Week 7: A Final Comment

Hello Jodi, Sherie and all friends,
Since we were discussing the one-computer classroom, I decided closing this week with some photos of my class during a PowerPoint presentation on the organization of an argumentative essay. The PPT was interactive as I added a Blank Slide for reflections on the title and thesis statement, QuickWrite Quiz on the topic sentences of the body paragraphs on an essay and a Group Task. I like to create interaction in this course as well by getting to know more about each other's strategies of teaching. 
Finally, I have to wish all the class members good luck on their projects.
Have a very nice week.
Regards,
Nihmat

Week 7: Reflections on One-Computer Options

Hello Jodi, Sherie and all friends, 


Like all the former weeks on this course, Week Seven was also rich with too main ideas and strategies. Towards the end of this week,  I've got to believe in one major issue: coming up with new strategies in education takes place for the sole goal: enhancing the interactivity and motivation to create a lifelong meaningful learning. The target of all this work is the learner's proper acquisition of the language, which will never take place without the aid of a creative teacher. 


During this week, I learned much about autonomy, the issue I commented upon in a former blog post, and the options of using one-computer in class. They are many purposes of the computer in class, and the links posted by the course recommend lots of the appreciative ideas that facilitate the teacher's work. According to me, I haven't used the administrative option that might include parents' letters, attendance and grade book (http://www.seirtec.org/present/onecomptr.html), but I'll consider the issue of e-mailing teachers and students via this computer.
  
Besides, I become interested as I was reading some of the comments on Nicenet thread especially the ones discussing laptops and cell phones. We all dream of teaching in a highly equipped classroom having all the facilities that could make the class more successful! However, drawbacks emerge making us reconsider using laptops or cell phones in class such as the distraction of students during class and cheating during exams. And here an important and highly debatable question suggests itself: shall we favor the usage of one-computer in class or laptops for every student? 

                                                                           OR 

Regards, 


Nihmat

Week 7: Reflections on Autonomy

Hello Jodi, Sherie and all friends, 

Despite the fact that I decided to discuss using one-computer in class due to my familiarity with the topic, I'd like to reflect on the importance of creating self-autonomy of the learners. 

The topic captured my eyes, but I didn't have enough time to read thoroughly  about it to be engaged in a profound discussion on it. However, I'd like to share you my reflections here on my blog post. 

First of all, it is very important that we help to create highly independent learners, but I think our more challenging task as teachers of the 21^st century is to enhance motivation for a better proficiency of the English language. I liked how Candy, 1991 defined autonomy as 'self-direction' since it is meaningful to me. Involving the students in situations that might test their ability to direct themselves is the major objective of learning. If we enhance autonomy, our students are able to choose their majors in the university independently without any hesitance or support of parents or teachers.They are aware of the capabilities and thus they successfully proceed towards them to achieve their goals.

Despite the fact that researches have failed to reach a consensus according to Dimitrios Thanasoulas, they definitely agree on the role of teachers to gradually build their autonomy through daily autonomous tasks until they become independent.

I think the topic is interesting, so in a coming post, I’ll try to add some reflections on it.

I apologize for being garrulous this time. 

Have an enjoyable week and good luck on your projects.

Nihmat  

Week 6: Reflections and Photos

Hello Jodi, Sherie and all friends,

Just as I was busy finishing my assignments and duties on time in the last two days, my country Lebanon was busy as well welcoming the "dear visitor” that shyly comes every year during this time. The storms have been strong, the snow and rain are heavy and the temperature in my hometown is freezing, something we rarely encounter!

We’re enjoying the videos and photos as we eagerly watch TV or read a magazine.

I’d like to share you some of these pictures!

Regards,

Nihmat

Week 6: Reflections on Interactive PowerPoint Presentations

Hello Jodi, Sherie and all friends, 

       When I read the topics posted on the website, it was hard for me to choose one of them since the two are quite interesting. They're intriguing, open-ended topics that could be answered with too many elaborations and after some thorough readings. However, since we have to discuss only ONE topic, I finally made up my mind upon PowerPoint presentations due to two major reasons. First, I have no experience with large classes although I believe in the importance of getting introduced to new issues in teaching such as engaging students in large classes. Besides, reading more about interactive PPT would enrich my knowledge and enhance my students' interaction in my class. 

       At first, I was surprised to know that activities such as ConcepTest, QuickWrite, Blank Slides and games could be added to the presentation, thus creating more engagement of learners  in the content of the presentation and catering to their different learning styles and proficiency of the language. Isn't it marvelous that students become more active participants during a presentations? 

  

     At last, take a look at the following images showing examples of presentations without interactive additions and share your reflections when you find the blank slide towards the end. 

