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