Week 7: Learner Autonomy

     I'm glad I've done and learnt a lot of things this week. The suggested articles  aimed at fostering the development of autonomous learners. This week's topic made me reflect on my teaching. What I've learnt  is that we can make teaching very interesting without using spoon-fed methods. As somebody said:" Spoon feeding in the long run teaches students nothing but the shape of spoon". Sometimes teachers forget that they can't teach students everything, they can only help them find it within themselves.

     Teachers should go far beyond the transmission of knowledge and should empower students by assisting them in acquiring the knowledge, skills and strategies needed to become autonomous learners who can take responsibility for their own learning. Sometimes students learn only to pass the exam, not for the sake of learning and I dare say it's a tough situation. If teachers manage to change students' attitude towards learning then they can both get good achievements. Autonomous learners draw on their intrinsec motivation when they accept responsibility for their own learning: and success in learning strengthens their intrinsec motivation. The efficiency and effectiveness of the autonomous learner means that the knowledge and skills acquired in the classroom can be applied to situations outside the classroom.. Some good strategies and technologies could be a solution for this kind of problems. Technology is just a tool. In order to get students working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important. The teacher should organize his/her lesson and find the convenient techniques. Dealing with a language classroom the use of authentic materials is perhaps the most important point of the learner training.

     This week we've created a sample activity for one-computer classroom. It was easy and interesting. The readings helped us realize there are a lot of strategies to be applied in this kind of classrooms. When teachers weave structured, student-centered activities—based on digital ressources—into lessons, students appreciate the result. I really appreciate the activities designed  for this week and I hope I could use all acquired knowledge into practice. 

      Looking forward to the next activities!

Week 6. Getting Brighter with Interactive Power Point

     This week I've learnt how to integrate interactive technologies into the classroom and make my lessons memorable. The readings proposed by Robert and Courtney have been extremely helpful as they describe how innovative classroom instruction and student particiption can be achieved through the use of interactive techniques. The articles I've read focus on the powerful impact of the interactive techniques upon students learning. They highlight their benefits of using different interactive strategies in the classroom of different size.
      The main objective behind adopting such techniques while teaching is to remove the boredom among the learners and help them enjoy and comprehend the lesson well. The teacher must initiate interactive sessions in between the lesson so that the learners can voice out their opinions and express their views. In such a way students may dicover that learning is more fun than they previously thought.

      I' m overwhelmed by all the information provided this week. The topic "Interactive power point" has been very interesting  for me. I must admit I didn't know how to use games and quizzes on slides. As we were asked to create a short PPpresentaion. I did my best to make it interactive. I used a Multiple Choice Quiz on Travel Vocabulary, Blank slide and Quick Write. I tried to create a Jeopardy game but I failed, I'll try it later. Now, I'm thinking of some ways to improve/develop my PP and use it interactively in my classroom.
     And finally, I would share some reflections on my project. This week things have taken shape and I've made some steps towards the achievement of my final project.
     In my project I'm focusing on 14 students, (2nd year students) who face some problems: poor writing skills and lack of collaboration. Thus, I've chosen a Project Based Learning type of writing to help them produce quality writing products and collaborate on their writing assignments and namely, a Zunal webquest on making a class newspaper. The newspaper will be on line, and the authentic audience - the other  three classes I teach. This week we've made the first steps.
      On Thursday I met my students and explained to them the essence of the project. I organized a creative brainstorming on identifying the purpose of the newspaper, on what they know about newspapers. We discussed the structure of a newspaper; the difference between a news story and feature story; who is going to read the newspaper; what type of stories could go and the columns/sections of the newspaper. They got excited about the project and I hope they will show great interest till the end and produce nice writings. Tomorrow I'll meet them in the computer lab and I'll make them familiar with the webquest, exact asignments, assessment criteria and some ressources. I hope my plan works and my students like it.
Till next week.

