Week 10 - The End

This is week 10 and the course is coming to an end. I have mixed feelings. I feel happy for all the things I learned and I just can't wait to see my project evaluation. I feel sad because it became a part of my daily routine to comment on nicenet, reach articles, reflect on my blog, etc. I will miss the surprises that Robert to give us every week. 

This week I was introduced to LOTI levels of integrating technology into teaching which are really helpful in identifying where you are standing in the tech integration route and also deciding where to go next. I am going to include this in my annual developmental plan and discuss it with my line manager. 

Hala

Week 9 - Final draft

Dear all,
The course is approaching its end and I really enjoyed it. I started to talk to my colleagues about it and I am thinking of how to cascade all what I learned to them. This week I read about multiple intelligences, learning styles and learning strategies which are all areas of interest for me. I enjoyed the sources and the teaching ideas suggested for each type of person. More interestingly, is the issue raised in one of the articles about training Ss on using learning strategies and getting them aware of using them.

I also submitted my final project after I made the changes suggested by my peers: Sharda and Nagwa. I am trying to gather all  the valuable material given in this course and save the links on Delicious so that I can refer to them along my teaching experience. Hope this can be repeated in the future as I really admire the way this course was totally organised by distance learning. It really saved time, money and effort.

Hala

Week 8 - going on the project

This week we have been introduced to an amazing technology tool: ANVILL. The idea is unique and the options are unlimited, however, I saw a number of limitations that may make it difficult for me to use it in class. Some Ss may find it complicated for them. Some don't like to use voice chat and videos. They may be afraid of being misused. This is related to conservative culture in some places in Egypt. 

This week two of my students gave their presentations , that's the project I am doing for the course. They were really good. I am so happy and proud of them. The class loved the idea of using rubrics and they are getting more familiar with them now. They did the writing task successfully today after exploring the wrting rubrics as well. They just like evaluating themselves and evaluating each  other.  I have submitted my project draft and didn't get any feedback yet. it was challengiung but working on a part of the project every week made it easy to compile the work with some modifications.

 Hala

Week 7 - Project

This week, my Ss started to think more deeply about their project. One of them is ready to give his presentation next week. The others asked me to broaden the scope of topic as they don't like to present on IPO (initial public offering) . They asked if they can work on other topics related to business and I agreed to add variety to the project. I conducted the online survey and sent it to the class via mail. So, far 4 out of 11 Ss have done it. By conducting this online survey, I intended to get more focused image of my Ss' learning needs so that I can see whether to modify my web project to better fit them.
Here is the link for my survey:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGw0all3UldpUFpXbkRSREV3X21ZeFE6MQ
waiting for your feedback.

Hala

Week 7 - Learner Autonomy

This week, I read some articles about learner autonomy and took part in some discussions in the class forum. I was attracted by some ideas, such as the idea that autonomous learning is not an aim it is rather a means ( a process not a product). In other words, we train the students to do this not to be independent from the teacher so the teacher does less work, we rather want them to do this because we want them to learn in a better way.
I am also interested in the idea that it is important to well introduce the idea of autonomous learning especially in classes with conventional educational back ground. Most probably , Ss reject this idea and think that the teacher is not teaching enough and leaving them to get lost with each other.

This takes me to the fact that autonomous learning does not mean neglecting the teacher's role. The teacher should be there, guiding, advising and facilitating. Finally, autonomous learning is the skill of how the teacher takes control of the class while the Ss are responsible for their learning at the same time.

Implementing my project

Last week, I introduced the idea to my business class, talked to them about the fact that Ss learn better when they become more independent and when they help each other to learn. Then, we explored together the web page explaining to them what they are supposed to do, going briefly through the resources I provided. I gave them the URL to read the web quest more carefully at home and decide how they would accomplish the task. Here are their first impression. One of them who works as an engineer in a telecommunication company said:" This is professional and we don't have time to do such thing". Others just remained silent as if they are shocked but others were really excited about the idea. To over come the two obstacles of lack of time to study outside the class and their unfamiliarity of the idea I am planning to do further exploration to the webquest next lesson which is tomorrow and I am going to put it as a part of their course assessment. I also see other webquest generators to make sure that I am using the most appropriate one. I hope this works. Let's wait and see.

