Another week to go, week 5

This week was such an effective and enjoying week. It was a rich week with many activities. Reading the given links was so beneficial to create an active interactive learning process. Rubrics, alternative assessment, and project based learning are integrated to make the students involved and independent. Such projects are efficient and students will feel more involved and active, so learning will become autonomous and amusing.

I also made a technology- related change by finding solution to problems I encounter in my class such as lack of motivations and the fear of committing errors in discussion or reading.  Therefore, I implement in my class a class on nicenet where I download short stories for students to read. Then, I will add a question where students are supposed to answer it and comment on other students answers. I think that through this class on nicenet students will be motivated to read and feel free to answer and comment on others without being afraid of committing errors.

I also made a rubric for a retelling story activity. The students will read others storyboard. Students are asked to present their friends storyboards in the form of storytelling taking into consideration the following rubric http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&rubric_id=2109171&.

Finally, one of the projects that I started during the previous semester, but I stopped because I needed help, was a web quest to guide students to make a movie. Here is my web quest URL:
http://www.zunal.com/webquest.php?w=87905

Here goes week 4

Week four was such an anxious week. My laptop suddenly freezes at the beginning of the week, and I was worried not to be able to make it on time because it took time to be repaired. Goodness, it is working now. This week focuses on reading and writing. The articles I read gave me many ideas to use in my class. I tried some writing friendly letter, and it was motivating for my students. My students enjoyed the idea of giving them the freedom to choose books to read, so I am willing to use it soon in my class. The suggested websites are rich too. I could use them at my lab hours for students to work individually. Moreover, addressing the problems that I think I might face in my class concerning my final project helped me to start thinking of solutions. Even though weeks are passing quickly, I am learning much more and enjoying what I am doing. Wishing all a great fifth week good luck!

Time flies week three is over :)

As weeks are passing work is get more and more interesting and challenging. I am really enjoying and learning new methodologies to integrate the use of computer in my class. The delicious website is such a delicious way to save all my web links. I sometimes need my web links at work, but I fail to remember all the links. With delicious this problem is solved; I could access my web links any time I need them. The interesting thing is that we can share links and form stacks to organize our links. The articles that discuss aural and oral skills are so rich as well as the websites. I used one of the lesson plans in my class, and it was a good experience. Students were motivated and interested. In reality, our students are not motivated to learn English; therefore, I do my best to make my class such an interesting and active one to integrate and motivate my passive students. Concerning my project, I thought of an idea, and I am working on it. Once it is ready I will share it with all. Time really flies; week three is over. Hope you had a good one and good luck in the rest of the weeks.

Another Week to Go: Week 2

Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, US Medical Physicist said “The excitement of learning separates youth from old age. As long as you are learning you're not old”. That is why I am feeling young working in this course. Week two is a more interesting week. We are familiar with different search engines that facilitate our work as teachers and will enrich and facilitate students work. ABCD objective is a good criterion for setting goals and planning lessons as well as activities integrated in our classes. Also, in this week we made the first step towards our final project which made me really enthusiastic. This week was a good one; I felt more comfortable working and accomplishing all the tasks. I believe the coming weeks will be more motivating and interesting, and as Ethyl Barrymore Actress said, “You must learn day by day, year by year, to broaden your horizons. The more things you love, the more things you are interested in, the more you enjoy, the more you are indignant about.”

Week One

Week one is such a challenging week. Even though I use computers and technology in my classes, I found creating blogs challenging.  After browsing and understanding what a blog is, I find it a great tool for sharing experiences. It serves as a journal where each person will post his or her reflections during the course. In week one I was introduced to nice net as well as to blogs.  After forming my blog, I edit my profile as well as add comments. I am happy to receive your comments and to be better next weeks.

Here we go!

As John Cotton Dana said,"Who dares to teach must never cease to learn". I believe that a successful teacher is a teacher who seeks to learn everyday and enrich her/ his knowledge. Therefore, I tend to improve myself by researching, learning new methodologies to create motivation in my class, and learning from other experiences. Here is my blog, and hope it is going to be a great experience that I will be using in my classes.