Week 10 : Wrap-up

"But I have promises to keep,

    And miles to go before I sleep,

     And miles to go before I sleep.”

                                                                                 Robert Frost 

Hi everybody,

1^st October 2012 to 7^th December 2012. It has been a very precious time for me. It is the beginning of a change, change in the perception of current situation, change in the pedagogic approach and change in educational vision. It is all because of the very well designed materials for the course, nature of weekly assignments, valuable sharing with experienced classmates and above all highly enriching and encouraging expert guidance from the course instructor. It is a beginning of new relationship with everybody. The course demanded rigorous attention. It covered a wide spectrum of teaching aspects and activities.

LoTi survey revealed a gap between the current level and the expected level of technology integration. The gap is too wide. It’s time for me to give a serious thought to my teaching practice, prepare a plan of action and make my students accept and adapt to the technology based learning environment to develop better knowledge, skills and competence through learning.

There are challenges ahead for me and my students. I learnt about the potential use of internet and various technology tools in this course. I consider it as the first step in the direction of desired change. Now as a facilitator, I should create favorable conditions for my students so that they can have better learning experience with the help of technology.

Thank you very much to all

Kinnari

Week 9- Learning styles - technology connection

Hi everybody,

I wanted to do my level best in the Final Project which I submitted this week. It was like setting out on a new venture. Initially that which was just a vague idea had to be converted into a concrete shape. Thanks to this course that I have been initiate to think on a different line, prepare a plan of action which I think is feasible and most relevant to the needs of my students. I had ups and downs in my mood as I underwent the process of brainstorming, visualizing, planning, referencing, creating resources, drafting, reviewing and revising. I developed lot of insight as I tried to develop points for different sections of the suggested format. 
  

I attempted a quiz on learning style from http://www.edutopia.org/multiple-intelligences-learning-styles-quiz Terry O’Connor observes in his article ‘Using Learning Styles to Adapt Technology for Higher Education’ that teachers have their own approaches to classroom and “to modify their classroom they need to begin by exploring their own styles”. I was slightly indecisive while ranking some of the criteria however on the whole it was an interesting exercise.

I think technology is like a polished diamond that has multiple sparking facets. It is a wonderful tool for those teachers who know its value and put it to proper use

Thank you everybody visiting my blog and giving comments from time to time.

kinnari

Week 8: Teacher Resources Online

A good education is like a savings account; the more you put into it, the richer you are.

I have experienced the effect of motivation during the course time and again. I am at the primary stage of learning webs kills as compared to all other students in the course. I have been greatly encouraged in all my attempts by the course instructor Robert Elliot right from the first week. This week my confidence level was much boosted as I received very positive comments from the peer reviewer Colomba RAZANADRAIBE for my 1^st draft- an outline – of the proposed project. Her suggestions are very insightful and I will be working upon them now as I prepare the final draft.

The preparation of the first draft was a stressful activity since I had to visualize, plan out and write a descriptive account of the proposed plan. Preparation of tasks, sequencing them in an order creating relevant additional documents, all this was to be managed within the time limit. As I see review my WebQuest once again I see lot of possibilities for changes and improvement. It is difficult to achieve perfection or let me put it this way: is it possible to be prefect in teaching? Is n’t there always a scope for further improvement?

I prepared the ‘Invitation to join ‘Listen and learn class’ form as part of task preparation this week. As I tried Google Docs I was just fascinated by the range of facilities available there. I am sure   this website is good enough to make a teacher most resourceful and innovative in the use of technology based tools in the class. The world of web is amazing and unlimited in scope.

Kinnari    

Week 7: Learner autonomy and one computer class room

Dear All,

I was always under impression that it is  difficult to foster learner autonomy in a large class.This week as I went on reading different posts in the discussion thread I came to know about many techniques. I realized that while working in the most traditional set up also one can try out various strategies in favor of students'   active participation and learning. The ESL teachers have started trying them to a lesser or greater extent under the CLT movement and as a result the overall competence level at English has gone up much in the developing countries. All the posts on 'one computer class' were also equally informative. I could not manage to respond there.

Time management was really very difficult this week. There was Diwali and New Year celebrations in Gujarat. I worked with full concentration of  Final Project Proposal writing and preparing a lesson plan on WebQuest. I have been able to prepare one finally after lot of brain storming and trial and error on www.zunal.com

Now I understand that in a country with large population and very  limited resources in the class rooms, it is very difficult to bring curricular changes. The change is taking place but at a very slow pace. For example, I could find only a only one university from India having a number of video recordings  suitable to my purpose.

Nicenet server is down. I was really disturbed and could not decide how to continue.

I am busy giving final touches to the report and will soon send it to my partner.

Kinnari

Week 6 : Creating Student-centered Classes and Interactive PowerPoint

I have planned for an EAP project. It will cover the aspects of academic lecture listening and lecture note taking for university level students who study English as their second language.

This week as part of preparations for the project proposal, when I started gathering more resources, I could find useful resources for lecture note taking. Now I have a small list of useful websites as resource for academic lectures. I must thank to Robert for sharing the websites.

