Week 10: Wrap-up

I like the models suggested for assessing teacher's technology usage in the class, both of them are quite meaningful and convenient -
State of Washington: Tiers of Technology Integration
University of Southern Florida: The Technology Integration Matrix
I believe I have reached Tier 3 of Technology Integration into the Classroom Indicators, or level Adaptation of Technology Intergation into the Curriculum, since I still have to encourage the students to apply technology tools for English learning purposes and facilitate in doing this with all possible means.
Everything that I learnt throughout this course is worth implementing into the classes I teach. Now I use Delicious to save useful links, I know how to make successful interative PowerPoint presentations, and technology-enhanced lesson plans (with Hotpotatoes exercises, listening activities, videos, etc). The students, in their turn, are learning how to exchange data with Pudlet tools, do WebQuests and make use of different search engines. I hope that I will be able to motivate the students to take even more interest in using technology for learning English on their own.

Week 9: Learning styles - technology connections

I have been interested in the concept of learning styles for a while and has become convinced that it is technology that will inevitably help address the learning style preferences of all students. Now that I have read about tech tools whichsupport multiple intelligences I am able to identify which technology I use in class is best suited for each of the multiple intelligences:

Verbal/Linguistic- e-mails and forums,

Logical/Mathematical - Webquests,

Visual/Spatial - Powerpoints,

Bodily/Kinesthetic - Animation (Macromedia Flash),

Musical/Rhythmic - Sound and music files,

Intrapersonal - Blogs,

Interpersonal - Peer tutoring.

Moreover, I suppose the article "LEARNING STYLES AND STRATEGIES" is absolutely necessary for students to read, since it explains how learners can enhance their progress if they follow the recommendations for taking up information in the manner which is more efficient for the learning style they have. I believe what teachers should primarily do is to let students find out what multiple intelligences they prefer and then provide them with instruction of how to benefit from this fact. It is practicable even to teach a lesson about multiple intelligences, for example the one provided by the TeachingEnglish community at https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/multiple-intelligences-what-are-you-good

Also, I have come across the examples of lesson plants aimed at some of the intelligences: http://esl.about.com/od/teachingenglish/a/l_multiple.htm
Some more quizzes followed by recommendations
http://www.brainboxx.co.uk/a3_aspects/pages/vak_quest.htm
http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire

Week 8: Teacher Resources Online

This week's collection of online technology tools was too varied, so I decided to focus on those which I had never explored before, trying to look closer into whatever appeals most. As I am now familiar with the online classroom technology nicenet.org, a free platform for creating blogs at www.blogger.com and the Padlet tool, I didn't check the links provided to study these resources in detail.
ANVILL, sites.google.com and SMILE seem to be sophisticated platforms, so I need more time to sort things out concerning the registration and the like, but I will certainly try all these out.
Among simpler tools I have got interested in are
http://www.crosswordpuzzlegames.com/create.html
http://bogglesworldesl.com/lessons/job_fair.htm
http://www.easytestmaker.com/
It also reminded of http://www.lessonwriter.com/, a web-site for creating lesson plans.
These resources seem to be quite appropriate for helping me with ESP classes, while most of the others are intended for yourng English learners.
I have Hotpotatoes already installed on my laptop, so I have created a few exercises to extend the range of activities of the Webquest I am desiging for my ESP class. Now I need to learn how to get a link of my online task and add it to a web space.
I can get a link by uploading the .htm files designed with Hotpotatoes on a web-site created by http://www.ucoz.ru/. That was a discovery of a lifetime!
Now I will go on completing my WebQuest http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=229857

Week 7: Learner Autonomy, the One-computer Classroom, and Mobile Devices

As I have only one computer at my disposal rather than a computer lab, I was interested to read about "7 Categories of Classroom Computer Use". In fact, I am used to making use of the computer as an administrative and presentation tool. It also serves as intormation station.
As for the "Stratagies and Applications for the one computer classroom" they all are of common sense.
Finally, I consider the paper "Going to the MALL: Mobile Assisted Language" to be an in-depth overview of today's mobiles technologies which can be employed for language learning purposes. Unfortunately, the only gadget mentioned there which I have managed to deal with so far is a cell phone. Mobile language learning programs seem to be a rather motivating and convenient technique, but I suppose the lessons delivered per mobile can only be beneficial as outclassroom activities, primarily intended for self-study purposes.
The resources I have discovered this week are http://padlet.com/ and WordWeb.
One more thing, there is a BBC Learning English Words in the News lesson about my country. It is now that I have realized that the things we learn from news are different from what happens (and how it feels) in reality.

