownership .More than that, their participation could make the evaluation freely complied, not something threatening and imposed for learners. Trying to include in this rubric technology standards and creativity, I think it would help the students express themselves in a more personalized way, according to their type of prevailing intelligence.
As a goal for assessment process should be the development of the whole child through creative and productive activities.
I understand through productive activities not only speaking and writing, but also any other type of students’ results of their own learning. Even a drawing. We can use drawing dictations (I have used). The students’ task is to draw and colour the description / scene read by teacher .Or they can produce drawings to represent something they have read. This is less stressful for students as they connect it more with learning than testing.
Besides portfolios and drawings, as alternative assessment tools we could evaluate our students’ oral ability through the use of audio and/or video recordings. In the same time role –plays could be another way of assessing them.
During the last three years I have used my personal catalogue .This is a table where I have written students’ grades from written tests and where I kept the record, and graded at some point, of the participation in class .Maybe it sounds too subjective to grade participation, but, in my opinion, the children’s effort and attempts to improve should be rewarded. It has been an alternative way to stimulate and motivate them.
Participation and effort should also be taken into account because I feel that they are important elements of any overall assessment of a child. A child's attempts to improve (even if unsuccessful) should be rewarded in some form.
Alternative forms of assessment, on the other hand, monitor progress and development over time whilst minimizing the level of anxiety felt by the child. In doing so, they also try to accommodate different learning styles and intelligences.
“A more practical idea is to observe the child doing everyday activities in a classroom setting. Gardner points out that this would be time-consuming but time well spent and a worthwhile investment in the student's academic future. Lazear (as cited in Chipongian, 2000) goes as far as to suggest using games such as 'Twister' in order to assess an individual's bodily kinaesthetic intelligence. This is truly at the opposite end of the spectrum from paper and pencil tests and this idea would be welcomed with open arms by children worldwide. Gardner's and Lazear's ideas may be seen as eccentric by many educationalists. Nevertheless, the point that they are making about the need for testing to be multifaceted is one that cannot be ignored. Paper and pencil tests must be complimented by alternative forms of assessment which evaluate multiple intelligences to a greater extent.”(http://www.teyl.org/article7.html )
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Week 9; Fishbone (Ishikawa) Diagram
A fishbone template can be an essay planning tool.The fishbone approach involves selecting four main factors, then providing three key pieces of detail about each. Students could be asked to produce and print off a fishbone diagram for the key question under consideration, which they could then use for reference purposes.
It can be used for revision , for literature essays or simply for organizing ideas. I believe it is sort of similar to a mind map.
Learning styles addressed :
-Verbal-linguistic
-Visual-spatial
-Intrapersonal/Interpersonal
-Logical -mathematical
Resource : http://classtools.net/
Week 9; Dustbin game
Sample Lesson Plan using the Dustbin Game
Individual students take a topic of study and brainstorm a list of key words.In pairs or small groups, students come up with four category headings under which these key words could be organised.
The teacher should lead a classroom discussion after a few minutes so that a variety of ideas can be expressed. This will help struggling students to come up with ideas of their own and encourage the most able to reflect on whether their categories are the most sensible.
Students use the ClassTools.net Dustbin Template to organise the key topic words under each of the four headings.
Students can then play the game they have created!
Learning styles addressed if the game is created by students :
-verbal-linguistic
-visual-spatial
-bodily-kinesthetic
-interpersonal
Resource : http://classtools.net/
Monday, August 16, 2010
Week 9; Class tools; Random name/Word picker
http://classtools.net/education-games-php/timer/
This activity was created with Random name/Word picker template at http://classtools.net/
Students grouped in 2.The first member of the first team sits in the "hotseat" with his/her back to the screen .The teacher uses the "Random Word Picker" to choose and display a word at random on the screen.The rest of the team have 30 seconds to get their teammate to guess what word is on the screen behind him/her by giving a definition.
A correct guess gets points for the team based on how many seconds are left on the clock (e.g. 25 points if they get it after 5 seconds).
This activity is suitable for pre-intermediate students .I have used adjectives to describe personality . Students ' definitions should be simple, something like :
friendly - someone who is nice to other people
funny - used to describe someone who is amusing
generous - someone who shares their time or things with others
grumpy - bad-tempered
hard-working - someone who works very hard
honest - someone who is truthful and who doesn't cheat or steal
kind - someone who behaves in a caring way towards other people
and so on .
Resource : http://www.esolcourses.com/content/exercises/grammar/adjectives/personality/words-for-describing-personality.html.
Learning styles addressed:
-visual-linguistic
-visual-spatial
-bodily-kinesthetic
-interpersonal
Week 9 ; Class tools -Arcade Game Generator
This exercise is created on the template : Arcade Game Generator from http://classtools.net/.
The purpose of it is to match the quotations with the characters from the 1964 film ' My Fair Lady' .
Classtools.net provides free, customisable flash templates to embed into blogs, wikis and websites. There is no signup, no passwords, no charge.
Learning styles addressed :
-visual-linguistic
-visual-spatial
-logical-mathematical
-bodily-kinesthetic
-intrapersonal
-interpersonal ( used as speed competition in groups )
Even students can create this types of exercises . Being involved in the assessment process they will become more autonomous , in my opinion . Especially if their ' creation ' is embedded on the blog and used effectivelly with other learners of English .
Week 9 ; Xtranormal
The activity is aimed at the 7th graders ( pre-intermediate ) .
Task :
A group of 13-years olds conducted a class survey to find their classmates musical preferences.
1.Listen and say which six kinds of music are mentioned.
2.Draw and complete a chart with the six types of music and their corresponding percentages.
3.Number the types of music in order of popularity .
Learning styles addressed :
visual -linguistic
visual-spatial
musical
intrapersonal
interpersonal ( if activity is done in "think-pair-share" technique)
logical-mathematical
The activity was created on http://www.xtranormal.com/.
The process is pretty simple and doesn't take a lot of time .We can use these films to introduce new information , to revise the taught one or as practice . I think pupils will be delighted to use this tool .
Week 9- Peer review answer about my project plan and Fotobabble
Fotobabble takes photo sharing to a new level by making it possible for you to add the emotion of voice to any photo you share with friends and family. Adding a voice - your voice, your child’s voice, grandma's voice - gives photos life and creates a more memorable experience for everyone. Just imagine:
* Send talking greetings to Grandma from the kids
* Narrate and describe your favorite photos to friends
* Add voice and energy to a card you’re sending your sweetheart, whether it’s Valentines Day, their birthday or for no reason at all
* Send talking postcards from your recent travel destination
* Add voice to an event invitation, bringing to life the party theme or the BYOB details
Source :http://www.fotobabble.com/s/about#aboutyou
I believe this is another tool good to use with our children . See above how we can use it in our teaching .Moreover , we could use it as a short dictation or a method for our children to describe their house , friend or hobby and embedded it in their blogs . Maybe it could also be an alternative method to evaluate our students'pronunciation.
I assume this tool will please the visual-linguistic and the visual-spatial learner, as well as the intrapersonal one who could narrate his own story undisturbed, at his/her own pace.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
Week 8 ;Task: Create an online course site or an exercise to use online or offline
This week I applied my project plan into something real: a class blog at http://7thfclassblog.blogspot.com/.
The fact that I had to think ahead about how the really apply what I had learned so far was a thoughtful approach according to the Chinese proverb “Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.”
Why have I chosen the blog as a tool?
Firstly, blogs are publicly accessible and can help students to develop a sense of audience awareness (Ward, 2004; Palfreyman, 2005b). They have also been reported to help to promote a collaborative class environment (Barrios, 2003; Huffaker, 2004). Another reported benefit is that comments posted by readers can spark an online debate (Godwin-Jones, 2006). In addition, writers receive feedback, sympathy and encouragement (Lowe & Williams, 2004), which may increase motivation (Palfreyman, 2005b). Finally, blogs allow students to post pictures and links which support their ideas and help them to express themselves more clearly.
Learner autonomy and blogging ?
I believe that if students created their own blogs as ESL learners and added them to the class blog , another step towards autonomy would be taken .Why ? Because being in the position of directing and controlling their own blogs creates autonomy .Maybe this sort of reflective ( at their level of 12-13 years old ) blog that we are keeping for this course would be good even at their level because , having to decide what to post , when to post , choosing the appropriate way of expressing themselves , they actually turn a critical eye on the entire work, mine as a teacher, and in the same time theirs , as learners . Their HOT would be challenged and they will discover, little by little, which is the best way of becoming better learners.
Moreover, their posts give them the sense of responsibility because so many people can see and judge their thoughts and ideas .Reflecting on their activity over a week , for example , they could use the new knowledge in their personal way . At some point I hope they will feel free to add their own multi-media materials they believe are good for improving a certain approach or their own research results on a certain theme .
My issue stated in the project plan was that I have not addressed to all learning styles .As you could see in the class blog I considered necessary to introduce the learners to Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory .I thought my students would have nothing to lose if they are aware of their learning styles. This way they will be more attentive at the way they aquire the language and their awareness on the subject would lead them to autonomy in learning.
The fact that I had to think ahead about how the really apply what I had learned so far was a thoughtful approach according to the Chinese proverb “Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.”
Why have I chosen the blog as a tool?
Firstly, blogs are publicly accessible and can help students to develop a sense of audience awareness (Ward, 2004; Palfreyman, 2005b). They have also been reported to help to promote a collaborative class environment (Barrios, 2003; Huffaker, 2004). Another reported benefit is that comments posted by readers can spark an online debate (Godwin-Jones, 2006). In addition, writers receive feedback, sympathy and encouragement (Lowe & Williams, 2004), which may increase motivation (Palfreyman, 2005b). Finally, blogs allow students to post pictures and links which support their ideas and help them to express themselves more clearly.
Learner autonomy and blogging ?
I believe that if students created their own blogs as ESL learners and added them to the class blog , another step towards autonomy would be taken .Why ? Because being in the position of directing and controlling their own blogs creates autonomy .Maybe this sort of reflective ( at their level of 12-13 years old ) blog that we are keeping for this course would be good even at their level because , having to decide what to post , when to post , choosing the appropriate way of expressing themselves , they actually turn a critical eye on the entire work, mine as a teacher, and in the same time theirs , as learners . Their HOT would be challenged and they will discover, little by little, which is the best way of becoming better learners.
Moreover, their posts give them the sense of responsibility because so many people can see and judge their thoughts and ideas .Reflecting on their activity over a week , for example , they could use the new knowledge in their personal way . At some point I hope they will feel free to add their own multi-media materials they believe are good for improving a certain approach or their own research results on a certain theme .
