Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Week two reflections
Hi All, I was again impressed by the energy and enthusiasm in the room last night. We have a great group, and I feel we are really making some strides even in the first two weeks in terms of incorporating some new practices into our teaching. Please post reflections for our student engagement, week two session here, Thanks, Dr. Andy
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
One of the key points to get our students learn, is to get them engaged in the lessons; which is really a hard work to do cause we need to have a variety of strategies to keep them engaged. The more and the longer we can manage to keep them engaged, the more they learn.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, my applications will be as examples of how to keep my students engaged in the lessons.
1)Planning carefully for my lessons I think will be very helpful for my achievement as it will reduce management problems and disruptions, so that the lesson will flow.
2)Trying to create interesting and relevant lessons, such as relating the lesson to students' life, will be very effective for their engagement.
3)Having a repertoire of activity related to the topic that should be covered, will help students' understanding and engagement as they will have the chance to enjoy and learn by doing.
Thanks
Gaye Sadic
Dear Dr. Andy
ReplyDeleteFirst of all be thanking so much for your useful lesson that has really helped me to enlarge my understanding and interesting technique for the benefits of learners. Besides following what you had taught me in the class, I have some my own steps to deal with students.
Application:
To help someone feel happy or interested with what he or she was doing especially students is really a complex and difficult task. Fortunately, as a teacher he or she has a chance to teach students with the same age and a chance to start over the lesson with new faces on the new year school. For me therefore to engage students to learn I try to follow the following steps:
I asked myself: “I really love them and want them to be a beloved one!” Because they sometimes said and did silly things to make me upset or uncontrollable but through their behaviors I realized each student’s needs within what I was teaching them.
I came to touch their mind, be impatient and enthusiasm with them. After that I met their needs and I found out they were really eager for the lesson.
Each time I saw them I looked at them as important persons because the moment I saw them in the class was a new and beautiful day between us. And because they are centrality of teaching: centered-students.
I asked them to repair or bring some materials of a particular lesson such as: a flower, a toy, or a family picture. They felt so excited, and the class climate became friendly, openly and excitingly.
Thank you for your concerns
VU DO ANH KHOA
Dear Dr. Andy and Class-mates,
ReplyDeleteI am VU DO ANH KHOA, when I post my sharing on this blog, it has appeared the name "Sun said", I really do not know why?
Thank for your reading.
Joy,
VU DO ANH KHOA
Hi Khoa, that must be the member name you first used with google, that is what appears, you will see my posts come up as 'EA 6220 Discussion Blog,' because that is the first blog I created with blogger and google. You can change your name in account options if you want, though to be honest I am not sure how to do it. However I am quite sure if you want to change it a classmate can probably tell you how. But you can just sign your name at the end of each post if you want, there is no need to change it. Cheers, Dr. Andy
ReplyDeleteReflection #2
ReplyDeleteThis week's topic was about Engaging the students. How curricular options impact learning. We can engage students through:
- activities
- curriculum relevance
- authentic assesment
- methodologies (thematic units and motivational techniques)
Dr.Andy divided us into 7 groups at the end of the lesson. Each group did different activities. I found picture drawing the most interesting. I read once that students who scribble, take notes or draw something related to the lesson has higher understanding and memory after class.
- I would encourage my students to take notes for their futher reference after class.
- I would also try coming up with creative activities to increase student's motivation level and involvement.
- I would try to integrate my lesson with different subjects as we dicussed in classroom and come up with a more global classroom.
Navnita Charucharoen
Reflection # 2
ReplyDeleteLast night we had discussed alot of things, by which I feel that it was very useful. one of the major topics discussed was Engaging Students. Under this topic we talked about the different ways we could get engaged with our students in class. They are as follows:
* Through Activities.
* Through Curriculum relevance
* Through Authentic Assessment
* Through Different Methodologies
Another thing that I felt was quite impressive and informative was when Dr. Andy said that we should not be afraid to ask for help. If we do we might get help as some people are very supportive and on the other hand we might not get any help at all as some feel that they are not comfortable.
The Most Important thing I felt that we should be able to get our students to learn, as it is not easy for us teachers to get them engaged in the lessons; which is really a hard work to do. At this point, my applications will be as examples of how to keep my students engaged in the lessons.
