WEEK 10-MY FINAL REFLECTION

It is incredible we are in the last week!!!

It was a pleasure to share all this experience with my E-friends, and now I can say that thanks to Donna and this web-course I discovered a new and amazing world called technology full of interesting and helpful activities.

Well at the beginning of this web-course I was really afraid because I did not worked with technology in my classes because in my workplace we do not have access to it.

Although this course was very demanding taking part of it was a rewarding experience, demanding because I had to devote for at least 3 hours a day to complete the different tasks for each week, and a rewarding experience because every week I learned how to work with many interesting and useful tools, all of them are very important in order to improve my teaching.

So, now I know that integrating technology in my classes means a new way to reach different types of learners and assess students understanding through multiple means. It also will enhance my relationship with my students. Technology helps make teaching and learning more meaningful and fun, because it provides active engagement, participation in groups, frequent interaction and feedback, and connection to real-world experts.

Good luck to everybody, in all your projects and everything in your live.

Sincerely,

Sylvia

WEEK 9- MY REFLECTIONS

“When I learn something new--and it happens every day--I feel a little more at home in this universe, a little more comfortable in the nest”. – Bill Moyers

MI & Technology: A Winning Combination!

We all learn in different ways. Educators need to try to meet the needs of all children by providing a variety of lessons using various teaching methods. When integrating technology in lessons, teachers have to make sure to remember the needs of all the learners and use various methods and techniques. Using software can develop the potential of all children.

The theory of Multiple Intelligences aligns well with our present understanding of the human brain. Managing new approaches to teaching and learning requires a deep understanding of how the brain works, as well as an understanding of what motivates and engages people. Thinking and feeling are connected because our patterning is emotional. Therefore, we need to help learners create a felt meaning, a sense of relationship with a subject, in addition to an intellectual understanding. Their emotions open and close the doors to their ability to learn new information and perform specific tasks. Students are emotional about things for which they have a passion. If knowledge comes to our students through a modality of interest them, they will more likely feel that it is important. Additionally, students are most motivated to learn when they are involved in activities for which they possess some talent. Thus, if we as teachers present material through a variety of intelligences, the more likely we will reach a greater number of students. Through these actions, students will be more likely to learn, remember, and apply those experiences, thus creating positive emotional connections.

Technology and computers easily combine various media formats and can provide a variety of different learning opportunities. So by nature, technology based lessons lend themselves to teach students of various learning styles. When designing lessons that incorporate technology we need to be sure to use various techniques and keep the needs of all learners in mind, as we try to do in lessons that do not use technology.

For example if we teach Future with Going to and Will, we can design a lesson plan using  a Web-Quest or  a power point presentation.

Verbal/ Linguistic:  Explanation and understanding through the use of words. Reading- Using context.

Visual / Spatial: Explanation and comprehension through the use of pictures, graphs, maps, etc. This type of learning gives students visual clues to help them remember language.

Body / Kinesthetic: Ability to use the body to express ideas, accomplish tasks, create moods, etc.

This type of learning combines physical actions with linguistic responses and are very helpful for tying language to actions.

Interpersonal: Ability to get along with others, work with others to accomplish tasks.

Group learning is based on interpersonal skills. Not only do students learn while speaking to others in an "authentic" setting, they develop English speaking skills while reacting to others. Obviously, not all learners have excellent interpersonal skills. For this reason, group work needs to balance with other activities.

Logical / Mathematical: Use of logic and mathematical models to represent and work with ideas.

Grammar analysis falls into this type of learning style. Match-up exercises; English Grammar review exercises.

Musical: Ability to recognize and communicate using melody, rhythm, and harmony.

This type of learning is sometimes underestimated in ESL classrooms. If you keep in mind that English is a very rhythmic language because of its tendency to accent only certain words, you'll recognize that music plays a role in the classroom as well. Practicing Stress and intonation.

Intrapersonal: Learning through self-knowledge leading to understanding of motives, goals, strengths and weaknesses. Setting learning objectives.

Environmental: Ability to recognize elements of and learn from the natural world around us.

Similar to visual and spatial skills, Environmental intelligence will help students master English required to interact with their environment.

 

WEEK-8 RFLECTIONS

“Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation”. ~ John F. Kennedy

Talking about AVNILL, I can say that it is an excellent platform for speech-based learning activities,  with it students will have a great benefit because they can interact, record their voices this will help students to  check their mistakes in pronunciation.

We have templates for: Basics that helps to create all kind of lessons; the audio template that adds high quality to the lessons because it is used for both listening comprehension and listen and repeat tasks.

