Week 7

It is the end of the seventh week of the course work! Though it was simple in terms of work and input, the course is well designed to give the knowledge from simple to complex , known to unknown and from local to global. The week's work included the following.

•  Discussion #1 – Learner Autonomy 
• Discussion #2 – The One-Computer Classroom
•  Task – Padlet
  
• Week 7 Project Task #6 – Find a Partner 
• Blog reflection

Discussion

As usual the the discussion topics were optional and had the liberty to select any topic. I selected "Learner Autonomy", an area which I like to discuss mostly. Learner autonomy foster learning and the classroom becomes learner friendly as well. On the other hand, this will make the students to get the concepts through practical work (i.e. learn by doing). I read several articles related to this and joined the discussion. Needless to mention that I learned some other facts by reading the work done by the colleagues. When learners are left to be independent, they also will have to engage in self reflection.

Task

The task due for this week was simple but have a great value. I was inspired a lot and also I applied this method for my students to enable them to learn from different sources. The whole notion of Padlet is "simple" but  "amazing"

Find a partner

This was not difficult and  whoever the colleague would be is not a valid argument. I responded to a friend whom I see as a very good teacher and as one who can analyze things being balanced.


However, the biggest task is ahead. That is to come out with the project work. No matter how difficult the task is I enjoy every minute of the course work and look forward to step on to the eighth week.

Week 6

The week began giving me a very positive impression. It is to learn more about Power Point presentations. I wanted to know more about it and also was glad to join the discussion on how Power Point helps in interactive learning.

Discussion: Interactive Power Point

It is so obvious that the teacher can minimize his or her talking in the language class and maximize the student talking time when some kind of a learning material is used effectively. The use of Power Point is also can be used effectively to make sure that the learners get more independent in learning and would interact with the tool used. With this the teacher on one hand activates the schemata and on the other hand secure learner autonomy. I learned the importance of making a slide simple and focal (to the point). I felt the importance of making a slide have only the necessary facts/figures/details etc. but long paragraphs. By reading the articles I got new knowledge.

Task : Creating an Interactive Power Point Presentation

I did this task very happily since I know how my students react to PowerPoint presentations. In this task I changed my usual pattern of creating the presentation and tried to make it more interactive. I started off by giving opportunity to my learners to recall what they did under "be" verbs and then gave them an activity to do. I would add that this kind of tasks given by this course paves the way to enhance the professional development of the teachers who engage themselves in this course.

Begin to implement technology

I chose my technology tool that I felt would rightly fit the needs of my students to steer clear their doubts on practical phonology. I selected the blogging as a tool and have already started my work. As it is in the initial stage, only some students contribute and get the benefit. Yet, I hope that the rest would also react to me positively.



As usual, I enjoy reflecting my own work I did during the week and maintaining this blog is like maintaining a journal or a diary. Hence, it is really important to do so. I look forward to go ahead with the rest of the course work.

Week 5

It is almost the end of the fifth week of the course. I enjoyed and learned from different tasks and discussions due for this week as well. The week at a glance included the discussion, three tasks and blog reflection.

   

      Project-Based Learning and WebQuests

 Although the whole concept of Project-Based Learning is not new for me as it is in the common practice in the education system in my country, the concept of WebQuests is totally new to me. The use of Project-Based Learning was refreshed after reading the prescribed article by Susan Gaer and with the ideas shared by the colleagues I happened to get different insights to the same. The idea of  WebQuests as I mentioned above was a new idea. With all the guidance given I believe I managed to do fair work in this connection. It is methodical and directs both the learner and the teacher to a better learning setup.  

The life of a teacher becomes easy when the technology is used wisely. Without no hesitation I would recommend http://rubistar.4teachers.org for any teacher for it makes the task of creating rubrics easy. I did my own one for an oral assessment and the rubrics can be found in http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?ts=1399834341 .

Project task 4  

 I had to reconsider my solution for the problem I found out in my learners since I get exposed to different kinds of web based learning methods. Yet, as I have decided before I thought of sticking myself to the idea of blog as a solution to enhance my learners’ enthusiasm in practical phonology based work.

Extra Credit Task  

This task dragged my whole attention as it was that much interesting. I managed to create my WebQuest and honestly I feel great about that.

With all the exciting work for this week I was inspired and arranged an experience sharing session for the next teacher training workshop. The whole work due for this week was extremely important for me. I always appreciate the comments, suggestions and ideas given by Donna and my Colleagues and I look forward to get more exciting work in the coming week. 

 

Week 4

At the end of the forth week I feel that it has now become a habit to check email regularly, check feedback and the comments made on the task/activity related to this course. Further,  exploring different websites has given me many opportunities to find better resources for my pedagogical application. I think I am doing the justice to my students by updating my knowledge with the help of this kind of courses. The course work for this week included Reading, Writing and Vocabulary Skills, Problem or issue in my class, and the creation of a technology-enhaced lesson plan.

Reading, Writing, and Vocabulary Skills: I read Mei-Ya Liang's article which included Three Extensive Reading Activities for ESL/EFL Students Using E-books.  It shows how reading skill can be focused using the internet. The activities which encourage online reading/ebook reading make the learner and the teacher a good experience with an added variety to normal pedagogy. I found that the method used here can be employed in my class to encourage my students read as well. Moreover, I explored different websites and some of them were added to my delicious. Out of the websites I explored, I found out that www.manything.com is useful. I even tried out some of the activities to different age groups. This leaves room for me to recommend the website to any teacher. After writing the ABCD objective this time I feel very confident in writing them.

Problem or Issue: I figured out a problem that I face in one of the classes I handle. That group of students is not confident in using the practical phonology related tasks. Then I thought of a solution and I planned to open a blog discussion. I hope there would be some more technology solutions for me. Also, I hope that my solution would help me in making my pupils more interactive and confident in using phonetics.

Technology-enhaced lesson plan: As Robert Elliott highlights in his article on writing a technology enhanced lesson plan, the use of technology in lessons has risks and should have a Plan B. I used to have a plan B but have never included that plan to my lesson plan. This idea of including Plan B to my lesson plan will give me more confidence.

 
Though this week was little busy I tried to find my time to the best of my ability. The biggest asset we have in front of us is our company; the colleagues who always engaged in giving valuable comments. It helps one another. All in all I really enjoyed this week as well.