WEEK 10: ONE MORE GOAL ACHIEVED!

“Learning is finding out what you already know, doing is demonstrating that you know it, teaching is reminding others that they know it as well as you do. We are all learners, doers, and teachers." by Richard David Bach.

This is one of my favorite quotes and I really wanted to share it with you today.

This week has been a time to reflect on all what I have learned and tried during this on-line training course. I can say that this learning process has not just been limited to acquiring knowledge on the use of technology and the different tools that the web offers. This course has also contributed to my personal growth since I have learned from my classmates’ experience, aspirations and dreams to become better English teachers by being perseverant, hardworking and open minded people who are willing to learn more and share it with our students. So even thought this is the last week, I am sure that this is not the end of a learning process, I would rather say this is beginning because during this period of time I have had the chance to see all the advantages of using technology in EFL teaching and I will continue to learn and improve as a teacher, and I know you will all do it. In fact, this week's task was to self-access our own level of technology integrations and think about a level we would like to be in a year. Please check the link below for more information.
http://loticonnection.com/index.php/resources/publications/20-loti-framework

Another thing I have to mention is that with this course I have learned that through the Internet I can help my students to develop their language skills, but most importantly I can help them learn about other people and get a better understanding of their culture, beliefs, and traditions which make each one of us unique and special. As teachers, all of us have the power “to touch the future” and with our job we have contribute to building a better and fair world.

To conclude, I would like to thank my instructors and all my classmates for letting me learn from them. I will miss you!!!

WEEK 9: A BUSY WEEK: M. I. THEORY, LEARNING STYLES AND FINAL PROJECT PLANS!!!!!

Please, look at the picture before reading.  Which intelligence is missing?

On the topic of the Multiple Intelligence Theory by Howard Gardner, I can see that he  presents a new concept of intelligence and says that it is basically the capacity to solve problems using new knowledge. He also states that everybody has different types of intelligences (nine: Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence,  Mathematical-Logical Intelligence,   Musical Intelligence, Visual-Spatial Intelligence, Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence, Interpersonal Intelligence, Intrapersonal Intelligence,  Naturalist Intelligence, and Existential Intelligence)According to him, teachers can use the MI theory to improve education by addressing our students’ multiple intelligences. This theory also suggests that “The multiple intelligence classroom acts like the "real" world: the author and the illustrator of a book are equally valuable creators. Students become more active, involved learners.” At the end of the page you can click on each intelligence and learn more about it as well as the technology tools that support classroom activities you can use. http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic68.htm

It is incredible how fast time has passed during this course!!! This week I read about Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences Theory and its implications in learning.

Regarding learning styles, Richard M. Felder states that “students preferentially take in and process information in different ways: by seeing and hearing, reflecting and acting, reasoning logically and intuitively, analyzing and visualizing, steadily and in fits and starts. Teaching methods also vary. Some instructors lecture, others demonstrate or lead students to self-discovery; some focus on principles and others on applications; some emphasize memory and others understanding.” He also mentions different types of leaning styles:active and reflective learners, visual and verbal learners, sensing and intuitive learners.

Based on this information, I can say that I could use the ICT to give more learning opportunities to my students since technology allows the presentation of contents in a variety of ways such as: video, audio, images, email, interactive power point, interactive quizzes, forum participation, blogs, problem solving software, critical thinking software, Webquests, chats, computer generated games, course management systems (ANVILL) etc. By using these tools, all my students’ needs will be covered by setting different kinds of tasks and activities which make learning more meaningful and memorable than just using information that comes from textbooks. For more information about this you can check this link http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSdir/styles.htm

I also read an interesting article: “Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits”, written by Benedict Carey and Published on September 6, 2010 in the New York times. I found out some interesting facts about misconceptions related to study habits, such as: using a specific or quiet place to study, but research has found, it is better to study in two different places than studying something twice in the same room. There are more interesting findings about this so I am sure you will take a look at the article!!! at this link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/health/views/07mind.html?_r=3&ref=benedict_carey

This same article takes you to this link http://psi.sagepub.com/content/9/3/105.full in which you can find the paper “Concepts and Evidence” written by four cognitive psychologists: Harold Pashler, Mark McDaniel, Doug Rohrer and Robert Bjork written who argue that “there is no adequate evidence base to justify incorporating learning-styles assessments into general educational practice.” As you can see this article is very thought-provoking!!!!

Reading was important this week, however, the MOST relevant task I had to complete was my Final Project Plans based on the feedback provided by my peer.  Now I am looking forward to hearing my instructor’s comments and suggestions to improve it!!!

WEEK 8: A WEEK TO “PLAY” WITH TECHNOLOGY!