3 Applications
1. Use the Thematic Unit in my class if i was in elementary and also encourage the other teachers to use the integrated unit to help students.
2. Not to be afraid to ask for help whenever needed.
3. Always celebrate on small vistories in classroom and give positive reinforcement to students when they do something good. With the help of this students will feel good and want to learn more and more.
We discussed about engaging the student in class, and Dr. Andy modeled us how to do the different activities to help the students engaged in learning.
ReplyDeleteEngaging the students in learning is very important, and it does not mean that students complete their work, answer the questions, or well behave in class. Teachers can’t expect that students are engaged in learning from reading a chapter from the textbook, complete a ready-made worksheet, or taking notes from the class lectures. When the students are actively engaged in learning, they are involved and interested in what is being learned. It takes a lot of preparation, work, and effort from the teachers to be able to give meaningful learning experiences for students.
Three applications for my class:
1) Games: Educational games are good tools for students to be engaged in learning. Students may think they are simply playing a game, but there are a lot of educational games available to teachers and students. Through those educational games, the students are able to apply important skills and concepts they learn during the lessons in a real life situation.
2) Make curriculum, content, and assignment relevant to the students: Students’ interest and motivation levels will be higher if they can relate to the topic we are discussing in the class. Students will also be involved in class if they can apply and use the knowledge they learn in a real life situation.
3) Small group activities: It is important to value and give credit to students’ contribution. Some students might be very shy to contribute their ideas in a class discussion, but in a small group setting, they might be a bit more comfortable sharing and contributing their ideas.
Zarni Lwin
A good series of reflections here. While I agree with Zarni that seting this up is a lot of work, there are some things that can be done to make it more manageable:
ReplyDelete- if you have multiple preps (meaning several different levels or subjects) you can cross appply activities across several levels or subjects when appropriate
- there are a lot of books and web resources with pre-prepared activities and materials you can try
- you can share with colleagues to minimize the amount of preparation work per person
- you can set-up some activities and then re-use them, of course making adjustments as needed, if you teach some of the same material over several years or terms
Great work everybody, Thanks!
Thanks for the suggestions, Dr. Andy!
ReplyDeleteOur class last night was all about getting students engaged. We discussed and practiced many different ways to do this. Engaging our students has everything to do with getting students to take responsibility for their learning which in turn motivates them to learn and the end result is that it will be relevant and interesting to them. Effective instruction is all about engaging students in the actual learning process rather than having them simply sit and absorb information like a sponge.
ReplyDeleteDr. Andy modeled what he was teaching us very well. This had a major impact on me and really engaged me in our studies the other night. He practiced exactly what he was teaching us and therefore we were all motivated and participating actively in the learning process. It was a brilliant and fun class that enabled us to all learn by doing which is the key.
Application:
1. I have got to make my curriculum relevant to my students. This is not always easy depending on the curriculum on offer at our schools and the guidelines for how they expect us to deliver it. One thing for sure is that there are always numerous creative ways to connect curriculum to students everyday life, and we need to work hard at doing this. This will in turn make it so much more meaningful to them.
2. We need to use hands on assessment as well and not just traditional paper/pen tests. We need to evaluate students often by giving them a chance to actually do, create, evaluate, synthesize, etc. Students need to apply what they have learned in real world tasks.
3. A big part of effective instruction means developing a large repertoire of effective teaching methods or methodologies that stimulate interest in our students and motivate them to get directly involved in the learning process by doing and reflecting on what they have done. This is something I and all of us as professional teachers need to keep doing to continually add a freshness and curiosity to our classrooms, teaching, and students.
Thanks...
David Maksel
Hi I am posting this one for David Maksel, he was having some technical problems beyond his control....
ReplyDeleteOur class last night was all about getting students engaged. We discussed and practiced many different ways to do this. Engaging our students has everything to do with getting students to take responsibility for their learning which in turn motivates them to learn and the end result is that it will be relevant and interesting to them. Effective instruction is all about engaging students in the actual learning process rather than having them simply sit and absorb information like a sponge.
Dr. Andy modeled what he was teaching us very well. This had a major impact on me and really engaged me in our studies the other night. He practiced exactly what he was teaching us and therefore we were all motivated and participating actively in the learning process. It was a brilliant and fun class that enabled us to all learn by doing which is the key.
