Week 7 Reflections “Hyperlinking from One Place to Another”

I had my computer quit on me early this week. Not knowing what the problem is or how to fix my computer, I was in panic and discouraged that everything I installed in my computer would be gone. I learned one important thing. Technology is great and useful, but we cannot depend on it with 100 % blind trust. Digital recording is easy and neat without a pile of documented papers around, but it was old fashioned pen and paper that saved me.

This week in the course, we started off discussing difficulties on having a large class. The class size is one of the most challenging situations the teacher faces all alone. Even though students in college should have some personal motivations to learn English, the size of a class tends to make them passive learners. Unlike the difficulty that Dillip, Jonathan and Andreja have in teaching a huge class in a college, my difficulty is to motivate students who do not have a desire to learn or who are so hard to get excited about learning anything in a large class. I do not want to discourage those that want to learn in class by the class size.

Reading “Personalizing Language Learning in Large Classes” by Chao-ching Ling

( http://iteslj.org/Articles/Lin-Personalizing.html)

and “Teaching large Classes”

(http://www.uoregon.edu/~tep/workshops/teachertraining/largeclasses/usingtechnology/usingtechnology.html ) shows that it is possible to have interactive, student-centered lesson with the use of technology in spite of the size of a class. I realize that I cannot blame the size of a class anymore for not having success as a teacher.

In the beginning of week 7, I was thinking of a technical method to assess and evaluate students’ performance and developed skills. I enjoy making teaching plans with new methods but spending so much time in correcting reports and papers sometimes does not allow me to . All kinds of odd jobs take up my time at work. I hope I will gain wisdom to know when and how to use technology to focus my energy and time on what is needed with a humanistic approach.

Deborah’ thoughts in the comment in the reference room re-focused my goal. She said, “ConcepTests and Minute writes/QickWrite, most of these interaction-encouraging techniques are not graded by the teacher. If you encourage students to learn from each other, so much the better. Whether they learn from each other or from the teacher doesn’t really matter.”

Assessing and grading by teachers can motivate learners, but motivation does not have to be visual reword. I just need to remind myself that learning does not come from the teacher alone. Creating an environment for students to learn from each other or by themselves is a crucial job for me.

A lesson with the help of PowerPoint certainly could create an environment to make students want to participate in class. Thanks to the technical tips and sample examples from “Presenting with PowerPoint”(http://tep.uoregon.edu/technology/powerpoint/docs/presenting.pdf) and “Top 10 Slide Tips - basic information about making a better presentation”(http://www.garrreynolds.com/Presentation/slides.html),
I was able to enjoy creating a game, “What/Who am I?” The game has to be interactive between the teacher and students and between students. I want the game to activate students’ background knowledge to be ready for the upcoming learning.

When I visited Dilip’s blog and read his reflections, I found out he also thinks that we teachers try to find a best method to work in class but there is not one ultimate technique that works all the time and for every situation. We keep searching for new methods to teach. I think that is what the teacher does.

Week 6 Reflections “Navigating Students through the Rubrics”

While grading papers for my students, I wondered if I was really teaching anything to my students. The article, “Alternative Assessment and Second Language Study: What and Why?” by Charles R. Hancock http://www.cal.org./resources/digest/hancoc01.html makes me think the tests that I give my students in my class does not fully help and motivate their learning.

Charles Hancock mentioned in his article that there is a difference between tests and assessment. “The test is usually kept hidden from the students until it is administered and it is sometimes viewed as feedback concerning students’ progress, while assessment is usually ongoing strategy through which student learning is not only monitored but by which students are involved in decision making on the degree to which their performance matches their ability.”

Through assessment, students can evaluate their own performance. I think implementing assessment using a rubric to show students clearly what is expected of them in my class is very beneficial. In this way students will become more responsible of their learning and adjust themselves to the expected level. I see that it is important for a teacher to set the course for students’ `self-assessment` and `self-adjustment`. It is one way to create an autonomous student.

This week we learned to make a rubric with the help of “Creating a Rubric: Tutorial” (http://health.usf.edu/publichealth/eta/Rubric_Tutorial/default.htm/ ). I found it very challenging and amusing. I made rubrics for my webquest, ”Exploring Castles in Okinawa”(http://questgarden.com/96/22/9/100211050643). The most essential work was to keep the objectives in mind and make criteria clear. I am still not sure of my rubric being effective enough to create motivation in my students. I am a little afraid to even use it. What if it is over their heads?

Another thing I learned this week was that learners have their own styles and we all have our own preferences of different learning styles. “Learning Styles and Strategies” by Richard M. Felder (http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Learning_Styles.html) teaches me to see students from different angles and makes me feel responsible for my students’ learning.. If the technology is to broaden the chance for any type of learners to be successful, why should I not take an advantage of it?

