Showing posts with label resources. Show all posts
Showing posts with label resources. Show all posts
Monday, March 2, 2015
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Book Review | Participatory Action Research For Educational Leadership
= BOOK REVIEW =
Where to buy this book?
ISBN: 9781412937771
Book Review of Participatory Action Research for Educational Leadership by E. Alana James
If you want to add where to buy this book, please use the link above:
If you are the Author, Publisher or Partner and want to send us a message, use this link:
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
About Active Learning
What is active learning?
- Active learning is "anything that involves students in doing things and thinking about the things they are doing" (Bonwell & Eison, 1991, p. 2).
- Felder & Brent (2009) define active learning as "anything course-related that all students in a class session are called upon to do other than simply watching, listening and taking notes" (p. 2).
- Active learning strategies can be as short as a few minutes long.
- Active learning techniques can be integrated into a lecture or any other classroom setting relatively easily. Even large classrooms can involve learning activities beyond the traditional lecture format.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Teaching in the 21st Century
I cannot comprehend questions like "Should I rent or buy?" or "Which credit card is the best for me?" if I have no knowledge of the basic facts of mathematics (ie. addition, multiplication, percentages, interest rates). How can you ask a student to find out the number of grains of sand on an average beach? Open-ended questions like this seem wonderful to ask, but create anxiety in our students since they usually aren't given the proper tools to answer the question and their short-term memories cannot hold all of the relevant information.
I do think that modelling appropriate behaviour and teaching certain skills is OK to do, but NOT as a substitution of basic facts and working knowledge. The more a student can commit to long-term memory, the more we empower our students to be able to answer the difficult questions they will face later in life.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
About Future Learning
Spring Blog Festival: Future Learning | Mini Documentary:
Students are the future, but what's the future for students? To arm them with the relevant, timeless skills for our rapidly changing w...
What is the future of education? Maybe this time we can consider how tech enhances - not replaces - traditional learning.
- How can education prepare students for living in the 21st century?
- How can schooling change to meet meet the opportunities and challenges of the 21st century?
- How can we prepare students to address "future-focused" issues such as sustainability, globalisation, citizenship, and enterprise?
Literature suggests we need to be future-oriented and adaptable, adopting a more complex view of knowledge, that incorporates knowing, doing, and being. Alongside this we need to rethink our ideas about how our learning systems are organised, resourced, and supported.
Sunday, February 8, 2015
HALINA'S LEARNING, TEACHING AND MUCH MORE....: Education Online The Latest State of Research
HALINA'S LEARNING, TEACHING AND MUCH MORE....: Education Online The Latest State of Research:
T here are both pros and cons of online education . Online learning should be seen as a complement and extension of classical forms o...
T here are both pros and cons of online education . Online learning should be seen as a complement and extension of classical forms o...
Saturday, January 31, 2015
The Secret to Learning a Language in 10 Days- Revealed!
Traditional Tips for Beginners
- You are like a new baby
Babies learn their language slowly.
First they learn to listen.
Then they learn to speak.
Finally, they can read and write. - Listen to English every day
Listen to English radio.
Watch English TV.
Go to English movies.
Use online lessons. - Make an English/ESL friend
Make up conversations.
Practise dialogues.
Use beginner textbooks. - Read English stories
Start with children's storybooks.
Try ESL readers.
Read advertisements, signs and labels.
Try EnglishClub.com for Young Learners. - Write down new words
Start a vocabulary (new word) notebook.
Write words in alphabetical order (A...B...C...).
Make example sentences.
Always use an English-English dictionary first. - Keep an English diary
Start with one sentence.
How do you feel?
How is the weather?
What did you do today?
Write another sentence tomorrow. - Visit an English speaking country
Learn English more quickly.
Stay with an English family.
Hear native speakers talk.
Have a fun experience.
Friday, January 30, 2015
eBook News
I've always felt that anything that attracts kids to reading it a good thing. From getting them to read books about movies that th...
Do you use eBooks?
Are you for paper books or eBooks?
What is the future of reading books?
Although the want for e-book services in libraries has grown, and so the number of people with e-readers, some difficulties still keep libraries from being able to provide the popular technology. Just recently have most big publishers agreed to sell e-books to libraries for public use. It has taken many years but publishers of electronic books now realize that libraries providing an e-book to patrons can be a huge opportunity for advertising and usually results in patrons becoming customers.