Application:
1. I have got to make my curriculum relevant to my students. This is not always easy depending on the curriculum on offer at our schools and the guidelines for how they expect us to deliver it. One thing for sure is that there are always numerous creative ways to connect curriculum to students everyday life, and we need to work hard at doing this. This will in turn make it so much more meaningful to them.
2. We need to use hands on assessment as well and not just traditional paper/pen tests. We need to evaluate students often by giving them a chance to actually do, create, evaluate, synthesize, etc. Students need to apply what they have learned in real world tasks.
3. A big part of effective instruction means developing a large repertoire of effective teaching methods or methodologies that stimulate interest in our students and motivate them to get directly involved in the learning process by doing and reflecting on what they have done. This is something I and all of us as professional teachers need to keep doing to continually add a freshness and curiosity to our classrooms, teaching, and students.
Thanks...
David Maksel
Kind of funny, jsut as I posted it his post appeared above, oh well, it's a good post, worth reading twice! Dr. Andy
ReplyDeleteThank you Dr. Andy for your help and for the encouragement. Have a great week...Cheers.
ReplyDeleteHi everyone! There was an enormous information learned in this week's class with Dr. Andy and I guess, everyone did enjoy every minute of his lectures and the activities that we were assigned to do. I firmly believe that a teacher who has a good understanding of the so called "learning" would indulge his/her students more by engaging them through various activities. All of us know that they gain more knowledge by doing rather than the traditional way of teaching them wherein, the teacher dominates the stage most of the time (this will also remind us of how we would be able to manage the time set for every period). As teachers, we ought to look at the curriculum objectives and not rely on our own way. When we teach, we have procedures (process) that we follow for every lessons that we give, including the activities that will engage them for further learning and the end result (product) that will tell us, if the students understand what we are discussing in the class,actually, this will show, if they are able to follow and perform the activities given to them with the proper knowledge and skills. I would also like to add that engaging our learners through related activities for every lesson will build their enthusiasm more, interest,and will motivate them to go to the next level. Moreover, this will lead to a better teacher-student rapport. Students have lots of questions, I have some who frequently asks, "Teacher, what are we going to do today?" That means that they really are looking forward not only to the knowledge that they will gain but for them, the most interesting part are the activities, after you are done with your lectures. These things will motivate them especially,if you give them something which they can really apply into a real life situation.
ReplyDeleteWith these, here are my 3 applications:
1. I will continue giving my students the related activities for every lesson and I will see to it that it will contain all the necessary ingredients such as: visual, auditory and kinesthetic activities. This will help them understand the lesson and discover their own potentials.
2. In the school where I am teaching (we would soon have the Mini-English program), I will suggest about the "Thematic Units" wherein, teachers would be able to help each other by integrating basic units like science, math, art, English, social studies- having one theme.
3. I will plan my lessons well and put up interesting activities that my students can apply into a real life situation. Reflecting on all of these will help me grow to be an effective teacher.
Cheers,
Evan
Sound analysis of the ideas Evan, Andy
ReplyDeletewe dicussed an interesting topic regarding engaging the students and how curriculum options impact learning on week two. Within many techniques to engage with students, we had learnt some effective strategies. They are
ReplyDelete- Through activities
- Through curriculum relevance
- Through authentic assessment
- Through methodologies: Thematic Units, motivational techniques, etc
- Through effective instruction
Applications
1. Activity is one of the most powerful weapon to engage with students because it not only freshes up their brain to concentrate their lessons but also makes them active in their learning.
2. Before we teach, we should consider whether the present curriculum is relevant or not with students' knowledge level.
3. Instead of using standardized-test, we should pratice authentic assessment in our school to enhance students' achievement.
Thanks Dr. Andy.Your lessons always make us think and analyze things.You truly are great!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Evan
This week we discussed “How curricular options impact learning”, and the main topic we discuss is the Engagement of the learner. There are some effective strategies that Dr. Andy showed us:
ReplyDelete1.Through activities
2.Through curriculum relevance
3.Through authentic assessment
4.Through methodologies: Thematic Units, motivational techniques, etc
5.Through effective instruction
Also, Dr. Andy mentioned the “process” and “product” of curriculum which means we follow the methods of course delivery that engage students to participate all these purposeful activities and finally to achieve their desired outcomes.
