Just One Computer?????

Some years ago when institutes and schools started implementing audiovisual materials, it was great to see how many things we could do with audio and video equipment. After some time, computers entered our world, and we were told we were going to have computers in our classroom. I always thought it would be great to have computers at hand because students would be able to become more autonomous. Also, I thought computers would give students the chance to search more and even get information that we, as teachers, have not found yet. Basically, in my mind I dreamed of something like the picture below.

                                 

                          

Imagine my surprise when they placed one computer in each classroom. I thought that that was going to be chaos. Let's picture 25 of my students looking at a computer and trying to search for information or do an activity with using only one computer, Just like this:  



                         


Well, please do not misunderstand me. Now I realize that what I thought at the beginning was simply impossible. Imagine there are about 50 classrooms in the institution where I work and about 25 students in ecah classroom. Honestly, how on earth where they going to buy 25 computers for each classroom. Naive, me. However, let me tell you that this only one computer in the classromm can make wonders if we know how to use it well. From presentations to videos, from songs to online exercises, everything can be done with just a little of imagination.

There are so many different alternatives that we simply have to find the way to use them appropriately. Nevertheless, beware of overusing or misusing it.

Katya

Stone Age!!!!!!!!!!

                    

This week, I feel like the man below. Honestly, I am a cave woman or an amoeba??? I have used Power Point Presentations for some time now, and mostly, I use them to warm up students, to introduce new vocabulary, to wrap up a session, and other useful activities.

Power Point presentations are a great tool to warm up students. I do not mean they are cold. What I mean is that these presentations can be used to engage students with a simple topic by simply asking a question, showing a video or link, etc. Also, vocabulary introductions can be enhanced if we show slides with pictures, videos, and others. Moreover, pre-teaching vocabulary for reading activities will also fall in this category. One more thing we could do is to use PPTs to wrap up our sessions. That way we could let students know the aim of the class and what we have achieved that day.

As I said before, I have used PPTs for long, but there are so many buttons I have never used, and I never thought they were so useful. After designing  my first Jeopardy game, I am sincerely going to vote me as the stone age woman. OK! Don't laugh, I know I am 40, but I had never used hyperlinks in such a useful way. Honestly speaking, I am learning so much in this course that every time I learn something new, I put it into practice.

I would like to finish this post by telling you that not everything is lost. There are lots to learn out there.

Katya

                                    











                                     

PBL? Is that a new disease?

Hi everyone

In the first place, let me apologize about writing my blog like this. You know I am not the formal type of person, and even when I try, I always end up saying something silly.

This week has had loads to read and research. Let me start by talking about PBL. Well, let me tell you that PBL is not a kind of disease such as TBC or anything like that. So here I go. Honestly, I was not a fan of Project Based Learning (PBL)at first. (that was like 3 or 4 years ago). However, after working with it for some years, I have come to the conclusion that projects should be used in any kind of learning environment. I mean it is not only for children. It can easily be adapted to teenagers and adults. PBL gives students extrinsic motivation. Plus, it makes students become autonomous learners. Now, that does not mean that the teacher is free then to have fun. Nooooo, on the other side, it is the teacher's job to guide students in their project so that the final product is successful. I have seen different projects in my classes, and it really makes me proud to see those happy faces at the end of the month when students have to show their final work. It is awesome to see some of the things they come up with.

The second thing I would like to point out is rubrics. You know I used to have a friend who designed beautiful rubrics. I always thought "she must have lots of time to do that job". Imagine my surprise when I discovered Rubistar page.  I have realized that creating a rubric is not that difficult. Now please do not misinterpret my words. The teacher I referred to is a really great teacher, but I never thought she had discovered that page. I feel a bit discouraged about myself because probably I did not search hard enough on the web in order to create my own rubrics a long time ago.

Finally, let me tell you a bit about web quests. You know I had never seen a web quest. However, I was really thrilled at seeing the lots of things students can do using web quests.  I have already signed in, and I am trying to create my first one. Hope to do a good job!

See you in Nicenet!!!

Katya



Run!!! Forest Run!!!!



Lesson Plans!!!!! Nooooooooo!!!!!!

Another week has come by and I find myself preparing a lesson plan. Let me tell you a little story. I used to work somewhere else two years ago, and one of the requirements of the institution was that we had to prepare lesson plans every single day for every single class. I regularly had only two classes and that meant that in one week I had to prepare 10 lesson plans and by the end of the month I had prepared about 34 lesson plans, and all of them had to be written in a specific format. Now can you imagine the teachers who had 4 courses???? What a drama!!!!!!!! But please, do not misunderstood my words. I don't mean to say that lesson plans are useless. On the contrary, I believe that lesson plans are a great instrument to help us, especially if things go wrong because there is always the chance we have something "under the sleeve", but I do believe that lesson plans take many forms and with time and practice we can even prepare them in a small piece of paper or even in post it notes.

 

You know that my books have post it notes all over. However, there are times that I do really need to preapre a well-structured lesson plan, and I do it.

Well hope to hear from you

Katya