WEEK 10

                              
                                                  Lake Chapala in Jalisco, Mexico
                                                   30 minutes from Guadalajara

This is the last week of the Building Teacher Skills Through the Interactive Web. I have mixed feelings: Relief, melancholy, fear of being back on my own again in the endless persuit of knowledge.  There is so much to learn, so much to share, so much to change or to improve.

                  A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.

                  -Henry Adams

This Webskills course has made me more aware of the variety of ways and technology we can use to involve our students in their learning. There were many topics that I consider were successful. I found that In PBL (Project Based Learning) learners work in groups to create a project. This promotes colloboration , a sense of community and more learning among class members. Blogging  not only helps to improve students´ reading and writing skills, it helps  foster critical thinking skills and creativity, not to mention learner autonomy. Learning about ANVILL (A National Virtual Language Lab) was eye-opening. A Language lab with multiple resources to help teachers plan a technology enhanced lesson. I loved participating in the Webinar that Jeff Magoto set up for us to explain how ANVILL works. I wish we had had more time to actively participate in the Webinar and to see and talk to our classmates. Then there are Larry Ferlazzo's lists of  great websites. Knovio is one I tried out and which proved to be quite useful for imbedding audio and video to a Powerpoint presentation. Discovering Delicious has allowed me to bookmark and save links to webpages that I do not want to lose track of. These are only a few of the many topics that proved enriching.

Special words of thanks to Jodi and Celeste for your dedication, for all your help and guidance. You two are absolutely great! My respect and admiration for you both.

WEEK 9

My Final Project Plan is in! I turned it in this Friday at 11:57 am., Oregon time. I wish I had had time to go over it at least one more time.  However, that's the way the cookie crumbles. I know first hand that late submissions are heavily penalized.  In the fall semester, I will carry out my plan to have my students create their own blogs and interact with eachother throughout my Advanced 1 English course.  The objective is to foster learner autonomy and to improve reading and writing skills through free and creative writing. I will continue to learn about technology by making periodic searches in the Internet and by having idea share workshops with the teachers in my language department.

This week we read about implementing technology taking into consideration Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles. In Education as in Health, it is wholesome that we, as teachers, procure a balanced diet for our students. In the New York Times article: Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits by Benedict Carey, the author states that when the outside context is varied, the information is enriched. Varying the type of material seems to leave a deeper impression on the brain, forcing it to make multiple associations. The suggestion is that variety is what counts and this is where technology comes to the aid by opening for us a vast range of both context and materials.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/health/views/07mind.html?_r=3&ref=benedict_carey

PBL (Project Based Learning) is perhaps the best way to achieve variety. PBL can be designed for individualized or collaborative learning. Auditory and visual elements are easily integrated, as well as metacognitive tasks. Organizing the project, looking for information, sharing it with team members are all actions well suited for the Kinesthetic learner. The websites and technological tools that we have learned about in this course can all be used in PBL.

Next week is the last of our Building Teaching Skills Through the Interactive Web course. "Time flies when you're having fun!"







Central Building Universidad Panamericana,
campus Guadalajara

                                                                                                      The Kiosk
                                                                                                                                                                                 

WEEK 8
This week went by so fast!  I found myself awakening to a new Monday morning and before I knew it, Friday was tugging at my shoulder. :)

I was able to send my partner Patricia Roldan, my Final plan draft. I decided for a plan because I finished my academic semester two weeks ago. There wasn't enough time to implement and then report on results. However, my plan for students to create a blog of their own and make weekly posts, is going to be useful for the fall semester. Blogging, I expect, will improve their reading and writing skills, as well as foster critical thinking and creativity.  
As this week's task of  creating a teaching resource, I'm going to make a survey on Google Docs that I will ask my students to answer. The survey will help me organize the project in terms of how much blogging the learn­ers should do per week, what topics should be included, how much background knowledge learners have of blogs, and what students expect to achieve by using blogs in the English class.

The Anvill Webinar made a positive impression on me. It's an amazing tool and it's free! It made me realize how lucky we teachers and students are at my university. We count on the technological resources and whenever possible we, in the Language department, organize teacher training sessions to update on teaching methodology and develop technological skill. Anvill, through it's features, Voiceboards, Forum, TCast, Livechat, etc., offers an attractive and integral context for language practice and perfection. Moreover, the very nature of the activities foster learner autonomy.

Universidad Panamericana, campus Guadalajara

WEEK 7
For me, this week's most relevant activity was reading about learner autonomy.   In line with the constructivist philosophy, Thanasoulas mentions that the autonomous learner takes a proactive role in the learning process, generates ideas and avails him/herself of learning opportunities, rather than simply reacting to stimuli provided by the teacher.  I find that encouraging the student in taking a proactive role entails allowing the student to make decisions in course content and class management. This is where Learning Contracts come in. I found the name rather out of place but the concept appropriate to the context. It is a joint process and negotiated agreement between the student and the teacher. It identifies the process and content of student learning but, most important, it defines the roles and responsibilities of all those involved in the student's learning, including the student. In addition to Learning Contracts, I read that portfolios, diaries and self or peer assessment are activities that foster learner autonomy. As Samuel P-H Sheu mentions, as English teacher in a university, I am fortunate to have the freedom to decide my lessons and exercises in the classroom. Since there is flexibility in the teaching practices, learning autonomy is practicable and achievable. However, primary, Jr. highschool and highschool teachers  might not be so lucky. They have to accomplish the tasks in the textbook and achieve the objectives of learning English in the school syllabus made by the Secretariat of Education. So much for the teacher education programs based on a constructivist philosophy that Mexico's government has developed and painstakenly implemented over the years.