My issue stated in the project plan was that I have not addressed to all learning styles .As you could see in the class blog I considered necessary to introduce the learners to Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory .I thought my students would have nothing to lose if they are aware of their learning styles. This way they will be more attentive at the way they aquire the language and their awareness on the subject would lead them to autonomy in learning.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
' We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own.' - Ben Sweetland
Blogs strike the perfect balance of providing information anytime and anywhere, social networking and interaction, and the ability to openly share thoughts and achievements.To address all learning styles in my final project I believe blog enhanced with multi-media is the solution . The main one.Besides engaging students in their learning I can also use it to extend collaboration with classmates from all over the world.
At http://www.ifets.info/journals/12_4/9.pdf I have found the article “Emerging Web Technologies in Higher Education: A Case of Incorporating Blogs, Podcasts and Social Bookmarks in a Web Programming Course based on Students’ Learning Styles and Technology Preferences”.
At http://wikieducator.org/How_to_use_Blogger there is a great source about adding multi-media to your blog .
At http://edublogs.org/ I have discovered thta I can create an educational blog where I can integrate video, postcasts and other media.The enviroment is focused on teachers and students . There is educational support and features. Very important , it is a safe and secure environment for children , not exposed to other blogs, with professional support from other teachers .
At http://marynabadenhorst.globalteacher.org.au/blogging-what-how/ it is an amazing site called " Teaching and learning in the digital age ". Completely wonderful regarding the resources you can find there about technology !
At http://www.ifets.info/journals/12_4/9.pdf I have found the article “Emerging Web Technologies in Higher Education: A Case of Incorporating Blogs, Podcasts and Social Bookmarks in a Web Programming Course based on Students’ Learning Styles and Technology Preferences”.
At http://wikieducator.org/How_to_use_Blogger there is a great source about adding multi-media to your blog .
At http://edublogs.org/ I have discovered thta I can create an educational blog where I can integrate video, postcasts and other media.The enviroment is focused on teachers and students . There is educational support and features. Very important , it is a safe and secure environment for children , not exposed to other blogs, with professional support from other teachers .
At http://marynabadenhorst.globalteacher.org.au/blogging-what-how/ it is an amazing site called " Teaching and learning in the digital age ". Completely wonderful regarding the resources you can find there about technology !
Week 7
Task: One-computer classroom lesson
I have uploaded my technology-enhanced plan in a one-laptop environment on our wiki at http://sites.google.com/site/webskillssu2010/participant-files. Why technology will make the lesson more effective? Because this way I can address to almost all learning styles and this way I keep all my students engaged. Integrated multimedia content from a variety of sources helps students make connections and contextualize information. Active learning is promoted, high-level thinking is challenged and collaborative problem-solving makes kids want to work.
Discussion: One-computer options
Both students and teachers can use the computer for assessment, presentation, accessing information, communication, production and publishing.
I have used the laptop for my students to take assessments as a large group. Teachers can also check understanding as they work through a unit. I have used the computer to provide context, to provide information, to illustrate concepts, to stimulate discussion, to ask questions or to review the taught material.
I have used the Internet to search information for my own professional development and I came to an interesting article “That’s not a drinking fountain “ at http://www.ncrtec.org/tl/digi/onecomp/.
I like the idea of having small groups students print the resources they find because “Most people prefer reading a printed page rather than reading lengthy text from the monitor” (Great! I have not thought about that! ) . This way there is time and space for other small groups to search the Internet for their resources.
Another good idea for time-saving is using Delicious to directly access Web sites that you would like all the students to see.” Encourage students to make their own bookmarks and to share with others good Web sites that they find”.
Discussion: Learner Autonomy
Speaking about learner’s autonomy, in addition to classroom activities, I have provided personal and instructional supports meant to facilitate the developing sense of student autonomy. At some point I have told my children I needed 15 people out of a class of 30 to be part of a e-twinning project. I explained to them what I would expect from them and sent them via e-mail the first task and the deadline to all 30. Of course, not all of them responded to the task. Only 20. The next off-class task was also sent via e-mail together with a deadline. And only 15 remained. For the third and the last assigned task all of them responded in time. Between the second and the third task some of my students came with their own ideas of projects .I let them develop as many as they wanted , and they were rewarded accordingly .I think allowing students some decision-making role in terms of being involved or not in extra-curricular activities , in this case , and offering them choices about the use of different media to present ideas are ways of tackling autonomy in our children and cognitive autonomy support (e.g., affording opportunities for students to evaluate work from a self-referent standard.
Learning is an active process and our role as teachers is to help students become active participants in their learning. More than that, we have to pay attention to their confidence and give frequent, positive feedback to support students' beliefs that they can do well. We have to help them feel as valuable members of their community. We have to be involve in the process of teaching topics of interest for our children in order to find value in them. Last, but not least, we have to create an open, fun atmosphere for learning.
I have uploaded my technology-enhanced plan in a one-laptop environment on our wiki at http://sites.google.com/site/webskillssu2010/participant-files. Why technology will make the lesson more effective? Because this way I can address to almost all learning styles and this way I keep all my students engaged. Integrated multimedia content from a variety of sources helps students make connections and contextualize information. Active learning is promoted, high-level thinking is challenged and collaborative problem-solving makes kids want to work.
Discussion: One-computer options
Both students and teachers can use the computer for assessment, presentation, accessing information, communication, production and publishing.
I have used the laptop for my students to take assessments as a large group. Teachers can also check understanding as they work through a unit. I have used the computer to provide context, to provide information, to illustrate concepts, to stimulate discussion, to ask questions or to review the taught material.
I have used the Internet to search information for my own professional development and I came to an interesting article “That’s not a drinking fountain “ at http://www.ncrtec.org/tl/digi/onecomp/.
I like the idea of having small groups students print the resources they find because “Most people prefer reading a printed page rather than reading lengthy text from the monitor” (Great! I have not thought about that! ) . This way there is time and space for other small groups to search the Internet for their resources.
Another good idea for time-saving is using Delicious to directly access Web sites that you would like all the students to see.” Encourage students to make their own bookmarks and to share with others good Web sites that they find”.
Discussion: Learner Autonomy
Speaking about learner’s autonomy, in addition to classroom activities, I have provided personal and instructional supports meant to facilitate the developing sense of student autonomy. At some point I have told my children I needed 15 people out of a class of 30 to be part of a e-twinning project. I explained to them what I would expect from them and sent them via e-mail the first task and the deadline to all 30. Of course, not all of them responded to the task. Only 20. The next off-class task was also sent via e-mail together with a deadline. And only 15 remained. For the third and the last assigned task all of them responded in time. Between the second and the third task some of my students came with their own ideas of projects .I let them develop as many as they wanted , and they were rewarded accordingly .I think allowing students some decision-making role in terms of being involved or not in extra-curricular activities , in this case , and offering them choices about the use of different media to present ideas are ways of tackling autonomy in our children and cognitive autonomy support (e.g., affording opportunities for students to evaluate work from a self-referent standard.
Learning is an active process and our role as teachers is to help students become active participants in their learning. More than that, we have to pay attention to their confidence and give frequent, positive feedback to support students' beliefs that they can do well. We have to help them feel as valuable members of their community. We have to be involve in the process of teaching topics of interest for our children in order to find value in them. Last, but not least, we have to create an open, fun atmosphere for learning.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Final Project -My students' needs
Aiming at improving my teaching with technology I thought more about my students and I created a SWOT analysis on them. After having read everything with a fresh and keen eye I think all my students’ needs could have as a common root the fact that I haven’t thought to address all the learning styles .All their weaknesses could exist because the external threat coming from me –that I have not taken into consideration their different ways of learning . Their internal strengths and the external opportunities make the perfect blend of a great base for planting technology in diverse ways .Now , the next step , take action !
I have uploaded Camelia's SWOT analysis at https://sites.google.com/site/webskillssu2010/participant-files.
Hoping I am on the right track !
I have uploaded Camelia's SWOT analysis at https://sites.google.com/site/webskillssu2010/participant-files.
Hoping I am on the right track !
Week 6 - Final Project - putting things together
I am trying to make everything clear for me and my colleagues about my plans for the final project .
I. Background
•Who are the learners?
There are 30 students (18 girls and 12 boys). They have their English classes split in 2 groups of 15 pupils. Both groups consist of 9 girls and 6 boys each. The two groups have English classes in the same time but in different classrooms: one group in the English lab and the other in their own classroom. They have 2 English classes of 50 minutes a week and each week the groups change classrooms and the English teachers. My counterpart is an American Peace Corps volunteer.
All our students are Romanian and they are 12 or 13 years old. Most of them (90%) come from decent, caring and well-off families.
They have varying levels of English, with an overall high level of comprehension. They are engaged, hard working and creative. All the students are familiar with computers and the Internet and have computers with an Internet connection at home.
They can be competitive at times and it is important that the project is going to require everyone to have equal participation and individual goals. This is important, because the quieter or lower leveled students will not be left behind by more competitive and higher leveled students who seem to be more than willing to take charge or take over.
The students need to be engaged and challenged. They seem to flourish when planned lessons allow them to use their imagination inside of structured activities. Therefore they are given freedom to be creative but in a manner that hits directly to the objective of the lesson.
•What is the setting?
The English classroom setting (for a group of 15 pupils) is a cosy room with 15 tables and chairs arranged for group / pair work. There is a laptop with an Internet connection, a projector, speakers, a printer, a screen, a whiteboard and 2 CD-players (one is used in the other English class). There are also two cabinets with English literature, tapes, CD-s, DVD-s , English literature, dictionaries , posters , flashcards and other additional materials . We have posters about culture and civilization in England and the USA as well as the maps of these countries.
All over the walls and on the cabinets I have posted pictures and reports of my students' English activities, contests, and parties.
II. Issue or problem to be addressed that technology can help with
At this point I realized that I have diagnosed a lot of issues .Listing all of them will help me select the most appropriate way to handle all or will make me choose one or to in order to take care of them once at a time .
1. Thinking about me and my recent discovery about a difference between my lesson plans and Deborah's template for lesson plans involving technology, another issue could be that I, as teacher, do not address to all types of learning styles.
2. Speaking about student-oriented problems, I can also see that my students' vocabulary is not developed enough to produce fruitful communication (in writing or speaking). That is why my American volunteer meets them in a 1 hour and a half session a week outside classes for a so-called creative writing course.
