READING AND WRITING, AND TECHNOLOGY ENHANCED LESSON PLANS

WEEK 4: Skill-building Websites for Reading/Writing Skills and Technology-enhanced Lesson Plans.

All the work done this week really paid off. I had the opportunity to learn about resources, technology enhanced lesson plans, new websites and issues to address in class.

I started the week reading the material about process writing which really helped me understand the right approach to writing and the way I should use different techniques in order to receive better results from my students. This really paid off in class because I tried it and I noticed the difference.

I then went on to check the websites for enhancing reading, writing and vocabulary and I ran into a couple of pages which were really interesting and fun. I believe, if correctly applied, they can be very interesting tools for learners development.

I especially liked the website "Devolver Moviemaker"  which you can find at (http://www.dfilm.com/moviemaker/make.html). This site offers students the chance to practice writing and grammar in a creative way, by making a movie with their own words. You even get to choose the characters' appearance, they backgrounds, the music and most importantly the lines of the characters. So you are able to create dialogues among them. A really nice tool to apply in classroom use and give tasks.

Creating the lesson was familiar, surprising and satisfying for me, because I realized even though I was one of the few teachers in my school who prepared lessons actively, I still have some flaws and I still have a lot to learn. Which is gratifying because that's why I intended to take this course. So at the end I think my lesson plan was good and most of all I liked the fact that we are focusing on solving an issue through technology enhanced tools and resources.

Finally I came upon describing my classroom and mentioning an issue

from: www.clipartpanda.com

which can be solved with the use of technology. This part was eye opening for me due to the fact that I hadn't really analyzed my class in this way for a long time. And it helped me realize how important it is to do this constantly especially if we are trying to improve our students' development.

I came across more material, resources, information, etc. and as usual a challenge regarding time distribution. But overall I enjoyed exchanging comments and opinions and interacting with the rest of you guys.

Have a Great Weekend and continue with more enthusiasm!

WEEK 3 - Skill-building Websites for Oral/Aural Skills and Saving Bookmarks with Delicious.

An eyeopening week, full of new information and resources. Finding a new way to apply internet use in education.

This week I found myself excited with the whole contents. Because I realized how easy it is to find, use and apply interactive web-skills. The first part of the week where I was able to create my "Delicious" at https://delicious.com/sergioces gave me the knowledge to understand how to take my preferred websites everywhere I go and not only that, I can also see the delicious sites of my mates and learn from their comments and tags. This part was especially interesting for me because of all the content I found and the sites I realized existed.

Then I also had the chance to read about other past participants' projects, which were really interesting and gave me a better idea of how my own project can be. I really liked the fact that all these techniques are creating a very good response in the students of the teachers who have applied them and at the end of the day, that's what we all look for with these courses.

Finding new websites thanks to http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2008/03/31/the-best-websites-for-learning-english-pronunciation/ was a really motivating experience for me.

I learned many new things and techniques that my students can use to improve their skills without forgetting about integrating them functionally. my favorite site was http://es.englishcentral.com/ academic because I got a glance of a new method in which the students interact in the web and continue building knowledge this way. It's fun, it's interesting, it's relaxing I think this website illustrates the kind of technology I want to implement in my classrooms.

Overall my week was great! How about yours?

Have a nice weekend.

Web Searching and Writing Objectives

This experience is helping me develop my planning and organization skills throughout this teaching process.

First when I started to check the Web Searching readings and all the options I have for getting more effective hits and results. I found very useful tips not only in the readings but also in the posts my classmates shared. I feel there are so many tools out there and we just need to learn how to use them properly in order to satisfy our goals. Personally I liked "Intute" because it gave me better results and I found more accurate hits to what I was searching for. I also understand now that you need to identify the exact terms of my search and to be more specific with the  way I type in the words I want to find. Every topic has a better and more accurate search engine which can be helpful in more than one way.

Then at first I felt a little confused while I was reading and learning about the objectives. I didn't understand very well the difference between the "ABCD method" and my old method. But now I see that using it like they are teaching us gives me a clearer perspective of what the students and I really need. I  have learned that the objectives and planning of each class is absolutely important for this teaching process due to the high complexity we can often transmit to the students without getting good results.

This has been a hard week, especially because of the time factor which in my case turned out to be hectic. But overall I have learned many important new things and I feel happier than ever for my accomplishments.  

If this is the way I'm going to feel every week, I'm sure I am going to love this course.

Greetings from Bolivia.

CREATING A BLOG

This is a new experience for me and it has allowed me to learn how easy it is to involve students in these types of activities. I think personally I have the will and knowledge to succeed in this course and the information I receive is just a benefit for us all to continue in this progressive learning process. 

I found some doubts while reading through the material we have, especially about the advantages and disadvantages of each blogging program (Blogger and Wordpress). I know now we are focusing on the use of Blogger, but I would like to know "what are some of my peers and faculty members thoughts on that?". 

My students will enjoy it for sure. I know that they like to post so many things on line about their thoughts and opinions but sometimes they need a place where we can all discuss those ideas. I feel that my students will now have a clearer understanding of the importance on being a correct writer and expressing their ideas with more control over their spelling or grammar. Especially if they want their message to be understood.

Great experience!! 

Hope to hear comments from you all.