Week 7

So, here I am, writing a week 7 reflexion on my not so modern and not so blogspot friendly mobile phone. The only thing worse than having no connection is having no computer! My PC has broken down and besides buying a new part I will need a lot of patience and hope that all the data will be restored. Meanwhile, I've been using my mobile for checking my mail and reading the Nicenet discussions. Fortunately, I have already finished all the tasks for week 7. Unfortunately, I lost some precious time for writing a project draft.

Under construction (the image was added after fixing my PC)

Except the problem mentioned, everything else regarding the project goes fine. I would say 90 percent of my students are actively participating and slowly moving towards the end of the tasks given. 10 percent of them still doesn't take the project seriously enough. I would say the reason for this is the fact thay they are not used to using Internet actively for learning purposes. I will try to explain to them again the importance of online collaboration.

What I found exciting was the fact that some parents have showed interest in project and used Edmodo for asking questions and leaving comments.

The only thing that concerns me right now is: Will my students be able to meet the deadline? They are actively discussing, collecting information and they are collaborating which was my very first goal towards developing integrated language skills, but there is still one week to go before I get to see their Glogs and their dance performances.

I would also like to mention that this week we have been reading and discussing about learner autonomy and about one computer options. My classmates have shared some innovative lesson plans and I will definitely note down each lesson plan and try them out during the next term. I would also like to think that my project promotes learner autonomy, but my webskills partner Georgia is the first to judge about that in three days and later on our mentors as well. Lookin forward to week 8 and even more to fixing my computer!

Week 6

As I have mentioned at the beginning of the course, I want to improve collaboration in my class. I want them to collaborate online and offline, inside and outside the classroom and more importantly I want them to get used to this type of work as something usual and regular. If my ‘experiment’ succeeds, I will use the tool I have chosen with my other classes as well. 

Still blurry, but I can see the lights in the distance. 

I have decided to use Edmodo, as something rather new to me, to students and to teachers in Serbia in general. Edmodo promotes collaboration, group work and hopefully PBL and it is a platform which allows for anytime anywhere communication between students. One of the reasons for choosing this platform is an option of sharing files and documents easily. It also reminds me visually of Facebook and my students are already familiar with that social network more than enough, so that could be an advantage. I have already used one of my lessons for introduction and instructions. I have divided my group of 16 students into four groups and assigned the tasks. My project is going to be student-centered as much as possible and the topic is ‘Dances’. I will only give the tips and additional instructions, but they will have to collaborate and rely mostly on themselves as a group and as a class if they want to succeed.

The next phase of the project is going to be done outside of the classroom and it includes online discussion, web search and of course the magic word ‘collaboration.’ Of course, I will be a part of it as I will be monitoring their collaboration.

This week the discussion on Nicenet has been livelier than ever. There have been many interesting suggestions regarding the use of interactive Power Point and many original examples of presentations posted on Wiki and I will probably use at least one interactive presentation during the project.

I have to admit that stepping into the week number 6 has made me a little bit sad, because we are slowly moving towards the end of the course. When I was reading the posts of previous participants who mentioned sadness because of the end of the project, to be honest I thought they were overreacting. However, I think I can understand them much better now.

Oh, I almost forgot. I know you are all very busy, but I invite you all to sing along the song I have posted here and feel free to have a look at other pages, too.

Week 5

This week we have been discussing about PBL. I find PBL highly motivating, even for those usually not interested in learning, especially when combined with technology or something practical. It also promotes teamwork and collaboration; it provokes communication and cooperation and ends with pleasant emotions of pride and satisfaction. As I have once said, there is no greater reward than seeing all of my students being very busy making a robot made of pieces of toys, a paper rocket, a wooden bridge or musical instruments.

(Science Olympiad Project, a robot made of pieces of toys by the 5th-graders. The robot can move, too)


PBL is also perfect for implementing alternative assessment. We have been introduced to Rubistar, a tool that helps the teacher who wants to use rubrics. This useful tool, Rubistar, provides generic rubrics that can be adapted, published or printed and it will certainly help me revolutionize my grading when my students are doing the projects. I have created a rubric on creating a poster for the 7th grade, but I have slightly changed some details, such as points. Using rubrics allows me to mark different aspects of projects, such as creativity, organization and timelines.

We also had an extra task, creating a WebQuest. At first I was a little bit confused by this tool, but then I read the tips on Nicenet and created my very first WebQuest about Strange Instruments. I find this activity very enjoyable and I will definitely use this tool for my future projects.

We have also discussed about our problems regarding the final project and named the tools that could help us in solving the problems. This thread on Nicenet is one my favourite and I will often come back to it in search of useful ideas and tools.

I have to admit that this week has been the most stressful to me, because of my busy schedule, but I gave my best to do all the tasks. The next week I have a two-day school trip, so I have to organize myself the best I can.

Week 4

These three things left an impression on me during the fourth week:

1) Describing issues or problems – It was interesting to read and learn about the problems of other teachers in teaching and compare them to mine. Although I have posted one problem of mine: Collaboration, I actually share most of the problems named in different classes. It will be interesting and of course useful to see at the end of the course how all these problems were solved and try something similar to solve my own. By the way, the problem I wrote about is actually more a challenge to me, than the actual problem, but I hope to find a unique solution not only for one of my classes, but for all the others as well. It is also a piece of a bigger puzzle and while solving the problem of collaboration I will try to improve all the language skills of my students and try to make learning more student-oriented. It will certainly not going to be an easy task, but I have to make the difference, as these boys in the video did!
(Note: duration 5 minutes and you can watch it in full-screen format)

2) Reading/writing skill-building–  This week we have been doing reading, writing and vocabulary skills and my classmates have suggested loads of sites. Not only did I find many of the links on Nicenet useful, but I plan to add them to my Delicious page, too. There is a great variety of authentic material and suggestions to apply in the classroom or outside the classroom. Of course, the next step would be choosing the right websites for my students and incorporating them in teaching.

3) Creating a technology-enhanced lesson plans – This was I guess the most interesting part of the week. I had to make a good technology-enhanced lesson plan and to include the ABCD objective. This task came at perfect moment, since we finally have internet access in the computer lab. I also had the opportunity to read other lesson plans and to see how other teachers use technology, what websites and tools they suggest and what goals they accomplish by introducing technology in teaching.

I am looking forward to the 5^th week and new tasks. Time certainly flies but it seems to  me as we have just started this interactive journey!

And for the end of this reflexion, here’s a funny website which combines reading and drawing. It could maybe even be used as a warm up activity for a lesson on dragons, creatures, fairytales or if you are teaching imperatives: http://www.drawastickman.com/index.htm