Reflections on Week 10

Apparently these are my last reflections on the last week of course.
I have to say that the 10 weeks of course were hard and challenging for me in terms of time pressure and technology. When I first got the acceptance to this course, I was going to Jordan to spend a week in the desert. Fortunately, when Donna sent us the first email I was going back to Tunisia. At that moment, I felt lucky. But once I arrived to my country, luck disappeared again and I had to face the terrible situation of the internet connection due to the political instability after the revolution. The situation lasted for a while and I had to deal with it. Then came my two week travel to Egypt. The first few days of my stay were fine and I was able to submit part of my 8th week activities. Everything was fine until the day where luck abandoned me again and left my stuck in the hotel not far from the clashes and in the middle of the Egyptian "second revolution". Fortunately, I succeeded to get back home safe and sound. But once at home, I had a lot to catch up.

By sharing my little "story", I wanted to show that although I almost gave up at some points of the program, I didn't do it. This course has taught in addition to new tools of technology bu perseverance and determination. I am glad to be here today sharing my experience.
From Delicious to Nicenet, this course was like a "box of mystery" offering its participants many new tools and techniques. I will come back to my classes stronger than ever and well equipped.
Thus, I would like to thank Donna, our great instructor, for supporting me through the process. A great thanks for all my course-mates for enriching my knowledge and my mind. I hope that there will be a platform for the whole group to keep posting and interacting. Anyway, this is my email address (ghadalouhichi@yahoo.fr) and let's keep in touch.

All good things come to an end. This journey comes to an end and a new one is about to start. "The show must go on".  

Wish to everyone all the best... 

Reflections on Week 9

I have to admit that compared to my course-mates I am "new" in the field of teaching. I have been teaching for only 4 years and have never been introduced to this kind of tools neither during my studies nor in the training sessions provided to me as a teacher. In class, I followed the rule of "learning by doing" and was dealing with some issues instinctively sometimes. For instance, when I first started to teach I was so stressed and frustrated after some classes which were a combination of learning styles. I couldn't understand why some students didn't get much from a lesson I spent a lot of time working on and making as accessible as possible. But step by step, I learned that each student has his/her own pace and style of understanding and learning. Since then, I have tried to make my lessons as diversified as possible to be understood by most of my students.
That is why, I can happily say that the 9th week readings were truly inspiring for me!
We had to read about the different Learning Styles and the ways to combine "Technology and Multiple Intelligences". This means that I got to learn more about the learning styles and how to deal with each one of them at the same time. I think I am really getting to love Technology and its magic.
For the new term, I intend to identify the different learning styles of each one of my students and tackle them using the techniques provided by this website  http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic68.htm.

I would like also to share with everyone a link that I enjoyed exploring. It is available at http://www.open2.net/survey/learningstyles/. It is presented as online games and tests that teachers can be taken by teachers or their students. Actually, I had fun taking the test. And guess what! I am (once again) a "reflective learner". What about you?