The One-computer Classroom

The One-computer Classroom 

Its is not possible and always necessary to go to a computer lab to support language teaching with the modern technology. In the second part of the week I have read and discovered innovative ways of using computer in class. I found it interesting reading other teachers experiences in one-computer classroom. I highly appreciate the idea and suggestions of Natalia about "Self access center". I will establish my own resource center for my classes to visit and use anytime they want to.  

Learner Autonomy

Learner Autonomy - a long way to go

As every week this week contained another interesting topic. This week's articles about autonomy and how should students take charge of their learning with the help of their teachers were inspiring. Ideas presented on the group Nicenet forum only confirmed that so far there some pioneers who have changed their teacher's methods and started to work their way towards autonomy.

After reading some comments of other participants I have discovered that I am probably more lucky than they are because the environment I work in allows me to support my students' autonomy and lifelong learning. Just the way I am learning now about the web applications where my councilors are my colleagues and course instructor, students at school should get the same chance to experience this way of learning.

I personally think that it takes long time for students to become autonomous. Nevertheless, modern technology can only support student's learning and the great thing about technology is that it allows teachers to move from a role of models, controller and organizer to roles of facilitator or councilor. Just as this week I could learn more about the topic of "Learner Autonomy" with the help of Wallwisher/Padlet. Is is an interactive tool which allows students to upload texts, videos and pictures on a wall where everyone can see and read them and this is one way of how to support learner's autonomy.

      

Teaching large classes / PowerPoint Presentations

Presentations

To tell the truth I was not a real fan of PP Presentations. Do you ask why? Well, so far I had some possibilities to see PP Presentations done without any interactive tools and I got bored watching them and listening to the presenter. However, this week has changed my relationship towards presentations. New ideas of how to use presentations, tips and tricks, interactive games and quizzes have shown me new ways of how to use presentations. Quizzes and interactive language games are my plans for the future. I have already created a presentation and presented it to my students. I think all the articles with tips and helpful ideas which were presented this week like Garr Reynolds Presentation and Make Use of Powerpoint are useful websites which helped me to prepare my slides.

Thank you colleagues for mentioning Prezi, Sliderocket or Zoho . They all seem to be useful for me and my students because on our school's computers we do not have Microsoft Office software installed and they might be a solution of how to present.

Teaching large classes

This week was also about using technology tools in large classes. Because I am a high school teacher I do not get a chance to teach more than 25 students. I know it is also hard to get smaller class engaged in listening, reacting and working on what teacher tells but teaching a class of 40 teenagers and more that is a real challenge some teachers have to face. I can tell I am the lucky one but also would like to use tech tools like Moodle, Blackboard and the one we have at school. Because I have used our school's e-learning version for testing students' knowledge and skills I know how to create a simple test but this week I have learned more about how to create a good quiz question and learned about pros and cons of using online assessment tools. At the beginning I kind of liked our school's e-learning tool but soon found out that I cannot upload audio files to test listening comprehension and also the amount of questions was limited.

This week I have enjoyed quite a lot even though there was a lot of reading but quality of the articles was very high. The articles about how to get students engaged were inspiring. I will use the ideas mentioned there to get my students motivated for class. Article about Just in Time Teaching inspired me and I see it as a new way of how to present homework or self study to students. Despite it was originally developed for use in physics education I see some possibilities in teaching English when doing some conversation to certain topic. This way students prepare for the next lesson review the previous one and do some research which they would not do.

Week 5 - Webquest and PBL

This week had moved me another step forward to become a modern teacher. 

After reading articles about Project Based Learning and Webquests I thought to myself, I can do the same and will try it in my classes. My students also need reasons to learn English.

With the help of technology and modern ways of teaching like Webquest I have prepared an interactive PBL with the help of Zunal Webquest maker. It has opened new horizons to me and I think Webquests will become part of my teaching. However, to become a premium user of Zunal Webquest maker is not for free and only a very basic options are for free. Because I am just beginning using Webquest it is enough.

Finding out about how others deal with their problems in using technology in their classes made me think of my problems. Some solutions to my classroom problem were discussed in the week 4 so I went back and have read it thoughtfully. I have decided to support my students writing skills with the use of Pen Pals and e-mail exchanges.

I have visited some sites like The Teachers Corner, International Pen Friends and ePals.
I found them quite useful and will use these sites as a support for teaching writing skills to my students.

I hope next week will be as fruitful as this one.

Matej

Week 5 - Alternative assessment

Rubrics

Thanks to Rubistar I have been able to create my first multitrait rubric. I have used a very simple form of rubric for assessing writing of my students. They knew beforehand what I was assessing (Grammar, Content, Vocabulary, Layout). Maximum points 5 minimum 0. But they did not know what were the points equal to.

However, after creating a rubric on Rubistar they will be able to see exactly what are 3 points in Vocabulary trait equal to and so on. Later they will be able to give similar feedback to their classmates. I think that it will soon become a feedback students will be getting from most of the teachers at our school.

Week 4 - Lesson plans and much more

Reading and writing skills websites

This week was dedicated to websites which I did not use very often in my classroom. It was because I did not know about websites like Breaking News English or Write or Die.

I can see my students more motivated in doing these writing exercises than before and this is why I always wanted to this course. I can feel it that I am improving in my ICT skills and new technology which I use in my teaching is used more effectively. Thanks to my colleagues I have learned again about new websites, applications and have read useful articles and comments. 

My week was not an ordinary one because I was accompanying students and colleagues from our German partner school on a skiing course. However, I got a chance to discuss the topic of web skills with them and compare my knowledge and use with theirs. I can say that this course is helping me a lot and things learned in the course are necessary for my future teaching. 

I really like that I could create a Google Document thanks to Courtney's instructions. I have never done it but will use it and mention it to my students and colleagues. Because the course has to have an outcome this week I focused on my Final Project and identification of possible issues in my class.

I feel more confident about using ICT in my class and I am looking forward to the week 5.