week 7 reflection

This week I reflected how I have learned English and how I became an autonomous learner. When I set a future goal, I became to study independently. Setting clear goals will be a big motivation.  But not all the students are like me. I need think about various types of students in front of me. It is a big issue for teachers how learner can be autonomous.  

Also, we made one-computer classroom activities. I said there is no Internet access in a classroom but I can use my laptop computer offline in classroom. Presentation soft can be used in a offline classroom, so I made an activity to make a presentation. It was fun experience for me because I hadn't a doubt I cannot use a computer in a classroom because there are no Internet access. But there are some things I can do without Internet access! I'm glad to learn by this course and I realized I need to be flexible.

Week 6 reflection

It was a good practice to make interactive Power Point because I used power point as a presentation assistant for me. It expanded my imagination how I introduce power point and when is suitable and I asked myself why I need to use it and what to teach.

I have no course to conduct my project this term so I'm planning my project with my PC and imagination. I wish I had my students and classes to carry out my project.   

Originally, the reason I applied this web learning course is that I am not good at using technology tools in my school and I seldom have information about what kind technology we can use and how they can help us in class. Now I know a lot. I’m really glad to have learned many practical things through this course. Although I got excited about that, I must not forget the first point. How can technology help our teaching and students’ learning? I will keep it in mind and consider my project carefully.

About teaching large classes

I am usually teaching large classes (40 students in one class), so reading assignments for this week are very useful and practical. For me, it was surprising that many ideas are extended from ideas of teaching small classes. It means basically the number of students is not the main problem, but the basic idea is common – to face students sincerely and trust their ability to learn, at the same time not to forget to keep encouraging them to go forward. Of course, teachers have more things to pay attention in large classes. However, teachers can interact with them because they are there, just in front of you.

Thanks to the Internet, teachers can share many ideas for large classes. I’m glad to know that this week. We should not be afraid of making change to our classes. We need consider well how to teach, but should not hesitate to give it a try and see what happens. It will give another idea to challenge.  

Week 5 Creating a WebQuest

This week I first saw a web quest and knew what it is; furthermore I created my web quest. Incredible!  I almost gave up making it because some data were supposed to be saved but they weren’t. I even did not know to press save bottom after typing data. How careless I was!  At last it is on the web. I’m not sure whether the level of activity is suitable for my students or not. Well, I just tried creating one webquest as an experiment, that’s all. For my coming project, I needed some practice. However, I can’t deny my excited feeling, like children. Creating my original work is published; what a wonderful experience I had. I really thank e-learning program in University of Oregon for giving this opportunity for me.     Kaori

Week 5 reflection

This week I learned about Web Quest and Project Based Learning. I have been interested in PBL, but in Japan it is used for science or society classes in elementary schools. Therefore I was curious how the project works for language learning and for young learners, not kids. I will try PBL in my class by all means.

As for Web Quest, it was first time to see it and it took me some time to understand the general idea. Web Quest is one style of web learning and it enable students study independently as long as they have internet access. What I was surprised is there is an evaluation part for most Web Quest. On the part, there is a rubric which says how students are evaluated by a teacher. I’ve seen rubrics but I did not know how to use it. I just thought it was for teachers to measure students’ achievement. No, it wasn’t. It is true that rubrics are the aims for students to achieve, but the important point is students and teacher share it. Before starting doing tasks, students know how they are evaluated. This makes a big difference. Students will be motivated because they know the things they should clear. This is a good idea so I would like to use it right away.

Week 4 reflection

This week I could learn a lot about reading, writing and vocabulary. I thank some web sites for saving my time and giving new ideas for my classes. Of course, a lot of plans are not useful because of the level setting, classroom setting, the class size, or the contents itself. It may be some time loss in a sense, so we need to find our favorite and useful sites under our classroom conditions. As a learner, I recently have a problem to expand the active vocabulary, so I’m glad to learn some tips for building my vocabulary.

I reflected my class and found many issues. I feel there are some problems for my class but when I made a report to put for NICENET, I could realize those issues objectively. This was a good opportunity for me to know where I stand now and what I am facing with.

As for making a technology sample plan, I planned what I haven’t done before at all. It was exciting work because my imagination went freely, with remembering students’ faces. Do they enjoy this? Will they learn something as I planned? Can they do presentation in English? It is always fun to consider these things. I want to try the plan right away, but shamely my classes were over in this term. In April, new term will start, so I can do try and error. Of course I should not forget to know my students’ needs first.  anyway I really enjoyed this week.