However, I want to share my own experience as that: our methods of course delivery may change according to students’ level, depends on students’ ability of understanding. Thus, the arrangement of educationally activities must depends on the observation that we get form the first beginning of curriculum, so it can be possible to let students interested and willing to participate.
My Applications:
1.Do not let students feel that they are alone, they have to understand everything by themselves or solve problems by their own ways. Thus we have to let them know we are available and willing to solve any problems they face.
2.Use game or activities to let students understand the topic we are discussing. It can be the pressure-less way for students to learn. In the other hand, students in group can also discuss with his or her classmates, so they can share their words.
3.Discuss and introduce the idea of “Thematic Units” with other teachers. So we can contribute different concepts in different units, and integrate them as a thematically one for further curriculum.
Have a nice weekend~~
-Fang Chao, Yang
This week emphasized the student’s engagement.
ReplyDeleteOne of the basic principles of cognitivism is that students learn better when they are engaged; therefore finding techniques and tools to keep our students active in the lesson is priceless. Dr. Andy went through several ways to enhance students’ engagement and here are three applications I will develop in my teaching;
1)Thematic units; on several occasions I asked my students to work on a project (e.g. Flash, InDesign,..) using the knowledge gained in another subject. For instance the students were using PowerPoint to create a series of slideshows to demonstrate the water cycle. It worked well as an integrated teaching method. What I will change in a very near future is engaging more teachers to the process. Dr. Andy and the group that presented this approach really demonstrated the actual effects of the method.
2)Curriculum relevance; not having any curriculum in my school for my subjects was a challenge; I created lessons on what I thought was interesting. I will question my students to see how relevant my lessons were.
3)Praising students; even for small achievements; Dr. Andy did it for our posts and reflexions and I felt motivated and happy. I surely will cheer my students more often.
Thanks
Olivier destree
reflections not reflexions ...
ReplyDeleteThe lesson was how to engage students in the classroom. It was beneficial because a number of the techniques my school has asked us to try, however without the knowledge of how to implement them. I got real benefit from the techniques each group described and I intend to try them in my classes.
ReplyDelete1)I appreciate how authentic assessment will motivate students because they are able to understand why they are learning a topic. Authentic assessment will also highlight whether the students have a proper understanding or have just remembered what they need to know for the test.
2)The technique of mind mapping was a quick and an effective way of scanning text for information. Working in group also highlighted how different team members viewed the information and this encouraged group discussion.
3)I found Dr. Andrew’s comment about teaching global warming very insightful. Since I have been teaching my students always appear to be preparing a project on global warming. Both the students and I have joked about ‘global warming again’, however as Dr. Andrew said something is seriously wrong if the issue isn’t being resolved and is even becoming a joke. I’ll try to use some of the techniques from the class and have the students undertake a theme involving global warming.
Another great lesson with ideas that can be applied in the classroom, thanks.
Ben
In week 2’s topic was about engaging the students; How curricular options impact learning
ReplyDeleteWe learned a simple concept of teaching; process and product and Dr.Andy encouraged us to think if we want the better result we should emphasize more on the process!!
And there’re lots of techniques to strengthen the process to engage students;
-Through activities
-Through curriculum relevance
-Through authentic assessment
-Through methodologies (thematic units and motivational techniques)
Dr.Andy has demonstrated us an example of activity to engage students; he divided us into 7 small groups and gave us different activities so we could discuss, brainstormed and shared to classmates about our assignment, from this activity I got many ideas that I would like to apply it in my training job;
1) As an instructor, I will apply facilitation skills to my training classes. It was like Dr.Andy had a role play of facilitator and showed me how to engage students. For my further training classes I will design my class properly, to think about what activities should be taken place which are suitable for my audiences.
2) I think the authentic assessment would be relevant to my job because my audiences are adult, they’re managers and paper test will be denied and rejected so I will use alternative assessments such as implementing workshops and observe them what they have learned from the class.
3) Curriculum relevance would be one of my applications as well; I would start to come up with understanding audience’s needs, their real life situations and to see how relevant curriculums are practical for my audiences.
