" Interactive Lectures & Large Classes " Is it a dream?

I can answer the question saying "Certainly not.". This answer is a result of the readings that we came across this week and the experience that we shared together.

When it comes to large classes the magical sollution is usually the lecturing technique. We do not have to consider lectures a one way mode of communication any more. The 36 different format for making a lecture interactive, at   http://www.thiagi.com/interactive-lectures.html  ,  is a proof of that. Some of these techniques happened to be familiar to some of us.Sometimes I use techniques like "Best Summary" ," Brainstorming","Fictional case study",and "Idea Maps" in teaching and training even if the classes are not large.
Izabella found the techniques presented by  Rick Finnan and Donna Shaw "Enhancing Learning by Engaging Students" at: http://umbc.uoregon.edu/eteacher/webskills/material/engaging_students_handout.pdf/,
similar to what she is using sometimes as well.

This is  a natural phenomenon. Theories are usually built around best practices from real world.

The best Practise is a result of the person's real situation Perhaps this is the reason that made me focus on the idea if interactive PowerPoint in my posts at  Nicenet  as a way of interactivity.

My classmates mentioned different  useful ideas related to making the large classes interactive in the assessment stage. Stephen  mentioned  SMART Senteos, Janet highlighted the Clicker technology,Others propsed on-line testing. I found these techniques useful but difficult to apply in my situation.

Technology sometimes fails. This week I suffered alot doing my tasks because of problems with PCs and net connections.
No matter how marvellous the things we can do with tech., it should not be our only source. "Naked teaching" is a source of power and interation.

I am happy I managed this post. I'll be leaving before things go wrong.

Yours

Hanan

Interactive PowerPoint:

This week I have learnt so many tricks about the use of PPT and the ideas of dealing with large classes. These tricks add power to the teacher and so I'd like to start by quoting Stephen" PowerPoint is powerful"


During last week Deborah included the concept of "constructivism " while learning about WebQuests and PBL.

This week the concept is related to "Interactive PowerPoint and the idea of engaging students. I can see that it is related to "social constructivism" in the sense that learning is a social act. Our own knowledge is based on the idea of our input into meaningful messages that can help out fitting among groups.More on these ideas can be found at:

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/5630897


That kind of transfer is not "haphazardeous".It is one that goes through a continuum. Therefore, the concept of scaffolding is an essential one in preparing any interactive presentation.
The ideas posted by Deborah in her "Interactive PowerPoint Presentation" help that concept a lot especially the concept test and the hyperlink jumps. I have uploaded mine at the wiki page titled" My interactive PowerPoint". It is about the use of PPT to teach present continuous for third graders based on a lesson from the textbook.

I tried scaffolding in my PPT by starting a review in a form of a quiz. Then, I tried to create the kind of interaction within the individual to enhance the intra - linguistic intelligence. Then, I tried introducing a new language pattern through the pictures colors and motion. Next, the application stage is at hand for students to form a pattern that has graded from writing two missing words to the whole pattern.

Creating my own PPT added to my skills in doing hyperlinks. The first response was to Arjana who liked it . Thank you Arjana and your comment made me more decisive on integrating teachers of younger learners in our developmental plans,

I still find some techniques, i.e. " jeopardy", challenging ones. I 'll keep trying.

Yours

Hanan

Week 5 Webquests Projects:

It is the end of week 5 and the middle of the course.

This week we had to do different tasks:

• To read and discuss project based learning
• To describe some changes to follow using technology
• To create a rubric
• To create a webquest as an extra credit

Thinking of these activities, I beleive Deborah led us into a poject based technique to creating the webquest which is another " delicious " tool introduced to us during this course. I learnt about Presi this week at :

http://prezi.com/
while exploring some of the example projects at the links  provided.

This week I had to go back to what I prepared during week 4 and week 2 and to start thinking of the project that I proposed during week 2.  While I was writing the proposal of the project, I was thinking that it is a dream. Today with the tools that we learned , I think it is a dream that almost come true. Some of its parts are already available at   "Task Based Learning"

 http://www.zunal.com/author.php?w=66733




To be frank, I  've been into the components of the coming weeks and I think it will be true.
As usual, sharing the ideas makes the most  value of this course. This week I had the same opinion as Camelia,Azhar and others about the use of  wiki and webquest as a beneficial tool in teaching. I share Khuloud's opinion about the extra time technology needs for planning and preparing.We enjoy the tools which are easy to use, but this is summer time. I am wondering how much time would a teacher need for preparing a webquest for a whole module?

