What topics were most successful and useful?
All ther topics were useful and interesting as if the course was purposely designed for me.
1- The ABCD learning objectives, Framework and Effective web search. It enabled me to write clear objectives for my learners and draw up a good lesson plan.
2- CALL and Oral/Aural Skill Building. I used one of the drama/speaking activities for ESL/EFL classroom by Lindsay C, to enhance listening and speaking skills. I also created a website, social bookmarking to see my saved weblinks.
3- Reading/Writing/Vocabulary Skills. My learners were guided to read authentic e-texts outside classroom to improve their overall reading, writing and thinking skills. (these were all offline activities.).
4- Project-Based Learning, Webquests and Rubrics. This was the most useful and successful. It involved less teaching and more learning. Using Rubrics with my learners for the first time, I saw how meaningful language development grew out of project-Based Instrctions.
5- Engaging Students: This topic was appropriate for me because of the large number of students I have in each class,thus it was easier to use different technology tools, thecniques and methods to enhance students' learning by engaging them.
6- Learner Autonomy: As teachers one of our biggest responsibility is to encourage learner autonomy. It helps builds or develops skills that they take out of the classroom.
7- One Computer Classroom, Lesson: I learned how to thrive in a one computer classroom especially in my case.
Which Tools will you use in your classes?
I would use noodletools, informine, academicinfo, some features of ANVILL Radio set, etc
Which if any, do you think were notrelevant to what you do, or will do?
All the tools were important but not relevant in my case because my setting. for example voicetread.
What other tools we might have covered or would you suggest that we could have looked at?
I can't think of any now. Still trying to digest these ones before I could find out if they could have been a tool we could use.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Week 9: Technology and Learning Styles.
This week we have been reading about different learning styles and how we can use technology to address a variety of learning styles in our classrooms. As teaching methods differs, so to are learning styles.
So many people have written an learning styles, what impressed me most was Howard Gardner's article on multiple intelligence and the various technology tools that support classroom activity. Out of the nine types he mentioned, my learners who are (auditory), verbally or linguistic learners can best use tools like the radio to listen to programs, read e-books and other interactive books on CD-ROM, can write e-mails etc
Visual/spatial learners would learn best by remembering what they see thus tools like photo sharing websites, puzzle building tools;diagrams, flow chart, films and power point can add visuals to script and engage the learners.
Its a pity that some times students are left out in the cold as our teaching methods do not blend or meet the learning styles of our learners, that is why understanding learning styles is fundamental to our individual approaches to teaching.
From what I have acquired so far, my teaching methods have changed already.
Dear colleagues and Robert; a BIG THANK YOU for reshaping me.
So many people have written an learning styles, what impressed me most was Howard Gardner's article on multiple intelligence and the various technology tools that support classroom activity. Out of the nine types he mentioned, my learners who are (auditory), verbally or linguistic learners can best use tools like the radio to listen to programs, read e-books and other interactive books on CD-ROM, can write e-mails etc
Visual/spatial learners would learn best by remembering what they see thus tools like photo sharing websites, puzzle building tools;diagrams, flow chart, films and power point can add visuals to script and engage the learners.
Its a pity that some times students are left out in the cold as our teaching methods do not blend or meet the learning styles of our learners, that is why understanding learning styles is fundamental to our individual approaches to teaching.
From what I have acquired so far, my teaching methods have changed already.
Dear colleagues and Robert; a BIG THANK YOU for reshaping me.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Week 8: Teaching with online Tools and Creating an online course site.
It has been a very busy week for me as a teacher and as a student. I have been invigilating exams last week and this week. Now we are on to correcting the hundreds of scripts. This is the part of our job many don't like doing especially when it comes to correcting students' essays.
That notwithstanding, I had to complete my project draft by Wednesday. We had a guest moderator, thank God for using him to bless us with rich materials and for the webinar, I was anxiously waiting to be part of it on Thursday just to be disappointed with connections for two day. Thank you Robert and Jeff for for making it possible for some of us who were not opportune to participate, or watch it life, to still watch now. It would have been a wonderful experience for me because I have never taken part in a video conferencing.