On the topic of my Project task, I feel a bit anxious about the fact that I haven't actually sat down to write anything formal yet. I've gotten lots of ideas from a list of book marked web pages. I found an action research study by Kathleen Pinkman from Kwansei Gakuin University in Japan that has given me examples on how to organize and set up my project. In her report, Pinkman (2005) mentions that she first asked her students to answer a short questionnaire in which she asked them 1) whether they knew what a blog is and what they knew about blosgs. 2) What kind of information they wanted to talk about on their blog and 3) What purpose they thought using blogs in an English class had. With the information she collected, Pinkman wrote out her blog assignment rules which I find applicable:

• Every week you must write at least 150 words on your BLOG. Sometimes you will be able to “free-write.” This means you can write about anything you like. Sometimes, your teacher will give you specific instructions about what topics to write about in your BLOG. These topic will be related to issues that we study about in class.

•  You should make an effort to recycle vocabulary, expressions, and ideas that we discuss in class. This way you will be using the English that you study in class, and by using it you will have better chance or remembering it in the future.

• On each BLOG, there is an opportunity to “comment.” This means that if someone reads your BLOG, they can respond to it. Every week, you should read two or three of your classmates’ BLOGS and you should respond to at least one.
   
• Basis for rubrics:
  Do you write at least 150 words/week and comment on someone else’s BLOG ?
  Do you use the English (vocabulary, expressions, ideas, issues, etc.) covered in class?
  Do you make an effort to include and explain vocabulary, expressions, and ideas from outside the class (movies, music, literature, etc.)?

Reference
Pinkman, K. (2005) Using Blogs in the Foreign Language Classroom: Encouraging Learner Independence  http://www.jaltcall.org/journal/articles/1_1_Pinkman.pdf

WEEK 6
The academic semester in my university is over! I had the last class with my Advanced 1 group last Thursday and the following week they'll be having their final exam. Goodness, how time flies!

This week in the Building Teacher Skills course, I had the opportunity to read about interactive Powerpoint presentations, as well as take a look at techniques and technology that can be used with large classes. Powerpoints can and should provide interactivity both for in-class work and independent study.  More than simple slideshows, Ppts can be used interactively by including a video or hyperlink and asking students to anticipate information on an upcoming slide. Interactive games , tests and questionaires can be included using action buttons. Pair and teamwork initiated by including clear instructions and rubrics.

On the topic of Large classes, Celeste was kind enough to refer me to the Flipped Classroom technique or approach. She explained that students listen to a lecture at home (pre-recorded by the teacher). They send their questions to the teacher by e-mail and then in class students "do the homework" in pairs/groups/individuals. The teacher circulates and helps as necessary. She/He also addresses the e-mailed questions. Wow! I can do that by using the University's existing Podcasts in English or by producing and using my own. I'll give this a try in Fall semester!

Project Task 5
Creating a reflective blog  or a blog with a theme of their interest (travel, cars, sports, etc.), I believe would be an effective way of motivating students to read and write. Just as we do in this course, students would be asked to create a blog at the beginning of the course and make a weekly post plus at least one other on a classmate's blog. This would make for meaningful practice but it leaves me with the concern of how to assess my students' contributions. Rubrics. I have learnt from this course, can help me with the task. I have already found interesting webpages which provide information and guidelines. I shall continue to research the topic.

Assessing Student Blogs
http://blogagogy.wordpress.com/assessing-blogs/

A Rubric for Evaluating Student Blogs 

 http://www2.uwstout.edu/content/profdev/rubrics/blogrubric.html

http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/a-rubric-for-evaluating-student-blogs/27196

Template : Rubric for assessing student blogs and comments

http://es.scribd.com/doc/87332687/B4EE-Template-Rubric-for-assessing-student-blogs-and-comments

Maria Luisa

WEEK 5 

This week I read that PBL (Project Based Learning) is motivating when the projects are geared towards the interests and needs of the learners, in other words when they see value in the project.This calls for coming close and getting to know the students from the start so as to propose projects to their liking.

I also read about rubrics. Before today, I had considered them a bit of a drag, entailing long work sessions trying to come up with  applicable  standards of evaluation for each kind of learner activity.   Luckily, there is now RubiStar to help me with  the task!   I found that rubrics have the added potential to help students develop understanding and skill, as well as make judgments about the quality of their own work. 

 I learned about e-portfolios and WebQuests.A portfolio is a collection of work developed across varied contexts over time. It can advance learning by providing students with a way to organize, archive and display pieces of work. A WebQuest, on the other hand,  is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all of the information that learners work with comes from the web. It provides the student with a very organized and structured work plan.  I would like to give e-portfolios and WebQuests a try in my classes. They would constitute new, different and motivating ways of working in the English class.

WEEK 4
This week, we were asked to describe a problem that we have with our students. I explained that

when doing reading comprehension practice, we focus on getting the main idea of the text, looking for specific information, understanding vocabulary in context and making inferences. My students find this last competence the most difficult because, in my opinion, it requires purposeful, self-regulatory judgment which results in critical thinking skills: interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference. I stated that I would very much like to help my students develop critical thinking skills and, in consequence, reading comprehension.

In the article written by Frank Luger (2001) The Effects of Integrated Lesson Plans on Students

The Effects of Integrated Lesson Plans on Students | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_8552635_effects-integrated-lesson-plans-students.html#ixzz1u8uwVFTg

I was pleased to read  that the Michigan Curriculum Framework states that integrated lesson plans have the effect of enhancing the thinking skills of students due to the fact that each area  (listening, speaking, viewing, reading and writing) supports the others. Integrated lesson plans develop students´ problem solving skills, critical thinking faculties and creativity.  

In view of this, my challenge is to think of all the possible ways I can integrate technology into my lesson plans.