Surfing through some of the webquests,  I found the answer to the inquiry. Although the webquest could be for a whole module , it could also serve as an extension activity for reading  or grammar, just as our colleagues Stephen and Arbi have respectively proposed.

Perhaps one of the nicest ideas I learned this week was proposed by Arbi about the use of the WI camera to make interactive board.I hope he shares the link on his blog. I value the idea because it will help make better changes in the classroom setting  with limited resources that we have available.

I can foresee slow changes , but ones definitely coming.

Yours

Hanan

Week (4) Around the world in ........

Just as I started writing, the first idea that came to my mind is Verne's famous story  "Around the world in 80 Days "

The experience this week is  really a journey around the world. I remembered Azhar and Stephen discussing the richness of the course at its beginning. This week is a realization of the idea. Through the detailed and "fatty"  lesson plans ,as described by Arbi, I have been able to draw a picture of the classroom settings in different parts of the world. Wondering among the rich tech environments and the less fortunate ones, the key player is the teacher anh how do teachers manage things to the best of their students.I think I end up with:

• Abundance of web pages added to my glossary.
• Well developed lesson plans on different topics that could be easily used.
• More tips to refining my search

Amazing , yet not finished journey, I'll keep flying .

Yours

Hanan

Technology Enhanced Lesson Plan

Week 4 assignment:

 

A sample lesson plan with technology:

 Class:

Eighth Grade Students / Reading Activity / (14-15 years old ) Mixed level 40 -45 students in class. Integrated Skills.( Focus Reading & writing)

Duration: Two lessons 40 minutes each.

Materials:
The lesson is to be conducted at the computer lab with net connectivity. The web pages included in the plan are basic materials for the lesson.

 

 Other Materials:

OHP / CD / Handout for cross words and graphic organizers ( KWL , Venn Diagram) .printer

Introduction:

 During the introduction, teacher reviews the previous lesson :

 

Topic: Environment (Ecosystems) / Ice and Tundra, using the PPT and highlighting the main vocabulary items:

 

 ABCD objective:

Knowledge:

 Students (A) will define the following words ( B) after watching the PPT ( C) using their own language ( D)

 

 Ecosystems: /  Ecology:  /  Community: /  Habitat:

Objectives of the two Lessons :
Knowledge and comprehension:

 

1. Students will describe two different ecosystems ( Desert , Grassland) using graphic organizers handouts after reading from the web page provided by the teacher.

Application:
2. Students will develop a two paragraph essay comparing and contrasting the two ecosystems based on the ideas written on the Venn diagram graphic organizer.
Affective :
3. Students will appreciate the importance of protecting nature after participating in group discussion for 15 minutes.

Synthesis and Creativity:

4. Students will prepare at least one blog on an ecosystem they have not read about using pictures different from the ones at the provided link and their own language using the Blogger technology.

 

Procedures:

Lesson ( 1)
 Warm Up : ( 10 minuets)
At: http://a4esl.org/a/c3.html
Students go to level 4 Planet Crossword at http://iteslj.org/cw/1/ck-planets.html
download , print and do the activity

 

Objective 1:

Students will describe two different ecosystems ( Desert , Grassland) using graphic organizers handouts after reading from the web page provided by the teacher.

The class is to be divided into two groups (a) (b) For basic reading stage
Students use wwf.panda.org search engine: .about the earth title

• Group (a) : follow the link :http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/ecoregions/about/habitat_types/habitats/desertsand read about (Deserts)
• Group (b) follow the link: http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/ecoregions/about/habitat_types/habitats/grasslands/ and read about Grassland
• In each large group pairs of students sharing the same PC will be doing the task together as the number of PCs in the lab is 20 PCs.With classes of over 40 , some groups will consist of 3 SS.
• Both groups use (KWL ) downloaded PDF from:http://freeology.com/graphicorgs/pdf/kwl.pdf     (20 minutes)
• Each group discusses the sheets, choose a presenter to describe main ideas to the class.

