I did use PowerPoint presentations in my class but, to be honest, thet contained just dry facts and the interactive elements included only several questions at the end of the session. This week has given me the opportunity to look at my previous presentations from a different angle. I have created my first interactive presentation- it is obvious that it has not been created by a computer nerd, but anyway, I am sure it will suffice for a first attempt.

My students presented their presentations this week. We agreed that they will create a class-blog next week and post brief descriptions of the presenations. Fingers crossed!

WEEK 7

How to use technology in the classroom?

I am very much interested in applying technology to (large) ELT classes. Having said this, it is also obvious that this should be done very carefully because it is not easy to hold the students' attention for a long time and even technology, if not used cleverly will bore them. I have watched boring powerpoint presentations.To be frank, I have made several myself:) That's why I fully agree with the words cited 'In teaching with technology:'Learning is seen as essentially a social process, requiring communication among learner, teacher and others. This social process cannot effectively be replaced by technology, although technology may facilitate it. (p. 35)
Bates, A.W., & Poole, G (2003). Effective teaching with technology in higher education: Foundations for success. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

It is amazing how passages like this make us realise (or, perhaps, activate, wake up some ideas sleeping quietly in our minds) that we have been feeling about some issue in the same way but did not have time to act; or , perhaps, needed some stimulus which, for me, happened this week.

My project this week

Term 2 at our University starts in March. Naturally, I could not wait till then. I called my MA group and asked them to come to the University. (I could have used corporate e-mails but it did not seem to be a good idea as during the vacations nobody is particularly interested in checking them).

When they came, we made up three groups of 'treasure hunters', distributed the topics and assigned the task -to find interesting, relevant information not included in the textbook.

They are to come next Friday to discuss the findings and make (oral-first) presentations. By the way, Deborah's rubric for assessing oral presenataions is excellent. I intend to use it for assessing these presentations). Next stage will include creating the blog or WebQuest ( they will need clear instructions for this) and posting the group assignment on it. This will be assessed by the rubric which I have been trying to upload on the website but in vain!

WEEK 6 -Another eye opener

What is the teacher's mission

'The aim of teaching is not only to transmit information but also to transform
students from passive recipients of other people’s knowledge into active constructors of their own and other’s knowledge'(Quoted in 'Teaching Large Classes II – Enhancing Learning by Engaging Students By Rick Finnan and Donna Shaw.).

These words do reveal the genuine mission of a teacher- to encourage students to become active, autonomous learners. This is so different from the approach to teaching encouraged whan I was astudent . At that time we were expected to cram as much information as possibile in our heads. This was not followed by any encouragement to practically apply the knwoeldge obatined in the classroom.

One more maxim which impressed me is “A mind is a fire to be kindled, not a vessel to be filled.” Indeed.

The teacher's self-assessment

I am impressed with the teacher's self-assessment grid.

As always in such cases, it is difficult to tell definitely what type people belong to... What kind of a teacher am I after all? I believe, I incorporate all of these four attitudes: I am efficiency expert as I do agree that time should be valued and all the activities of a lesson should be viewed as parts of a system ( the course) with their definite objectives and outcomes.

On the other hand, I am definitely an altiudinist: 'The only justification for bringing technology into schools is if it opens up the possibility that students will have to analyze information, synthesize multiple perspectives, and take a stance on the merits of something'- this could have been written by me!

Let's look at the definition of the affiliator. Definitely!It is about me- 'To you, the best learning activities are those in which students learn to work together. WebQuests that force collaboration and create a need for discussion and consensus are the best in your view'.

As for the technophile- I do like 'attractive colors, animated gifs, and lots of links to interesting sites'.

After all, this must be like learning styles- people tend to be 'mixed' learners. So, I must be a 'mixed' teacher ...I hope I am not alone here...

P.S Now it's so cold and snowy in Georgia. The photos contributed by Sophie show how cold it is today..

WEEK 5

PBL and the role (position) of the teacher in the classroom

Is the teacher left without a leading role in PBL classroom?

I have been thinking about this for sometime already.This is because some of my colleagues at the University are worried that the student-centred approach diminishes the role of the teacher. Is this right? While encouraging the student-centred approach are we changing the role of the teacher? What is the function of the teacher in PBL? Does this mean that an autonomous learner will not need a teacher at all?

I am sure this is not the case. Having read the material about WebQuests and PBL this week, it has become absolutely clear that the teacher will still be crucial in the classroom. However, the quality of teaching acquires a new dimension: from being a director of the class the teacher will be transformed into the moderator. This means opening new prospects of creativity in front of the teacher.

Resistance revisited

Sheryl Beller-Kremer achoed my thoughts when she talked about the factors causing resistance. Actually,computers can go wrong. I do agree with Hassina 'Our absolute weapons are our indefectible self-motivation and the conviction that we are right at least to make a try'. I would add that only if we are persistent we will be successful.

Why should we tell our students about the outcomes of the lesson

I think that discussing the lesson's outcomes with the students is a very good idea. I am sorry I have not yet included it in my lesson plans. The fact is that I thought that learning outcomes and objectives were for the teacher to check the progress of their students and and better reflect on the lesson. Now I am sure that if we want to encourage the learner's autonomy, it is absolutely essential to show the students what they are expected to learn and after the lesson let them reflect on good and bad sides of the lesson. This will have methodological value as well as my students are future teachers of English. Moreover, I can even ask them to reflect on the progress they have made and make brief presentations at the next lesson. What do you think?

WEEK 4

Mary called her blog EYE OPENER which is clever as this course certainly acts as one. While reading the lesson plan of Tennessee university, I realised that it would be easier to implement technology in the process of learning/teaching if I included it in the lesson plan as one of the components of a lesson/lecture.
Nina mentioned resistance of the teachers to technology. I believe this is frustrating but natural. Actually, by suggesting or demanding something new and challenging makes a lot of (tired or bored) teachers angry as it means hard work and consequently is upsetting their routine. Interestingly enough, I did not feel hostility when I organised free IT lessons for the staff.

This week has shown me new ways of teaching listening and speaking activities.

I work with future teachers of English and this means that our students have to have good pronunciation skills and should know what intonation patterns mean. In many cases they will be models for their future students to imitate to. For this purpose, we usually use cassettes and CDs with recorded pronunciation drills and intonation patterns. In addition, when we work with FCE exam groups, we teach listening as part of the test format.

As for speaking, our students are given a lot of speaking activities and among them are follow-up activities which come after listening material.