Our week number 4 in this course is soon over. I can't imagine a month has gone by and I have learned so many things... The problem is I want to learn more and more and try not to forget. I wouldn't like to say "confirmed" to the saying "The more I learn, the less I know". One of my mottoes in life goes "I give all I know for half I ignore" - and it proves true every single day. For me, this course is a really great chance to improve myself. I am wondering (already) what shall I do when this course is over? I got used to all this hard work, to reading, and writing, and everything... But, till the end it's a long time, so I'd better concentrate on the conclusions of this week.
I have learned many new things - mainly related to resources I can use to make my lessons more interesting for my students, to motivate them more and more. I have designed my first technology lesson plan: it's not only for the task, but tomorrow I will make a lesson based on this. I will share everything with you, be patient and you will see what I mean. :) As they are environmentally aware and most of them love plants, I will have a lesson about Plants Appreciation Day, based on the lesson plan found on the internet.
I thought it's useful to make a comparison between this lesson plan and the ones I have used so far. Like this, things became clear in my mind and I could see the advantages and disadvantages for each of them. Even if I considered one plan the best, and at first I thought the technology lesson plan lacks some important rubrics, I could make a mixture between them and everything was all right.
Then, I expressed my own opinions about reading and writing, I shared my ideas with my mates and then I identified two issues my students in 9 B have. The main idea is that teenagers read less and less and they are not able to understand what they read. This is the case in Romania, I don't know what exactly happens all around the world, but here things are like that, unfortunately. I haven't thought about the solutions yet, but I have an idea about what I can do to solve this. Later, I still have time.
I am very glad I can share all with my mates all around the world, I like reading their posts on their blogs, I like reading their comments on my blog and at the same time, I got used to commenting. This course enabled me to overcome the "express your thoughts" barrier. For a long time (about 5 yeas or more) I have been reading blogs. But I had never expressed my own ideas in a comment. Now I do it, thanks to this course.
And, of course, I have enriched my bookmarks using Delicious. It's a great resource, it's extremely helpful and I am happy now I know it's there...
Last, but not least, I shared all with my mates at school (teachers of different subjects) and my students.
Dear Naddine:
ReplyDeleteYou are so right when you write that blogging has helped us express our opinnion about very important teaching matters. And what's more, it has made us realize that, no matter what part of the world we are, we are all concern about the same teaching issues and want the best for our students.
This week I have learnt that developing reading and writing is not a piece of cake, but there are many webtools that can help us feel at ease.
Thanks again for your comments on my blog and I am looking forward to reading you again.
Best,
Eve
Hi Naddine,
ReplyDeletethanks for the tip, I'll try it next time I post on my blog.
I totally agree with you that one thing I learned in this course is to express myself and comment on other's ideas. This is part of our professional development.
Best
Maha
Hello Nadine,
ReplyDeleteI really like your lesson plan which in fact reflects your good experience in terms of combining your teaching methods/techniques and technology without breaking the chain between the lessons. The different steps are arranged in a smooth and well balanced way and the procedure from the presentation of the lesson up to the survey enables us to actually deduce that they constitute the mirror of the objectives already set. The LP promotes different interactions (Learner-Learner, Teacher-Leaner and Learner-Laptop/computer…), assumption of responsibility by both teacher and students, autonomy in learning and teacher consciousness on alternative plans. The different devices such as boards, laptop, pictures and handouts are each of them used with the necessary proportion. Performing the homework means the mastery of the basic computer skills.
Mohamed I also like your LP that is enhanced with some materials downloaded from the Internet. However I would like to ask you how about the low percentage of the use of technology (in this lesson only used to download some materials)? Is there a possibility to maximize this use by both teacher and students? I will appreciate your answer or someone else ideas, because this reflects the type of LP I use in my teaching and practically with same low percentage of the use of technology.
Good work
Yours,
Alfred