Week 6 - PowerPoint and Project Task #5

So this week it has been about making an interactive PowerPoint presentations and starting to implement a new technology-related tool.

Both topics seemed quite easy to me since I have used PowerPoint for several years and always tried to make it interactive. At about 4 years ago I moved to the interactive whiteboard software and almost gave up PowerPoint.  If I need to make some subject matters easier to understand for my students I always contemplate the advantages and disadvantages of PowerPoint and ActivInspire software and choose the one I find more beneficial for the purpose.

However, I uploaded one of my old „interactive“ PowerPoint presentations and made a new „interactive“ one. As for the process of making it, it was not difficult. Nevertheless, I had problems to choose the topic I would like to make it for not to do it just because I had to, but because I wanted to use it later. Since I made a lot of PowerPoint presentations for grammar rules, I chose to make 1 for the topic Crime and Punishment. I used recommended interactive tools, Jeopardy game, BlankPage, QuickWrite, Think-Pair-Share, ConcepTest, links to the Internet as well as a link to a document.

As for the project task#5, fortunately, I started implementing the technology-related tool as soon as I learnt about blogs. 2 weeks ago, I set the main and pernament task for my students to keep a diary of their work or „touch“ with English.  Their tasks looks as follows:

Dear students,

your MAIN and PERNAMENT task is to record your progress in English and the use of English in your daily life.

You are going to write at least 1 post on your blog a week to summarise 

• what you have done in English, 
• how much time you have spent doing sth in English,
• what you have learnt,
• if you have enjoyed what you have done or been doing,
• what you have not liked and why,
• what you think we should be doing.

The post is due every Sunday by 2 pm. Word limit is no less than 100 words.

The most important thing about the task is that I set it via the Internet, on our class wiki, and informed the students via email because I started my sick leave then. I was very surprised when I realised that almost half of them did their task. I commented on their posts and sent email to all of them with the names of those who had not done their work. I praised those who had. I gave them another deadline to finish their main task. Except 3 students out of 12, everybody else did it.

What I find challenging is that I have a student in this group, she is a model, and she is out of school for 2 months. I also sent her email and asked her to do the main task and she did! So this is another chance for students (and teachers!) who cannot be present at school to participate in classroom tasks.

This is the second week I have not been at school, still on a sick leave, but if possible, I check on my students and their work.  Only 4 people out of 11 (1 students asked to be moved to a „weaker“ group) have done their main task so far. I am going to send them email to remind them what their duties are and see how it works. However, it might be difficult for them to finish it today because in a half an hour our ice-hockey team is playing against Russia in the World Ice-Hockey Championship.

The most important issue I am facing is that I have to create a rubric for assessing their posts. I should think of deadlines, content, grammar and vocabulary but not to discourage them. I mean if the main purpose of the tool is make students do their homework and preparations regularly, I should focus on deadlines first and a content. Then when they are used to working, I may proceed to being a bit strict about grammar and vocabulary. I would like to discuss their mistakes at school, by displaying them via OHP and encouraging them to correct their posts or to keep a record of their mistakes in order to avoid them later.

WOW! I have just created a rubric for blog posts - every week diary posts. Huraaaaa.