WEEK 10: RESEARCH TOOLS

Biography.com
This biography website (https://www.biography.com/search) is a great place to get background information about famous people. I searched David Ben-Gurion, Jackson Pollock and Roald Dahl. I found great articles, photos and videos about these famous people. I then searched more obscure, famous people such as Eddie Mabo (prominent fighter for Aboriginal land rights) and author Anne Holm. I could not find these people in the database. So it's a great research tool but doesn't contain information on everyone who you may consider famous or research-worthy.

SweetSearch
This website is a search engine for students (http://www.sweetsearch.com/). I searched a few issues which I consider important but which are probably only relevant to Australians. This research website provided me with many good quality articles from excellent sources. I would recommend this website as a great place to start research for a project or for teachers who a creating a topic based unit of study.

Week 6- Speaking and Writing Tools

Newspaper Clipping Generator

A newspaper clipping is a great tool to use as a hook. I think articles about crimes and police interviews are great ways of teaching the past progressive and the past perfect simple and progressive. Here is a newspaper clip I made using the following website:

https://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp

Virtual Books

Virtual books are a great way to present a new topic or to have students give a presentation. It gives students a chance to produce something really creative. http://storybird.com/

 

Debating Ideas

I am always trying to think of topics that would interest teenage students and get them talking. I think debating or general conversation is the best way to improve in a language. I thought this website provided the most suitable debating ideas for teenagers: https://idebate.org/debatabase

 

Spelling

Spelling City is a great way to improve vocabulary for younger students. My daughters use this program as part of their English Speaking Class at school. It is important to make lists that are phonics based and it is very useful for the students when preparing for spelling tests. https://www.spellingcity.com/

 

Voice Thread and Online Comments https://voicethread.com/myvoice/

I found the activity of commenting on Voice Thread quite time consuming. I am finding that some of the technological applications are tending in the direction of technology-for-the-sake-of- technology. Technology should reinforce or support classroom learning.

Picture Libraries and Photo Editing Tools

 

I found the above image in a photo library, edited it using lunapic https://www196.lunapic.com/editor/, and then added the text and cropped it in Paint.

 

I found this week's graphic tools very useful. I often struggle to find images on the web that are large enough to print and use in classroom activities. It's very frustrating to use blurry images in class.

 

Yesterday I gave an English lesson on architecture. I organised a group activity where the students had to discuss and describe architectural spaces. Each group of four students was given an A4 photo of an architectural space.

 

I think beautiful images can inspire students. They can show the students what is possible with creativity and ambition.

 

For younger classes, images also provide a great tool for English teachers who want to immerse the students in English. Pictures can be used instead of Hebrew to provide translations.

Pictures can also be used to prompt discussion.

 

 

WEEK 3

More Comments on Educational Blogs

Should teachers educate children about healthy eating?
I have mixed thoughts about this article which promotes free online material for teachers to educate kids about healthy eating. The article is entitled Available: Free Teaching Material On Healthy Food Choices For Children (https://www.teachthought.com/education/available-free-teaching-materials-healthy-food-choices-children/). It is sponsored by an organisation called Hooray 4 Healthy  Curriculum. Personally, as a parent, I would prefer that teachers did not educate my kids about healthy eating. In recent weeks, my girls have made comments such as "Ketchup is unhealthy" and "We shouldn't eat too much fruit."

• Should this kind of education come from the home or from the school?
• Should all the children receive the same healthy eating education regardless of their weight and home eating habits?

 Teachers also need to be careful, well informed and selective when they use pre-prepared online teaching material.

What are the characteristics of an Authentic-Based Learning?
This question is answered in a article on the Web 2.0 Connected Classroom blog (http://blog.web20classroom.org/2017/02/10-characteristics-of-authentic-based.html). This is a great article on the effects of technology on modern teaching. The author argues that a modern curriculum should focus on "Project and Problem Based Learning" because technology provides students with constant access to information and the "teachers are no longer the source of all information." The author goes on to list "10 characteristics of an authentic-based learning classroom." This excellent list includes characteristics such as: "Real-World Learning and Tasks," "Interdisciplinary Learning," and "Flexible and Evolving Learning Spaces." I think this is a great list but I would like to know how to implement these ideas in a classroom setting because I think that is the real challenge.

"What would you miss if you switched off the internet for just one minute?"
This is the first line of an article, entitled "Hyperconnected" which lists all the Emails, posts, videos, chats, etc. that you would miss if you switched off the internet for just one minute. http://www.steve-wheeler.co.uk/#!/2017/11/hyperconnected.html. SHOCK HORROR! This reminded me of a book review I listened to on ABC Radio. The story was about a man who goes away on holidays and has no internet connection. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember the name of this horror novel. The purpose of this article was to emphasise how connected we all are nowadays and therefore the importance of teaching kids how to use the internet wisely.

COMMENTS ON EDUCATIONAL BLOGS

Do you have faith in what you teach?

When a student asks, " Why do we need to learn this?" it is very important that the teacher actually has faith in her reply.

Why do students need to learn how to use an old-fashioned paper dictionary? I can't think of one valid reason.

Why do students need to learn how to write with a pen and paper? I can think of a hundred good reasons.

How can you teach something, if you don't believe it yourself?

The article Authenticity Matters: 12 Ideas to Make Learning 'Real-World'  from teachthought deals with this issue. It answers the question:

How is this lesson relevant to the 'real world'?

The authors provide ideas for making your classroom lessons relevant to the future lives of your students. These ideas include:

- bringing real professionals to the classroom

- asking students to talk to professionals about what they have been studying in class

- asking students to reflect on lessons and to discuss how the skills transfer to the 'real world'. 

Any computer that can be replaced by a teacher should be. This is the title of a very heartening blog article by Steve Wheeler. He describes all the qualities that computers lack: emotional intelligence, empathy, appreciation of aesthetics and deviance. Computers can help us with routine stuff BUT

"Teachers won't be replaced by computers because it is nigh on impossible to describe accurately what teachers do. Much is intuitive, creative and unpredictable and cannot be made into neat algorithms."

This all seems obvious but it's nice to hear anyway.

"And because it matters to them, it should matter to us."

This quote is from an article entitled Stop Blaming Social Media from Web 2.0 Connected Classroom. The author believes we should stop blaming social media and teach our kids how to deal with technology. I agree that we should teach out kids how to deal with technology BUT I also think we need to be very critical and educated when it comes to social media.

In regards to television, kids will watch any garbage that is put in front of them. If you show them an educational, well produced series, they will love it. But if you show them poor quality, noisy garbage, they will also watch it. If only teachers could emit that same addictive glare that hypnotises kids to stare at screens for hours.

Adults are responsible for teaching kids how to be intelligent, discerning, critical individuals. This applies to television, literature, music, art and social media.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION & EXPECTATIONS

My name is Jenny. I am beginning my English teaching career after working for fifteen years as an architect in Australia. I am very familiar with computer technology in the world of architecture. But this is my first blog!

In regards to this course, I am excited and skeptical at the same time. I am very excited about the teaching and educational opportunities provided by Computer Aided Language Learning. But I am unsure about the long term advantages and disadvantages of this technology for the classroom and for the community. I left my previous profession because I want to communicate with real people, in person. Nevertheless, I am embarking on this course with an open mind and with lots of excitement.