Week 5 Sweet Tastes of PBL and WebQuests

     Finally, I'm relieved as I've done all my assignments though I'm not sure about their quality.  But as somebody said" Doing your best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment".
     This week has been full of activities, all challenging, interesting and worth the efforts made. I've read about PBL and WebQuests and thought about ways how they might work in my classroom. I'm fascinated by their beauty and utility as they ask students to learn in a new way. I've read Susan Gaer's article where she focuses on less teaching and more learning. She amazingly reveals that PBL builds trust between staff and students because the latter are given a voice and teachers are put in a place of learning right alongside students.
I came across a very nice poem written by Matti Helela   
        In education it is trust
       That gives a thrust
       It creates a positive atmosphere
     And learning can appear.                                                     
                 Sharing the responsibility
                 Enhances the ability
                 To learn the knowledge and skills
                 That give the chills.
Without interaction
We learn a fraction
Together we learn indeed
The skills we really need.
       

      The poem underlines the benefits of student-teacher collaboration / student autonomy. By going deep and taking an active role in their own learning, students retain a great deal more than when teachers "stand and deliver"

     This week we have started to look at different technologies that could be used for our projects. I've described some potential tecnology changes I would do in order to overcome the class issues described last week (poor writing skills and lack of collaboration). I must confess that at the beginning of the week I had butterflies in my stomach as I was supposed to choose the right tool that suits the problems mentioned above. I didn't know what technology could be the most appropriate. Now I feel lighter and renewed with enthusiasm thanks to Robert, our mentor, who helped me narrow my chaotic ideas and choose a good tool. I think a WebQuest on making a class newspaper would be a great idea. 

     After being a little apprehensive at creating a WebQuest I found it quite interesting. I've learnt the  different elements that go together to create it. Looking for the appropriate ressources for the task was time consuming but worthwhile. I've discovered such a wonderful tool to cultivate learners' autonomy.

      And this is not all. I've created my own Rubrics on RubiStar for one of my classes, namely for an essay "The Inernet - the death of the newspaper?". The rubrics are easy to create and could be applied for any lesson. They save time and establish good and clear evaluation criteria. The rubrics monitor the students' performance by showing them how to meet their teachers' expectations. I wish I could have discovered RubiStar earlier!  But as we all know it is never late........

    See you next week!

    
    

Week 4. Putting Precious Things Into My Bag

     Before summarizing the week activities I want to thank Robert and Melissa for their great job, guidance and help.

     Wow, this week everything has come up roses. Precious things have been put into our hands. We have read interesting articles refreshing our minds about ways to use computers to enhance writing and reading skills. We all know that its use has plenty of advantages. All we need is to think of good ways to integrate them into our classes so as to bring liveness, interest and motivation. Computers allow learners to read, create and share. They give students immediate feedback and can solve some of their needs. The most important benefit of reading using a computer is its ability to engage students providing them with guided practice situations. 

     An interesting and not so easy task was to design and share with the group a technology-enhanced lesson plan. Planning lessons or writing objectives is something that teachers do weekly as they are the bones of any classroom learning activity.  It's been my first experience writing a plan using techology and I don't know if I've managed to write it properly. I admit there could be some errors but again, mistakes are tools to make us aware and help us improve.

     With all these things on my plate I think my ideas have become brighter and I'll implement all this in my classroom. I've  enjoyed writing objectives in ABCD style. They help the teacher design lessons that will be easier for the student to comprehend and for the teacher to evaluate.

     The third task was to point out some issues or problems my class is experiencing. It was a little embarassing for me as there are more issues and I couldn't focus just on  one. However, I've pinpointed my students need so that I may carry out a need-driven technology project. 

     Honestly,  I don't know how to do it at this moment but I'll learn by trying. Actually it is not how good you are but how good you want to be. Perhaps the most important element in mastering the techniques of success is experience. But once you have the fundamentals, acquiring the experience is a matter of time. So, till next time.