Reflection 7: Bringing the world into the classroom

The classroom, that interactive, educational place where knowledge, dreams, and learning become one, has turned into a global village. It cannot coexist in isolation anymore. Nowadays, both students and instructors stay connected with what happens around the world while having infinite access to knowledge. From a tablet and smart phone to a personal computer, classrooms have become enlightenment centers where, in the blink of an eye, people can satisfy their thirst for knowledge. However, this new reality is not the same for all of us involved in education because, while some people working in private, wealthy institutions can have all this and more, there are other people who do not even have access to the minimum necessities to have a decent class.

What would you do if your classroom were like this?

This is a world or contrasts, there is no doubt about it. So, what can we do? Well, play, fight... use what we have been provided with. This week, we have been given the opportunity of reading about two very interesting topics: Learner Autonomy and One-Computer Classrooms. Although the two of them might seem extremely different one from the other; reality shows us the opposite for one contains the other when it comes to learning.

Learner autonomy launches ones identity in search of knowledge

Learner autonomy deals with our own responsibility as learners. The learning process has drastically changed in the last decades, and it has moved from a teacher-centered environment to a student-centered one where each participant has the right, and the duty, to learn in accordance with his or her own terms, speed, and tastes. The main problem with learner autonomy is found on the level of maturity that, not only instructors, but also parents and mainly students need to have. The new learners have to struggle against centuries of educational imposition, where all the knowledge was and has been given to the students as if they would be a recipient on which learning is pour to. So, going against this unconscious method means an inner fight that is not easy to break or change. Important steps, nevertheless, have been taken and our society moves towards a new direction where the learning process has become active, personal,and globally interactive.

One way in which learner autonomy meets this limited-sort-of reality is when you have a classroom with one computer only and it has to be shared with every single member of the class. This scenario provides the best opportunity for a teacher to stir students´imagination within a context where each participant has learned to be responsible and respectful for others.  They have to work in relation to the rest of students, knowing that they also need to use the only computer in the classroom. Although, limited to a certain extent, one-computer classes can fill any classroom with technological devices that can help enhance the students´ knowledge.

One example in which the cyber world can interact with the physical world in a classroom with limited technological devices can be this lesson plan I came up with in a hypothetical composition, one-computer classroom: After reading about how to write a comparison and contrast composition (Condition), participants in the writing class (Audience) will do research in internet for the songs "Asleep" by The Smiths and "Krafty" by New Order to find similarities and differences within the lyrics of the songs (Behavior) to write a twenty-line,in-class composition (Degree).

Finally, this week that is about to start, my grammar advanced students will present their PBL activities which came up as a result of a problem detected along the progress of the course. I still have no clue on what they are going to come up with, but I am sure it will be something good. The truth is that I am really anxious to see their projects are going to be. In fact, I am thinking on taking pictures about the different presentations to include them in next week´s final report.

As it can be seen, life shows us different faces in different circumstances;  we, however, have to learn to see it with  the best look we have: that of our heart for there is where passion lives and, it is, through it that obstacles can easily be overcome. Let´s bring our world into the classroom!

Let´s bring our world into the classroom!

Reflection 6: Education is a route, not a destination

Week six came, it stayed with us, and, now, it is about to leave. However, many were the precious gifts it brought to us and which, at the same time, enriched us as professionals in the field of education.

To begin with, we all learned about the advantages on implementing PowerPoint presentations in our classes. Although I must confess here that it was kind of difficult to follow the creation process, with the help of videos from YouTube you can find many different ways to create activities that go from a quiz to a game. Definitely, using PowerPoint presentations is a very useful and powerful technological resource when what we want is to bring a change into the classroom. In addition, I really find the page Creating Interactive PowerPoint Presentation for Teachers and Students done by Drs. Terry & Cathy Cavanaugh of Florida Center for Instructional Technology, USF very clear, informative, and useful. I really recommend it.


