5th week reflections

5^th week reflections

 

 

 

It was hard this week, i was out my country in Thailand try to work in the course!. In this week we have the chance to get extra marks which is really good , i like the idea although i couldn't do any.

 

In this week we had to : 

• Read about rubrics, project-based learning and WebQuests. The web offers new kinds of learning opportunities and new tools for assessment. How can rubrics, alternative assessment and project based learning encourage your students to become more autonomous learners? 

        i post in the discussion the following : 

    

How long we are going to stand in the class teaching our students? Is our teaching motivating them and suit the interest? In this week other interesting topic about alternative assessment which is well effective way in letting our students more responsible of what they are doing (there learning) and improving   their language level. 

First, alternative assessment (http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/assessing/alternative.htm) this article explains   how alternative assessments are used to encourage student involvement in their assessment, their interaction with other students, teachers, parents and the larger community. 

In my teaching last semester I used such assessment in presentation (speaking) with my grade 11 students. I found it motivating them as long they are doing what they like and responsible for how to present the topic .First I introduce them (how) they do in steps (come out introduce yourself then your topic . Speak and feel free (at first it's ok to do mistake's) . Then I move to self and peer evaluation later where students tells what want good or not. Asking some to come out speaks and other's listen carefully to the speaker, so I can create suitable classroom environment in which students feel comfortable with one another. While I am having checklist for student's speaking performance. In which there is extra marks for the use of technology for presentation (some show video and power point).  

my second post was about the importance of creating rubrics for both teacher and students

creating a rubric is a style i use to focus in the point of my students out comes define what quality work is. It helps the teacher to easily explain to the student why they got the grade that they received.

It also help us as a teacher to monitor a student's learning process and develop and revise a lesson plan.They provide a way for a student and a teacher to measure the quality of a body of work. When a student's assessment of his or her work and a teacher's assessment don't agree, they can schedule a conference to let the student explain his or her understanding of the content and justify the method of presentation.

On the other hand, rubrics are great for students: they let students know what is expected of them, and demystify grades by clearly stating, in age-appropriate vocabulary, the expectations for a project. They also help students see that learning is about gaining specific skills (both in academic subjects and in problem-solving and life skills), and they give students the opportunity to do self-assessment to reflect on the learning process.

A project rubric lists the requirements for the completion of a project-based-learning lesson. It is usually some sort of presentation: a word-processed document, a poster, a model, a multimedia presentation, or a combination of presentations.

• second ,Task: Create a rubric 

I did reading about rubric of speaking and i have found many insetting things in my rubric which i believe to fit with the level of my grade 11 students will be like :

Speaking Rubric:

•Task Completion :
(0): No attempt to complete the task.
(1): Minimal attempt to complete the task, responses frequently inappropriate.
(2): Partial completion of the task, responses mostly appropriate yet undeveloped.
(3): Completion of the task, responses appropriate and adequately developed.
(4): Superior completion of the task, responses appropriate and with elaboration.

•Communication of Message:
(0): No attempt to convey message
(1): Responses barely comprehensible and frequently inappropriate.
(2): Responses mostly comprehensible, requiring some interpretation on the part of the listener.
(3): Responses comprehensible, requiring minimal interpretation on the part of the listener.
(4): Responses readily comprehensible, requiring no interpretation on the part of the listener.

•Pronunciation:
(0): No attempt to speak in the target language.
(1): Major pronunciation errors, may prevent comprehension.
(2): Frequent pronunciation errors, may impede comprehension.
(3): Occasional pronunciation errors which do not impede comprehension.
(4): No or almost no pronunciation errors.

•Fluency:
(0): No attempt to speak in the target language.
(1): Speech halting and uneven with long pauses or incomplete thoughts.
(2): Speech choppy and/or slow with frequent pauses; little attempt to keep conversation or presentation flowing.
(3): Some hesitation but manages to continue and complete thoughts.
(4): Speech continuous with few pauses or stumbling.

•Grammar:
(0): No attempt to speak in the target language.
(1): Almost no correct grammatical structures, impeding comprehension.
(2): Frequent grammatical errors.
(3): Some minor grammatical errors.
(4): No or almost no grammatical errors.

• third ,describe a potential change: 

  In this week we are moving to the tools and the how of apply the change of technology used. AS I mentioned before I want my students to improve their fluency in speaking English many of them know many useful vocabulary and turned to be less confident in their ability. I believe they can change this issue. They need motivation, and do extra work outside the classroom, play language games and hopefully, gain extra exposure to the language and improve their progress in the language. Most of them are interested in sport, technology, films....etc.
  
  I want to use what they like and feel free to talk about to English classroom. So in my project I am going to divide the students to group of interests and purplish some materials related in project blog (there will be one). Every week there will be a reading topic for each group and at the end of the week learners need to summarize the reading in a written form and later come out speak in the class.
  
  Most students have internet access at their home and one week lesson will take place in computer lab which has enough computers with internet. In this lesson we are going to:
  •Go through the week topics for each group (of interest).
  •Students read and comment on the blog about their topics, what have they learned?
  •I monitor the process and how we are doing in the project (learner's attitudes towards the using technology tools, if students link classroom learning to outside experience by sharing ideas and comment).
  •Move around to provide help when needed.
  
  I think such idea will be useful to my students for this reasons:
  •Using what interest them, will raise their motivation toward learning and linking learning to their world.
  •Letting them realized that English is not classroom subject; it can be carried and used outside too. 

   

  Yasir