3.Anyway, I feel that a common problem of each of us is that our students do not spend enough time for self-study. Most learning involves reading and the better they read, the easier it is to learn. The more they read, the more they know. Nowadays majority pf students do not read. Not more than the daily lesson, if they even do that. We have somehow make them understand that reading is a skill that enhances vocabulary, comprehension, assimilation of ideas and synthesis of arguments to arrive at conclusions.
4. For sure, I should try to motivate them intrinsically. Malone and Lepper (1987) have defined intrinsic motivation more simply in terms of "what people will do without external inducement." Intrinsically motivating activities are those in which people will engage for no reward other than the interest and enjoyment that accompanies them. According to their research I think I have to think more about ways of promoting intrinsic motivation.
5.I should pay more attention to choose subjects they are interested in- this way trying to challenge them. Because anybody wants to have control over what happens to them I could let them choose these topics in a special session at the beginning of semester .Of course, we have to follow a syllabus, but there are a few hours at the teacher's disposal. And I think if I knew from the beginning the area of topics, I could integrate them into syllabus topics.
6. Cooperation as a factor of intrinsic motivation could be enhanced in my class using group and pair work more.
7.Making the result of students' work visible, I believe they will feel prouder and will be more careful about their work.
III. Possible solution(s) to try
•What will you do?
Issues 1 and 6 -In my post regarding class issues I have mentioned that I do not address to all types of learning styles and students do not cooperate enough. The PBL discovered this week with its WebQuest seem a great solution.
Benefits of problem-based learning include, besides skills development, working in groups to realize a common, final product. This way my students will have a common goal. Their interpersonal skills will be challenged this way and they will have to refine them .They will gain greater respect for themselves and their fellow students working collaboratively. This way they will become good listeners and recognize that there can be many valid points of view. They will communicate their ideas so that all can learn from them. In conclusion they will develop transferable skills that are valuable to their life after formal education.
Searching, solving, creating and sharing involved in PBL will address to all types of learning styles. Using images, pictures, colours, and maps PBL will address to visual learner. The aural learning style will be challenged by sounds .The verbal one will be a good guide for the other at reading and writing. The non-static atmosphere during the project process will help the kinaesthetic one. Classifying and grouping information will help the logical style learner .Learning in group will be appealing for the social learning style and the way of letting children think independently will address to the solitary type .
As Azhar said in her last post , blogs can also be a helpful tool . I have already posted on my blog some ideas about how to use them under: "Week 1-pondering on using blogs in my English classes " , at http://cami-camisthoughts.blogspot.com/2010/06/pondering-on-using-blogs-in-my-english.html.
Because I also think international collaboration is a good way to involve technology and to foster our students' motivation, I would like to collaborate with you and your students starting from this school year. Having a common base in web skills so far, both of us could create a technology-enhanced and collaborative path to follow with our students. We can compare the compulsory topics in our curriculum for certain levels and decide what would work for both. Or we can expand the topics out of mandatory.
I would be glad to twin with any of my colleagues who think this way we can keep our students on the track of becoming good English users.
I. Background
•Who are the learners?
There are 30 students (18 girls and 12 boys). They have their English classes split in 2 groups of 15 pupils. Both groups consist of 9 girls and 6 boys each. The two groups have English classes in the same time but in different classrooms: one group in the English lab and the other in their own classroom. They have 2 English classes of 50 minutes a week and each week the groups change classrooms and the English teachers. My counterpart is an American Peace Corps volunteer.
All our students are Romanian and they are 12 or 13 years old. Most of them (90%) come from decent, caring and well-off families.
They have varying levels of English, with an overall high level of comprehension. They are engaged, hard working and creative. All the students are familiar with computers and the Internet and have computers with an Internet connection at home.
They can be competitive at times and it is important that the project is going to require everyone to have equal participation and individual goals. This is important, because the quieter or lower leveled students will not be left behind by more competitive and higher leveled students who seem to be more than willing to take charge or take over.
The students need to be engaged and challenged. They seem to flourish when planned lessons allow them to use their imagination inside of structured activities. Therefore they are given freedom to be creative but in a manner that hits directly to the objective of the lesson.
•What is the setting?
The English classroom setting (for a group of 15 pupils) is a cosy room with 15 tables and chairs arranged for group / pair work. There is a laptop with an Internet connection, a projector, speakers, a printer, a screen, a whiteboard and 2 CD-players (one is used in the other English class). There are also two cabinets with English literature, tapes, CD-s, DVD-s , English literature, dictionaries , posters , flashcards and other additional materials . We have posters about culture and civilization in England and the USA as well as the maps of these countries.
All over the walls and on the cabinets I have posted pictures and reports of my students' English activities, contests, and parties.
II. Issue or problem to be addressed that technology can help with
At this point I realized that I have diagnosed a lot of issues .Listing all of them will help me select the most appropriate way to handle all or will make me choose one or to in order to take care of them once at a time .
1. Thinking about me and my recent discovery about a difference between my lesson plans and Deborah's template for lesson plans involving technology, another issue could be that I, as teacher, do not address to all types of learning styles.
2. Speaking about student-oriented problems, I can also see that my students' vocabulary is not developed enough to produce fruitful communication (in writing or speaking). That is why my American volunteer meets them in a 1 hour and a half session a week outside classes for a so-called creative writing course.
3.Anyway, I feel that a common problem of each of us is that our students do not spend enough time for self-study. Most learning involves reading and the better they read, the easier it is to learn. The more they read, the more they know. Nowadays majority pf students do not read. Not more than the daily lesson, if they even do that. We have somehow make them understand that reading is a skill that enhances vocabulary, comprehension, assimilation of ideas and synthesis of arguments to arrive at conclusions.
4. For sure, I should try to motivate them intrinsically. Malone and Lepper (1987) have defined intrinsic motivation more simply in terms of "what people will do without external inducement." Intrinsically motivating activities are those in which people will engage for no reward other than the interest and enjoyment that accompanies them. According to their research I think I have to think more about ways of promoting intrinsic motivation.
5.I should pay more attention to choose subjects they are interested in- this way trying to challenge them. Because anybody wants to have control over what happens to them I could let them choose these topics in a special session at the beginning of semester .Of course, we have to follow a syllabus, but there are a few hours at the teacher's disposal. And I think if I knew from the beginning the area of topics, I could integrate them into syllabus topics.
6. Cooperation as a factor of intrinsic motivation could be enhanced in my class using group and pair work more.
7.Making the result of students' work visible, I believe they will feel prouder and will be more careful about their work.
III. Possible solution(s) to try
•What will you do?
Issues 1 and 6 -In my post regarding class issues I have mentioned that I do not address to all types of learning styles and students do not cooperate enough. The PBL discovered this week with its WebQuest seem a great solution.
Benefits of problem-based learning include, besides skills development, working in groups to realize a common, final product. This way my students will have a common goal. Their interpersonal skills will be challenged this way and they will have to refine them .They will gain greater respect for themselves and their fellow students working collaboratively. This way they will become good listeners and recognize that there can be many valid points of view. They will communicate their ideas so that all can learn from them. In conclusion they will develop transferable skills that are valuable to their life after formal education.
Searching, solving, creating and sharing involved in PBL will address to all types of learning styles. Using images, pictures, colours, and maps PBL will address to visual learner. The aural learning style will be challenged by sounds .The verbal one will be a good guide for the other at reading and writing. The non-static atmosphere during the project process will help the kinaesthetic one. Classifying and grouping information will help the logical style learner .Learning in group will be appealing for the social learning style and the way of letting children think independently will address to the solitary type .
As Azhar said in her last post , blogs can also be a helpful tool . I have already posted on my blog some ideas about how to use them under: "Week 1-pondering on using blogs in my English classes " , at http://cami-camisthoughts.blogspot.com/2010/06/pondering-on-using-blogs-in-my-english.html.
Because I also think international collaboration is a good way to involve technology and to foster our students' motivation, I would like to collaborate with you and your students starting from this school year. Having a common base in web skills so far, both of us could create a technology-enhanced and collaborative path to follow with our students. We can compare the compulsory topics in our curriculum for certain levels and decide what would work for both. Or we can expand the topics out of mandatory.
I would be glad to twin with any of my colleagues who think this way we can keep our students on the track of becoming good English users.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Week 6 Discussion: Interactive classes and PowerPoint
As Stephen pointed out : “Regardless of the number of students in a class, a primary goal should be to make the classroom a more interactive and engaging place.”
This course outlined the development of an interactive, technology-based teaching strategy using interactive tools.
From Interactive Lectures at http://www.thiagi.com/interactive-lectures.html I could use:
-“Best summary “idea can be used at the end of a story presentation or a WebQuest. Teams of students could build their summaries, post them on a WallWisher page or on the class blog and then evaluate their own work through comparison .The assessment phase could be done in a jigsaw pattern: the initial teams will be broken and create new teams which have a member from every initial teams. The new team will evaluate the written work according to the rubric given initially or according to their own-designed rubric.
- Dyads and triads
The activity consists of three parts. During the first part, participants listen to a lecture, taking careful notes. During the second part, each participant writes a closed question on a card. During the next 7 minutes, participants repeatedly pair up and answer each other questions, scoring one point for each correct answer. During the third part, each participant writes an open question. During the next 7 minutes, participants repeatedly organize them into triads. Two participants answer each question and the person who gave the better response earns a point.
http://www.microsoft.com/education/story.aspx made me seriously think about creating interactive stories through Power Point. (Important: View the document in slideshow mode to see the interactivity. Links and orange buttons are clickable.)
Searching more about the topic I came into http://englishconversations.org/interactive-stories/ , a great blog with interactive stories for different levels and on practicing different points of grammar .
My idea would be to give to 2 large groups a story with questions as those created by Mark White and let them answer in their ways . After having their final versions I could mix them up in a Power Point presentation .The presentation could be used then as a tool for another class to re-create the questions asked initially .
This way writing , speaking ,listening and reading skills are used .Moreover, the presentation with both sides of the story could be enriched by students with visual and auditory elements related to the content of each slide .
This course outlined the development of an interactive, technology-based teaching strategy using interactive tools.
From Interactive Lectures at http://www.thiagi.com/interactive-lectures.html I could use:
-“Best summary “idea can be used at the end of a story presentation or a WebQuest. Teams of students could build their summaries, post them on a WallWisher page or on the class blog and then evaluate their own work through comparison .The assessment phase could be done in a jigsaw pattern: the initial teams will be broken and create new teams which have a member from every initial teams. The new team will evaluate the written work according to the rubric given initially or according to their own-designed rubric.