Voiceboard that adds spoken language to discussions, audio journals, pronunciation exercises, and other forms of oral language practice.

Text-based forums, VB allows teachers or students to easily post or respond to an oral/aural assignment.

This tools will help students to be more confident in their learning process because as I wrote before they can interact and check their mistakes.

WEEK 7- REFLECTIONS

Another great week that ends!!!!!

AUTONOMY LEARNING

What can I do to encourage autonomy in my students?

Among the activities to encourage autonomy in my students it is a good idea working in projects because it motivates students  offering them  a way of practicing their English while having fun, by creating something, students use English as a tool and see how useful it can be. This process does motivate students and involves them in their own learning.
 Project work makes students responsible for their own learning. Since the project is student-centered rather than teacher-directed, students have to do all the project work independently. They have to make their plan, decide what they will do and discuss how they will do it and all the other details, not only the content of the project, but the language requirements as well. This process places the responsibility on students, both as individuals and as members of a co-operative learning group. And definitely, being responsible for their own learning helps develop autonomy.

During the process of the project work, the teacher is there to provide assistance, help students solve the problems they come across and help them gain confidence through evaluation. Once they have a sense of achievement, they will be more autonomous.

We can do projects either with or without technology.

ONE-COMPUTER LESSON PLAN

I want to share with you this links that would help you in designing your one-computer lesson plans: 

http://www.manythings.org/ac/family.html

http://www.esldesk.com/esl-links

Sylvia.

WEEK 6- MY REFLECTIONS

First at all I want to share this quote with you:

“What we learn with pleasure we never forget”. Alfred Mercie

During this week I have  learned  important things to improve my teaching and they are:

Firstly I read about Interactive Classes, regardless of the subject matter and the age group of the student, interactive teaching tends to work best. In today's technology driven and information based world, most interactive learning is done via computers. This can take many formats, such as:

- PowerPoint presentations
- Video presentations
- Webinars and web conferencing
- Audio
- Games

Secondly and the most challenging was how to make an Interactive Power Point to be used in my classes in order to avoiding my students to get bored and in this way to improve their learning.

Now I am ready to start a new week!!!

Sylvia.

WEEK 5- MY REFLECTIONS

Another busy week that ends!!!!

I want to start sharing with you this quote:

“You don't need fancy highbrow traditions or money to really learn. You just need people with the desire to better themselves” .- Adam Cooper and Bill Collage 2006

During this week I learned interesting things about how to improve my teaching and obviously my students learning using technology!!

The first thing that I did was to create  my Rubric page:

 http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&module=Rubistar&rubric_id=2072292&

Rubrics are beneficial to students and teachers, provide a fair and objective way to assess student work,  measure student progress and encourage active learning among students.

WE CAN USE RUBRICS to grade projects and assignments that require subjective evaluation. Teachers create rubrics by first identifying evaluation criteria that demonstrate student proficiency in the learning objectives the assignment is trying to reinforce.

The evaluation criteria included on a rubric can help students identify learning goals and teacher expectations. Rubrics encourage active learning among students, who can monitor their progress by evaluating their work taking in consideration the rubrics.

THE WEB-QUEST is another technological resource in motivating students’  learning, this means it is a classroom-based lesson in which most or all of the information that students explore and evaluate comes from the World Wide Web. Beyond that, Web-Quests:

 

• usually (though not always) involve group work, with division of labor among students who take on specific roles or perspectives;
• are built around resources that are preselected by the teacher. Students spend their time USING information, not LOOKING for it.

Creating a Web-Quest was very demanding and I want to share with you mine:

http://zunal.com/process.php?w=108928

A PROJECT BASED LEARNING method is a comprehensive approach to instruction. Our students participate in projects and practice an interdisciplinary array of their skills. They learn from these experiences and take them into account and apply them to their lives in the real world. PBL is a different teaching technique that promotes and practices new learning habits. The students have to think in original ways to come up with the solutions to these real world problems. It helps with their creative thinking skills by showing that there are many ways to solve a problem.

Project-based work involves careful planning and flexibility on the part of the teacher. Because of the dynamic nature of this type of learning, not all problems can be anticipated. Moreover, sometimes a project will move forward in a different direction than originally planned.

Using PBL in teaching English is very important, it gets students active in their learning process, we as teachers put them in a path that deep in their knowledge and their skills learning in the future, allowing them to use not only their critical thinking skills  when they work as a team, but also it gives them the opportunity to make questions, do researches, collaborate, give each other feedback in order to get their project ready.

Sylvia.