Interactive Powerpoint

This week I studied techniques on how to teach large classes and how to make lectures more interactive. One of the popular tools in addressing large classes is using powerpoint presentation, yet the presentation has to be interactive enough to retain Ss' attention. Many techniques have been discussed such as, the action buttons, the conceptest, the quickwrite, the hyperlinks, etc. I made one using three interactive elements from those I mentioned. I got he feedback from one of my class mates and I believe the presentation was interactive and should attract the attention of Ss. I also explored other new topics in this week reading material and I am personally attracted to the online assessment tools. I still don't fully understand how they work, is this a kind of soft ware I need to buy or is it a free account to create, still need to explore more, Blackboard is one example. Back again to PPT presentations, I usually a different software to present my lessons which is Active inspire (compatible with the interactive white board I use) however, I start to think now of PPT presentations as an alternative. In case the SmartBoard software crashes, PPT can serve as a good plan B to save the lesson.

Rubrics & WebQuests

This week I learned how to design two magnificent tools in teaching English. One is for assessing the students' performance, that is rubrics. The other for conducting active, collaborative, autonomous and student-centered teaching context. Rubrics are just great in constructing the students knowledge and motivating them to reflect on their own learning. Rubistar is a magic website to design your rubrics, just sign up for a free account and one click and your rubrics are ready to print off or save on your computer. I also, learned how to design a webquest. It is the technology - based project that get every one involved, the teacher and the students. Zunal is an interesting website to create webquests. It was really a challenge for me to make my webquest motivating enough starting from choosing the topic, then going through choosing images and resources. that was really amazing especially when I finished it and i saw it ready for effective English learning. I can not wait till I bring all of this into action and see what drawbacks I will face and try to overcome them.

Hala

Technology Enhamced Lesson Plans

This week I read an article by Krajka about using the internet in teaching writing which was quite helpful in presenting different writing genres that can be taught by using the interent. I used one website mentioned in the article which can be only used with high levels. So, I suppose that there's not much variety in websites that build writing skills because you always need to relate them to Ss' levels and needs.

Also, I designed a technology based lesson plan which included a number of websites that supports the grammar part in the lesson. Nevertheless, I always find writing lesson plans are quite tedious. I don't know why? !! I always tend to use a checklist or short notes and I always believe that the best plan is not to have a plan..:))) what do you think?

It is worthy mentioning, however, that it does not mean that I underestimate planning. Planning will remain the key of successful teaching. Remember, When you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Cheers!

Using technology in teaching speaking and listening skills.

This week was really interesting for me and I have learned a lot. First of all I am very excited to use the delicious tool and I am keeping  on it every page I intend to use in the future. Moreover, I am planning to build a bank of listening exercises using Randall's website in two different ways: one of them is to provide extra supplementary activities and the other as a way of listening assessment which I see better than using something from the students' coursebook ( as the students may anticipate it) and also easier than looking for listening test in other books and waste time finding the relevant level.

Also, I have explored a number of speaking activities some of which I already use to teach pronunciation tips such as the BBC website and  practice speaking activities such as One Stop English ( which provides a good number of role-plays and intonation activities).

One point that I need to think about is using videos from youtube as a topic for group discussions or brainstorming or more effectively storytelling. I came across a short film on youtube that I believe would be very interesting if students see it and then write a story board or tell the story in details especially if the actors do not speak on the clip. The issue here is that  I need to edit the video to fit the class Egyptian culture but I do not know how to hide a scene or cover it or even clip it out. So, if you know the way please help and that would be much appreciated!!

Hala

Criticism

Hi all,
Some of the criticism given to Bloom's theory is that it is sequential. The taxonomy follows a strict order. i.e it goes from the knowledge to comprehension then to the application in a very fixed order. On the contrary, studies showed that in many cases we do not follow this pattern while learning. So, we may start with comprehension then we move to evaluation then go back again to application, etc. In other words, it is seen as a web rather than a hierarchy. Moreover, the taxonomy is too precise. It categorizes human mind into three spheres while the study of what human mind is like is still at the beginning and no one is sure yet about the final concept of how human mind works. Finally, it focuses on individual learning processes ignoring other factors that might affect one's learning such as, motivation classroom management and social background.

waiting for your comments.

Cheers!

Bloom's Criticism

Hi guys,

 Speaking of stating learning objectives, I came across an interesting issue. Blooms taxonomy has been criticized on a number of points. Before discussing them with you, have you got any ideas!!! feel free to share.

  Hala

First time I create a blog

It was much easier than it sounded...still need to explore the options and see what applications could be used for teaching English purposes.

About me!

Dear Colleagues,

I have just created my blog...a first time experience...hope I am doing well. I am Hala Ahmed..EFL teacher..from Egypt.