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Badges & Players - Massive Open Online Conferences (MOOCs)
Everybody should join CO15.
Looking forward to seeing you.
Monday, January 26, 2015
Course Feeds Connecting Online for Instruction and Learning Conference (CO15)
Online Conference CO15
Connecting Online for Instruction and Learning Conference (CO15)
Connecting Online for Instruction and Learning is a free 3-day Massive Open Online Conference (MOOC) on the first weekend of February. The conference started in 2009 with CO09. CO15 is the 6th annual event and is scheduled for February 6-8, 2015.
WizIq has been sponsoring the event since 2009. Participants will be able to access the webinars using the WizIQ desktop on a Windows Operating System and the WizIQ, Inc apps on their iPads and iPhones. Get the Apps for free.
The theme of the current free conference is connecting online for collaborative work. The topics will include learning, research, instruction, book authoring, and online teaching and learning in the public and the private sector.
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Science of Learning
This is an excellent presentation
The mission of the newly formed Science
of Learning Institute is to understand the most essential part of our
human capital: the ability to learn. The Institute supports research and
application that seeks to understand learning at all levels of
scientific inquiry—including how the brain changes through learning, how
development and aging affects our ability to learn, how neurological
and psychiatric diseases disrupt or change learning, and why there are
such vast individual differences that naturally occur among learners. A
central part of the mission is to understand how new technologies such
as machine learning and new educational programs can optimize
learning—whether it occurs in the informal setting of the playground,
the more formal setting of a school, a rehabilitation program, or
on-the-job training.
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Dave Dodgson: A year in review. Three Quick Ideas to Start your 2015 Classes | TeachingEnglish | British Council | BBC
Idea 1 - R&R: Reflections and Resolutions
An obvious angle to go for at the start of the New Year is Resolutions. However, this lesson can often have the same problems as resolutions themselves – generic, hollow, and something that is quickly abandoned or forgotten.
However, a couple of years ago while focusing on reflective practice during my MA course, I decided to apply some of the principles of teacher reflection to a New Year’s lesson for my students and the results were much better and it has now become a recurring feature of my late December/early January teaching.
- First of all, I ask students to think about everything they did, were a part of, or witnessed in the year just gone. Their first task is to identify and list the three best things from the year. This is done as a silent individual activity with plenty of thinking time – it’s often harder for people to remember the good things than the bad!
- Next, the students pair up to compare their personal ‘best of’ lists with plenty of questions encouraged.
- To complete the T-P-S (Think-Pair-Share) cycle, each student shares what their partner told them with the rest of the class.
- Now time to focus on the things that could have gone better. Again, students get thinking time to consider what didn’t work out so well (whether through their own involvement or something beyond their control) but they must also identify why these events could have been better. I generally tell them to stick to one or two things so the overall tone of the lesson remains positive.
- Steps 2 and 3 are repeated as the students compare and discuss with a partner before sharing with the class.
- And now for the resolution part. Focusing on those things that could have been better, the students must decide what they can personally do in the New Year to address these shortcomings, solve these problems, or make these improvements. Their goal in this stage is to write out two specific and focused resolutions (with help from the teacher to modify and reformulate when necessary).
- These can then be shared either orally or through Post-Its on the wall or a class blog if you are into that kind of thing. Don’t forget that students will appreciate their teacher taking part in this process too!
Idea 2 - The best (and worst) of 2014
This is a more recent idea that I have used in the last couple of years as part of my game-based learning classes but it could just as easily be done with films, TV shows, music, or books if your students are not gamers.
Depending on what your class are interested in, before the lesson you should pick out one of the many ‘best of’ lists that circulate on websites and in the wider media at this time of year*. Try to keep it short – a top 5 is enough and it shouldn’t be more than a top 10. For low level classes, a simple list will do. Higher levels might be willing to get to grips with the write-ups that accompany the picks as well.
*There is an alternative to this, which is presented below.
The rest of this brief write-up will use games as an example but the principles are the same whatever media you choose.
- Start with a discussion question: What new games did you buy/play this year? Again, give some thinking time before asking the students to compare their ideas in pairs and groups. In the whole class discussion, direct the class to identify which games they enjoyed and which ones were disappointing (it might be a good idea to get some of the titles up on the board).