My instructor, Donna Shaw, gave me a useful piece of advice during this course. It is not to be afraid of technology and just play, play and play until I find out how to use it. As we know human beings, no matter their age, enjoy playing. Playing allows us to develop our imagination, creativity, and problem-solving abilities which lead to LEARNING. As I mentioned in one of the Nicenet posts, I consider myself a “digital immigrant” who is struggling to catch up with all the new advances in technology so this suggestion has encouraged me to try new things.


This week’s most important topic was the use of ANVILL, which stands for A National Virtual Language Lab.

It is a free Course Management System (CMS) developed by Jeff Magoto, Director of the University of Oregon's Yamada Language Center and with whom we the opportunity to interact on Nicenet during this week. With ANVILL teachers can develop their students’ aural/oral skills through their tools: Voiceboards, Practice Recorder, Quizzes, Livechat, and TCasting. Personally, I think that the use of ANVILL has two main strengths: motivation and collaboration. Motivation because with ANVIL students can listen to news, watch video clips, and submit voice or video-based assignments which offers a new and more appealing approach to learning. The second strength is collaboration. Students can get involved in projects which let them interact not only with classmates and teacher, but also with people from other countries. For more information you can check this link: http://ylclab.uoregon.edu/groups/anvillhelp/wiki/48305/Units_and_Lessons.html

I also learned to create teaching materials such as: word search, bingo, crossword puzzles, and board games using this web site. http://www.toolsforeducators.com/

Regarding evaluation, we checked Hot Potatoes, at http://hotpot.uvic.ca/  This tool can be used to create matching, cloze, scrambled sentence, and multiple choice exercises and crossword puzzles. In addition, I checked Easy Test Maker http://www.easytestmaker.com/default.aspx  to create paper tests.

GOOGLE was very used this week. I used Google sites to create my class wiki. I also used Google docs to create a survey.

Besides learning to “play” with these ICT tools, other important tasks of this week were the presentation and peer-evaluation of the first draft of our PROJECT PLANS. I have to thank my partner for the feedback the feedback she gave me. Her suggestions will help to improve work. As you can see, this week has brought meaningful and memorable learning experiences!!!

WEEK 7: A WEEK TO EMPHAZISE ON NEW LEARNING AND TEACHING APPROACHES!!!

It is incredible how fast time is passing by in this course. This week’s reading was basically about two topics: One-Classroom Computer and Learner Autonomy. For the first topic, I learned many different strategies that can be used for a one-computer classroom. This link http://www.lburkhart.com/elem/strat.htm  provides lost of strategies to be used in our classrooms and even though these strategies were created for US schools, they can perfectly be adapted to any teaching context.

As part of this topic, I had to create a sample lesson for a one-computer classroom, which was posted on our Nicenet course. My lesson’s topic for this task was: A PLACE I WOULD LIKE TO VISIT NEXT VACATION. As I am an EFL teacher, I use the CLT approach and my objectives always focus on communication and it was stated based on the ABCD method for writing objectives: “Having studied the second conditional (form, meaning and use) and a rubric to assess conversations, students from the intermediate level will be able to create and self-assess a five-minute conversation about places they would like to visit next vacation.”

For this lesson, students had to search information about four places in beautiful Ecuador: Azuay-Cuenca, Napo-Tena, Esmeraldas-Atacames or the Galapagos Islands from this web site http://ecuador.travel/en/about-ecuador.html and finally they had to present their conversations about a place they would like to visit.

I took this photo in Cerro Colorado Galapagos Breeding Station on San Cristobal Island last year. This is just a small example of all the incredible and unique flora and fauna you can see in Ecuador. I invite ALL of you to come and enjoy it!!!

The second topic I read about this week was about Learner Autonomy. I the article written by Dimitrios Thanasoulas and published at http://iteslj.org/Articles/Thanasoulas-Autonomy.html there are some definitions about Learner Autonomy as well as guidelines to help our students become autonomous. The author also clarifies some misconceptions that can derive from this topic such as misunderstanding autonomy and thinking that it means that the teacher leaves students alone during the learning process or thinking that it can just emerge without training our students on how to take more responsibility of their own learning. Learner autonomy involves many factors such as: students’ motivation, needs, learning strategies, and language awareness. The article’s author cites Leni Dam who defines that an autonomous learner is the one who “independently chooses aims and purposes and sets goals; chooses materials, methods and tasks; exercises choice and purpose in organizing and carrying out the chosen tasks; and chooses criteria for evaluation.” So this evidences that learner autonomy is a process rather than a product and it needs to be developed with the correct guidance of the teacher who should act as a facilitator.

This week my web mates and I also had to continue working on the drafts for our Project or Plan Reports and we had to choose a partner for peer-review. This was kind of difficult since we all have established a very good relationship and some of us felt like working with everyone. Anyways, we had to make a decision and now the teams are established and everything will be all right!