         Regards, 

        Nihmat

Week 5: Rubrics

Hello Jodi, Sherie, and all friends,

Rubrics are familiar to me, but creating one on RubiStar is extremely new! You should laugh at me when I'm not convinced with a ready rubric found online or in books since I used to create my own rubric starting from scratch by inserting a table on a word document!  It was amazing how on RubiStar and in just half an hour I was able to add the categories I've decided upon previously and added the whole descriptions I wanted to add on my rubric, posted on the wiki under Story Writing and holding the following link: http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&module=Rubistar&rubric_id=2154438& 

However, what I suffered from is a completely different issue. I had tough times when I desired to edit an item on the accomplished rubric. Lots of problems existed when I wanted to add a row on conflict, and by mistake I ended up losing the whole rubric and deleting it from the wiki page as well. Although filled with frustration, I was patient enough to repeat the whole task and  add it to the wiki again. Then I wondered: Am I the only person suffering sometimes from technology problems? Are they deliberate to frustrate me? Or what? 

See, I still was able to learn something from this experience, and this image might imply that lesson!

Regards, 
Nihmat

Week 5: Reflections on PBL

Dear Jodi, Sherie and all friends,


When I decided to jot down my reflections on PBL, I thought of finding a video that could summarize all my reflections, opinions and conclusions on the first task for Week 5. There are too many ideas I learned about this week. Students are involved in authentic learning experience where they are the center of the teaching process. The students are set in certain contexts that enable them to gather the data and analyze it independently.When you watch the video, you'll not only experience all the information we read about in the posted articles but also encounter the great motivation of students as they indulge in deep learning and real-life situations that makes their learning more meaningful. 

Enjoy it!

Best regards, 

Nihmat

Week 5: Missing You!

Dear Sherie, Jodi and all friends, 

        I beg your pardon, Jodi and Sherie, for including a post that has nothing to do with what I learned this week. You may consider it out of topic, but I felt I need to share it with you.

        First, I truly missed the class and all the tasks in the last two days! You could never imagine how frustrated and stressful because I wasn't able to log in to do all the assignments and share you the discussions just as I did last week. In fact,I have some important reason that I'd like to share with you.

        On Friday, Feb. 10th, the network for all the schools in Saida, my hometown, and the suburbs held its first Professional Training Day, where many of the educational lectures and workshops took place. Since I participated in a workshop on Writing, I was too busy preparing the information, activities, and materials to be given. {I was also busy shopping for new presentable clothes since we, the Lebanese, are picky on outfits!}I had several overnights to accomplish my tasks, so I barely had time to log in to say hello or discuss some of the valid ideas we have in class.To my satisfaction, the day went smoothly, and the workshop was great according to the feedback of the participants. { Frankly speaking, I included some of the ideas I learned from my continuous search in this course!}

           I know I missed too many things, but I'll do my best- again with more overnights- to finish my assignments!              



         Missing all of you!


          Nihmat
      

A Final Comment on Week 4

Hi Jodi, Sherie and all friends, 


       As usual, I like to conclude the week posts with a visual image in an attempt to have fun and address all the learning styles for friends in my class! 


    

     Hope you like it! 
     
     Best regards, 


     Nihmat

What I learned on Week 4

 Hello Jodi, Sherie and all friends, 


   "Time really flies". When I posted the title of this message as a final comment on Week 4, I just felt like I jotted down a similar one just yesterday. And here is the end of Week 4. A similar task in form, but too different in content! It's similar because we have to comment on each week's learning through the blog. However, what's different is that new lessons are learned, and different issues are discussed that could definitely contribute to my professional development.

     In Week 4, the lesson plan and the project task weren't a piece of cake although the articles and suggested websites were of great help. I spent some time to decide upon a topic or a skill since I got several in my mind. On the lesson plan, I made up my mind on poetry/ paraphrasing as the class Discussions inspired me a lot! We spent some time discussing the efficiency of teaching poetry to middle and high school learners especially that they are learning it as a second foreign language. Concerning the project task, I chose writing skill as well since I realize deterioration in the writing level of my students year after another. If I had had enough time, I would have brought up other problems like the reliability of our assessment system and the inconsistency of students' preparation for exams as well as their studying approach. 


    As I proceed in this course, I discover the challenging and demanding role of the teacher. We have lots of tasks to fulfill, but the most important thing is to continue to be motivated.


Best regards, 


Nihmat

Week Four: First Task

Hi Jodi, Sherie and all friends, 


Week four started with a very challenging task to do. It's the search for multi-skill specific web pages and the discussion of the "findings". This had to take place after reading some articles about the same topic. This week, I started to accomplish my task from the first day because I learned an important lesson from the previous weeks. I used to postpone things due to demanding duties until I got very pressed for time. However, this time, I started my search journey early on Monday, searched as many sites as I can, wrote some reflections on a word document and revised them several times until I felt ready for my first post on Nicenet. Only then, I remembered an inspiring quote said by Elbert Hubbard: " A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success." 


Best regards,


Nihmat, Lebanon