- Dyads and triads
The activity consists of three parts. During the first part, participants listen to a lecture, taking careful notes. During the second part, each participant writes a closed question on a card. During the next 7 minutes, participants repeatedly pair up and answer each other questions, scoring one point for each correct answer. During the third part, each participant writes an open question. During the next 7 minutes, participants repeatedly organize them into triads. Two participants answer each question and the person who gave the better response earns a point.
http://www.microsoft.com/education/story.aspx made me seriously think about creating interactive stories through Power Point. (Important: View the document in slideshow mode to see the interactivity. Links and orange buttons are clickable.)
Searching more about the topic I came into http://englishconversations.org/interactive-stories/ , a great blog with interactive stories for different levels and on practicing different points of grammar .
My idea would be to give to 2 large groups a story with questions as those created by Mark White and let them answer in their ways . After having their final versions I could mix them up in a Power Point presentation .The presentation could be used then as a tool for another class to re-create the questions asked initially .
This way writing , speaking ,listening and reading skills are used .Moreover, the presentation with both sides of the story could be enriched by students with visual and auditory elements related to the content of each slide .
Friday, July 23, 2010
Week 5 Course Task 3: Describe a change
" Describe a technology-related change that you will implement to help with one or more of the issues you mentioned last week. Explain why you think it will be useful in resolving the issue(s)."
Liliya thinks WebQuests can substitute the lack of materials needed in class .
Stephen, well-organized, would use technology to solve teacher and students issues. Besides tracking students’ progress he would like to move the learning outside classroom with technology .He also gave me a hand to bookmark 2 sites about how to write a good book report.
Khuloud would like wikis as part of her lessons.
Luiza believes she needs a technology-related change in order to teach students how to write a film/book review and ‘The Plagiarism Checker' to find out if their work is copy paste from internet.
Azhar would use technology to communicate with her students through sending "e-mails and chatting" and creating "online discussion boards", using Nicenet . "Blogs" & "Wikis" are also a solution for her to help students improve writing skills.
Victoria likes her delicious tool as a help in creating technology-enhanced classes .More than that she sees the improvement of all aspects of a foreign language acquisition (student–oriented). International e-mail exchange in class projects, Web Quests – to invite collaboration, promote and exercise 'higher-level thinking process and practice skills inherent to any language learning project, research, Video-conferencing are all mentioned in her post as a future usage of technology in class.
I thought problem-based learning would be beneficial for me and my students because it addresses to all learning styles and make them work cooperatively.
Arjana shares my idea that Webquest as a tool, even if it is a time-consuming process, it’s definitely worthwhile.
Janet has access to a digital camera with a microphone and she would like to record her students’ presentations and uploaded on the Internet. Establishing a wiki with the class is a way to help with their writing, she thinks.
I do not know how many we are left in this course but my colleagues’ responses to this task make me believe that this particular course will have a great positive impact on our students. It will not be easy for us to try to implement everything we have learned so far , but for sure , at some point , we will be become technology savvy teachers .
Liliya thinks WebQuests can substitute the lack of materials needed in class .
Stephen, well-organized, would use technology to solve teacher and students issues. Besides tracking students’ progress he would like to move the learning outside classroom with technology .He also gave me a hand to bookmark 2 sites about how to write a good book report.
Khuloud would like wikis as part of her lessons.
Luiza believes she needs a technology-related change in order to teach students how to write a film/book review and ‘The Plagiarism Checker' to find out if their work is copy paste from internet.
Azhar would use technology to communicate with her students through sending "e-mails and chatting" and creating "online discussion boards", using Nicenet . "Blogs" & "Wikis" are also a solution for her to help students improve writing skills.
Victoria likes her delicious tool as a help in creating technology-enhanced classes .More than that she sees the improvement of all aspects of a foreign language acquisition (student–oriented). International e-mail exchange in class projects, Web Quests – to invite collaboration, promote and exercise 'higher-level thinking process and practice skills inherent to any language learning project, research, Video-conferencing are all mentioned in her post as a future usage of technology in class.
I thought problem-based learning would be beneficial for me and my students because it addresses to all learning styles and make them work cooperatively.
Arjana shares my idea that Webquest as a tool, even if it is a time-consuming process, it’s definitely worthwhile.
Janet has access to a digital camera with a microphone and she would like to record her students’ presentations and uploaded on the Internet. Establishing a wiki with the class is a way to help with their writing, she thinks.
I do not know how many we are left in this course but my colleagues’ responses to this task make me believe that this particular course will have a great positive impact on our students. It will not be easy for us to try to implement everything we have learned so far , but for sure , at some point , we will be become technology savvy teachers .
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Week 5 : Task-Create a rubric
How will you measure what students learn?
Tough question if I take into consideration that I have never used rubrics before. Because I have never heard about them. And I am sure I have attended all the classes.
This was one of the things which has been problematic for me this week. And I am sure I will have to practice it a while in order to be a skilful designer. Even if the task seemed problematic for me I am sure it will help a lot in the classroom. Subjectivity will be lower, my students will have clear objectives to go for and involving them in creating some can definitely help them clarifies their thinking (mine at this point , regarding this topic is still blurry ) .
This can also be the result of the situation that in Romania we use the 1-10 marking scale in assessment and converting the 4 components of a typical rubric in real grades will be a little difficult ,but sure not impossible. Yes, I know, you will say that I could use something similar with”Exemplary “is equivalent to 10. “Qualified “could be 8 or 9. “ “Developing “goes to 6, 7. and “ Beginning “ to 4 or 5 . In our system 4 is failing. There are rare the cases when there are grades of 3, 2 or 1.
Letting this aside, rubric designing seems worth, anyway, for me. Having clear criteria to assess it will prevent me of evaluating holistically. Moreover, it will help focus on one step at a time. More than once I have the tendency to assess more skills at once.
Every cloud has its silver line .
Tough question if I take into consideration that I have never used rubrics before. Because I have never heard about them. And I am sure I have attended all the classes.
This was one of the things which has been problematic for me this week. And I am sure I will have to practice it a while in order to be a skilful designer. Even if the task seemed problematic for me I am sure it will help a lot in the classroom. Subjectivity will be lower, my students will have clear objectives to go for and involving them in creating some can definitely help them clarifies their thinking (mine at this point , regarding this topic is still blurry ) .
This can also be the result of the situation that in Romania we use the 1-10 marking scale in assessment and converting the 4 components of a typical rubric in real grades will be a little difficult ,but sure not impossible. Yes, I know, you will say that I could use something similar with”Exemplary “is equivalent to 10. “Qualified “could be 8 or 9. “ “Developing “goes to 6, 7. and “ Beginning “ to 4 or 5 . In our system 4 is failing. There are rare the cases when there are grades of 3, 2 or 1.
Letting this aside, rubric designing seems worth, anyway, for me. Having clear criteria to assess it will prevent me of evaluating holistically. Moreover, it will help focus on one step at a time. More than once I have the tendency to assess more skills at once.
Every cloud has its silver line .
Week 5 : WebQuest
The link http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/webquests/index_sub3.html guided me towards WebQuest , “an inquiry-oriented online tool for learning” .
After being introduced to PBL , this tool provides the technology-enhanced cooperative and collaborative way of putting it into practice . Most or all of the information that students explore and evaluate comes from the World Wide Web, it usually involves group work, and it can be as short as a single class period or as long as a month-long unit. Students have to learn how to learn, and learn how to work with each other. The teacher, as a designer, builds the base of resources which is used by students to complete the task.
WebQuest has been designed to help students develop their high order thinking skills : , critical thinking , problem solving ,analysis skills, and their decision making skills. Anyway , it is a tool that requires a certain level of reading ability and it can’t be used with beginners . In the same time it cannot be helpful to teach factual pieces of information .By using multimedia, WebQuests also help with multiple intelligence work, addressing to all of them.
The same guide showed me the logical steps in creating a WebQuest :
1WebQuest introduction - related to students' interests, ideas, past experiences, or future goals
2 The task - a formal description of what students will have accomplished by the end of the WebQuest. Here I found the phrase : “Built into a good WebQuest is the notion of scaffolding”. “Scaffolding is an instructional technique whereby the teacher models the desired learning strategy or task, then gradually shifts responsibility to the students. How teachers interact with students as they complete a task is important to the students' ability to perform the activity.” ( http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/learning/lr1scaf.htm). Under these circumstances the teacher gains another role : model or guide .
We can also give an example of a finished project –this allows them to assess and calibrate their own efforts as they begin work on the project.
3. Process –a description of the steps learners should go through in accomplishing the task, with links embedded in each step.
I enjoyed the ideas of kids doing portfolio pieces based on the work that they were doing on the WebQuests.The ABC book seemed another interesting outcome of another WebQuest .The children wrote a summary of what the book Island of the Blue Dolphins was about. And then they took every letter of the alphabet and found something interesting from the book that related to Island of the Blue Dolphins and wrote an ABC book.
4.Resources
5.Evaluation - rubric -clear goals, matching assessments to specific tasks, and involving the learners in the process of evaluation.It can be very helpful to point out three types of student examples: exemplary, acceptable, and unacceptable. The range between exemplary and acceptable work may be great and will spur the students to strive for excellence, while the demonstration of what constitutes unacceptable work will set clear minimum standards for all to achieve. The goal is for all students to have a good experience of the project.
6. Conclusion-this step allows for reflection by the students and summation by the teacher. Setting aside time for discussion of possible extensions and applications of the lesson honours the constructivist principle: "We learn by doing - but we learn even better by talking about what we did." During the concluding section of a WebQuest, you can encourage your students to suggest ways of doing things differently to improve the lesson.
The last step was visiting some examples of WebQuests at http://webquest.org/search/index.php . “Since 2005, over 20,000 WebQuests have been created on the site. QuestGarden members can download WebQuests created by other teachers and adjust them to meet their specific needs. Though there is a wide range of quality, QuestGarden WebQuests tend to be more up to date and complete than WebQuests found elsewhere.”
Because students love learning about animals I visited http://questgarden.com/106/55/4/100712164312/ -“ Which pet should we get ?”, developed by Michal Remer, McGill and http://questgarden.com/01/41/2/050911225028/t-index.htm - “Alphabet zoo “, by Debi Lindberg, Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary.
After being introduced to PBL , this tool provides the technology-enhanced cooperative and collaborative way of putting it into practice . Most or all of the information that students explore and evaluate comes from the World Wide Web, it usually involves group work, and it can be as short as a single class period or as long as a month-long unit. Students have to learn how to learn, and learn how to work with each other. The teacher, as a designer, builds the base of resources which is used by students to complete the task.
