Week 6 reflections - Beginning the change

During this week we've learned new ways to engage our students and make more interactive lessons. 

Finally, this week I had the chance to "begin the change" through technology  by introducing the 10th grade students to the interactive power-point.

By using the interactive power-point, my aim was to encourage students to discuss and share their ideas about their favorite season, because usually they do not feel very confident about the use of their English when they have to discuss in front of the whole class.   

Firstly, students looked at some pictures where they tried to find out the seasons.
After looking at the pictures  they were asked to identify the seasons according to the pictures they've seen, and share ideas with their respective partners. Then, they were asked about weather. What weather do we have in each season? They watched a video about weather and then discussed about it. At the end, they were asked to write 5 things about their favorite season and to discuss about it with the class.

As I mentioned above, these students do not feel very confident when they have to share ideas or discuss about different topics with mistakes in front of their peers, and usually, it is very difficult to encourage them to speak in English.

However, during the activity, I noticed that they were more focused and engaged in their tasks and what is more important, they also had the courage to discuss and share their ideas. I can say that they were more motivated to use English in class, even though they made mistakes while discussing.

I started to use technology and the web with my students by giving them online homework (because of the lack of computers at school) and by having them send their homework to me via email. But, after this interactive lesson in class (even though it was performed by one computer) I saw that students increased more their interest about learning English. They reacted very good. After the "success" of this first interactive presentation I feel even more motivated to prepare more student - centered and interactive lessons through technology in order to improve their language skills.

I introduced also my colleagues of other subjects to this technique, and they found it very interesting and useful, but unfortunately some of them still are not very "convinced" about using technology in class because they say that they are not very familiar with it and the students wouldn't take it seriously.
However, I 'm sure that by introducing them in detail how to use technology and web in class and about its benefits for both students and teachers, they will change their mind.

I feel very happy and privileged that I have the chance to learn how to use technology and web in class thanks to this course. As I'm one of the first teachers in Kosovo who gets this kind of training, I will try to " inform" my colleagues about the use of technology in class as the schools soon will start to be digitized. 

Looking forward to your comments!

Warm regards,
Blerta