Thank you for the fruitful class.
Gina
Dear Andy,
ReplyDeleteI have to recognize I changed my opinion about your class. I mean I felt so bad in your first class, I thought you are not responsible enough, but now I am fully convinced. I found you are implicit, you like guiding students to get knowledge by themselves.
From last class, I get five rules and seven skills. They are very useful. You know I am Chinese, so I always teach my students with the traditional skills. I found they didn't realy enjoy my class. I felt dejected very much. That's why I am here to study from you. Luckly, I feel I didn't waste my money. It is deserved.
You told me I should ask helping from any other people who can help me. I agree with you. I did, but I know most of teachers did not do. Because they think they are the best in the group, so they don't need anyone else.
Secondly, almost of Asian students are shy. They fear losing the face, so they choose to be silent usually. It is terrible for teachers. Because we need feedback from different way, and speaking is the most fast and effective. So I got the skill how to collect feedback from shy students, that is group discussion.
Thirdly, I like the skill drawing picture. Because people getting information from looking, and showing the mind froming picture. I mine, from picture to be picture. So drawing picture is most direct, easy and accurate.
I was deeply impressed with your class. I are going to use them in my teaching impatiently. I am looking forward to seeing you in next class.
Reflection 2
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone for sharing your reflection. I found it very insightful. As a teacher, I found that today's topic had help me to reflect and evaluate my teaching style. Keeping students engage in learning is one of the essential and challenging part of teaching. There are numerous ways to do that and Dr. Andy had given us an opportunity to practice few examples' today: through activities,through relevance approaches, through authentic assessments, and through different methods of teaching. Also, the group activities today are very meaningful. Each group present a method to keep students engagement. It is a model of what a real classroom activities should carried out. It felt like an inquiry learning experiences: mini-lesson, group-time, conference time, and individual work-time
1. As I plan my lessons, I will make sure to include the use authentic assessments, relevance topics and activities,and different methods of teaching to help my students' learning more effectively.
2. I found that the mapping organizer and the drawing are very helpful for all ages. It helps students to understand concepts better.
3. Clear instructions and expectations of the learners;help to eliminate waste time and confusion so students could engage in learning without chaos in the classroom. Go over instructions and also write them on the board/ powerpoint. Dr. Andy also set that example today. Thanks.
Peace, Sr. MaryRose
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt is really very challenging for the teachers to have a class of students with varied backgrounds, interests, intellectual levels, learning styles and motivation. For me, keeping the students’ interest and participation in the learning process is one of the most difficult parts of teacher’s job. But, as discussed by Dr. Andy in our class, there are several techniques which a teacher can do in order to get and keep students’ engagement in the class and maximize the learning of the students.
ReplyDeleteMy applications are as follows.
1. Through activities – since I am teaching math to grades 9-12, and though I have activities once in a while in my class, I will look for and use more math activities for these grade levels to get more students’ participation and make my class more enjoyable for my students.
2. Curriculum Relevance – as a mathematics teacher, I would like my students to have a fundamental understanding of the concepts behind the lesson, and to know how and when these concepts may be applied in real-life situations. For this reason, and as I have been doing in my class, I always relate math topics with real-life applications. In doing this, somehow, I am able to get the interest of my students and make them more motivated to learn.
3. Authentic Assessment – in relation to curriculum relevance, I always give math problems in my examinations and quizzes about real-life applications of the math theories. I also give them projects on these applications.
I will also suggest and coordinate with my colleagues in our school to do thematic units which will help us in getting students’ interest and improve students’ motivation to learn.
The topic “differentiate in learning, which our group chose during the group activity, relates also to engaging students. It is basically important for the teachers to remain flexible, and modify the teaching methods to fit the students in the class.
Thank you.
Emil
There are so many great observations above I am not sure where to begin in my comments! Perhaps the best thing for me to do is simply suggest that you take a few minutes to look over each other's ideas. I was particularly stuck by Chiwei's comments about changing our approaches to teaching. Very powerful! Thanks all, Dr. Andy
ReplyDeleteThere are so many great ideas on the blog. Thanks for share and I learned a lot from here.