Well, this week I had an opportunity to read about ANVILL, an online tool which is very good to enhance opportunities for spoken language practices with voiceboards and Live Chats. It also has a bulletin board system where teachers can post lessons on particular subjects. This will allow students to work on their own by making video recordings of themselves speaking the new language. I like the tool because it contains quiz ans survey tools to help me as a teacher, assemble media-based assessments geared for different students.
This week I had an opportunity to create an online course site - Nicenet. It is not very easy conceiving an exercise or a task supported with online material. I gave my students a writing task to encourage them improve on their writing skills. They have to write a biography of Nelson Mandela. On the whole I can say that I am now equipped to teach a class with innovative materials using the internet if the logistics are there.
After this course I will have a lot of time to perfect my web skills.
That notwithstanding, I had to complete my project draft by Wednesday. We had a guest moderator, thank God for using him to bless us with rich materials and for the webinar, I was anxiously waiting to be part of it on Thursday just to be disappointed with connections for two day. Thank you Robert and Jeff for for making it possible for some of us who were not opportune to participate, or watch it life, to still watch now. It would have been a wonderful experience for me because I have never taken part in a video conferencing.
Well, this week I had an opportunity to read about ANVILL, an online tool which is very good to enhance opportunities for spoken language practices with voiceboards and Live Chats. It also has a bulletin board system where teachers can post lessons on particular subjects. This will allow students to work on their own by making video recordings of themselves speaking the new language. I like the tool because it contains quiz ans survey tools to help me as a teacher, assemble media-based assessments geared for different students.
This week I had an opportunity to create an online course site - Nicenet. It is not very easy conceiving an exercise or a task supported with online material. I gave my students a writing task to encourage them improve on their writing skills. They have to write a biography of Nelson Mandela. On the whole I can say that I am now equipped to teach a class with innovative materials using the internet if the logistics are there.
After this course I will have a lot of time to perfect my web skills.
Monday, November 7, 2011
week 6: Begin the technology change
Not much has been done on this given that ast week. We were preparing the students to begin writing their exams this week.But so far, what I have done is using one of the Drama/Speaking activities for ESL/ EFL clssroom by Lindsay to enhance their speaking and pronunciation skills.
I did assigned them to groups and asked them to write short dialogues of not more than 10 lines to be presented in class. I gave them possisible contexts/emotions.
- to act out a scene where one of them is in love, angry, excited, and another, meeting an old friend they have not seen for ages.
Last week I took a radio to class for a listening activity but the atmosphere was not condusive at that time. There was a lot of noise from the other classes. So we have planned to have an extra time after school for this exercise.
There is much hope and motivation on the part of the students because every body was excited to talk when I tied the PBL activity two weeks ago. The students were the ones correcting their friends either when they made grammatical errors or mispronunciation.
I did assigned them to groups and asked them to write short dialogues of not more than 10 lines to be presented in class. I gave them possisible contexts/emotions.
- to act out a scene where one of them is in love, angry, excited, and another, meeting an old friend they have not seen for ages.
Last week I took a radio to class for a listening activity but the atmosphere was not condusive at that time. There was a lot of noise from the other classes. So we have planned to have an extra time after school for this exercise.
There is much hope and motivation on the part of the students because every body was excited to talk when I tied the PBL activity two weeks ago. The students were the ones correcting their friends either when they made grammatical errors or mispronunciation.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Week 5 Reflections: Project-Based Learning, WebQuest and Rubrics
There was a lot to learn and do this week. Susan Gaer's article on 'less Teaching and More learning' has to do with Project-Based Learning which is an approach to teaching where learners are given instructions and resources (scaffolding) then they work in groups to create a project or work to come up with a solution.
PBL is learner-centered,, to hep motivate them more to study the language while the teacher is just the facilitator.The earners become more engaged with this approach to language learning. As teachers we must give our learners the opportunity to learn the language for a life time,that is giving them the opportunity to use the language to accomplish communication goals.
I created a rubric for writing persuasive essay for my 12 grade students.My rubric ID number 2110112 and link, rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?=showRubric&rubric id=2110112. It is important for learners to know their evaluation criteria and the standards expected of them.I just learned that meaningful language development grows out of project based instructions that's why rubrics must be made available to students.It is true that successful use of alternative assessment depends on using performance tasks that let students demonstrate what they can actually do with language.