WebQuest has been designed to help students develop their high order thinking skills : , critical thinking , problem solving ,analysis skills, and their decision making skills. Anyway , it is a tool that requires a certain level of reading ability and it can’t be used with beginners . In the same time it cannot be helpful to teach factual pieces of information .By using multimedia, WebQuests also help with multiple intelligence work, addressing to all of them.
The same guide showed me the logical steps in creating a WebQuest :
1WebQuest introduction - related to students' interests, ideas, past experiences, or future goals
2 The task - a formal description of what students will have accomplished by the end of the WebQuest. Here I found the phrase : “Built into a good WebQuest is the notion of scaffolding”. “Scaffolding is an instructional technique whereby the teacher models the desired learning strategy or task, then gradually shifts responsibility to the students. How teachers interact with students as they complete a task is important to the students' ability to perform the activity.” ( http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/learning/lr1scaf.htm). Under these circumstances the teacher gains another role : model or guide .
We can also give an example of a finished project –this allows them to assess and calibrate their own efforts as they begin work on the project.
3. Process –a description of the steps learners should go through in accomplishing the task, with links embedded in each step.
I enjoyed the ideas of kids doing portfolio pieces based on the work that they were doing on the WebQuests.The ABC book seemed another interesting outcome of another WebQuest .The children wrote a summary of what the book Island of the Blue Dolphins was about. And then they took every letter of the alphabet and found something interesting from the book that related to Island of the Blue Dolphins and wrote an ABC book.
4.Resources
5.Evaluation - rubric -clear goals, matching assessments to specific tasks, and involving the learners in the process of evaluation.It can be very helpful to point out three types of student examples: exemplary, acceptable, and unacceptable. The range between exemplary and acceptable work may be great and will spur the students to strive for excellence, while the demonstration of what constitutes unacceptable work will set clear minimum standards for all to achieve. The goal is for all students to have a good experience of the project.
6. Conclusion-this step allows for reflection by the students and summation by the teacher. Setting aside time for discussion of possible extensions and applications of the lesson honours the constructivist principle: "We learn by doing - but we learn even better by talking about what we did." During the concluding section of a WebQuest, you can encourage your students to suggest ways of doing things differently to improve the lesson.
The last step was visiting some examples of WebQuests at http://webquest.org/search/index.php . “Since 2005, over 20,000 WebQuests have been created on the site. QuestGarden members can download WebQuests created by other teachers and adjust them to meet their specific needs. Though there is a wide range of quality, QuestGarden WebQuests tend to be more up to date and complete than WebQuests found elsewhere.”
Because students love learning about animals I visited http://questgarden.com/106/55/4/100712164312/ -“ Which pet should we get ?”, developed by Michal Remer, McGill and http://questgarden.com/01/41/2/050911225028/t-index.htm - “Alphabet zoo “, by Debi Lindberg, Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Week 4 Task: Technology-enhanced lesson plan; Optional discussion: lesson planning;Project Task 2: Describe some issues
The purpose of planning is to help to focus our minds .Lesson plans are first of all a thinking process. The purposeful use of assistive technologies is to enable all students to participate in the process of learning. Technology is important as a tool for developing our students’ higher order thinking skills: critical thinking skills and problem solving capabilities. Creativity is also enhancing this way.
I was thinking about what I have written regarding similarities between the two types of lesson planning in our optional discussion, namely “In both types of lesson plans we have to think ahead at the same questions: Who are the students for this activity? Why do you want to do it? What will it achieve? How long will it take? What might go wrong? What will be needed? How does it work? How will it fit in with what comes before and after that? “
And I was struck by the discovery that this is what Deborah has been guiding us to do. Think about the class and its issues. Think about the benefits of employing technology more in our teaching. Think about B plans, back-up plans, in case something goes wrong with our initial plan. Think about the integration of our lesson in a larger context , see sections about “ Review of previous lesson “ and “ Review before the end of the class session “ in her template .
More than that, she has been feeding us with useful tips meant to make easier our trip into web skills journey.
Having us share our thoughts about the week on our blogs she uses reflection as another tool for helping us in our learning process. Galvez-Martin (1998) defines reflection as “a way of thinking about educational matters that involves the ability to make rational choices and to assume responsibility for those choices” , and Rosier (2002) indicated that reflection after the event is an important part of the learning process.
I was thinking about what I have written regarding similarities between the two types of lesson planning in our optional discussion, namely “In both types of lesson plans we have to think ahead at the same questions: Who are the students for this activity? Why do you want to do it? What will it achieve? How long will it take? What might go wrong? What will be needed? How does it work? How will it fit in with what comes before and after that? “
And I was struck by the discovery that this is what Deborah has been guiding us to do. Think about the class and its issues. Think about the benefits of employing technology more in our teaching. Think about B plans, back-up plans, in case something goes wrong with our initial plan. Think about the integration of our lesson in a larger context , see sections about “ Review of previous lesson “ and “ Review before the end of the class session “ in her template .
More than that, she has been feeding us with useful tips meant to make easier our trip into web skills journey.
Having us share our thoughts about the week on our blogs she uses reflection as another tool for helping us in our learning process. Galvez-Martin (1998) defines reflection as “a way of thinking about educational matters that involves the ability to make rational choices and to assume responsibility for those choices” , and Rosier (2002) indicated that reflection after the event is an important part of the learning process.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Week 4 Discussion: Reading/writing/vocabulary skill-building
The Internet holds great promise for all who are willing and able to take advantage of the opportunities. However, as with anything that seems too good, to be true, there is a catch: finding the best sites can be difficult. Our group of teachers-students seems designed to simplify and enhance our experience on the Internet. With everybody’s help, whether you are an experienced Web surfer or a new user, you will be directed to numerous informative, entertaining and remarkable sites .The Internet spans an unlimited array of web-sites extremely helpful for enhancing each of the English skills.
This week’s first discussion made us read some articles about how to use computers to enhance ways to teach reading and writing. We had several multi-skill websites on our list this week and the list became even larger after my colleagues’ posts. Individually we had to find two or more specific web pages that would work for us in our class. I investigated and included the specific web address (URL) of the pages, theirs titles, the target students, why I think it will work, and why I think it will be useful. I have also developed ABCD objectives to go with these pages.
I have followed and discussed about : http://wwf.panda.org/ and http://www.manythings.org/#des.
Given one of Stephen’s post I have also found useful resources at http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/english/writing/.
I am proud of myself that finally I could make my links active on the Nicenet interface. The formula is simple : (a href =“ URL”)URL(/a) with no spaces .
Note : ( stands for < and ) stands for > .
This week’s first discussion made us read some articles about how to use computers to enhance ways to teach reading and writing. We had several multi-skill websites on our list this week and the list became even larger after my colleagues’ posts. Individually we had to find two or more specific web pages that would work for us in our class. I investigated and included the specific web address (URL) of the pages, theirs titles, the target students, why I think it will work, and why I think it will be useful. I have also developed ABCD objectives to go with these pages.
I have followed and discussed about : http://wwf.panda.org/ and http://www.manythings.org/#des.
Given one of Stephen’s post I have also found useful resources at http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/english/writing/.
I am proud of myself that finally I could make my links active on the Nicenet interface. The formula is simple : (a href =“ URL”)URL(/a) with no spaces .
Note : ( stands for < and ) stands for > .
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Week 3- Discussion 2 : Aural/oral skill-building websites
This week we have explored the aural and oral skills and seen how much some websites could help involve our students in real-world , authentic materials with the help of text, video, and voice tools.
I have followed Pronunciation Tips from the BBC at http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/ and Randall's Cyber Listening Lab: http://www.esl-lab.com/ . I have commented on their features as oral/aural-skills websites and I found them both useful in enhancing the variety of approaches in listening, speaking and pronunciation. Especially the last one, because I haven’t given too much thought to this skill before, especially in the context of using websites. I have also presented http://www.onestopenglish.com/index.asp in another post and my colleagues agreed on its utility, as well.
At this point on our Nicenet discussion about this topic there is a huge amount of information about aural/oral skill-building websites which I have to explore and bookmark on my Delicious page.
I am amazed about the rich environment developed on each of our discussions and the collaborative learning that is taking place.
Thank you for your great work , course mates !
I have followed Pronunciation Tips from the BBC at http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/ and Randall's Cyber Listening Lab: http://www.esl-lab.com/ . I have commented on their features as oral/aural-skills websites and I found them both useful in enhancing the variety of approaches in listening, speaking and pronunciation. Especially the last one, because I haven’t given too much thought to this skill before, especially in the context of using websites. I have also presented http://www.onestopenglish.com/index.asp in another post and my colleagues agreed on its utility, as well.
At this point on our Nicenet discussion about this topic there is a huge amount of information about aural/oral skill-building websites which I have to explore and bookmark on my Delicious page.
I am amazed about the rich environment developed on each of our discussions and the collaborative learning that is taking place.
Thank you for your great work , course mates !
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Week 3 Discussion 1: Aural/oral skills readings
“Using technology in teaching “ – the first discussion this week .We had to read : Miller L., Developing Listening Skills with Authentic Materials /April 2003 issue of ESL Magazine; Gong J., The Employment of CALL in Teaching Second/Foreign Language Skills / Post-Script, Volume 3. 1, July 2002; Busà M.G., New Perspectives in Teaching Pronunciation.
After reading we had to explain how we might use technology to improve our students’ aural/oral skills in at least one post on Nicenet .
There were similar but also different points of view about employing technology as a self-study method and as a useful tool in the English class. As teachers, I think we always have to learn how to spark creativity and encourage a long-lasting love of language while finding useful resources to help make our classroom productive. Of course, the considerable variety in teaching contexts and learning aims makes it difficult to set hard-and-fast rules that can be applied across different learning settings. In my opinion, face-to-face communication is as valuable as using technology in class and outside it. We have to use a balanced blend of them.
I have been using technology in my classes as you could see in my two previous posts. I should complete them with the software I use. For example ,“Welcome 2 “ CD-ROMs is a set of fully animated vocabulary & grammar presentation which ensures solid understanding thoroughly consolidated in special designed exercises. I have been using it with a group of 9 year-old students in private lessons. The girls couldn’t wait to get involved in the interactive learning. In the same area I can add the AeL CD-ROMs to which students have reacted positively because many who previously considered learning as work, now think of it as a game.
