Week 7 reflections - Using one computer in class

 

Dear colleagues, 

   As I mentioned also in Nicenet, I've started to use the computer in classroom just recently, after beginning this course. When sometimes we have wireless at school, I use the computer to show students authentic materials like video clips in English,also to show them the websites where they can practice listening and writing at home, when there isn't internet I show them some movies inserts (such as Coco Chanel) for the students of fashion design,and then discuss about them, by encouraging students to use English (even though they have difficulties).
 

The big plus is that I saw an increased interest for the English classes from their part. There are also some minuses such as: it is a bit hard to use the computer in class without a projector, and for some students it is hard to focus on the computer screen (if it's a large group) and the biggest disadvantage is that I can't use the computer for every divided group as now very often there is no power. So, till now the minuses are mainly technical. 

However, by reading the material about one computer options  in class I got many ideas about how to use one computer efficiently and what activities to prepare. 

One of the websites that I liked most and gave me ideas about how to  use one computer in class is http://www.susangaer.com/sgaer/onecomputer/wordprocessing.html. It offers many activities in word processing, and that's great in my case because usually there in no internet at school, and I can use the computer by performing this kind of off-line activities. 

But, while reading the an article in www.educationworld.com, " How to Thrive -- Not Just Survive -- in a One-Computer Classroom," written by Glori Chaika, I've been introduced to different strategies about one-computer classrooms but the one that seemed to me very interesting, especially for high school students is

 "stations".  More information about this strategy you can find in: http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech092.shtml.

I found "stations" very interesting and useful because there is the possibility where students can rotate, meaning that all of them can work in the computer by having the chance to conduct research or complete assignments.

In my opinion, the most important thing is that, (even though I've started and been able to use only "small parts"  of my project steps), I've seen an increase of interest from students for the English classes. And that motivates me to work more in order to be able to use the technology effectively.

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








 














  

Dear all,
Below you can find the link of my final webquest.

Looking forward for your comments!
Blerta
http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=120213

Introducing students to new learning methods

 Dear all,

I was thinking about what will happen if we as teachers can not explain clearly to our students the new ways of learning, in our case, learning through technology.

I think that through this picture we can guess what students will think.

WEEK 5 REFLECTIONS

Dear colleagues,
During this week we have been introduced to many tools, methods and techniques, such as: PBL, assessment tools/rubrics, and webquests, through which we can directly and actively involve our students into the learning process.

It is great that through PBL the students will have the opportunity to be more interactive while working on different topics that they are interested in, and also they will be more motivated to participate and to have a better performance. The other advantage of PBL is that students are going to enhance their research skills by working in groups and by trying to find relevant information about  their respective topics.

As I mentioned also in the discussion thread in Nicenet, unfortunately  in Kosovo PBL is a very new way of learning and there is a lack of teachers who could apply technology and PBL in their schools and classes. Even though the schools will be digitized very soon, it will take a relatively long time to train  teachers how to use  technology and PBL with their students.

However, I feel very privileged and also very lucky that I have the opportunity to learn very much from different experienced teachers from all over the world and also share my experience.

Regarding the creation of rubrics, I must state that I found them very useful and very organized. While I created my rubric in Rubistar,  I saw that it is a great tool for setting the criteria of evaluation very clearly, so that students exactly and very clearly know how they will be evaluated in certain stages.

In addition to all my reflection, I have to say that the creation of the webquest seemed to me the most challenging task. But, it is great that while creating webquests we directly and practically learned the way and stages on how to create projects with our students and how to apply project based learning.  

Finally, I think that until now, week 5 was the week where we not only learned about new web tools that can be used   in class, but also how to apply them directly and very efficiently.

Week 4 reflections

Dear colleagues,
After having watched the video that I've posted, I saw that now- days it is not only a necessity, but also an obligation for teachers to get more knowledge and more training about using technology in class.

During this week I learned many things about how to enhance or improve reading, writing and vocabulary skills.
Especially in Krajka's and Liang's articles there are described very concretely the ways we can help our students to improve these skills and they also included very useful links.
I've already suggested my students some links from Liang's article where they can read different books and articles:  http://bikesters.com/; http://www.cyberkids.com/cw/mul/sydney/

The other thing that was very new for me, was the creation of a technology enhanced plan. While creating this plan, I saw that the lessons through technology can be transferred into something interesting. 


But, also by reading the lesson plans posted by other colleagues, I saw that even the most boring lesson can be fun and special for students.

Engage Me!