Week 9 - New Horizons

Greetings to all!

I've got mixed feelings about ending this course: on the one hand, the positive feeling of having accopmplished and reached a goal, but on the other hand, the feeling of sadness for not being with my coursemates and instructor in this course anymore.
I would like to thank our outstanding instructor Sean McClelland  for sharing all his knowledge, for doing such meticulous work and for making my teaching much more interesting by giving supportive suggestions and comments.You have inspired me a lot!
Besides, I would like to thank all my resourceful coursemates for their valuable contributions given.Meeting teachers from different parts of the world  influenced me in changing some points of views.Knowing about different teaching environments all over the world, all their difficulties and facillities has broaden my horizons.
I would also like to thank the American Embassy for this enriching opportunity and the University of Oregon for making it possible.
I have no doubts that I still have a lot to learn and this course was the beginning of a new cycle.I feel very encouraged to continue exploring all the technological resources we have been presentend with, to give more stimulating classes and prepare more engaging activities for students.
I am very fortunate for being part of this great opportunity!

Thank you.
Érika
Brazil.

Week 8 - Reflection

This week has been very intense.I had the opportunity to learn from a variety of resources and tools to be used in class and outside the class.Before I had learned how to create a blog at blogger.com and a padlet page at padlet link.     I explored others which are very useful and practical as http://www.toolsforeducators.com/, http://www.easytestmaker.com/default.aspx and http://www.crosswordpuzzlegames.com/create.html which I have used to prepare activities for some classes.
I hope I can explore all the others.I have no doubt that all of them will enrich my classes since students will have the chance to learn in a funnier and more interesting way. Also, I have plans to use Nicenet with my colleagues at our Teacher Development Course next year in my school.
Another interesting and important task this week was reading my peer first draft project and have her read mine.I think this peer activity help students develop autonomy since giving peer feedback makes us reflect on how we can help the other improve, but mainly how we can improve ourselves based on another person's feedback.I will try to adapt it into my teaching too.
 As for my final project, there are some points to be improved and I am working hard on it.

Érika
Brazil.

Week 7- Reflection

This week has been very reflective.As for Learner Autonomy, I think nowadays we can count with modern resources to help learners develop it.A lot of ideas and suggestions were presented on the articles about tech alternatives and mobile apps, which are very enriching and easy to use.

Besides being interesting to be used in class, I also hope that by using these ideas I can trigger my students' interest in practicing their English skills outside the classroom.

Another  new tool for me is padlet. I had never used it,in fact I had never heard about it. It's simple and easy to use so I am considering the idea of creating a padlet page for one of my groups.

I had already created two classroom blogs.I feel some students are motivated and have been doing the tasks proposed.So, I think a padlet can be used as a reflective page for more advanced students.

Érika

Brazil

REFLECTIVE TEACHING

I have shared this webinar because I think it helps trigger some reflection on how to motivate students to learn.This video  shows what different English teachers around the world do to try to encourage their students to learn.

Érika
Brazil

Week 6 - Reflection

I can hardly believe this amazing experience of taking my Webskills course is coming to an end.Fortunately, what I have been learning and producing is  not going to end.
This week I have read interesting articles about engaging students and getting them more involved in learning by using technological tools.
One of the tech tools we have reflected on and experimented with is interactive PPT presentations.
We can add a lot of interactions to Powerpoint Presentations but always keeping in mind that they need to be well planned and designed.Also, they are just a tool to help and a complement to the teacher's work.
As for my project to implement my technology-related change, I have already started implementing it.I have created a classroom blog which my students and I have already started making use of.This experience is still at the beginning but we have been interacting and my students have been practicing some writing by using it.
I want to continue working on it to make it more meaningful and encouraging to my students.You can visit it at http://highintermediateclass.blogspot.com.br/
Thank you.

Érika.
Brazil

Week 5- Reflection


This week has really broadened my horizons!There is no doubt that new ways to assess learners are required since the process of teaching and learning is in constant change because learners change and teachers as well. Learning to create my own rubrics was very helpful.Assessing my students oral tests/book reports and written assignments by using RubiStar has become more motivating because it is not difficult to create a rubric, and students understand better why they have  received a specific grade.

Reading about Project-Based Learning and Webquests was very interesting too.Creating projects is something we are always trying to do at my school so that leaners become more motivated to learn English.Working with authentic materials for projects really makes students get more engaged.Using Webcasts is a great way to encourage learning in my opinion,because students are guided to explore internet.

This week I also had to reflect on how to solve the issue I had described previously during this course.Because using blogs to teach/learn is something I have been doing and enjoying a lot as a learner,I decided to use a classroom blog to motivate my students.I hope students get motivated to practice more reading and writing by using a blog.

Thanks.
Érika

Week 4 - Reflection

On week 4 I had the opportunity to read interesting articles on Reading and Writing which helped me reflect on how to help my students improve these skills.These articles also contributed to help me look into the websites with a different perspective,which is: help students improve these skills with technology in a meaninful way but always keeping in mind that the teacher's guidance is very important in this process.
I also prepared a Technology- Enhanced lesson plan for an activity, which helps clarify our objectives.
Describing an issue or problem I want to solve with the use of technology has also been very enriching.
I feel I have been producing more and more.

Thank you.
Érika
Brazil