Part of my kids is involved in e Twinning partnerships. The e Twinning projects aim to encourage European schools to collaborate using Information and Communication Technologies . The project was born under the European Union's e-Learning program and is now part of the Lifelong Learning Program. The main concept behind e Twinning is that schools are paired with another school/s elsewhere in Europe. The two schools (or more) then communicate using the Internet ( for example, by e-mail , video conferencing, written papers , audio recordings ) to collaborate, share and learn from each other. It encourages and develops ICT skills as the main activities inherently use information technology. Being 'twinned' with a foreign school also encourages cross-cultural exchanges of knowledge, fosters students' intercultural awareness, and improves their communication skills. These projects last for any length of time ranging from only a week, to months, up to creating permanent relationships between schools. Schools (both primary and secondary) within the European Union member states, including Norway and Iceland, can participate in the eTwinning project.
I joined this e twinning community in 2007. Projects developed: “United in Diversity”, “Few words make European children friends”, “Meeting Point”, “The world is small”. My children had partners from all over Europe and made a lot of e-friends. They keep in touch with them via e-mail, Yahoo Messenger or registered mail.
At the level of my school we also had a Comenius partnership financed by the European Union with Turkey, Latvia and Lithuania as partners, for a period of 3 years (2006-2009). I was the coordinator and my children had another opportunity to learn how to use a forum and how to learn IT literacy in order to create English materials.
All of these don’t mean I wouldn’t have anything else to learn from this course (from my instructor and from my colleagues).
I have found out that I should try to create authentic environments of learning, which should always have the following features: visibility of the speakers, participation of the listeners, environmental features, and real-life language features. I realized that I should integrate listening with other teaching activities –for example some useful practice may be obtained by the use of pair-work or group-work (students take turns to repeat the listening part) and when students’ listening is improved through repetition to some extent, a role-playing and imitation are appropriate to them. It is a process that remembering is changed into understanding. This way the oral activities improve students’ aural abilities. After listening, reading the materials is also a good opportunity for others to practice their listening, which at the same time makes students be accustomed to varied accent. Furthermore, accuracy of pronunciation through reading is improved. Then, doing blank filling and writing down their opinion about listening materials will help students understand them correctly and fully.
Usage of more (than the usual 3 of mine) skill-building sites (already added up in my delicious treasure) will create a wider and more efficient way to capture my students’ interest. Introducing them to the world of web tools will be the best way to explore and develop their higher order thinking , more valuable because such skills are more likely to be usable in novel situations (i.e., situations other than those in which the skill was learned).
After reading we had to explain how we might use technology to improve our students’ aural/oral skills in at least one post on Nicenet .
There were similar but also different points of view about employing technology as a self-study method and as a useful tool in the English class. As teachers, I think we always have to learn how to spark creativity and encourage a long-lasting love of language while finding useful resources to help make our classroom productive. Of course, the considerable variety in teaching contexts and learning aims makes it difficult to set hard-and-fast rules that can be applied across different learning settings. In my opinion, face-to-face communication is as valuable as using technology in class and outside it. We have to use a balanced blend of them.
I have been using technology in my classes as you could see in my two previous posts. I should complete them with the software I use. For example ,“Welcome 2 “ CD-ROMs is a set of fully animated vocabulary & grammar presentation which ensures solid understanding thoroughly consolidated in special designed exercises. I have been using it with a group of 9 year-old students in private lessons. The girls couldn’t wait to get involved in the interactive learning. In the same area I can add the AeL CD-ROMs to which students have reacted positively because many who previously considered learning as work, now think of it as a game.
Part of my kids is involved in e Twinning partnerships. The e Twinning projects aim to encourage European schools to collaborate using Information and Communication Technologies . The project was born under the European Union's e-Learning program and is now part of the Lifelong Learning Program. The main concept behind e Twinning is that schools are paired with another school/s elsewhere in Europe. The two schools (or more) then communicate using the Internet ( for example, by e-mail , video conferencing, written papers , audio recordings ) to collaborate, share and learn from each other. It encourages and develops ICT skills as the main activities inherently use information technology. Being 'twinned' with a foreign school also encourages cross-cultural exchanges of knowledge, fosters students' intercultural awareness, and improves their communication skills. These projects last for any length of time ranging from only a week, to months, up to creating permanent relationships between schools. Schools (both primary and secondary) within the European Union member states, including Norway and Iceland, can participate in the eTwinning project.
I joined this e twinning community in 2007. Projects developed: “United in Diversity”, “Few words make European children friends”, “Meeting Point”, “The world is small”. My children had partners from all over Europe and made a lot of e-friends. They keep in touch with them via e-mail, Yahoo Messenger or registered mail.
At the level of my school we also had a Comenius partnership financed by the European Union with Turkey, Latvia and Lithuania as partners, for a period of 3 years (2006-2009). I was the coordinator and my children had another opportunity to learn how to use a forum and how to learn IT literacy in order to create English materials.
All of these don’t mean I wouldn’t have anything else to learn from this course (from my instructor and from my colleagues).
I have found out that I should try to create authentic environments of learning, which should always have the following features: visibility of the speakers, participation of the listeners, environmental features, and real-life language features. I realized that I should integrate listening with other teaching activities –for example some useful practice may be obtained by the use of pair-work or group-work (students take turns to repeat the listening part) and when students’ listening is improved through repetition to some extent, a role-playing and imitation are appropriate to them. It is a process that remembering is changed into understanding. This way the oral activities improve students’ aural abilities. After listening, reading the materials is also a good opportunity for others to practice their listening, which at the same time makes students be accustomed to varied accent. Furthermore, accuracy of pronunciation through reading is improved. Then, doing blank filling and writing down their opinion about listening materials will help students understand them correctly and fully.
Usage of more (than the usual 3 of mine) skill-building sites (already added up in my delicious treasure) will create a wider and more efficient way to capture my students’ interest. Introducing them to the world of web tools will be the best way to explore and develop their higher order thinking , more valuable because such skills are more likely to be usable in novel situations (i.e., situations other than those in which the skill was learned).
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Week 3 - How I have been using technology in teaching.
I have said that my favourites are songs and videos. I have talked about songs in my previous post and I am going to tell you something about using videos now.
Non-verbal behaviour or paralinguistic features of the spoken text are now available to the learners when using videos, so learners can develop their listening skills in a richer language context.
Almost any video can be used to teach English according to the language point you wish to teach and the level of your student(s). Videos can be used:
-to practice/consolidate a range of language points
-to introduce subject(s) for debate
-to encourage conversation amongst students
-to improve writing skills
-to introduce new vocabulary
-to develop listening skills (with visual aid)
-to improve pronunciation
Besides the agendaweb videos I also used whole movies as “ Charlie and the Chocolate Factory “ , “ My fair Lady “ ,” Lady and the tramp” , “ Alice in Wonderland , “ Ratatouille “ , “ Mary Poppins “ ,and Pinocchio “ . I designed different while-watching and post-watching activities.
For example for “ Pinnochio “ , I had a summary of the film to be completed with the names of the characters and discussions about the themes developed in the film : process of growing up and making choices. For “My fair Lady “my students had to match quotations from the film with the character who had said those words , to answer a quiz and , after being introduced to the myth of Pygmalion, to compare it with the film.
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/ is another site I usually use for the development of the four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing and provides enough material to practice each of them. Children just love it because it is colourful, funny and has a large variety of topics for their age (<13). It has two parts : learning English and Teaching English . Following the latter one you will find yourself at http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/. There you will find a huge variety of activities to do in class, teaching tips, lesson plans, articles, news and so on .Take some time to explore it !
In this week’s websites to try there was this link : http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/ . If you access the “For Teachers “section on the right menu and you will find the section “Video “– The teacher. I have been using this particular section in my teaching because I consider idioms as a part of daily speech .They are used to convey a meaning quickly and are often easy to use and learn. They should be used carefully in a way that they add flavor to writing and speech; using too much, however, will result in diverting from the original meaning that they were intended for. There are often context clues in the idioms that suggest the hidden meanings. I have a deal with my students : they are taught by the BBC teacher a set of idioms a week and their task is to “ hunt “ for the appropriate context in the next English classes and use the idioms. If they can do that (and most of them took the chance) they have the maximum grade on the spot.
I have been using tapes and audio CDs, of course, but they do not provide the facial expression, the gestures, and the physical background to make a piece of listening easier to understand. The visual element is attractive and commands the attention better than audio alone because is much closer to real life.
Yours, in the land of Nod,
Cami
Non-verbal behaviour or paralinguistic features of the spoken text are now available to the learners when using videos, so learners can develop their listening skills in a richer language context.
Almost any video can be used to teach English according to the language point you wish to teach and the level of your student(s). Videos can be used:
-to practice/consolidate a range of language points
-to introduce subject(s) for debate
-to encourage conversation amongst students
-to improve writing skills
-to introduce new vocabulary
-to develop listening skills (with visual aid)
-to improve pronunciation
Besides the agendaweb videos I also used whole movies as “ Charlie and the Chocolate Factory “ , “ My fair Lady “ ,” Lady and the tramp” , “ Alice in Wonderland , “ Ratatouille “ , “ Mary Poppins “ ,and Pinocchio “ . I designed different while-watching and post-watching activities.
For example for “ Pinnochio “ , I had a summary of the film to be completed with the names of the characters and discussions about the themes developed in the film : process of growing up and making choices. For “My fair Lady “my students had to match quotations from the film with the character who had said those words , to answer a quiz and , after being introduced to the myth of Pygmalion, to compare it with the film.
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/ is another site I usually use for the development of the four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing and provides enough material to practice each of them. Children just love it because it is colourful, funny and has a large variety of topics for their age (<13). It has two parts : learning English and Teaching English . Following the latter one you will find yourself at http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/. There you will find a huge variety of activities to do in class, teaching tips, lesson plans, articles, news and so on .Take some time to explore it !
In this week’s websites to try there was this link : http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/ . If you access the “For Teachers “section on the right menu and you will find the section “Video “– The teacher. I have been using this particular section in my teaching because I consider idioms as a part of daily speech .They are used to convey a meaning quickly and are often easy to use and learn. They should be used carefully in a way that they add flavor to writing and speech; using too much, however, will result in diverting from the original meaning that they were intended for. There are often context clues in the idioms that suggest the hidden meanings. I have a deal with my students : they are taught by the BBC teacher a set of idioms a week and their task is to “ hunt “ for the appropriate context in the next English classes and use the idioms. If they can do that (and most of them took the chance) they have the maximum grade on the spot.
I have been using tapes and audio CDs, of course, but they do not provide the facial expression, the gestures, and the physical background to make a piece of listening easier to understand. The visual element is attractive and commands the attention better than audio alone because is much closer to real life.
Yours, in the land of Nod,
Cami
Week 3 - How I have been using technology in teaching.