ReplyDeletepoint ideas of the class:
1.Process: methods/Product: results
2.Engagement of the leaner
-Through activities
-Through curriculum relevance
-Through authentic assessment
-Through methodologies; Thematic units, motivational techniques, etc
-Through effective instruction
3.Solar system
-science
-Math
-English
-Social studies: Satellite communication
-Arts
-Music
4.creating activities
Applications:
-As a teacher, I teaching language. Sometimes the learner learning language feel kinda of boring if the learners couldn't find the fun. That's the teachers should to do-----through multiple methods help and guide the learners find some fun in subject, arose their interested. Interesting is the best teacher for learner.
-Motivate students. What’s the higher motivation? I had tried used many methods to motivate students, for example, encouragement, rewarding or push them, but finally I found out show the love more useful than others.
-we can use many ways to test study outcome of student. The most authentic assessment is from the regular test. These tests not only test study outcome of student but also test whether the student have good habit in study.
Eva
The second week ,we discuss the engaging students ,can engaging students :through activities ,through curriculum relevance, through authentic assessment ,through methodologies .
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher ,we know that Engaging the students play a significant role in education activities .educators not same other profession ,students’ performance
Is important assess standard for us work .we must try our best to engage in teaching and cooperate with students ,engaging students or not and how to engaging students in teaching-learning process determine we success or failure .
Application :
1 Interests are best teacher .when I teaching ,I try my best to make sure my teaching is interesting . I adopt some activities engaging students in the learning process .
for example. when teaching poems , I ask some questions to understanding students’ interesting points ,then I ask them expressing and sharing their feeling and viewpoint about these interesting points .and then I ask students draw a picture to express this poem ,as we know ,Chinese poems have profound artistic conception and imagination, and every poem like a beautiful picture . these students’ pictures are surprise gifts for me every time .they understanding that I want to them to know ,the same time ,they transfer different amazing knowledge to me .
2 love students and make sure they felt my right love .when they face some problems ,they don’t afraid and they believe the teacher can help them .and in teaching –learning ,students want to learn with teacher .and our teaching plan also
Can go with a swing .students also willing to engaging in learning .
3 Cooperation .teachers need cooperate to students , cooperate each other ,also students too .In a big size class ,like public school’s class ,there are 40-50stuents per class, we can not attention every student ,so ,teachers need to exchange understanding of students ,may be this teacher is knowing these group students ,other teacher know another group students ,communicate each other ,can get more understanding of students . be beneficial to make strategies to engaging students .Divide students into groups , encourage them leaning each other ,peer tutors can help engaging students .
This is my second class learning this major,so I felt better and not so nervous any more. I think I can learn many different things from not only Dr. Andy but also the other friends, I feel very great to have this class and Iกฏm really expect the presentations.This is class I knew someting about "KWL","K"meaning Know,"W"meaning Why,"L"meaning Learning.
ReplyDeleteMy Applications:
1.This is class I knew Engaging the student: How curricular options impact learning,Engagement of the learner Through activities
, curriculum relevance
,authentic assessment
, methodologies: Thematic units, motivational techniques, etc,effective instruction.I think this 5
Through is very mportant to learning.
2.Through Activity help us to understand what we learn this class,deepen my understanding.
3.Trust is the most important factor.If you trust your group member,they can share their idea for you.You can learn more.
tina
zhaoyi wei(5329529)
This is the second lesson about this major.I real felt my teacher Dr. Andy is a glamorous teacher.I can learn a lot of things from your teaching.Last week,i have learned what meaning about the "KWL","K"means Know,"W"means Why,"L"means Learning.I learned many methods about my major,and i understanded what is the importance of my major.
ReplyDeleteLast lesson topic was about attract the students.Dr. Andy told us how to make the curriculum to be more and more interested.I think about it for a long time after the class.
--I should take more practies about my major.And have more experiences at ordinary times.
--I should try some different ways for different subjects and found out the key of that.
--I should read many famous writting and imformations about the Curriculum and Instruction.
Ting (5329539)
First of all, thanks everyone for sharing your ideas through reflections. Reading these reflections is really a good way to review what we have discussed in the class. In week 2, we have learned how we could engage students more in learning and that curriculum really can impact student learning. I especially think that it is important to keep the balance between “process” and “product” in the classroom. Traditionally, the product, such as test results, has been much of the focus of teachers. However, in order to engage students more in learning, we need to focus more on the learning process. There are many ways to make the learning process more enjoyable and meaningful for students.