The newspaper article in Japan Times on Feb.20, “Wakayama school uses iPod Touch for English lesson” says that an elementary school is implementing i-Pod as a teaching tool. (http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100220f2.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+japantimes+(The+Japan+Times%3A+All+Stories)&utm_content=Google+Reader)　
We teachers need to prepare for the surging waves of this new educational revolution coming from Web.

Week 5 “Taking Students on a Field Trip to the Web”

Though having used different tools to motivate students before, I was always a grammar-based, very traditional teacher. Traditional teacher-centered lesson is not all bad, but I think that made students passive learners. What teachers need to do is to train students to be independent learners.

For that purpose, project-based learning and WebQuest type tools, when used properly, will be very beneficial to the educational system.　Students will have a specific topic to talk about, otherwise they are sure to talk about what TV program they watched the previous night. It would be so hard to stay still and keep quiet for 50 minutes. When they have a project that they have to finish in a certain time limit, I am sure that what they talk about in class is their project. Many of the questions I would receive would be about how to deal with the project or what this sentence means instead of “Can I go to the restroom?” What could make a teacher happier?

So, I think a well-thought-of project based learning lesson will change students’ behavior as well as teachers’. I would rather spend much more time thinking about my lesson plans for students than any other odd jobs that are required to do as a public servant.

In “Less Teaching and More Learning” (http://www.ncsall.net/?id=385 ), Susan Gaer said that her students develop a sense of community. I see the project –based learning could create the learning field to connect students to each other. My first technology-assisted PBL is “Intergenerational Activity on Saving Local Folktales”. The reason I chose this topic is that I wanted to make a connection between the young and the elderly to preserve a part of Okinawan culture and good old folktales told by them.

As the birth rate in Japan is going down, there will be a lot less children and much more senior citizens. But working with the elderly is not so appealing to young people and there are not enough workers in nursing homes or rehabilitation facilities. I hope this project will help my students interact with the elderly as well as appreciate their rich culture.

Another thing we learned this week was creating a webquest.
Thanks to the clear and precise explanation on Zunal WebQuest Maker (http://www.zunal.com/part1.php ) and WebQuest. org (http://www.webquest.org/index-resources.php), I was able to understand its concept. It has been quite nerve wracking. It took me much time making every component of a webquest, but every time I felt the burden making it, I went back to the goal, “what do I want students to learn through the inquiry I present to them?” The work has to involve the use of the web, discussion, team collaboration and cooperation and oral performance. I searched the web for projects that matched my topic, a kind of method I want to take and the English proficiency level of my students. I wanted the topic to be something related students to the community, and something some students are familiar or all of the students should know about.

I appreciate pioneers and predecessors so much for their hard work on creating webquests. On the base of their works I was able to make my webquest.
Without using the examples of the projects of “WebQuest Explore Oregon” (http://ces.nwasco.k12.or.us/staff/lhughitt/webquests/exploring_oregon.htm) and “Travel Brochure WebQuest” by Miss Kelli Grammes (http://www.beth.k12.pa.us/schools/wwwclass/kgrammes/kgwebquest/kgwebquest.htm#process). I could not have finished making it. The URL of my first webquest is http://questgarden.com/96/22/9/100211050643/ . It is unrefined and not polished but I enjoyed making it.

What I like most about school is I learn something new. This week I learned the web to be the field where students go around and learn by seeing and touching. The webquest would be a field trip. Teachers need to watch over their students and make sure they do not get lost. That is the metaphor I used for the web and webquest.

Week 4 Reflections “Web-Traveling Broadens the Mind”

”Traveling broadens the mind” has been true in my life so far. Yet, it is a bit difficult travel in cyberspace. Thanks to my instructors and colleagues, I have come to see so many great sites for instructors and learners, but my progress to become an E-teacher is still slow. Not being able to have my homework done properly makes me nervous.

However, there is a big change in me now. Taking the web-learning course has been changing my method of teaching drastically. I occasionally printed out web-materials and used them in the classroom and also had students research for the related articles before, but never have I used a website as a tutorial tool. This week I was exposed to several articles and many websites that are used as tutors such as “ESL Independent Study Lab,”(http://legacy.lclark.edu/~krauss/toppicks/toppicks.html) or ”Grammar Blast”, http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hme/k_5/quizzes/.

The direction of future education is going toward learner-centered approaches vice teacher-centered. I realized the methods I have been taking so far are very much teacher-centered. I had a lot of control over them. With the use of technology, it is time to give students a little more autonomy to learn. Each student has a different method to learn and we teachers need different tools to tackle the diversity of students at school and it helps them enjoy their work.
“Variety is the spice of life”