 Home work :
1. Find out the adjectives you wrote on your KWL sheet describing the ecosystem.
 2. (Optional) Post activity ( Additional Vocabulary Enhancement ) : http://a4esl.org/a/c3.html
   Vocabulary quiz about animals idioms

 http://a4esl.org/q/h/9807/km-animalidioms.html

Alternative : Printed one

 

Lesson ( 2 )
Warm up : (5 minutes)
Listening practice:    www. manythings.org
ADJECTIVES:
   At    http://www.manythings.org/b/e/2341

 

Objective 2 ( 20 minutes )

• Students will develop a two paragraph essay comparing and contrasting the two ecosystems based on the ideas written on the Venn diagram graphic organizer.
• Having their sheets with them, the same groups as the day before, every second SS switch to the opposite group forming two new large groups.
• The class is then divided into 8 groups each one contain SS from the previous a/b groups The Venn Diagram PDF downloaded from: http://freeology.com/graphicorgs/pdf/venn1.pdf  is distributed to the groups. SS spot the similarities/ differences.
• Using their own Venn diagram, each student produces the two paragraph expository essay. For definition of expository essay refer to http://web.uvi/wguide/Pages/ExpositoryEssay.html  At the writing resource of Ohio Linguistics Department  http://www.ohio.edu/linguistics/esl/writing/index.html

 Objective 3 : Students will appreciate the importance of protecting nature after participating in group discussion for 15 minutes.

Follow up/ : Homework: ( Group Project) Objective 4 : Synthesis and Creativity:

 Students will prepare at least one blog on an ecosystem they have not read about using pictures different from the ones at the provided link and their own language using the Blogger technology and post it properly .

Learning Styles addressed in the two lessons :

 The three basic learning styles: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic are addressed.

 However if we consider the multiple intelligence theory then the types of intelligences included are:

         linguistic, logical, kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal and intrapersonal in addition to the natural            intelligence which should be clear in the final project

 Technology Alternatives:

 Printed sheets and cross words.

 Print screens of the reading sites for off line work , could be transferred to transpersancies used on OHP: downloaded clip on adjectives.

 PPT presentation is an alternative to the blog   

Hope I receive your feedback.

Yours truly

Hanan

 

Technology Enhanced :Reading & Writing

Starting week (4) : Lots of reading  

The articles provided on reading writing and vocabulary are great. I found a very comprehensive detailed presentation of the steps of writing lesson plans in Krajka’s article. It took me quite some time to explore all the links that were provided. Using the web to select authentic materials to suit certain genre is what attracted my attention most . Thinking of the technology tools available at our schools, I believe that downloading some of the material to be used off-line is feasible in my case.


Exploring “Ohio Department of Linguistics” at:

http://www.ohio.edu/linguistics/esl/grammar/index.html
I found a web portal on grammar called “Writing World .com “ on Grammar resources.

http://www.writing-world.com/links/grammar.html

The page I liked is the “Guide to Grammar and Writing “at: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/ It is suitable for intermediate students. The learners can choose from a variety of levels and get to self learning materials and assessment. This site could be given to students who have access to the net at their homes or used as enrichment activity during the lessons.

If I were teaching this summer, the site I would prefer to use for reading activities is “Breaking News “ at http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/ which offers variety of reading topics suitable to intermediate and advanced learners. I tried one which is” Chocolate is so good for your heart “ at http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1004/100402-chocolate.html

The page is very useful for teachers as it offers detailed activities and takes into consideration the integrated skill development with focus on vocabulary activities.

If we are working off line, it would be difficult listening to the text , so it should be downloaded in addition to the nice description available as PDF form at

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1004/100402-chocolate1.pdf.

I recommend this site for teachers who have difficulty working on line most of the time.

At the same portal, a link called ESL resources and worksheets opens at

“teachitworld.com.” I looked for activities for young learners having spelling in mind. To make use of the activities you need to register first, and it could be free. I found interesting worksheets with teachers’ note at http://www.teachitworld.com/index.asp?gclid=CMml8u2h6qICFY4_3god-wx79A

And a special one for pre-intermediate students at

http://www.teachitworld.com/attachments/13522.pdf

The ABCD objectives I would suggest for this page are :

1. Students of the sixth grade (A) will classify the hard and the soft “c” ,”g” ( B) according to a given example after listening to the teacher’s pronunciation( C) correctly( D) .
2. Students of the sixth grade (A) will discover the spelling rule for the hard and the soft "c" ,"g" ( B) by studying the examples in each envelope ( C) giving the right description of the rule in the allotted place ( D) .