- Present each pair/group with the list you picked out before the lesson. Tell them which website/media source it is from and stress that it is just an opinion. Ask them to read through the choices and discuss whether or not they agree.
- Task each group with drawing up their own ‘best of’ list for the previous year. How they do so is up to them – they might try to reach a group consensus, they could each choose one or two titles to go on a list, or they could vote. They must be ready to explain their choices to the rest of the class afterwards.
- Higher level students could be asked to prepare an article introducing each game and explaining why it was chosen.
- At the end of the lesson, students can refer back to the games from the past year they didn’t like and make an alternative list of ‘the worst games of 2014’. If you have time, you could present them with another article to kick-start the activity (plenty of the same websites that present ‘best of’ lists also have ‘worst of’ round-ups).
*As an alternative, you could not pick out a list for students to look at before the lesson and instead ask each group to search online for a list of the ‘best games of 2014’ and present it to the class This is a nice way to hand control over to the students.
Idea 3 – Word of the Year
This is a new one I tried out just before Christmas when I read a news story that the ‘word of the year’ for 2014 (as chosen by the Oxford Dictionary of English) was ‘vape’ (as in the action of using e-cigarettes). This is a rough outline of how I did the lesson:
- Write the word ‘vape’ on the board and ask if anyone knows what it means. If they don’t (my students didn’t), ask them to first guess and then look it up (they will need to look it up online to find the meaning). If they do, great! Ask the person who knows to explain what it means and go to the next step.
- Ask the students if they can work out why you presented them with this word (if they had to look it up online in step 1, they may have found the answer while searching; if they already knew, they may have to get searching now). Invite discussion as to why this was chosen as the word of the year.
- Discuss with students how new words enter languages, especially their own native languages. Is it through common use? Featuring in a dictionary? Through an official establishment? (As many of my students are French speakers, we had an interesting discussion about the Académie Française and I also told them about the Turkish equivalent, the Türk Dil Kurumu).
- Get the students to research previous ‘words of the year’ (they may also find an American version, which makes for interesting comparison). Did they know any of these words already? Which ones did they find the most interesting/bizarre? Why do they think these words were chosen? (One interesting trend my students spotted were the number of words relating to economic problems like squeezed middle and credit crunch, as well as the environmentally themed words like carbon footprint and social media related phrases like selfie, which they felt reflected our times).
- Make a prediction – what words have been circulating in the media recently and could be the word of 2015?
Teaching with Technology: Week 1
What does teaching with technology mean to you?
To me teaching with technology means development of my approaches.
Making my classes more challenging and more exciting was my reason to search for the different methods.
After over thirty years of teaching, I felt bored with my traditional technics and wanted
to find some inspiration, as well as improvement.
Happiness is when... You Learn with Technology ?
Teaching to Learners of all Styles - Official WizIQ Teach Blog
Teaching to Learners of all Styles - Official WizIQ Teach Blog
Teaching to Learners of all Styles at Traditional Schools
When I think of learning, I do not think of school. I think of reading a book in a library, listening to audible (recordings of books) in the car, or sitting in the garden with a book or an iPad. I do not think of school. My learning styles involve out of the classroom experiences.
School Curriculum and Learning
Schools are complex organizations with a top-down management system that aims to promote learning. Every school has a written curriculum that binds all the stakeholders of the school. However, a school curriculum may have more in it than meets the eye.
Information for ALL
Society is continually changing as a result of the fast moving pace of technology. The Internet is now a major provider of information. Information is now available at the click of a finger. Teachers are no longer the sole providers of knowledge and information. Learning is no longer limited to space or time. Learning can take place online at any time or from any location. Schools may lose their place unless they advance with the times. They do not need to mirror an outdated social structure. They can now integrate technology and open their doors to new and more challenging curriculums.
School Curriculum
A school curriculum is an organized framework that guides teachers and students in the required learning. It is similar to a contract between society, the state and educational professionals with regard to the educational experiences that learners should undergo during a certain phase of their lives. Both the school and the community have a say in the development of the written and unwritten or hidden school curriculum.
Hidden Curriculum
There are differences between written and hidden curriculums. Teachers teach and students learn implicit concepts and patterns. Some of these are written in the curriculum while others are not. Teachers may not be as aware as their students that they are transmitting unwritten or hidden curriculum ideas. Students may sense it much faster because some of these ideas force the students to behave in ways they do not always like. Students learn quickly that they have to conform to the rules of the school if they want approval.
