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.