Week#5 Project-Based Learning, WebQuests, and Rubrics

Day by day, I started to feel more confident and comfortable with the Blog page. I remember how intimidated I felt the first time I tried to create one.  I have learned how to add pictures and hyperlinks, videos and how to change the background and lay out. 

Project based learning provides a real opportunity for students to work collaboratively and pool their knowledge and metacognitive skills into a process that culminates in a project.   PBL is an alternative assessment tool that provides students with real learning opportunity to utilize and reveal their talents and creativity and develop to face the real world challenges and understand themselves and others around them.   It takes learning to a much higher level.   I have become a big advocate of it  and will certainly implement it in class.   

We as instructors have to leave our comfort zone and go the extra mile and challenge ourselves and the students and provide them with real learning opportunities to help them polish up their skills and find out what they like and what they are really good at and what they need to learn.   

Rubi Star is a very invaluable site and tech tool.   It is used to create assessment rubrics to evaluate  students' work and to set and communicate clear expectations about any given task which helps them live up to the desired performance ; it also gives students immediate feedback about their work.    I will certainly make use of this indispensible tool.

WebQuest is another powerful tech tool that helps teachers set up projects using materials and resources on the world wide web to help students analyze and synthesize information in order to create a project which helps them develop problem-solving and decision-making skills.   Here is the link to my first WebQuest: http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=285359

It was an optional activity, but I did it so that I would not lose this great learning opportunity.  I will defiantly make use of this tool in my future classes.

It was nice to have the guest speaker with us in class this week.   I read her comments on our posts and learned a lot from her valuable insights. 

I have not worked on my project plan yet except the weekly assignment tasks that take us a step every week towards completing the project plan.   I will spend some time this week reading more reports and working on a project plan.  However, I feel I have sore eyes and need to chill out a bit and take a break from the glare of my computer screen.   I have finished a bit early this week but feel I did not utilize my free-time effectively and I really need a break to enjoy family life.   

 This is all for now and look forward to another exciting week.  

Week#4 Reading/writing websites and technology-enhanced lesson plans

Reading and writing and technology enhanced lesson plans were very fascinating topics for this week.   The articles we read on all three topics were very informative and thought provoking and the websites we explored offered invaluable materials and resources.   I was fascinated by the research findings that show that learners achieve maximum benefit and mastery of a second language when they know 98% or more of the words on a page(Larry J. Mikulecky, 2007).   Personally, I totally agree with the idea because it has always worked for me and I will keep it in mind when recommending or choosing reading materials for my students or my daughter.    There are so many amazing materials on the web I was totally unaware of and if utilized will change the way we teach English.

The trickiest assignment was the easiest.   Although, I am used to writing lesson plans and even typing them; however, making a decision on a topic was the hardest.  Once I made up my mind, it did not take much to write down, though.   .

I also made a step forward with my project and finished the project task for the week.   I am still not sure what technological tool I will use for my final project.   I feel I still have a lot to learn before I can make up my mind about one.   I wonder if other classmates have already started working on their final project reports or plans.

However, this has been the most challenging week for me!   Lack of electricity hindered my achievement and made me miss the deadline for this assignment.  Moreover, it took me days to finish some course assignments and respond to discussions; I could not concentrate on anything with all that is  going on around me.   Yet, I am always very careful and selective of what to share in this blog and try to stay focused and not include any thoughts that have nothing to do with the course.  Nonetheless, there are some disappointments and I will have to share at least this one: it was shocking to know that there has been an official warning that Internet and all phone services are going to be suspended in Yemen due to the lack of oil derivatives needed to keep the system running.   Therefore, I may not be able to finish this course, or in the best case scenarios I will miss a week or more if things ever improved!   I hope this never happens, though!

That is all for now and I look forward to another busy and productive week!  

Warmest regards,

Ahmed