This week we covered some beneficial and attention-grabbing topics;
PBL, WebQuest, Rubrics and Alternative Assessment. At first, I wondered why we
were given too many topics to read and as I read all the materials attached, it
made sense to me on how they correlate with each other.
Alternative Assessment
Alternative assessment focuses
more on language use and communication to accomplish goal. It gives opportunity
for students to ‘use’ the targeted language on authentic tasks. Students get to
experience to evaluate and to learn on their own as well as to develop linguistics
and learning process. This type of assessment focuses on students’ strength rather
than their weaknesses. Having read the article on ‘Practical Ideas on
Alternative Assessment for ESL Students’ written by Jo-Ellen, I particularly
like the idea on K-W-L Chart and Portfolios. K-W-L Charts gives students a
target to learn. They learn in order to fill in the ‘What I’ve learned’ column
of the chart. It is also a good way for the teacher to know students’
background knowledge and what they are interested to know. I would also say
that this could be a good way for students too, to know how much they have
learned and progressed. I also like the idea on portfolios. Well, portfolios
are not something new to most of us. Students get the chance to put in their
thoughts and make use of their language in presenting their portfolios.
Rubrics
Discussing on alternative
assessment, how can we miss rubrics? Well, this week I learned how to create
rubrics online. To be very honest, I never knew that we can create our own
rubrics online. I found it easy to create one. A rubric is a way to measure the
quality of work especially for oral and written works. It is a good idea to ask
students to create their own rubrics as they can know what to focus; as in grammar,
sentence structure, vocabulary or etc. When they know the target, it is easier
for them to work. At the same time, students will know how to evaluate their
own work as well as their peers’. This is important because when students know
how to evaluate, they will know the value of their own work and this will give
a sense of pride for the students if they do well. Here is my link to a rubric
which I designed using Rubistar:
I created this rubric for the
lesson plan which I submitted for last week’s task.
PBL
I have relatively a lot of things
to share on PBL based on my own understanding and my reading from many
different sources. PBL can be regarded as students-centered informal learning
which takes place both in and outside classroom. Students bring outside world
into their work. Although PBL intends to create an end-product, yet the main
focus is on the process of creating it. Students develop confidence in using
the language and at the same time they work collaboratively in English speaking
environment. When they work in groups, they share and learn from each other as
different students have different talents and skills. At the same time, as a
group member, they will be given responsibility to complete the project. This is
where they will get a sense of belonging to the group and in the project. In carrying
out PBL, technology plays a crucial role. Students can use the Internet to look
for information and also to present their project. All in all, PBL enhances all
the four skills within the students and through PBL, students can remember the
contents for a longer time. However, PBL can be time consuming and teachers’
role is also important that if we don’t monitor the progress, PBL lead to
failure.
WebQuest
WebQuest is amazing. It is
basically an inquiry-oriented activity that uses resources on the World Wide
Web as to how Professor Dodge defined it. Thanks to him for this great,
inspiring idea. WebQuest is divided into few sections; Introduction, Task,
Process, Evaluation, Conclusion and Teacher’s Page. Teachers are able to give
instruction as well as to provide students with resources in the form of links
to websites and videos. I thoroughly enjoyed creating my WebQuest page and I’m
so excited that I plan to give the URL to my friends so that they can learn and
create theirs as well. Most importantly, students get to learn with the help of
technology and at the same time, teachers can save on time as students can
visit the page even after school-hours. This is a great platform to assign
tasks after-school hours and during school holidays. Here is the link to my
WebQuest page.
I used Zunal.com to create my
WebQuest as this website offers more features. Based on the WebQuest which I created,
students will be able to benefit a lot as it not only allows them to write
argumentative essay but they also learn on global climate change. Reading different
viewpoints on whether the climate change is man-made or a natural process, students
will get awareness on their role in contributing to the protection of
environment. They get to compare and contrast the two different viewpoints and
this enables them to make judgement and to decide if they agree or disagree
with the topic. This activity will be an outside-class activity as I have
mentioned in Nicenet that I intend to overcome time management problem with
this class. Thus, I hope that through such activity, students can learn how to
make decision in their life-to know and learn the background knowledge and to
investigate different viewpoints before choosing or deciding on something.
Have
fun exploring it and I wish you to leave comments so that I can improve on it
in future. Thank you. In a nutshell, I
enjoyed working on this week’s tasks.
Having learned some techniques and
incorporating technology in teaching, it’s time to allow students to ‘Learn to
Learn on their Own’. Learner Autonomy means having
the ability to take charge of one’s own learning, either naturally or by formal
learning, as to what Holec defines it. Learners take full responsibility to
acquire knowledge and they depend on themselves. I chose comment on this topic for this week’s
discussion because I believe that it is important for students to be autonomous
learners. Well, it does not mean that we, as teachers, do not teach. At times,
parents get worried that we are not teaching their kids but I think that rather
than students being too dependent on us to supply them with notes, it is
important for them to take charge on their own learning. I feel that they will
learn better through this way. However, I also feel that students must reach to
a level of maturity to do this. In my school, I can see that the senior
students are the ones who habitually turn into autonomous learners. Probably
with the help of the teachers, the young ones could be one too.
Oh, Padlet is such a cool thing. I
purposely chose these two images to show that instead of having sticky notes
all around the board, we can create cooler ones through Padlet. To be frank, I was
so blur for a few second that I didn’t know how to post a note and I accidently
created my own wall! Padlet is a good platform to be used as students can share
and learn. Not only for students, but even teachers can share things through
it. I’m planning to try out Padlet with my colleagues first.