Learners become autonomous or independent learners when they know what is expected of them to do so as to score good grades.
I created a webquest for my learners, the link is www.zunal.com/webquest.php?w=120316. 'Bringing rape out of the shadows'. As the name implies, the activities here are based on real resources from the web. That is the web is the heart of the lesson which requires higher level thinking. That is why I chose grade 12 learners.
It has been a challenging week for me because all the activities here a new to me especially creating rubrics and webquest.
PBL is learner-centered,, to hep motivate them more to study the language while the teacher is just the facilitator.The earners become more engaged with this approach to language learning. As teachers we must give our learners the opportunity to learn the language for a life time,that is giving them the opportunity to use the language to accomplish communication goals.
I created a rubric for writing persuasive essay for my 12 grade students.My rubric ID number 2110112 and link, rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?=showRubric&rubric id=2110112. It is important for learners to know their evaluation criteria and the standards expected of them.I just learned that meaningful language development grows out of project based instructions that's why rubrics must be made available to students.It is true that successful use of alternative assessment depends on using performance tasks that let students demonstrate what they can actually do with language.
Learners become autonomous or independent learners when they know what is expected of them to do so as to score good grades.
I created a webquest for my learners, the link is www.zunal.com/webquest.php?w=120316. 'Bringing rape out of the shadows'. As the name implies, the activities here are based on real resources from the web. That is the web is the heart of the lesson which requires higher level thinking. That is why I chose grade 12 learners.
It has been a challenging week for me because all the activities here a new to me especially creating rubrics and webquest.
Week 4 Reflections
Another great week with guest moderator Rachael. The objective for this week was Skill-Building websites for Reading-Writing skills and Technology-Enhanced lesson plans.
After reading some of the rich articles connected with the topic of the week -the use of computers to enhance the reading-writing and vocabulary of ESL and EFL learners.I tried one of the new techniques I learned with my students though without the available resources. I had to divide my learners in groups of 6 persons based on mixed abilities.Then I directed them to a website to read the material there and come back during the next class and discuss and share what they learned.(offline activity.
Knowing that technology can fail at anytime as a teacher I must be ready to have an alternative material to continue with my lesson. It is very necessary for every good teacher to have a lesson plan before entering the class.It is actually important to thing of the needs of our learners and how technology can come in to solve the problem.
After reading some of the rich articles connected with the topic of the week -the use of computers to enhance the reading-writing and vocabulary of ESL and EFL learners.I tried one of the new techniques I learned with my students though without the available resources. I had to divide my learners in groups of 6 persons based on mixed abilities.Then I directed them to a website to read the material there and come back during the next class and discuss and share what they learned.(offline activity.
Knowing that technology can fail at anytime as a teacher I must be ready to have an alternative material to continue with my lesson. It is very necessary for every good teacher to have a lesson plan before entering the class.It is actually important to thing of the needs of our learners and how technology can come in to solve the problem.
Week 1 Refections
Using the internet through out this week for this course has been a tedious exercise but very enriching. Tedious because, as a novice in the field of the technology, I got mixed up at one point trying to create my blog. It took me close to 45mins to create the blog. May be because I had to create different accounts-on nice net and a goggle account.
Enriching and challenging because the whole exercise is thought provoking, exciting and easy if the instructions are carefully followed.To an extend I can describe myself now as a computer literate. You know for someone who always visit the internet just to check, write and send mails or search for information on goggle or other websites.
So far I have learned a couple of things from this exercise. I have learned a new word, ' blogging' as a Language learning tool. The idea of blogging is a pretty great one because we can interact with other learners/ teachers from arround the world with varied experiences, ideas and opinions to share.
Enriching and challenging because the whole exercise is thought provoking, exciting and easy if the instructions are carefully followed.To an extend I can describe myself now as a computer literate. You know for someone who always visit the internet just to check, write and send mails or search for information on goggle or other websites.
So far I have learned a couple of things from this exercise. I have learned a new word, ' blogging' as a Language learning tool. The idea of blogging is a pretty great one because we can interact with other learners/ teachers from arround the world with varied experiences, ideas and opinions to share.
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