Hidden Curricula serve a purpose:
- Indoctrination to maintain social status
- Set the stage for formal education
- Rules to complete formal education
Students acquire these and other hidden ideas while attending school. Many schools promote social norms and values that such as being punctual, competitive, waiting one’s turn, learning to accept hierarchy of authority, patience and other goals and functions of society.
School promoted socializing codes of behavior may adversely affect students. Teachers convey many messages to learners from the outset of school. Some kindergarten teachers go as far as to control the children’s behavior and perception of the world in negative and often inappropriate ways. Apparently, youngsters adjust their emotional responses to conform to those considered appropriate by the teacher and school . Youngsters do not always feel at ease with being quiet and not being able to express their feelings. The hidden curriculum sometimes determines limitations to student behaviour in the classroom that may hinder learning.
http://www.wiziq.com/teachblog/learning-styles-all-learners/On the one hand, the hidden curriculum may limit teachers’ instruction because it forces them to teach students how to behave in ways that may not enhance learning instead of devoting time to content and other skills that could facilitate life long learning. This takes time away from the written curriculum’s plan for learning. In addition, teachers do not always feel comfortable instructing students on socialization. They feel that these are things parents should be doing at home.
Monday, December 15, 2014
From " The Travelling Teachers: A Christmas Carol: a flipped lesson."
The Travelling Teachers: A Christmas Carol: a flipped lesson.: Every year at Christmas time I talk about A Christmas Carol in my classes for many different reasons. It is a wonderful Christmas t
Sunday, November 23, 2014
"Weird" Al Yankovic - Amish Paradise
What is – "Paradise" –
What
is – "Paradise" –
Who
live there –
Are
they "Farmers" –
Do
they "hoe" –
Do
they know that this is "Amherst" –
And
that I – am coming – too –
Do
they wear "new shoes" –
in "Eden" –
Is
it always pleasant – there –
Won't
they scold us – when we're hungry
–
Or
tell God – how cross we are –
You
are sure there's such a person
As
"a Father" – in the sky
–
So
if I get lost – there – ever –
Or
do what the Nurse calls "die" –
I
shan't walk the "Jasper" –
barefoot –
Ransomed
folks – won't laugh at me –
Maybe
– "Eden" a'n't so
lonesome
As
New England used to be!
F241
(1861) 215
We
learn here that Dickinson found New England “lonesome.”
Monday, November 3, 2014
HALINA'S LEARNING, TEACHING AND MUCH MORE....: Songs toTeach English and More
HALINA'S LEARNING, TEACHING AND MUCH MORE....:
Songs to Teach English and More: Don McLean - Vincent ( Starry, Starry Night) With Lyrics Don McLean's Vincent (Starry,Starry Night) Almost all images created by...
Songs to Teach English and More: Don McLean - Vincent ( Starry, Starry Night) With Lyrics Don McLean's Vincent (Starry,Starry Night) Almost all images created by...
Songs toTeach English and More
Don McLean - Vincent ( Starry, Starry Night) With Lyrics
Don McLean's Vincent (Starry,Starry
Night) Almost all images created by Vincent Van- Gogh. Song by Don
McLean I in no way assume any credit for song or images.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
What is important in Education?
I am going to
talk about active teaching.
For me -
teaching online is using technology in the classroom; as an additional method
of traditional teaching.
I am for blended
learning which means - taking advantage of both, traditional f2f techniques and
possibilities given by new technologies.
Some say that:
participants in online classes seemed to be more involved and engaged in lesson
activities than students in traditional classes.
In my view, we
can activate our learners, in the same way, in both situations.
Getting decent
communication in different educational settings requires altered teaching
approaches.
This way we can
change them from passive learners to active students.
But how to help
them learn actively and meaningfully, it is a separate issue.
Active learning
includes providing chances for students to discuss and listen meaningfully,
write, read, and reflect on the content, ideas, issues, and concerns of an
academic subject.
(Meyers &
Jones, 1993, p. 6)
Confucius’s
aphorism:
I hear, and I forget. I see,
and I remember. I do, and I understand.
(Page 75
Instruction at FSU Handbook 2011)
Should not be
forgotten.
By doing and
practicing, we build our long-term memory library.
