Week 8

Another week is coming to an end and once again we have had the chance to learn a lot of new things from and with each other. The one tool that was realy new for me was ANVILL - A National Virtual Language Lab.It was a great opportunity to go back in time and see how things have improved since I started learning English back in the early 80's. I am really glad we have so many new, appealing, effective tools to offer our learners nowadays. The days of meaningless, boring repetition and recording to cassettes (!) are past and gone.
I have also managed to write the draft to my final project and share it with a peer to be analyzed and improved. It is still a work in progress specially because the students I have selected for it have not been able to produce much as it was first agreed. Time has been on the way again and I must find a solution to this problem.
As we had to create something for the course making use of any tool/website we have been introduced to so far, I have decided to create a class using NICENET for a group of novice teachers at the Binational Center where I teach. I really believe this is going to be very useful for them to express their opinions and develop critical thinking.
All in all, a very enriching week and a preparation for the conclusion of the course.
As I love music in the classroom I have just remembered this song that may be quite appropriate for the moment we are living.



Welcome week 9!

Week 7 - Autonomy

"A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary." ~Thomas Carruthers

This is the one quote that came to my mind as I was reading about Learner Autonomy and How It Can Be Fostered.
I strongly believe we teachers/educators should highlight our roles as facilitators in the classroom these days. Having so many resources, tools around to help students become more independent, it is crucial that we do our best to help learners select what can serve them the best.

A number of ideas I have were highlighted in the main text suggested for us to read this week. From these I would call attention for:

a) autonomous learning is by no means "teacherless learning";
b) it is not easy for teachers to change their role from "providers" of information to counsellors and managerss of learning resources

Motivation plays a very important role in this discussion of making learners more autonomous and, again, it is our job to try to show students the motivation they may have and are not aware of to be successful as language learners.

Last, but certainly not least, we had the chance to create a lesson plan based on the concept of one-computer classroom. I find it extremely important as this is the reality most of us live so far. We may dream of the days when we might have a computer for each student in the class. However, I think a lot can be done even when resources are scarce and that was shown in the great lesson plans I could see produced by my peers doing this course. As they say "Where there is a will, there is a way."

Week 6 - Interactivity and More

This has been another very intense week and I have learned so much from the readings and links within the readings and, of course, from the comments posted by my peers doing this amazing course.What a rich, diverse group! It's a privilege to be among them.
I believe that the introduction to interactive powerpoint presentations has been by far the most challenging one for most of us. I had had an introduction to it some time ago when I did another online course on webtools but it was a great opportunity to get my hands dirty again.
Of course, we must NOT forget this is just another tool we can use to engage our students more in their learning process. However, there must be a real purpose to use whatever tool we come across. A badly prepared teacher can ruin the best activity even if it is supported by the fanciest tool available. We go back to the basics : preparation is essential!

Another great moment of the week was the opportunity to interact with the Editors for FORUM (Max Koller and Tom Glass), an amazing publication by the United States Department of State for teachers of English and distributed abroad by U.S. embassies. I have been reading this magazine for a long time and it is a great resource to be used in the classroom. I think that for those who like writing, it is a great moment to start considering writing an article to be published in the future. It is certainly hard work but I am sure it is well worth the effort.
Have you ever published anything? Would you like to? Is there a topic you are particularly interested in to devote time and energy and write an academic paper?




I would like to conclude with a favorite quote of mine:

"Whoever dares to teach must never cease to learn". - John Cotton Dana

Week 5 - Alternative Assessment and More

We have come to the end of Week 5 and as usual there has been so much learning! Our discussion thread has been around alternative assessment and I have been particularly interested in this topic. Coincidentally I had been involved with the Mid Term Exams (Written Tests) in our center this past week and that is the main form of assessment we use.
After reading the suggested articles and also the very inspiring comments of my peers I feel a bit "sad" as I see we are doing so many "wrong" things.
Our moderator, Carl Falgraf, was very thoughtful in that he showed us there is no such thing as right x wrong when it comes to assessment. We have a number of issues to consider according to our schools' policies and even the government rules about educational assessment. There are different forms of assessment and they are not simply good or bad.
Another thing that I liked a lot was the possibility to learn more about creating Rubrics using Rubistar and WebQuests - something I want to devote more time to apply to my teaching practice.


Wish you all a great end of Sunday and welcome to Week 6!

End of Week 4

We are almost there and to quote a beautiful song "Midnight, not a sound from the pavement..." I would like to announce the end of such an enriching week - Week 4.
We have all learned so much from the websites we have been visiting I feel we have lived a month in a week, maybe more, much more.
The lesson plans which have been written adding a technological element are all very much inspiring and I feel particularly tempted to try them all.
As I have decided to use a blog in my project I remembered the video embedded below which beautifully shows us why we should motivate our students to write, open their hearts and blog, blog as much as possible to reach a greater audience all over the world.
What are you waiting? What's your next blog post?
Welcome week 5!