I spent 5 hours on Wednesday by trying to meet the requirements which were due by that midnight. I do not regret any minute of them because I learnt so much about websearch and enjoyed "playing" with it and was amazed by the simple tips that had been given to us to improve our searching skills and accomplish our search.
Providing materials of such value enable us to contemplate and compare our experience with others. I was considering a very ambitious group of students to involve in my project we are supposed to do, but after having read the article Improving Teacher-Student Interaction by Jonathan Snell http://iteslj.org/Articles/Snell-Interaction.htm, I decided to choose the laziest group of students I teach.
Revising objectives following the ABCD Model for Behavioural Objectives, I will attempt to implement them into IT related project which will enable me to check on the student´s progress.
Moreover, reading the guidelines and going through the project templates I decided to pursue the project as soon as possible starting today. Trying hard to work with google sites to achieve the template and layout of the class wiki, not satisfied with the outcomes of the website I contacted Donna - our tutor for help. Even though the help was at the almost immediate hand, the project had been started earlier to accomplish objectives.
Step 1: the chosen group - following ABCD Model for Behavioural Objectives:
(A) 16-17 years old students (B) will be able to create a blog (C) with the teacher's instructions and assistance at the lesson and (D) post their first assignment no more than 3 days later.
Step 2:
Task 1
After (C) having read an article about teenage nightmares and being given vocabulary regarding human relationships (A) the student (B) will be able to describe and illustrate teenage problems with peers at school, their appearance and the role of parents, teachers or a life coach to help them, (D) providing 2 examples and expressing their own opinions accurately, fluently and with the use of appropriate grammar and vocabulary with the score of at least 79%
Task 2
(C) Having finished their task 1 (A) the students (B) will post their own assignments by Saturday 10 am (GMT1+), read and comment on at least 2 assignments of their classmates by Sunday 2pm, (D) following the "netiquette", politely, with minor mistakes in grammar and vocabulary with the score of at least 60% according to Matricular Written Exam rubric.
Observation:
The students were delighted the lesson took place in a computer room, each student had a laptop computer connected to the Internet. 2 out of 10 present students had to create their Google account, others started creating their own blogs, following the teacher's instructions. When necessary, personal help was provided resulting in successful creations of English blogs. The whole activity took about 40 minutes, the computer aid inclusive.
The atmosphere in the classroom was very positive and the students seemed eager to face the challenge. The lesson was held in their mother tongue, although the blog is required to be kept in English so they had to switch languages. In addition, they sent the link of their blogs to the teacher.
As for the deadlines, only 1 student expressed his doubts about meeting this criterium since he had other after-school activities so he was not sure if he would be able to do it. He was encouraged to find certain time to devote to the task.
Now I am really impatient to see if it works. I hope ...
Moreover, reading the guidelines and going through the project templates I decided to pursue the project as soon as possible starting today. Trying hard to work with google sites to achieve the template and layout of the class wiki, not satisfied with the outcomes of the website I contacted Donna - our tutor for help. Even though the help was at the almost immediate hand, the project had been started earlier to accomplish objectives.
Step 1: the chosen group - following ABCD Model for Behavioural Objectives:
(A) 16-17 years old students (B) will be able to create a blog (C) with the teacher's instructions and assistance at the lesson and (D) post their first assignment no more than 3 days later.
Step 2:
Task 1
After (C) having read an article about teenage nightmares and being given vocabulary regarding human relationships (A) the student (B) will be able to describe and illustrate teenage problems with peers at school, their appearance and the role of parents, teachers or a life coach to help them, (D) providing 2 examples and expressing their own opinions accurately, fluently and with the use of appropriate grammar and vocabulary with the score of at least 79%
Task 2
(C) Having finished their task 1 (A) the students (B) will post their own assignments by Saturday 10 am (GMT1+), read and comment on at least 2 assignments of their classmates by Sunday 2pm, (D) following the "netiquette", politely, with minor mistakes in grammar and vocabulary with the score of at least 60% according to Matricular Written Exam rubric.
Observation:
The students were delighted the lesson took place in a computer room, each student had a laptop computer connected to the Internet. 2 out of 10 present students had to create their Google account, others started creating their own blogs, following the teacher's instructions. When necessary, personal help was provided resulting in successful creations of English blogs. The whole activity took about 40 minutes, the computer aid inclusive.
The atmosphere in the classroom was very positive and the students seemed eager to face the challenge. The lesson was held in their mother tongue, although the blog is required to be kept in English so they had to switch languages. In addition, they sent the link of their blogs to the teacher.
As for the deadlines, only 1 student expressed his doubts about meeting this criterium since he had other after-school activities so he was not sure if he would be able to do it. He was encouraged to find certain time to devote to the task.
Now I am really impatient to see if it works. I hope ...
Hello Monica,
ReplyDeleteI've just written my own reflection, but having read your post, I understand that I need to add more information about my 2nd week. Your post is very detailed. You are lucky to have such positive students. Unfortunately, my students will come back to me only in October or November. They take correspondence course at our university. Organizing distance work is quite difficult.
Hello Marina,
Deletethank you very much for your feedback, I really appreciate it.
Organizing distance work must be difficult, but look at us involved in this course. How about a new approach, deadlines and assessment inclusive?
Setting up new objectives following the ABCD Model for Behavioural Objectives might be the way how to overcome problems you are facing.
Good luck!
Monika
Hi Monika!
ReplyDeleteIt was very to read your detailed blog. I especially liked the idea of involving the least motivated group of students in the IT project.That is a brilliant approach!
are you going to give the students precise detailed instructions as to what to write in their blogs now that they have created them? Will they be writing in the blogs during a longer time?
Hi Tuula,
Deletemy students are going to use blogs as their virtual exercise book, writing their preparation for speaking and writing tasks + keeping the diary how much time they have devoted to learning English and how they have done it.
Monika