Week5 Refelection

Hi Everyone,

As my colleague Sebnem commented in her week4 blog page, I too, felt that  I no longer be able to go snorkelling under the strong currents in " the ocean of websources." Snorkelling suits shallow waters but we are now diving deep into oceans. So,  I too, like Sebnem,  have to be a scuba diver to go deep, so deep onto  seabed, where exotic slippery creatures live. The deeper a scuba diver goes, the more charming sceneries s/he discovers. So do I with Donna's wesources.

In this week I created my rubric pages for assessing "Academic Presentation Skills" at (http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?ts=1319652031), went over other similar assessments alternative. In addition I gleaned handful PBL materials describing what the PBL is, its benefits and how it can effectively be implemented.

Further, I was able to navigate and learn from several Webquest links. I found these extra useful for maintaining learner autonomy skills. My students will no longer be dependent on my teaching materials. They are there provided with relevant webquest links at which they can access whatever interesting for them.

Creating rubrics is another technology-based teaching material that I found it useful in this week. Compared to those I used to create from scratch, these are exhaustive and easily manipulated. Web-based rubrics are designed in a so an appealing way that learners can  prepare their performance in advance (rehearsal, group work, pair work, etc.). When actual work begins, learners can know level of their performance themselves.

Best,
Garri

Week4 reflection

Hi everyone,

By the end of every week, I always come to one conclusion: how poor an English teacher I was! That is what I really feel. In Sudan there goes a proverb : once you feel you are satisfied of your  knowledge, it will be the countdown of your intellectuality. Donna's Webskills course is, I believe, the "countup" of my knowledge, so to speak.

several new skills are mastered this week; access to countless useful web links are made available for us. To name some, creating Delicious web page is the most appealing, technology-enhanced lesson planning is another asset and several materials on teaching writing, reading and vocabulary are accessed, read and critically evaluated.

Lesson plan from the "Innovative Technology Centre at the University of Tennessee" is a comprehensive lesson  plan for teachers. But I found it, somehow, full of guides that teachers might find it difficult to incorporate all those guides in a lesson. Again, the ready-made lesson plans I came across are useful. However, each time I come across one of these I start asking myself: How can I compromise the between the luring web-based materials and the specific needs and objectives I have to achieve within the broader goals set in the curriculum/syllabus that I have to confine myself to? 

Best
Garri 

Week 3 Reflection

Hi everyone,

Coming to mid-way to week three, many ideas are coming in my mind. One question is whether or not I could have enough time to explore all teaching materials available at hand so that I can adjust, modify and change my current teaching approaches and aids. The other point is the brainteasing puzzle, yes a puzzle, if I could ever easily change my students' perceptions of long-held traditional ways of teaching, and even if I have the panacea to do that, how I could make the ample web-based teaching sources workable in such a poor teaching environment like the one I am teaching now. What keeps me aspirant and optimistic is that, however, learners are always enthusiastic about and interested in new teaching technologies, particularly if presented in such a way that they find themselves involved in learning. That is the merit I have to resort to turn all these brainteasers into  brain powers.

This week I have learned how to create my own Delicious website page (http://delicious.com/dhahawisalih). At the beginning, it took me a couple of hours to create it, and at some point I sought held from Donna . Some hours later, I discovered that with technology at hand one could fix his own  problems by trial and error, and course with practicing great patient.  Delicious is really a delicious website. With it I won't waste any time saving my bookmarks on different PC or browsers; and with it, it is now more easier to save my favorite links in a well-sorted way, consult other links through the participants Delicious links and even import from theirs.

To tell what I have so far learned  might cost volumes to do so. But putting briefly, creating my own Delicious website page, and by going over some lesson plans and reviewing some past project proposals  were the major things I have learned. Articles about oral/aural skill teaching were very scholarly. I have found Miller's article about "Developing Listening Skills" at: http://www.elthillside.com/up/files/article4.doc very useful. I recommend it for all to read. Another useful article is Gong's "Employment of CALLin Teaching Foreign?Second Language Speaking Skills" at: http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.edfac.unimelb.edu.au%2Fresearch%2Fresources%2Fstudent_res%2Fpostscriptfiles%2Fvol3%2Fvol3_1_gong1.pdf&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFrqEzdWqOPCWW2HtO4ltnNNRQDsCwWazw. Teachers interested in enahncing learners speaking skills by employing CALL will find article wonderful.

One more wonderful thing I have learned within this week is the multiplicity of online lessons teacher can benefit from. However, I have to point out here that teaching environments, materials used and purposes of teaching are, of course various. What might look workable lesson in a specific context might be a waste of time and effort in another. Isn't that why, we teachers, are advised to follow the eclectic method while teaching rather than blindly following some lessons tailored for specific learners, for such purposes, in such contexts? For this, I warn my colleagues not to take for granted whatever they come across as  a recommended teaching material or an effective lesson plan. 

Best
Garri

Week 2 Reflection

Hi everyone,
Looking back at what I have so far learned, I am so impressed by the few but great things I have learned:

1. Creating a blog and becoming a member of blog user is the newest thing I have ever experienced. I learned everything from all of  Websikill participants, including but not limited to:
• The rich experience of many blog users in designing and managing their blogs, creating attractive templates and formats. Honestly, I imitated many of the participants' styles to reshape and blog.
• Ideas shared among the participants have given me great confidence in what I already know and doing, and further inspired me to  share whatever a little idea I have with others.
• Comments forwarded by the participants have given me insights into how different teaching settings experiences can produce different, but not contradicting, ideas and experiences that all teachers can make use of.
• Being a blogger is the best opportunity for teachers to tour around the world at a finger press. Thanks to this technology, and many thanks to Donna who has been so dynamic in exposing us to the "secrets" of this technology.
2. I have also learned to navigate in so many specialized websites, not the least Noodletools.com, to narrow, fine-tune search engines and access teaching materials tailored for every field or purpose. 
3. My teaching techniques are more enhanced, more sharpened. Technology-based development of teaching materials like those I did for Nicenet discussion will surely make a new juncture in my teaching career. They save time, effort and effective in teaching. Goodbye those days of at-desk manual development of teaching materials. 
4. Again, the ABDC method of setting objectives is another teaching-kit that I have benefited from. I often. prepare my lectures using PPP (Presentation, Practice and Production) to set my teaching objectives. These are nearly equivalent to (Psychomotor, all the three Cognitive levels and Affective) objectives, respectively. However, I have found the ABCD method is more elaborated and suitable for a professional teacher. I will follow it now on.
5. Most importantly, there is a new mood, a new spirit that I have had - a marvelous one and I will maintain it  as long as I am a teacher.

Best,,
Garri

Dhahawi Garri: Reflection on Week 1

Dhahawi Garri: Reflection on Week 1

Reflection on Week 1

Hi Everyone,

At this moment it's 1:00 pm, Sunday,  October 2nd, in Khartoum, Sudan. The temperature is 41 degree C. Its extremely hot here these days But that's not what I want to tell you.

Do you know that on July 9,  2011 Sudan lost about a third of its land? That was when the Republic of South Sudan was declared the newest independent State on our planet? But that's not I want to tell either.

What I want to tell you is much more important than any news of this kind. What I want to tell you is my appreciation to the your insightful comments and great ideas you have shared. I have discovered that all of you are well qualified teachers, with rich experiences, and above all you are ready to share your ideas. I believe  I will be able to make use of all your experiences.

Best,
Garri