The process of change is always slow in class teaching. The teacher works at multiple levels. One has to find out alternatives and make appropriate choices at every stage in order to introduce a change. When I started exploring websites for listening, I could see that there are very limited choices available for materials selection suitable to the background of my students. Either there is difference in language efficiency level or the content areas of podcasts and videos. I wish to select the materials related to their commerce curriculum, if possible, in order to generate their interest in this project. Although there is a difference in accent, reduced forms, speed of speaking, and lecture organization in the recorded e-materials and the local oral practices, I would consider it as strength of the project rather than a limitation. Rather it will help me to expose my students to a different variety of English. I think WebQuest is a good alternative for implementing change. I am trying to develop a lesson plan on WebQuest focusing on both the aspects simultaneously: academic lectures and note taking. I think I will be able to develop a satisfactory one within a few days.

It was a good learning experience for me to prepare an interactive power point presentation. It involved along process. Appropriate topic selection for a visually appealing presentation, finding out resources from net, organization in points and sub points, and proper hyperlinking.

Technology is a very good supportive tool but in demands huge amount of planning and preparation time on the part of the teacher. Things do not happen as per planning in actual practice. A teacher will foresee the situation of technological breakdown or disciplinary problems in the large classes. But time management at the personal level is a great challenge these days. There is hardly any assistance or support available from administration. Whatever technological tool one may select, whether email, ppt or other tools, it is a great challenge for an ESL teacher in a developing country, working in a traditional environment with limited resources.

Inspite of the situation as above, the ELT scenario in India is fast changing due to globalization. It is all due to increasing use of technology. Teachers have a great role in bringing about a change in the society.

Now we have our great festival of Diwali- the festival of light. It is the beginning of a new year in Gujarat.Let there be peace, prosperity and enlightenment in everybody’s life.

 

Kinnari

Week 5:Project-based Learning, WebQuests, and rubrics

This week I got an opportunity to learn in detail about Project Based Learning (PBL) and alternative assessment. There is an upcoming trend in India towards teaching through PBL. It has been incorporated in some of the state and central education boards’ syllabus. There are mixed responses. The common practice at the school level is that the topic is identified by the teacher and is assigned as home work for independent studies to the student. There is hardly any guidance given to the student during the preparation process. The parents are skeptical about the effectiveness of this approach since as per the current practice, they act as major support for their child for project preparation. Thus there is a huge gap between the theory and practice. I have proposed to prepare the final project following PBL to try to examine how this concept can be actually incorporated in teaching.

I prepared a rubric on RubiStar on ‘Press report writing’ It was a tough job identifying the areas of assessment and preparing the rubric. As part of the assignment preparation I visited NCLRC website I found it extremely informative. There is a possibility of getting the traditional tests either readymade online or in the books and so it reduces teacher’s job. However, preparing checklist or rubric could be much more interesting and desirable because such tools prove to be a source of guidance for the students as well as teacher for achieving the task related objective.

I did try to access WebQuest for the purpose of preparing a lesson plan but I found it tough. I think I will keep trying it and eventually might come up with a satisfactory lesson plan.

Looking to the topics learnt during the last five weeks I am sure that in the weeks to come, I will certainly be more confident about using web skills for the purpose of language teaching.  

 

Kinnari

 

Week 4: Skill-building Websites for Reading/Writing Skills and Technology-enhanced Lesson Plans

      “Each time we read, a seed is sawn in the future”

Jules Renard

This week the focus was on reading, writing and grammar skills.  When I read assignments of my colleagues and  the article by Jarek Krajka titled “Using the Internet in ESL Writing Instruction” and “Three Extensive Reading Activities for ESL/EFL Students Using E-books”  by Mei-Ya Liang, I have stated imagining myself experimenting e- materials and new techniques to make my classes more enjoyable and informative.

Internet is a boon for a skilled teacher but it can be a bane if one is not prepared for technical problems.  I had a glimpse of it which I was preparing my Technology integrated lesson plan on Google.doc. It is a unique platform for saving and sharing files. I was trouble because I was indecisive about the aspect of teaching to select and what e-material should I select as supportive material out of an amazing variety available on the net. I selected punctuation comma for e-practice however my main focus is writing and remedial teaching.

The problem selection for the final project was equally confusing. In the ESL learners are found less competent at speaking and listening as compared to reading and writing.  I found it difficult to design/ find readymade rubric for speaking skills.

I have been able to download very useful information on Learning Preferences, Levels of Cognitive Demand and Learning Modalities and Descriptors from www,ehow.com  Knowledge about students’ affective, cognitive needs and their learning preferences  is a must for the teacher to plan appropriately for the group

I am really thankful to all their valuable sharing.

Kinnari

Week 3: Skills building websites for oral/aural skills and saving social bookmarks with Delicious

The 3^rd week is  as hectic as the previous two weeks. The focus this week is on developing social bookmarking skills, collecting resources for aural and oral skills, and to prepare a review on a project report. I see myself growing in terms of information, skills and level of confidence.