ReplyDelete3 applications
1) In the classroom, I would like to let students use their auditory, visual, and kinesthetic skills through various activities. Every student is different in their learning styles and preferences. Therefore, it is important to give them opportunities to use all these three skills, and not only the one I prefer.
2) Authentic assessment is also an important method to engage students. As Dr. Andy pointed out, the more realistic the learning is, the higher the motivation tends to be. So, I would try to include authentic assessment in my evaluation plan. For example, for my university students, I give them some project work where they have to do some interviews and survey to Japanese people using their Japanese skills outside the classroom.
3) Differentiation is also an effective method. This may be difficult especially in the class with many students. However, it is important for teachers to stay flexible in order to meet each student’s different needs. For example, I can adjust the level of support I give depending on the level of students. Also, I can try to give an appropriately challenging task for each student.
Thanks,
Chie Katsuda
Reflection 1
ReplyDeleteWeek 2- engaging the student: How curricular options impact learning.
Thanks to Dr. Andy and all for an action packed and enjoyable session.
I found the topic of ‘Authentic Assessment’ particularly thought provoking and I have been reflecting on how I might vary my assessment methods. Typically I will quiz, test and examine students, which is of course useful, but I’m looking for opportunities for incorporating more projects and presentations as assessment tools. As well as variety, I really like the opportunity this provides the students’ to continue learning throughout the assessment process.
The small group activities we worked on listed below was great fun!
1. Circle of importance
2. Make an activity
3. Three things
4. Draw a picture
5. Mind mapping
6. Making a game
7. The great debate
We worked on making a game; not a topic I would have chosen for myself. Interesting, I feel it showed me that you can produce a meaningful activity with things that take you outside your comfort zone. So, also looking for opportunities to test out games further.
Dr. Andy I would have really welcomed further insight into how these activities could be used in the classroom. Would you have time during the next session to expand further or could you point me in the direction of additional reading on these topics?
Also tried out the mini celebration – a small thing but quite cool...
Thanks again for a great session!
Martin
Some good thoughts shared here, keeping the process/product balance in mind is helpful, as Chie and several others have discussed above. Also, Martin's idea that when we are forced outside of our own 'comfort zone' often new insights can result, is instructive. Lots of great ideas and mutual encouragement here, your efforts are greately appreciated! Dr. Andy
ReplyDeleteReflections 2
ReplyDeleteLast week, we mainly discussed ways we can engage with our students more effectively. What stuck with me from that night was the various activities we did within our groups, in particular for my group which did the Circle of Importance. I liked this activity and the main things we learned from it was this:
1. Everybody gets a chance to have a say, because each individual has a turn to say one thing.
2. It showed me how knowledge can be built upon what others have already said- sort of chunking in a way.
3. Lastly, it's fun.
Secondly, we discussed in my group ways we could implement the circle of importance activity in class.
1. We can use it to get students more open, by giving them a chance to speak.
2. We can use it to get students opinions.
3. We can use it to encourage students to be more active.
4. We can use it for students to reflect.
5. It also helps students help each other learn.
6. It can also be used with a KWL chart, when students are deciding what they want to learn.
Thank you. See you all in class, wear something nice, I'm bringin' my camera! :D
Engaging the students in the lessons is something which teachers today need to pay attention to especially when many still assume that students learn well through simple direct instruction only.
ReplyDeleteA few ways to engage students which I could use are:
1) Student participation: To make students a part of the teaching process, teachers should make it feasible for students to participate in the class. It could be in the form of questions, activities, group work, short class assignments, projects etc.
2)Another way is to make students feel that when they come to school it's not the teachers responsibility alone to teach but also the student's job to learn. We cannot clap with one hand. Students cooperation is very essential to effective learning.
3) Authentic learning and assessment is a good way to show learning outcomes especially if we're going to use both the cognitive and behavioral approaches to learning. Many students might not be able to portray their talent through paper tests, thus, they should be given equal opportunities to exhibit their capabilities.
Lastly, as said in class, a thematic unit is an excellent way to broaden the options of the teaching processes given to the students for effective learning.
-Laxshmi S.