Short term
recollection is formed mostly by memorizing, which is, unfortunately, assessed
in the majority of schools.
My experience
tells that I ought to practice active learning principles to progress
activities for my students that best mirror my particular communication style.
What is more, I choose the subjects, forms of thinking, and strategies to solve
the problems that should be understood and relate to the topics.
This method will
help me to create “active learners”.
Looking for
answers to the most common questions: what, when, where, who, why, why don't,
how, etc. is always the starting point.
As a result of
our discussion - we can put together part of incompetent content knowledgeable
student with fully involved learner and self-motivated thinker.
Traditional
education focuses on teaching, not learning. In most schools, memorization is
mistaken for learning. Taking part in free study lessons and online Speaking
Groups, will help a lot. This would also increase our confidence in speaking,
as well as improve vocabulary and pronunciation. Additional excellent setting
to practice is Virtual Classroom such as WizIQ, where teachers would
encourage us to work on all language skills.
Standards for Foreign Language
Learning
Communication
Communicate in Languages Other
Than English
Standard 1.1: Students engage in
conversations, provide and obtain information,
express feelings and emotions,
and exchange opinions.
Standard 1.2: Students understand and
interpret written and spoken language on a
variety of topics.
Standard 1.3: Students present
information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of
listeners or readers on a
variety of topics.
In my view, the
most important skill to master is speaking the language. Communication is a
difficult assignment especially if you don’t live or work in a native speaking
count. We can look for reliable supports to talk to via Skype. It is essential
to find someone whom we’re comfortable talking to. The process of natural
assimilation, involving intuition and subconscious learning. It is the product
of real interactions between people in environments of the target language and
culture, where the learner is an active player. It is similar to the way
children learn their native tongue, a process that produces functional skill in
the spoken language without theoretical knowledge. It develops familiarity with
the phonetic characteristics of the language as well as its structure and
vocabulary, and is responsible for oral understanding, the capability for
creative communication and the identification of cultural values.
A classic
example of second language acquisition is the adolescents and young adults that
live abroad for a year in an exchange program, often attaining near native
fluency, while knowing little about the language. They have a good
pronunciation without a notion of phonology, don't know what the perfect tense
is, modal or phrasal verbs are, but they intuitively recognize and know how to
use all the structures.
The traditional
approach to the study of languages and today is still practiced in high schools
worldwide. Attention is focused on the language in its written form, and the
objective is for the student to understand the structure and rules of the
language, whose parts are dissected and analyzed. The task requires
intellectual effort and deductive reasoning. The body is of greater importance
than communication. Teaching and learning are technical and based on the
syllabus. One studies the theory in the absence of the practice. One values the
correct and represses the incorrect. Error correction is constant leaving
little room for spontaneity. The teacher is an authority figure, and the
participation of the student is predominantly passive. Schools will teach how
to form interrogative and negative sentences, force to memorize irregular
verbs, study modal verbs, etc., Therefore, students hardly ever masters the use
of these structures in conversation.
The efficient
teaching of languages isn't that tied to a packaged course of structured
lessons based on grammatical sequencing, translation or oral drilling, nor is
the one that relies on technological resources. Well-organized
teaching is personalized, takes place in a bicultural environment and is based
on the personal skills of the facilitator in building relationships and
creating situations of real communication with comprehensible input focusing on
the learner's interests.
Krashen, Stephen D. Principles and
Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Prentice-Hall International,
1987.
Krashen, Stephen D. Second Language
Acquisition and Second Language Learning. Prentice-Hall
International, 1988.
Web source:
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/the-objective-of-education-is-learning-not-teaching/_truncated
http://cet.usc.edu/resources/teaching_learning/docs/Active_Learning_Florida.pdf_truncated
http://summit.k12.co.us/curriculum/forenlang/forenlang.htm_truncated
http://www.essayforum.com/writing-feedback-3/authority-professionalism-preplanning-important-skill-person-30641/_truncated
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/the-objective-of-education-is-learning-not-teaching/_truncated
http://cet.usc.edu/resources/teaching_learning/docs/Active_Learning_Florida.pdf_truncated
http://summit.k12.co.us/curriculum/forenlang/forenlang.htm_truncated
http://www.essayforum.com/writing-feedback-3/authority-professionalism-preplanning-important-skill-person-30641/_truncated
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)