Week :7 Working differently

It is time to reflect on   7 th week. This week was dedicated to discussion on learner autonomy and teaching in one computer class. I learned to use wallwisher as online message board. Students are working with course project.

 Learning is life long process. To be autonomous learners means be able to take charge of own learning as Holec suggest. We have very closed system in Nepal. There is very little room for learners’ and teachers’ autonomy in Nepal. One size does not fit all. Almost all decisions regarding learning needs, goals, content, time, and resources are imposed by external body. Introduce learners autonomy at once in such context is more harmful than useful. What a teacher needs to do is gradual transition from traditional setting to learner autonomy. Learners feel insecure and confused if they are left on themselves. Learners’ autonomy demands changed role of teachers. Self access center, study skills training can be instrumental to the journey toward learners’ autonomy.

Computers are still thing of luxury in most of the institutes in Nepal. We can do a lot with a computer class. What a teacher needs to do is learn time management with different learners group. One computer can be used to keep administrative records, display visual, browse web, send e mail, process words, and view content on CD ROM, writing process etc. Projector, loud speaker and printer make teachers job much easier in one computer class. Dividing students in different group to access and work turn wise   ensure that everyone take advantages of computer. Otherwise  one computer becomes easy to see and difficult to use tool in the class.

Project work demands learner’s autonomy. Learners go through transition period before they fully become autonomous learners. My B. Ed   students are doing course project. They are using their mobile phones to browse contents. I want them to much time with computer. They expect much guidance than I offer. I need to modify my project a little. It is very difficult for me to use lab computer because of power cut. I am thinking of quieting Nicenet activity now.  There is power problem every other day and it is only forty minutes periods. I will ask them write their essay on copy rather than post on Nicenet.

 I liked the wallwisher as it gather varieties of resources together.  I taught a poem yesterday. I asked students to write the message of poem on white board similar to our wallwisher. Many   students came and wrote on white board. I did little experiment with virtual techniques on real class. The students loved it. I think it can be used  to brain storm ideas before the class and  consolidate ideas after the class especially with intermediate students.

 Let see how far the project go. I  am waiting 8 th week.

Week :6 Words to action

 It is nearly the end of  6th week . I am reflecting  on the achievement of the week. This week will be memorable   week because I brought the  tips and tricks of Power Point Presentation, making the large class interactive and   starting project  based learning with students.  I am attending 18 th international conference of NELTA.


I learned to make power point couple of years ago. But my power point slide were just liner blocks of text.I din't have ideas on designing  power points.I learned to make interactive Power Point.I learned     some tricks of Microsoft"s power point  presentation.i.e. font,text amount, color, hyper linking,animation,action,blank slide,questioning,etc.The mode of delivery is  more  important than slides.Good slides can enhance presentation. Presentation is not reading slide after slide. I  saw some  presenters were just reading block of text on slides with out caring  audience in NELTA conference. Power Point is for'' to the point ''They could do better if they had explored tips on presentation.Now I think I can improve my Power Point Presentation.


 Large classes are difficult to handle.Large class demand additional supports, skills and resources. Unfortunately  most of large class are in developing countries which  don't have  good resources and support system. . Large class are common in Nepal .I learned many suggestions from experts and thought the possibility of implementing in my class. Many of technology related solutions are not applicable in our context in absence of appropriate technology.Dr.Richard Smith,one key speaker of 18 th international  conference highlighted the need of bottom up approach of solution from individual teacher in local context. I fully agree with him. He is discussing the issue today. I am applying concept map,demonstration . predicating from text etc in my class to make  them more interactive. I am reading my e friends experience and thinking on the possibility of their adaptation in my class.
 I started the course project with my student. I did technology survey with them. I  gave them one orientation class with Power Point Presentation. We have stared our initial work.I grouped them  in to four group and assigned reading. I have forty minutes period and every other day their is power cut. I helped my student the techniques of web searching on their cell phone. As I came to attend , I don't know their progress on project. I hope they are doing assigned task. I will discuss with them  and keep them in track.
  I am having wonderful time in Kathmandu.I met my  friend working different parts of country, my teachers and experts and foreign delegates.There are five persons doing web skills in our group. I met Mukti, Kunjar and Sharmila. Virtual fiends became real friends.We are sharing our ideas and we took group photograph.
 I was wonderful experience. I attended Sharmila's Presentation.It was great and engaging.  Congratulation for your great presentation.
  I want to stop now as I am getting late for the second day of conference.
 