Thinking that my children would have a great benefit from being in close contact with a native English speaker, in the winter of 2007 I applied for an American Peace Corps volunteer.
Since 2007 I have been working with American Peace Corps volunteers within the Peace Corps TEFL programme in Romania .That's how I managed to set up an English lab with a laptop with an Internet connection , a projector , a screen , speakers , 2 CD players, and an English library with 15 dictionaries for advanced students , 15 for beginners ,a lot of posters, flashcards, additional materials, and a large variety of English books (fiction and non-fiction , methodology , " How to teach ..." series , etc ) . In my lab there are over 250 titles and in the school library I managed to gather over 500 English literature books for children by donations from all over America. Having this place of my own means a huge difference in the ways I teach.
I consider technology as an useful way to promote language learning: all four skills, listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. The use of computer and the internet in classes is essential to actualize development in listening comprehension and oral skills. I use www.agendaweb.org/ on a regular basis. The variety of exercises to be used here focus on all four skills. This particular portal is dedicated to providing its visitors and everyone interested in learning English, with a wide variety of grammatical, audio and vocabulary exercises in order to enhance speech, and vocabulary. There is a large menu, containing a lot of sections, including a huge variety of exercises, organized by categories, along with their correspondent information and solutions. Grammar , vocabulary , verbs , listening , songs ( favourite ) ,listening , learning with news from BBC or BBC radio ( as also specified in the article “ Developing Listening Skills with authentic materials “ by Lindsay Miller ) , reading , videos ( also favourite ) and besides all these, the portal also offers an online dictionary. I tried almost any type of grammar exercise in order to practice new structures or to review the taught ones.
I have said that my favourites are songs and videos. Why?
Through music, children understand language; experiment with rhythm, words, tempo, and melody .Students will make the connection between print and spoken words. Last, but not the least they will learn how to think creatively and holistically. There are two processes involved in listening, and both can be utilized when songs are used in the classroom. The activity which is selected for a particular song will determine which of these processes is active. Cullen (1999) states that: “The first is bottom-up processing where the listener builds up the sounds into words, sentences and meaning. The second is top-down processing where the listener uses background knowledge to understand the meaning of a message. Practicing both of these processes is essential for developing listening comprehension.” Before having the first listening my students are asked a lead-in question, are shown some pictures of the band or have a short biography of the singer. The first listening allows them to tell me about the message of the song and the second one enables them to complete the missing words in the lyrics (usually selected according to a grammar / vocabulary point). The post-listening activities usually make us look deeper in the meanings looking for similes, metaphors, and other figures of speech. Of course, along with this procedure there are vivid discussions about the covert meaning of the artistic language. The third( and the fourth-sometimes ) listening is to practice pronunciation and to have fun .This is the part which is most enjoyed because they are allowed to mime , to gesture, to dance .Some other times , when we use a song with a well-made and to the point video I also elicit their opinions about the visual message . Listening is the language skill which most learners usually find the most difficult. First of all, we must take into account that the level of language input (listening) must be higher than the level of language production expected of the pupils. So we should have many speaking activities used in the first levels that enable pupils to participate with a minimal verbal response. However, in the last levels, pupils are encouraged to begin to manipulate language and express themselves in a much more personal way.
Saricoban and Metin (2000) have found that songs can develop the four skill areas of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Eken (1996, p.46) states that songs can be used:
-to present a topic, a language point, lexis, etc.
-to practice a language point, lexis, etc.
-to focus on common learner errors in a more direct way
-to encourage extensive and intensive listening
-to stimulate discussion of attitudes and feelings
-to encourage creativity and use of imagination
-to provide a relaxed classroom atmosphere
-to bring variety and fun to learning
You will find many fun and productive ways to use songs with lyrics in the classroom for, as Gene Buck says, “There is nothing finer on which to hang a memory than a song.”
Since 2007 I have been working with American Peace Corps volunteers within the Peace Corps TEFL programme in Romania .That's how I managed to set up an English lab with a laptop with an Internet connection , a projector , a screen , speakers , 2 CD players, and an English library with 15 dictionaries for advanced students , 15 for beginners ,a lot of posters, flashcards, additional materials, and a large variety of English books (fiction and non-fiction , methodology , " How to teach ..." series , etc ) . In my lab there are over 250 titles and in the school library I managed to gather over 500 English literature books for children by donations from all over America. Having this place of my own means a huge difference in the ways I teach.
I consider technology as an useful way to promote language learning: all four skills, listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. The use of computer and the internet in classes is essential to actualize development in listening comprehension and oral skills. I use www.agendaweb.org/ on a regular basis. The variety of exercises to be used here focus on all four skills. This particular portal is dedicated to providing its visitors and everyone interested in learning English, with a wide variety of grammatical, audio and vocabulary exercises in order to enhance speech, and vocabulary. There is a large menu, containing a lot of sections, including a huge variety of exercises, organized by categories, along with their correspondent information and solutions. Grammar , vocabulary , verbs , listening , songs ( favourite ) ,listening , learning with news from BBC or BBC radio ( as also specified in the article “ Developing Listening Skills with authentic materials “ by Lindsay Miller ) , reading , videos ( also favourite ) and besides all these, the portal also offers an online dictionary. I tried almost any type of grammar exercise in order to practice new structures or to review the taught ones.
I have said that my favourites are songs and videos. Why?
Through music, children understand language; experiment with rhythm, words, tempo, and melody .Students will make the connection between print and spoken words. Last, but not the least they will learn how to think creatively and holistically. There are two processes involved in listening, and both can be utilized when songs are used in the classroom. The activity which is selected for a particular song will determine which of these processes is active. Cullen (1999) states that: “The first is bottom-up processing where the listener builds up the sounds into words, sentences and meaning. The second is top-down processing where the listener uses background knowledge to understand the meaning of a message. Practicing both of these processes is essential for developing listening comprehension.” Before having the first listening my students are asked a lead-in question, are shown some pictures of the band or have a short biography of the singer. The first listening allows them to tell me about the message of the song and the second one enables them to complete the missing words in the lyrics (usually selected according to a grammar / vocabulary point). The post-listening activities usually make us look deeper in the meanings looking for similes, metaphors, and other figures of speech. Of course, along with this procedure there are vivid discussions about the covert meaning of the artistic language. The third( and the fourth-sometimes ) listening is to practice pronunciation and to have fun .This is the part which is most enjoyed because they are allowed to mime , to gesture, to dance .Some other times , when we use a song with a well-made and to the point video I also elicit their opinions about the visual message . Listening is the language skill which most learners usually find the most difficult. First of all, we must take into account that the level of language input (listening) must be higher than the level of language production expected of the pupils. So we should have many speaking activities used in the first levels that enable pupils to participate with a minimal verbal response. However, in the last levels, pupils are encouraged to begin to manipulate language and express themselves in a much more personal way.
Saricoban and Metin (2000) have found that songs can develop the four skill areas of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Eken (1996, p.46) states that songs can be used:
-to present a topic, a language point, lexis, etc.
-to practice a language point, lexis, etc.
-to focus on common learner errors in a more direct way
-to encourage extensive and intensive listening
-to stimulate discussion of attitudes and feelings
-to encourage creativity and use of imagination
-to provide a relaxed classroom atmosphere
-to bring variety and fun to learning
You will find many fun and productive ways to use songs with lyrics in the classroom for, as Gene Buck says, “There is nothing finer on which to hang a memory than a song.”
Monday, July 5, 2010
Week 3 - Task : Using Delicious.com to store useful links
http://delicious.com/pagila_camelia
This is the URL of my Delicious Account , a free and useful Web 2.0 tools tool which is going to help me save and share the sites that are important to me . Furthermore it helps me find bookmarks from other users on my network .
Setting up the account with Delicious only took a few minutes and required no special technical knowledge ( besides Deborah’s instructions ) . How I did it :
1.I went to the Delicious homepage.
2.I clicked on the “Join now “link.
3.I completed the same username and password as I have for my Yahoo e-mail account.
4.From the next page I chose to create a new delicious account.
5.Then I clicked on “Install Delicious add-on For Firefox “
6.After they were installed, I could bookmark pages easily by clicking on the “Save a new bookmark” from the next page
7.I completed the URL
8.I filled in the tags field and then saved them
9.That’s it!
And because I have visited Deborah’s page at her delicious site I practiced again and bookmarked her on my Delicious site. I hope she won’t mind!
Accessing my blog I could see a set of new tabs on my toolbar and clicking on the "Tag" button I could even bookmark the address of my blog !
Quite delicious when you can do it right off the bat!
This is the URL of my Delicious Account , a free and useful Web 2.0 tools tool which is going to help me save and share the sites that are important to me . Furthermore it helps me find bookmarks from other users on my network .
Setting up the account with Delicious only took a few minutes and required no special technical knowledge ( besides Deborah’s instructions ) . How I did it :
1.I went to the Delicious homepage.
2.I clicked on the “Join now “link.
3.I completed the same username and password as I have for my Yahoo e-mail account.
4.From the next page I chose to create a new delicious account.
5.Then I clicked on “Install Delicious add-on For Firefox “
6.After they were installed, I could bookmark pages easily by clicking on the “Save a new bookmark” from the next page
7.I completed the URL
8.I filled in the tags field and then saved them
9.That’s it!
And because I have visited Deborah’s page at her delicious site I practiced again and bookmarked her on my Delicious site. I hope she won’t mind!
Accessing my blog I could see a set of new tabs on my toolbar and clicking on the "Tag" button I could even bookmark the address of my blog !
Quite delicious when you can do it right off the bat!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Week 2- Proof of the pudding
1.I participated in the weekly discussion about web searching: After being fed with the amazing article “Choose the best search for your information need “ I laid my hands on different search engines, I analyzed them in terms of use in my own classes and shared their advantages and disadvantages in posts on Nicenet that included the web page (with URL), the search term, and my recommendation about the search engine.
I have learned that many, but not all search engines, allow me to use so-called Boolean operators to refine my search. I now know more than I ever knew about indexing, query refining and relevancy ranking.I know that :
-by putting double quotes around a set of words, I am telling the search engine to consider the exact words in that exact order without any change.
-attaching a minus sign immediately before a word indicates that I do not want pages that contain this word to appear in my results. The minus sign should appear immediately before the word and should be preceded with a space.
-if I include * within a query, it tells the search engine to try to treat the star as a placeholder for any unknown term(s) and then find the best matches
-by attaching a + immediately before a word (remember, don't add a space after the +), I am telling the search engine to match that word precisely as I typed it. Putting double quotes around a single word will do the same thing.
