Week 10: Reflections on what I did & what I learned throughout the course

*What topics were most successful and most useful for me?

1- Creating an academic web blog
2- The ABCD learning objectives
3- Effective web searches
4- Bookmarking with Delicious
5- Creating rubrics for alternative assessment
6- Preparing interactive powerpoint presentation by using prezi
7- Excellent readings about learner autonomy
8- Opening a Nicenet class for my course
9- Writing an observation form as a googledoc
10- Thinking about learning styles and technology connections
11- Writing up a project that I apply in my teaching context (teaching implication)

*Which tools will I use in my classes?

1- Web blogs (www.blogger.com)
2- Bookmarks (www.delicious.net)
3- Rubric (www.rubistar.com)
4- Interactive ppt presentation (www.prezi.com)
5- NiceNet Class (www.nicenet.org)
6- Classroom Observation Form (googledoc)

*Which do you think were not relevant to what I do or will do?
Anvill, one-computer classroom (In that week, I couldn't join the discussions on the NiceNet. For this reason, the topic is not clear to me. I need to search more on that.)

*What other tools should be taught in the course?
Designing a personal website could have been taught in the course. Bookmarking each other's websites on Delicious would enhance sharing more ideas and experience.

WEEK 9: FINAL PROJECT REPORT

This week, actually less than 24 hours, I am going to post my final project plan on the wiki. I have been working on this project for 8 weeks. I have been building up pieces one by one each week. At the moment, I am in the process of finalizing the weekly  course time line.

Looking behind, I have noticed that I feel more competent and confident in using technology in my teaching. So this is not the end but just the beginning ...

Last but not the least, sincerely dedicated to our kind teacher Sean, all guest teachers and classmates,
please click on the following link to listen to the song "Beginning not the end" by Chris Sligh:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X4ygPFuJ5c

Week 9: Learning Styles and Technology Connections

Technology can help provide a range of learning styles in the classroom. Therefore, 'learning styles and technology connections' is the topic of my blog this week. Below I share specific examples of how I used technology to address different learning styles in my taught module 'Teaching English to Young Learners' this semester:

1- Active Learners: They apply the theories about teaching English to young learners into practice during their microteaching sessions.

2- Reflective Learners: They create reflective web blogs and write about their self-reflections regularly on the web blogs.

3- Sensing Learners: They do hands-on work (preparing teaching materials) before their microteaching session.

4- Intuitive Learners: They interpret how theories about teaching link the facts (classroom practice).

5- Visual Learners: They observe an English lesson at the kindergarten. They see visual representations of course materials.

6- Verbal Learners: They work in groups. They write reflections and make lesson plans.

7- Sequential Learners: They first observe an English lesson at the kindergarten and write reflections about their observation. They then carry out micro-teaching sessions and reflect on their strengths and weaknesses in teaching.

8- Global Learners: During their observation of an English lesson, they see the big picture and grasp the teaching action as a profession.

WEEK 8: TEACHER RESOURCES ONLINE

This week I have made use of two online teacher resources.

1- Using Google Forms to Make a Survey

I have made an observation sheet as a googledoc.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1KeJH63T7hIUKe3b-usNLZW0vRHydngldvQP6UnE-Pyk/viewform

As my trainees are observing the lessons at the kindergarten, I ask them to fill in the observation sheet, which they can access online. The observation sheet makes the goals of observation clear and meaningful.

2- Creating a Nicenet Class

I  have created an online course at Nicenet:
www.nicenet.org

The name of my online course is Teaching English to Young Learners. As I'm approaching the end of the fall semester, my trainees are going to use the link for next (spring) semester. The course lasts for two semesters (one academic year).

Next semester, I am going to ask a question about each week's lecture and/or practicum by using the link 'conferencing'. I am also planning to share websites by using 'link sharing'. I am going to add lecture handouts under the link 'documents'.

I am sure that teacher resources online will make my life easier in teaching : ))

WEEK 7: LEARNER AUTONOMY

This week's topics are learner autonomy, the one-computer classroom, and mobile devices. I have been reading and researching in the field of learner autonomy in EFL for many years. However, I am new to the idea of 'one-computer classroom' and 'learner autonomy by using mobile devices'. Thanks to the reading resources provided by the web skills assignments website, I feel motivated enough to search more on the topic by myself. It is obvious that my trainee teachers and their 'future' students are native digitals. That means that they are equipped with digital skills from birth. On the contrary, I am still struggling to use mobile devices even for the simplest reasons : )

Another thing I have learned from this week's topic is how to publish something on the padlet. I wasn't aware of the existence of padlet (wishwall). I am surprised with the ease of use and the idea of collaborative publishing. I would definetely use it for my kindergarten project (in the second semester).
I published my joint research article about "e-portfolio assessment" on the padlet. If you are interested, please have a look at the pdf article. I'd be more than happy if you share your thoughts with me.

Good luck with your draft project ; )

WEEK 6: Project Task 5: Begin to Implement the Change

I am teaching the course "Teaching English to Young Learners" this term. I begin to implement the technology-related change this week. My trainees have created their blogs at www.blogger.com In the last weeks, they have been observing English lessons at the kindergarten. I asked them to narrate a classroom event which they find amusing, exciting or scary and reflect on their feelings about that event. My trainees have started to write about classroom events on their blogs. This is is the initial (observation) step of my project. The next step is reflecting on their "anticipated" strengths and weaknesses about their teaching practice. After their micro-teaching sessions, my trainees will reflect upon their "actual" strengths and weaknesses about their classroom practices. They are also encouraged to read and make a comment on each other's blog. I look forward to reading their blogs : ))

WEEK 6: Creating an INTERACTIVE PowerPoint document

This week I have prepared an interactive powerpoint document at www.prezi.com Unfortunately, I had a problem in downloading the free trial version to my computer. One of my colleagues helped me to do it on his laptop. So I published my presentation on his account. Anyhow, I really enjoyed the experience to prepare an interactive story by using texts, different backgrounds, hyperlinks, and graphic images. I designed an interactive story activity in the form of questions which are related to classroom events. The topic of my presentation is about classroom management skills at the young learners classroom. For this purpose, I included three reflective questions related to classroom management skills. The activity is to be done individually by English language teacher trainees and collaboratively in small groups.

The link of my prezi presentation is:

http://prezi.com/vvvzxuvlecyv/the-interactive-story-task-on-classroom-management-skills/