Secondly, I want to express my admiration for those instructors who have to deal with large classes (60 or more)for it is extremely demanding and exhausting. Luckily, I don´t have to deal with such classes, but it does not mean that I have to ignore the possible activities that can be carried out for groups like those since some of those activities can be developed with any kind of class. In my case, I have used games such as Who Wants to be a Millionaire for my classes with much success. This week that we are about to start, I am going to use the PowerPoint presentation of grammar for my Grammar Advanced class which is great because it will be a type of review of the material covered so far in these 5 weeks of classes.

Finally, I am very happy and thankful for the helpful resources found throughout this course. Not only have we learned a lot on sites and technological devices, but also we have put them into practice, which, I think, is the ultimate goal of any course with the nature of this one.

This week, my Grammar Advanced students are going to give me a report of the Final Project on Zunal WebQuest implemented as a response to problem emerged in the course. This final project (in pairs or individually, and according to their field of study, students will provide an in-class activity on a topic that we were not able to cover due to lack of time)will be presented next week, and it has been an extremely useful activity for now we have to cover the rest of the topics contained in the course program. Moreover, I am extremely proud of my other project that has come out as a result of this course: The Perks of Being a Wallflower, an ESP Blog for now my ESP students from Pre-Intermediate 3 have started writing; a situation that hardly occurs within our normal classes due to time problems. Here, they, after having read the book and watched the movie, have to write a minimum of five entries and they also have to comment on their classmates´entries. This whole idea and activity of intergatring the movie, the book and now the blog has been very rewarding for all of us. There is no doubt, I am going to continue putting this activity into practice.

As it can be seen, Education is not a destination; it is a route that we all have to help to expand by finding the necessary devices and ways to make each class unforgettable and useful. Let´s all transit through the highway of learning!

Reflection 5: Moving Forward!

There is no doubt, my friends, that the only way is forward. We are now in week 5 of our academical journey and the amount of information that we have acquired is just amazing and extremely useful. This is a fact that pushes us all towards new horizons in our educational highway and professional life.

This week´s trip started with a very interesting topic on PBL(Project-Based Learning which now I really find necessary and mandatory if what we want is real learning from our students. In PBL, the students become the doers and they stop being the receivers; in a word, they become actors and not just the mere audience. In addition, they work on something of their own; a topic in which they are the experts so the inversion of roles takes place; leading to an extremely positive outcome: The students get confidence and feel capable of improving their English speaking skills.

After that amazing first place, we were taken to a beautiful location with breath-taking scenery: Rubrics and Alternative Assessment. Here we came across an invaluable fountain of resources, especially for the creation of rubrics. The page RubiStar offers the possibility of creating your own rubrics based on the characteristics and necessities of each group you teach. This option, plus the opportunity of carrying out alternative evaluation, greatly enhances the learning process for each participant and for the whole class because it gives professors the chance to personalize each graded activity done in class.

Finally, As our last stop we went to a refreshing lake where we had the opportunity of using technological tools to the service of education by finding a solution to a problem found in one of our groups we are currently teaching . In my case, since a couple of weeks ago I had decided to work on my Grammar Advanced group. One of the problems I had mentioned before and which is the one I chose to work on is time for we have classes four hours a week which is not enough. So as a way to solve this inconvenient, I am going to implement a project-based learning activity with the use of ZunalWebQuest in which participants will be divided into groups according to their field of study or job. They will work on applying one of the topics studied in class to a text (video, story, article, poem, etc.)that is closely related to what they study or do every day. The idea here, my friends, is to take the grammar class to the student´s daily life so they can see and feel that it --grammar-- is an essential component of whatever we do in our lives and not just a boring academic subject. Then, through RubiStar a rubric will be created to evaluate such activity.

As you can see, this week´s journey has been a fulfilling one which has helped each one of us to give shape to our different classes; without paying attention to the geographical region or the topics or type of students being addressed. We all have benefited from the invaluable possibilities that we have acquired through the pages read and visited. It all depends on us, to be wise enough to visualize how to use them properly and constantly. At the end, the ones who will be completely benefited from all these mountains of knowledge will be our students.

Kind regards from paradise,

Hector.