It was a wonderful experience for me. Sure it will be wonderful to our students.

What about you?

Yours truly,

Hanan

Week 3 : Delicious to reflect on:

This week has been a wonderful learning experience.

I started the week early with the delicious account, even before Deborah's instructions arrive.It is really nice that Deborah started stating our learning objectives according to ABCD model just immediately after the task of ABCD.

Creating the delicious page was easy fun. Thanks to Deborah,she completed listing our blogs at :

http://sites.google.com/site/webskillssu2010/.  Using this blog is an addition to me this week.

Our discussions were nicely woven by searching about two related skllis, listening as a receptive oskill and speaking as a productive skill that naturally follow s listening.

Our search was also cosolidated by the list of  readings we have been through. Although I did not manage to read the three articles before writing my post  ,which was about Gong's article about speaking , I managed , through my collegues posts' , to get clear idea about the other two articles ,which were about listeniong and pronunciation, An act that embodies the value of a learning community. I think Stephen tends to agree with this idea in his blog post for the week.

My attention was driven to the three stages of teaching listening as they have great similarity in an approach called "Three Phase Approach" and I quote here few lines  byDennis Godfrey at the University of Minnesota  from his abstarct that you may find at:

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119628003/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

"Phase One consists of practice aimed toward increasing students' familiarity with and accuracy in processing intrasentential items and thus toward reducing the processing time devoted to intrasentential items. Phase Two pushed students to expand the time they have left over for processing discourse relations by requiring them to perform operations beyond those necessary for processing individual sentences. Phase Three consists of instruction in the types of discourse clues and continuities available to listeners and practice in attending to such clues and continuities."

Victoria has mentioned quite similar ideas in her blog. I have to reiterate that our search was driven by our available technology tools .

My blog , I keep discovering what wonders I may do. so I shared you something I learnt to do:

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world". ~Anne Frank


Yours

Hanan

Starting Week 3

Delicious

I have created my account on Delicious.
Thanks to Liza's post, and the simple instructions of the site, it is a success.
My URL
http://delicious.com/hkanash1971

and I tried it first with Liza's, Hope she does not mind
Happy Blogging

Week 2 : Project and Reflection

For me,this week needed an enormous effort to be able analyze the tasks then to sythesize them into a coherent whole.

Learning the refined web search was completely new staff to me .I spent days surfing the valuable links provided by our instructor.
By the mid of the week ,I described my class and after consultation with Dr. Deborah ,I decided to focus on the teachers, whom are my target group.
With the simple technology tools availabe, it was a challange designing a project plan for teachers. I chose to work on "Task-based approach"

My goal will be taking the teachers into a journey starting by covering the theoritical pedagogy behind TBL, sailing into the application of the method and finally, transferring the knowledge and skill to other situations. Accordingly, I set the ABCD objectives that I posted and which ,I think , are consolidated through the additional reading I did about "Six Step Approach " in instructional design about at:

http://med.fsu.edu/education/FacultyDevelopment/objectives.asp

and the "DADI" technique presented by Sanjaya Mishra at

http://www.slideshare.net/missan/instructional-design-for-learning-objects

My problem in training teachers is that I cannot get them out of schools often as they are being trained in sevice training. Technology is the sollution here.It will add to the quality of training without affecting the time of the students.
Teachers can have better access to the internet outside duty hours , so by creating a network , I will provide the theoritical material and the assessment for that stage.
Next step will be provding a demo lesson for them to follow,using the internet as well.I will be following them on-line.
At the implementation stage,I hope to video their performance and to share it for reflective feedback. Teachers will be learning from each other instead of just my reflection on the lesson. This process will lead to the final stage of creating similar lessons about teaching a different skill of language.

That was a quick summary of my "Project to be ". through which I will be applying what I learnt during this course through a topic that mt teachers need.
Of course, I expect difficulties and challanges. That's why there is always a plan B idea.

Finally, just to cheer myself and my classmates up, I would share Christopher Reeve
famous quotation with you all,

Once you choose hope, anything's possible.

Yours

Hanan