Reading as a communicative activity is interactive and reflective in nature. The interaction takes place between a writer and his reader through the text, the reader also starts interacting with himself and a dialogue takes place internally. I experienced it while I read about the experiments of the students of the previous batches. A detail study of the model specimen projects triggered a volley of questions in my mind about my own teaching practices, my attitude to innovation, and the potentiality of technological tools in my teaching context. I could not resist from going through a couple of them from the suggested list.

I have now the firsthand experience of what is cooperative learning. I see that we learn better in a group and with the support of a group. We exchanged information and negotiated the relative importance of various technological tools and their pedagogic strategies for the proper incorporation of these tools. The www is a vast, intricate world. It is impossible to explore it extensively and to find out what is useful single handed. We joined hands, made a joint effort, exchanged information and now I know what I can use for my purpose. The time management during the week is sometimes difficult and stressful. The reason probably is I feel enchanted by the novelty and variety of the new medium of internet technology.

My Delicious webpage might help to sort out the problem partly because I will have a ready list of bookmarked sites to choose from for preparations and also practice teaching. A will have support from other members of this social bookmarking site- my batch mates who are able to handle internet more competently and are more resourceful that me.

The article by Lindsay Miller titled Developing Listening skills with Authentic materials discusses various technological tools for authentic academic listening practice. The article has helped me to resolve a dilemma about the use of right kind of materials for academic listening practice. Online listening materials hold better merits over the authentic listening materials since are more natural and therefore more close to real life situations. In case of large classes and limited resources at a teaching place, listening practice is possible outside the class either online of using other technological tools. But listening should be given equal importance as other skills in teaching and learning.

I am eagerly waiting for learning in greater detail during the coming weeks to improve my teaching styles.

Thanks

Kinnari            

Week 2: Learning objectives framework and effective web seraches

I welcome all my fellow participants to my blog once again. The second week is about to get over. I would like to note my reflections here.

I found the second week of the course more hectic but very enriching. Let me admit that I was not an internet friendly person so far. There was always ‘a fear of unknown’. Thanks to this course that I am getting confident now for using it for a serious purpose. Now I have visited a couple of search engines, made an appraisal and have added the useful websites to my list of ‘favorites’. I am more resourceful now. I know, it will help me to prepare for a class, actual teaching in the class and even for having guidance for evaluation criteria. I was reminded of the lines from a Hindi poet Kabir.

I searched and found the lines on http://members.shaw.ca/kabirweb/sakhis.htm The paraphrase in English is

Those who searched by diving into the deep water, found the treasure

 I foolishly feared drowning and remained sitting on the shore.

I did visit http://www.twurdy.com but  I still have to find out the positive points of this site. 

I have always felt that teaching is a planned, purposeful collaborative activity. Teacher performs multiple roles such as the decision maker, facilitator, researcher etc. The goal of teaching/learning is realized as a result of teacher and learner’s interaction and negotiation in the class. Today we aim at developing communicative competence through language teaching and learning. We prefer task based teaching. It is required that the objective of each task is planned well so that the whole exercise contributes to the main goal. Ideally this practice should go on on a continuous basis. I feel that although it is difficult in the beginning it is a matter of habit formation. It is a behavioral aspect of teacher’s professional life.

Now I realize that a teacher’s arena extends beyond class room. It is necessary for a teacher to know the complete background of the learner that is the sociocultural environment, individual strengths, educational trends, local teaching conditions etc. Needs analysis is the first stage in teaching process. It gives a sense of direction. I have just been initiated in the direction. I am enjoying my task. I know there is a long way to go. The suggestions from my course teacher Robert and all others help me keep up my enthusiasm.

 

Thanks

 Kinnari

 

Week 1: Academic Blog

I am happy that I have joined the course, " Building teacher skills through the interactive web".
Right in the first week I got a solution to a problem  which was nagging me since a long time.

I love being with students. However, at times I feel  guilty  when I see that I cannot pay individual attention to students in my large class. There are students with varying interest and abilities and all are eager to improve their communication. I have got a sense of direction now. Yes, I can use blogging as a complementary activity to class teaching. There is scope for freedom, innovation and therefore it can be a motivational tool for me and my students. I had heard about this wonderful tool but lacked clarity.

This is my first attempt at creating a blog. It was not a smooth process for me since I had to try hard to understand the internet terminology on the blogger's page. Much to my advantage, I found the instructions for creating a blog  supported by visual presentations in the reading materials. I found the home page of some of the sample blogs of past students very attractive so I was tempted to redesign my blog  using available templates and colourful background. 

I see that blog management is comparatively easy if as a teacher, I  have to manage only a single blog- a tutor's blog. Since the purpose there is to tap the individual experiences and to record  the reflections.   There are more challenges involved in to initiate and to manage class blog and learner's blog. As a teacher I will require to express myself from student's perspective and that too keeping a tab of time so that I may respond to them quickly.

I think its going to be equally challenging to attach an audio or video file.I found it equally challenging  to visit wiki and provide a URL to my co-participants so that I can get feedback from them.