Dr. Bernie Dodge, co-developer of the WebQuest concept, suggests using NETS as an acronym for remembering a way to improve your search results. The NETS acronym comes from his suggestion to: "start narrow, use exact phrases, trim the URL, and seek similar pages."
I have at this point another useful piece of information to share with my children .
2. Another difficult, at first , task seemed to be the ABCD model for behavioural objectives. But all things are difficult before they are easy. After reading about the ABCD model, I shared some behavioural objectives for a class on Nicenet platform.
Clearly defined learning objectives are useful for instructors,and students • By clearly stating the results we want the learners to accomplish, we can identify whether students have gained the appropriate skills and knowledge. Because objectives should be stated before learners begin their instructional materials, they provide students the means to organize their efforts toward accomplishing the desired behaviors.
Looking back on my lesson plans I have found out that I generally used goals instead of objectives in my classes despite the fact that I used to write them on the board at the beginning of each class . My old “objectives “ were broad , general intentions, sometimes intangible, abstract .
From now on I will remember the ABCD's of writing clear learning objectives every single time when I write down one. Action verbs will help me to align objectives to an observable behaviour and it will be effective in making them clearer for my students. Even better, though, is to think at higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. At the higher levels, I can get the students to analyze a particular cause critically or provide reasons why something occurred. I have to make them do some evaluation or some synthesis using higher-order thinking. The more I can move my learning objectives beyond the lowest levels of thinking, the more I will improve my courses .
3. I(Audience) analyzed the students in 6th F (Condition) and described them (Behavior) in one post on Nicenet (Degree).
The in depth description of 6th F made me think about them more carefully . I realized that I should use peer help and teaching so that better students can help weaker ones. It came to my mind that some might suffer from the fear of making mistakes and I should allow them to speak in a controlled way first or get them act out more dialogues or even give them the chance to be part of the English plays that we usually prepare as extra-curricular activities in order to help them improve their self-esteem and self-confidence.
I have learned that many, but not all search engines, allow me to use so-called Boolean operators to refine my search. I now know more than I ever knew about indexing, query refining and relevancy ranking.I know that :
-by putting double quotes around a set of words, I am telling the search engine to consider the exact words in that exact order without any change.
-attaching a minus sign immediately before a word indicates that I do not want pages that contain this word to appear in my results. The minus sign should appear immediately before the word and should be preceded with a space.
-if I include * within a query, it tells the search engine to try to treat the star as a placeholder for any unknown term(s) and then find the best matches
-by attaching a + immediately before a word (remember, don't add a space after the +), I am telling the search engine to match that word precisely as I typed it. Putting double quotes around a single word will do the same thing.
Dr. Bernie Dodge, co-developer of the WebQuest concept, suggests using NETS as an acronym for remembering a way to improve your search results. The NETS acronym comes from his suggestion to: "start narrow, use exact phrases, trim the URL, and seek similar pages."
I have at this point another useful piece of information to share with my children .
2. Another difficult, at first , task seemed to be the ABCD model for behavioural objectives. But all things are difficult before they are easy. After reading about the ABCD model, I shared some behavioural objectives for a class on Nicenet platform.
Clearly defined learning objectives are useful for instructors,and students • By clearly stating the results we want the learners to accomplish, we can identify whether students have gained the appropriate skills and knowledge. Because objectives should be stated before learners begin their instructional materials, they provide students the means to organize their efforts toward accomplishing the desired behaviors.
Looking back on my lesson plans I have found out that I generally used goals instead of objectives in my classes despite the fact that I used to write them on the board at the beginning of each class . My old “objectives “ were broad , general intentions, sometimes intangible, abstract .
From now on I will remember the ABCD's of writing clear learning objectives every single time when I write down one. Action verbs will help me to align objectives to an observable behaviour and it will be effective in making them clearer for my students. Even better, though, is to think at higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. At the higher levels, I can get the students to analyze a particular cause critically or provide reasons why something occurred. I have to make them do some evaluation or some synthesis using higher-order thinking. The more I can move my learning objectives beyond the lowest levels of thinking, the more I will improve my courses .
3. I(Audience) analyzed the students in 6th F (Condition) and described them (Behavior) in one post on Nicenet (Degree).
The in depth description of 6th F made me think about them more carefully . I realized that I should use peer help and teaching so that better students can help weaker ones. It came to my mind that some might suffer from the fear of making mistakes and I should allow them to speak in a controlled way first or get them act out more dialogues or even give them the chance to be part of the English plays that we usually prepare as extra-curricular activities in order to help them improve their self-esteem and self-confidence.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Week 1 -In a nutshell
It is only Thursday of this week and I can say that I believe I have fulfilled the week's aims:
* I logged into Nicenet and shared information about myself with the others, starting to create a learning community.
* I posted my opinions about the ground rules for discussions and rubrics for self-evaluating .
* I filled out a needs analysis survey to help ensure that the course topics are appropriate.
* I created a blog on www.blogger.com using the instructions in Blogger how-to and shared the URL with the group.
* Having created the blog on Blogger, I wrote about what I had done and what I had learned in the course so far and , of course, I published more than one post on my blog.
And I have commented on some of the others' blogs . Oh, and with Arjana's help I succeeded in creating a corner with blogs .
Fruitful week !I am on the mettle !
* I logged into Nicenet and shared information about myself with the others, starting to create a learning community.
* I posted my opinions about the ground rules for discussions and rubrics for self-evaluating .
* I filled out a needs analysis survey to help ensure that the course topics are appropriate.
* I created a blog on www.blogger.com using the instructions in Blogger how-to and shared the URL with the group.
* Having created the blog on Blogger, I wrote about what I had done and what I had learned in the course so far and , of course, I published more than one post on my blog.
And I have commented on some of the others' blogs . Oh, and with Arjana's help I succeeded in creating a corner with blogs .
Fruitful week !I am on the mettle !
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Week 1- Pondering on using blogs in my English classes
1.In a creative writing class, keeping an individual record of each student’s written work has several advantages and a blog can serve as a platform for this publication. Students can view their progress over the course of a term. This allows them to monitor their improvement as well as help them focus on areas for improvement.
A blog also provides a real world audience. Student’s work is no longer limited to exposure to the instructor and perhaps a few other classmates. The blog allows the student to publish his/her written work, making it available to anyone who accesses the blog : friends, family , other teachers ,visitors.
2.I am sure that our English drama activities : plays, skits or monologues will be more visible for the students' families especially (they can't be present at the shows every time ).
3.From time to time , in our English textbooks there is a written project as part of a vaster portfolio . A 'portfolio' is a file or folder containing a set of someone's best pieces of work over a period of time collected as an example of their skills . The creation of this portfolio can be more challenging on line, on the class blog . And because in these lessons a particular emphasis is placed on cross-curricular transfer the teacher can post links for helping the students to carry the task on .
4.On the clss blog I can choose the game of the month .Not any game , but an educational one using different areas of English: grammar or vocabulary , for instance . I could explain the game , write the rules with the class (if necessary )and let them enjoy it as homework . Their assignment could be a ' report ' on the blog about the game ( what they learned , why they liked or dislike it)
5. I can also use the blog as a resource centre ,as a way of engaging students in more reading / listening . I could use online stories for children with a short exercise of a kind or another at the end of it( how to catch the main ideas of a lecture or a reading, how to respond to a specific reading or lecture, how to write an essay or summary).This way homework will gain more credit, I assume.
Variety of teaching is the spice of learning !
A blog also provides a real world audience. Student’s work is no longer limited to exposure to the instructor and perhaps a few other classmates. The blog allows the student to publish his/her written work, making it available to anyone who accesses the blog : friends, family , other teachers ,visitors.
2.I am sure that our English drama activities : plays, skits or monologues will be more visible for the students' families especially (they can't be present at the shows every time ).
3.From time to time , in our English textbooks there is a written project as part of a vaster portfolio . A 'portfolio' is a file or folder containing a set of someone's best pieces of work over a period of time collected as an example of their skills . The creation of this portfolio can be more challenging on line, on the class blog . And because in these lessons a particular emphasis is placed on cross-curricular transfer the teacher can post links for helping the students to carry the task on .
4.On the clss blog I can choose the game of the month .Not any game , but an educational one using different areas of English: grammar or vocabulary , for instance . I could explain the game , write the rules with the class (if necessary )and let them enjoy it as homework . Their assignment could be a ' report ' on the blog about the game ( what they learned , why they liked or dislike it)
5. I can also use the blog as a resource centre ,as a way of engaging students in more reading / listening . I could use online stories for children with a short exercise of a kind or another at the end of it( how to catch the main ideas of a lecture or a reading, how to respond to a specific reading or lecture, how to write an essay or summary).This way homework will gain more credit, I assume.
Variety of teaching is the spice of learning !
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Week 1 -Take root
Here I am again . I am amazed how many countries are part of this course so far :
I feel that teachers who spend their lives teaching kids, do more than just teach. They help mould the future of communities, cities and countries.
Be proud, my course colleagues , of being teachers !
Week 1 -Happy blogging !
Finally , following Deborah's instructions step by step, I have managed to create a blog ! My first one ! And hopefully not the last one !
I had been thinking about new ways of improving my students' writing for a while. Talking to Valerie, my Peace Corps volunteer , we realized that she could have enough time to set up a class of creative writing in order to help our students to improve their writing skills as a secondary project , besides teaching English . She started the classes in the second semester of this school year but something was missing in the end . Our students' pieces of work remained known only by their colleagues and teachers . If we had had the idea of a blog our idea , and their work , would have been more popular and well-known .
Moreover , our children would have been more motivated and willing to produce something valuable and appealing . They would have spent more time to find out the right words, phrases, idioms to use and maybe they would have checked their grammar more .
The first thing to do at the beginning of the new school year is to create a blog for our creative writing class.That's the ticket !
I had been thinking about new ways of improving my students' writing for a while. Talking to Valerie, my Peace Corps volunteer , we realized that she could have enough time to set up a class of creative writing in order to help our students to improve their writing skills as a secondary project , besides teaching English . She started the classes in the second semester of this school year but something was missing in the end . Our students' pieces of work remained known only by their colleagues and teachers . If we had had the idea of a blog our idea , and their work , would have been more popular and well-known .
Moreover , our children would have been more motivated and willing to produce something valuable and appealing . They would have spent more time to find out the right words, phrases, idioms to use and maybe they would have checked their grammar more .
The first thing to do at the beginning of the new school year is to create a blog for our creative writing class.That's the ticket !
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