Week 6: Creating Student-centered Classes and Interactive PowerPoint

I was looking forward to learning more about using PowerPoint for teaching purposes, but now I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I have acquired some very useful skills of making my presentations more interective, on the other hand I see a lot of things to improve about the presentations I was pretty happy with before. I should definately find time to add action buttons to navigate between different slides and create more quizzes. From now on, I will also use button B to black the audience's monitor, Ctrl+H to hide the pointer, and F7 to check the spelling. I can also use a variety of presentation templates available at http://www.vickiblackwell.com/ppttemplates.html and http://teach.fcps.net/trt2/links/powerpointgames.htm.

Week 5: Project-based Learning, WebQuests, and rubrics

Time flies but now I can clearly see that each and every week I spend on doing the Webskills course is worthwhile. Moreover, now I can identify it as a skilfully designed long-term learning project - the objectives are clear, the material is interesting, everything is properly scheduled and everyone feels involved and apploaching to the final goal.  It is so great to be a part of Project-Based Learning event!
The two kinds of technology I discovered are RubiStar, a simple tool of creating rubrics, and Webquest (see http://www.webquest.org/ for details), which is inquiry-oriented on-line lesson. I like them both. There is nothing else to add, except for the fact that I have already prepared a rubric to accompany my Technology Enhanced Lesson Plan (reviewed after receiving the feedback from Sean) and started creating a Webquest for my ESP students. The outcome of practical value speaks louder than words alone.

Week 4: Skill-building Websites for Reading/Writing Skills and Technology-enhanced Lesson Plans

Another webskills course week is coming to its end and I can confess that I am gradually getting used to this hectic schedule of balancing between work, home and course duties under severe time pressure. In fact, I find the best examples to follow among my fellow course participants, they all are so diligent, inspired and devoted to what they do that I have no other choice than to get infected with the spirit of creativity and enthusiasm and carry on.

We continue to explore the web space in search for relevant internet ESL teaching resources. This time, trying to find materials to enhance reading and writing practices. When deciding what online activity to choose, it is important to remember what the students need and what the classroon facilities can allow you to bring in (more details in Jarek Krajka's paper "Using the Internet in ESL Writing Instruction").

The results of my exploration of muli skills websites
http://fog.ccsf.edu/~lfried/ - grammar, vocabulary, listening exercise
http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/toppicks/toppicks.html - ESL Independent Study Lab
http://a4esl.org/ - Activities for Students
http://www.manythings.org/ - Many Interesting Things for ESL Students
include
www.onlinenewspapers.com - a search engine of subject-specific magazine/newspaper articles
http://learningenglish.voanews.com/section/level-two/3935.html - interactive lesson "Using E-mail in Business”
http://www.esl-lab.com/eslbasic/travel-sightseeing-2.htm - listening activity "Giving directions"
http://esl.about.com/od/readinglessonplans/a/newslesson.htm - Understanding Newspaper Headlines
"Job hunting" at http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1401/140109-job-hunting-a.html ABCD objective^ after doing vocabulary, reading comprehension and listening activities intermediate students will be able to discuss the problems of job seeking at an appropriate level of fluency.

"How to wrtie a business e-mail" at http://www.tv411.org/writing/writing-work-ged/how-write-business-email/activity/1/2 (activities 1,2) ABCD objective: being given brief explanation (and a few examples) of the basic rules of business writing in English, (low-) intermediate students will perform Yes/No option and multiple choice activities in order to know the difference between formal/informal register and will be able to produce short e-mails choosing the correct professional tone and relevant subject line.
"Science in the news" at http://www.tv411.org/reading/understanding-what-you-read/science-news (activities 1,3) ABCD objective: intermediate students will revise common vocabulary related to ecology and energy issues so that to better comprehend the scientific facts in the news.

Writng an enhanced technology lesson plan was difficult, not because the lesson should have been enhanced with technology but because of planning itself. I feel I am not very good at planning either a lesson, a journey or a birthday party - there is always a risk that something can go wrong, so I'd better try and see if it works well in practice instead of planning in detail what might happen.