Reflections on Week 8

As you might notice, I am posting part of my assignments later than the deadline. I apologize it wasn't my intention. Two weeks ago, I took advantage of the four hours I had to spend in the airport and posted my last blog post. I didn't know that one week after things will be crazy in Cairo and that Tahrir Square will hold its "second revolution". Unfortunately, I was stuck in the hotel not far from the clashes and without Internet.
Now I am finally home,  trying to catch up with what I missed.

Apologies done, let's start reflecting on week 8.
Actually, this week made me discover a great tool: ANVILL (https://anvill.uoregon.edu/anvill2/). This website is an amazing discovery for the teacher and the student at the same time. It is mainly used for ORAL communication purposes in and outside the class. I strongly believe that a continuous oral practice of the language is crucial for students. Actually this is what they have been missing.
After being introduced to this tool, I thought about changing the change I used in my project but it was difficult to manage this kind of sophisticated and complicated ways of teaching. I have to understand it well myself to be able to implemented in class!

Then comes funny part. We were asked to create our own exercises online. For an illiterate in technology like me, it was a real challenge. In this activity, I enjoyed exploring all the websites suggested, but mainly two of them were more accessible and easy to use: 
http://www.toolsforeducators.com/
 http://www.crosswordpuzzlegames.com/create.html
Through the second link I designed my first crossword puzzle! I really enjoyed making it and I think that my students will enjoy it too.

Last but not least, we submitted the draft of our project. It was important for me to do the first step of the project, especially that I won't be able to implement it before January. I really look forward to introduce to my students the change that will make their lessons more useful and enjoyable.

Best,
Ghada 

Reflections on Week 7

This blog post is coming to you directly from Egypt. I landed two hours ago!
Before going into reflections on this week, I would like to thank Donna for introducing "Delicious" to us. It is amazing to format the computer without having to care about your favorite links.

Introduction done, reflections will flow. Usually, when working on the assignment I get frustrated, especially when there are interesting and useful resources and ideas that I can't use in class. I sometimes felt that I don't fit in this course. This week, I was happily surprised to see that this week's "subject" deals with teachers with few resources like me. I really enjoyed sharing my experience in a one-computer class.
The situation in a class with one computer with unstable connection to internet is quite challenging for a teacher and demotivating for a student. I even had the experience of last minute problems, related mainly to connection or the computer itself, where I had to improvise to fill the lack.
Although this kind of situation is stressful, it made me a stronger person in terms of dealing with stress and unpleasant surprises.

I also enjoyed working on the lesson plan. Actually, it made me think about another way to use a video that I find amazing and worth sharing. I advise you all to watch it (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12618167).
It was also helpful to write ABCD Objectives. Actually, I didn't have the chance to apply it in class, since I haven't teach for a while and writing it from time to time is a good exercise for me.

In the coming two weeks, we will be presenting the first draft of our Projects (or Plan in my case) then the final version. This also coincides with the two-week training I am having in Egypt. I am sure that it will be stressful and crazy, but instructive at the same time.

Greetings from Egypt!

Ghada
 which coincide with the two

Reflections on Week 6

This week has been enriching with its several interesting readings and activities. In the discussion task, we had to choose between "PowerPoint and Interactive classes" and "Engaging Students". My choice was motivated by the class I am teaching at the moment.
As I mentioned in my post on Nicenet, this class takes place on Saturdays afternoon (after school time) or Sundays morning. For this reason, students sometimes come lacking motivation or energy. I have been using games and small-group discussions to have their attention and energy back.
Therefore, the article that called my attention and that I enjoyed exploring is the one about "Enhancing Learning by Engaging Students", accessed at http://umbc.uoregon.edu/eteacher/webskills/material/engaging_students_handout.pdf. The article provided me with a variety of activities that will, for sure, help me in engaging my students in the process of learning in class.

The other part of the assignments has been very exciting  as well. I created a PowerPoint presentation in a new way. Actually, I used PP for my studies before but not as a teaching material. I found this experience very interesting and I liked designing slides following some of the interactive techniques. I looked at some of my course-mates' presentations and they were great. Unfortunately, mine is not as "sophisticated" and developed. I still need to work on this part!

Submitting the final project is due in 3 weeks! For the next step, we have to start implementing the technology-related change. The issue I raised is the lack of opportunities for my students to "speak in English". So I suggested an online platform, Nicenet for instance, or a  common project to work on. Donna recommended the Nicenet as good and workable. I totally agree with her and reading the article about "Generating and Facilitating, Engaging and Effective Online Discussions" (http://tep.uoregon.edu/technology/blackboard/docs/discussionboard.pdf) gave me some instructions and tips on this kind of discussions. However, there is a possibility that I don't see my students for a month starting from next week, in addition to the persistent Internet issue in the country. Any suggestions would be more than welcome!

Look forward to Week 7.

Ghada