Week 7

This week was crowded with lots of work,Ifeel that I am lost really I can not concentrate on anything........I do not know why ..

I started this week by  preparing unit 8 for my students at school ,preparing the unit worksheets also reading the material about learner autonomy, one-computer classroom and m-learning.I learned new ideas I will try to use them in my classes .The nice net discussion was great.I think we all  gaining new ideas ,new techniques that will help us and our students  too.

Talking about promoting learner autonomy through technology needs careful planning .I usually ask my students to look up new words on the Internet, or to design some power point presentations ,some of my students done amazing things through Book Creator.

This week I started our blog project http://455henam.blogspot.com/
I would really like to investigate how blogging can help prompt leaner autonomy. The blogs are easy to publish and easy to access compared with other online web pages .My students' started to participate in e-discussion. They are motivated but weak in writing I hope they will be better.
I need a partner who is having a blog project in order to exchange our ideas and help each other.I do not know any emails for our friends in this course ,however I am so happy to work with a partner in our final project.

I think promoting learner autonomy through technology need  a lot of work, but certainly worth the effort.

We as teachers will be happy when we see our students take the responsibility ,and we will be the facilitators .

Best of luck to you all 
Ena'm 

week 6 Never stop trying

What a week ….!

This week was a very busy one I think for all of us , those who started the second semester in schools, work for school at the beginning of the semester is very diiffecult one really . on the other hand we are as teachers love difficult situation mainly if we love teaching.

After reading about examples of different student-centered, interactive large classes I agree to those who say that effective use of technology and group work are two ways to enhance large classes, increase student engagement, and minimize the time you spend this is very true , If the teacher is professional in using technology like designing her own lessons, games on power point, or key note to engage students and promote interaction.
•   For me I create an interactive book on the book author for my students in grade four .I am using it on their i-pads .And to tell you the truth they enjoy reading the topics inside the book. There are power point lessons ,moral short stories,games, book creator ,I –movie, educational websites to visit and explore etc. 
•    And I think the teacher should be creative in designing group work ,I mean she can assign students to groups according to their different levels , the assessment tool .Giving clear instruction for the task to be done, ask specific questions which generate critical thinking and sometimes even controversy or disagreement, give time limit,assign the group size and other elements, rather than allowing them to self-select. Then Group members are engaged in active acknowledgment of all members' contributions, and solving various group tasks. Most of the Members will be willing to change their preconceived ideas or opinions on the basis of facts presented by other members, and they actively ask questions of one another .

Where there is a well,there is a way. week 5 An a dventure

Hi every one,
What a week!
This week was very exhaustive for me.I have to finish the semester plan and the worksheets for this semester.It's the beginning of our second semester here in Jordan.Yes it was a very busy one.Now to my feelings a bout week 5.   Every week I learn something new, really fantastic ! After watching the video tapes and read the reading articles.This week I have found out the benefits of Project Based Learning. It helps us motivate our students and integrate their language skills in a more natural,easy way
"WebQuests are interesting and motivating to teachers and students. An effective WebQuest develops critical thinking skills and often includes a cooperative learning component.
http://zunal.com/index.php is a free site to make your own WebQuest 
The best reason is that, like any carefully planned lesson, a good WebQuest makes learning interesting for my students. WebQuests is really a powerful learning tool. Web Quests are a way to let students work at their own pace, either individually or in teams.

The idea of WebQuest was something new for me and it is one of the best ways to write projects. It is designed to do the work step by step which guides very well both teachers and students and provides a lot of rubrics and checklists. 
At the beginning it was veryt difficult but I understood it finally. 
The alternative assessment is a great tool because it focuses on students' strengths and weaknesses.
 Rubrics and Alternative Assessment

after reading about rubrics ,I found that Creating rubrics with the help of http://rubistar.4teachers.org/ saves teacher's time and efforts. And I used to spend too much time to do them myself! but from now on I will use of http://rubistar.4teachers.org/ to make my rubrics 

The third task was to focus on one problem:

• One problem in my class:
  
  My students are having difficulty in writing correct sentences in English. 
  One potential solution I think:
  
  I think a blog can be a good tool for my students to write freely outside the classroom, they can respond to each other and can communicate using English 
  Another thing, when they start blogging, they will be motivated that their written work is published online for the whole world to see and read. I think this will encourage them to write correctly and neatly.

Week 4 technology can enhance reading and writing.

Hello Everyone,

This week  was a busy one for me at least.  I had finished reading the three articles. I explored some of the websites listed on the course website under "Websites to Explore." 

My first site is www.breakingnewsenglish.com

·         Breaking News English
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/
This site  also has some listening activities. It provides a full series (11 pages) of activities to use offline, including pre- and post- activities, pair and group work, vocabulary building, and more.

What I  liked about this site is : It is free, ready to print, comprehensive and it can be easily used to develop the four skills. What I liked best was the listening section with 5-speed also reading with Different levels of speed. I think my students will love this web site .

The second one is www.ManyThings.org
Interesting Things for ESL Students, why I liked simply because it is A Website for studying English as a Second Language and another thing there are applications that suits my students especially the e-class ( the ones who are using i-pad) http://www.manythings.org/ipad/listen/
Another good site is:

http://a4esl.org/Activities for ESL Students
There are a lot of quizzes, tests, exercises and puzzles to help students learn English as a Second Language
Daily Page for ESL/EFL Teachers
http://iteslj.org/daily/.This page allows teachers to have an easy-to-use startup page and helps teachers keep up with what's new on the ESL/EFL Web.

I used to go to http://www.englishforeveryone.org/Topics/Reading-Comprehension.htm

for reading passages,but know I have other  useful sites.

Once I finished the discussion task ,I started writing the lesson plan a technology-enhanced  Grammar lesson plan .

Then I started to think of a  new technology tool for helping my students to improve their listening skill ,I think if they can listen and understand ,then it will be easier to them to speak and communicate.I hope they will improve when listening daily to http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/

Really I am grateful To D. Donna and to our guest moderator Jodi Weber ,to all of you. Each day I am learning something new, something useful for me as a teacher and useful also to my students.
Yours faithfully,
Enam from Jordan