Week 4, Reflections

Things are getting even better. Lots of resources and tips to put them to work for teaching and learning purposes. We have covered the 4 areas so far. I like the lesson plan explanations found on http://edtech.tennessee.edu/~bobannon/lesson_plan.html even better than the template we were required to use. I think they are pretty clear explain in detail the main components a lesson plan should have. I am still using the ABCD formula. It is working quite well for me since I am not good at this. It gives me a good framework. I am not a good lesson planner. Then, if anyone knows about other good templates, I will appreciate your sharing them with me.

I like the idea of making conections between the material we are dealing with and our actual classes. That helps give a practical purpose to all we are learning.

http://www.manythings.org/ is also good. I think I need to start looking for more techniques to use them in my classes. I need to avoid using the same techniques over and over. I need to add variety to my classes.

Link sharing has also been very productive.

Week 3, Reflections

I am really satisfied with the progress attained this week. CALL has always been a major point of inerest to me. Both articles on CALL made me reflect about different things. In my particular opinion, CALL is just a tool, a helper. I think we need to be careful with that so as to avoid misconceptions like leaving the whole job to the computer. We should promote intependent learning, but at the same time we need to be there to  monitor our students' progress and procedures.

I really like the idea of compiling Web resources for teaching and learning purposes. That has always been a goal to me. Now, we have a whole expert team working on it. I am sure we will come up with something really goos. Delicious has come to be a great tool for that purpose. I think we need to work on this initiative on a regular an permanent basis. Maybe some other people can join us.

Exploring the two or more websites has also been quite productive. We have  not only seen new useful sites and their potential applications but also shared experience at using them.

Week 2, Reflections

Something is undeniable: This week has been quite revealing so far. It opened my eyes to many options and possibilities. Something is undeniable: This week has been quite revealing so far. It opened my eyes to many options and possibilities. I realized sometimes we get kind of too faithful to something for different reason. In my case, it started out as something convenient and ended up as something obsessive. Yes, I am talking about Google. Do not get me wrong; I still love it.


And I am sure there is still a bunch of things to see from it, lots of possibilities and applications.








But fanaticism is not good. We have to be open to other options. That conveys even many more possibilities.



Something I really liked was the search tips. Those are really good. I was missing so much. Well, I still am, but I will certainly work on that.
I am sure all that knowledge could be applicable to my teaching. It is going to make a much better searcher. I will be able to come up with better-quality info. That is going to impact my classes no doubt. Plus, I can share all those tips with my students. That will do something similar for them. I have always been for independent learning. Then, we can help our pupils get the tools they need. One thing is for sure: We will save lots of time by getting straight to the point in our search much faster. Plus, we will have many more sources to search from and ways to do it.

Finally, I wanted to ABCD methos is going to make my life a lot easier. Wrting objectives is one of my teaching weaknesses. Then, having a framework to follow is much more practical than working from scratch.

Week 1, Reflections

Hello everyone,

This is the second blog I create, but the first one related to English teaching. After reading a couple of tutorials, I can tell you www.blogger.com is not that limited as I thought; my knowledge on how to use it is. There are quite many useful tools (uploading videos, slideshows, etc.)we can use in different contexts, no matter if we are not computer experts since it is quite easy to use. All this can be easily adapted to our classes no matter which subject we teach. Possibilities are many. We just need to be selective and creative.