Week 5: Reflection from the half way of e journey

                    We arrived on the half way of our ten week long  e journey. I have gathered a lot of useful tools. I am ready to implement what we learned on the first half. Next week is time to put theory in to practice. Our actions speak louder than our words.

 This week, I got opportunity to redefine teaching learning in the light of   projects based learning. Project based learning takes the students to tackle real world problems in their own way. It promotes learners autonomy and enhance communication skills and collaboration skills which they need in their professional. I was always taught with traditional chalk and talk methods. I followed the same traditional methods. Now I am ready to make some change taking some insight from Project Based Learning. I hope to orient my students towards the use of modern technology in their learning. Maybe we can teach without using modern technology for another ten years in Nepal. But by the time my present students become teachers, they will have to become proficient at using technology.

 Assessment system is traditional in higher education of Nepal. Students are evaluated with three/four hours pencil and paper based examination by exam board and students have to wait another ten month to get exam result. I never knew how I was evaluated and what we were expected to perform during exam. I learned alternative assessment tool rubric. It   describes the expectations to achieve certain grade. It makes evaluation transparent. Teachers use it to award grade and learner to compare and improve their project works. I created my own rubric to assess my student’s biographical essay. Rubistar is user friendly sites with many templates to customize and create rubric.

Another important web recourse I came across is WebQuest. It is web inquire based extended lesson plan. It is carefully planned learning activity on Internet using web recourse. It minimizes the students searching time because all the resources that students need to work on are listed the webquest. It specifies the tasks, process, resources and evaluation process of project. I created a sample WebQuest on Zunal.com for my bachelor students.  It is simple one. I will see its practicality. 

 

I decided the model and tools for my course project. I need to   work further to make my project manageable. I am waiting course instructor suggestion to proceed.

Week: 4 Four tasks of the fourth week

I have almost finished the assignments of the fourth week. And I am looking back to this week. This week was another milestone in our e journey. I remember this week for mainly four tasks .Firstly, I explored many websites dedicated to build reading, writing, grammar and vocabulary  .Secondly, I learned to make technology enhanced lesson plan. Thirdly I identified the problem that I want to solve with using technology. Finally, I took part in experiment with Google document.

 I began my week’s journey with some interesting articles on using CALL in developing reading, writing, grammar and vocabulary. I went through ‘Using the Internet in ESL Writing Instruction’ by Jarek Krajka; ‘Three Extensive Reading Activities for ESL /EFL Students Using E-books’ by Mei Ya Liang; and ‘Using Technology to Assist in Vocabulary Acquisition & Reading Comprehension’ by Andreea I. Constantinescu. Krajak has given number of ways how to use internet component in writing personal letter writing to description of place. I got some ways of using internet technology from the articles. Liang has given tips on engaging students in pre-reading, while reading and post reading phases with study guides and e-books. I seriously thought urgency of time to use Internet technology and posted  on Nicenet discussion. I explored   reading and writing websites. I like Breaking News English for   detail lesson plan and multi skills building exercises. There is long list of websites .I have to test and consider their usefulness.

  I learned to make technology enhanced lesson plan. I used the template suggested by our course instructor. What I think now is that I should  calculate approximate time for each steps of lesson plan and try  if the time  calculation applies in my class or not. I should study other lesson plan and revise my model in future.

 There are many challenges to teach English Language to under- resourced, low motivated and irregular students in EFL context with very little exposure in limited time. I remember how people laugh at us when we use English outside class. I understand that one hammer can’t fix all nails with single stroke no matter how power full the hammer is. Technology can be effectivetool for language teaching learning. Technology is not magic wand. So I want to start change with few problems. I  Identified number of problems of my class. I chose   to deal with reading and writing habit to limit the scope of my course project.

 Our course instructor, Courtney, had given us optional task with google doc. Creating Google doc was new experience for me. Finally I did it .But I did with many trails and errors. I nearly gave up the process. At first it seemed unbeatable challenged but finally it gave me sense of satisfaction.

 I couldn’t go through all the websites suggested by my e friends. We have to wait few more years for reliable Internet connection. So some messages were posted twice on Nicenet as I was posting from cell phone. I beg for pardon for inconvenience.  I attended training session conducted by NELTA , GORKHA .One session was on Trace Effect. I thought it would be great for young learner as in combine gaming with language learning. I have been elected as executive member of NELTA, Gorkha branch( professional   development forum  for English teacher working in Nepal). I should be more responsible for professional development of fellow teachers as well.

 Let’s see what next week brings for us.