Sunday, September 14, 2014

C4T#1

A Journey in TEFL


Photo of cool sites and tools
For the past two weeks, I have had the pleasure of viewing and commenting on the blog A Journey in TEFL by Eva Buyuksimkesyan. Not only did the blog contain many great ideas for ESL and EFL students, but it also had great ideas that could be incorporated for any classroom setting. The two blog posts that I commented on were 4 New First Week Activities and Some Oldies and Cool Sites and Tools for ESL & EFL Learners.

4 New First Week Activities and Some Oldies

On September 6, 2014, Ms. Buyuksimkesyan made a post with a creative idea for the first week of school. In the post, she tells her plan to get students to mingle and engage in conversation with each other by starting an activity with post-it notes and poster boards. The activity basically allows students to give an introduction of themselves through pictures and adjectives to describe themselves. The activity concludes with students getting a partner and allowing the partner to introduce them.

I felt that this idea was a great way to get students to open up to each other and to me as an educator. I thanked Ms. Buyuksimkesyan for sharing and told her that I definitely plan to implement this idea into my classroom. I love this concept because it gives students a sense of pride in their different backgrounds and uniqueness. This is a very creative way to get students to engage in the classroom, as well as get to know their classmates.

Cool Sites and Tools for ESL & EFL Learners

On September 10, 2014, I read another post on the blog site. The second blog post was a very resourceful post that contained many sites for students and teachers that help with increasing English vocabulary words. I visited the sites that she mentioned, but my favorite sites were 5 Minute English and One Word. In my comment, I told Ms. Buyuksimkesyan that I enjoyed her post, I explained the struggle that my younger sister had trying to learn English, and I thanked her for providing such great resources. For a student trying to learn the English language, it can be extremely difficult. I found the post extremely informative and helpful for teachers that may have students with a smaller vocabulary than most. I also love the fact that she incorporated Pinterest into her list of sites because it was a very familiar site to me and probably a large number of other educators and future educators. I never thought to use it to actually organize ways to teach my students. GENIUS!

Project Assignment #15

Search Engines


Photo of Search Bar
1. Bing

According to the website's description, "Bing is a search engine that brings together the best of search and people in your social networks to help you spend less time searching and more time doing." In my opinion, Bing can be adequately compared to the services of both Yahoo and Google, although it is much smaller, as well as less popular. Personally, I prefer Google because I have been using the site for a number of years, and many of the services that it offers is familiar to me. However, I am open to using Bing from time to time. I enjoyed how fast the site produced results and the design of the site, as well.

2. Indeed

This search engine is best used when searching for jobs. According to the site, users can "find millions of jobs from thousands of company web sites, job boards and newspapers. one search. all jobs. Indeed." This was certainly the case when I was on the job hunt this past year. Not only did I find thousands of job listings in my small community, but I was able to get updates on the job even after I had applied. In addition to having plenty of job options, it is also fairly easy to use. To find jobs, all you have to do is type in your zip code and what type of job you would like and the search engine automatically finds jobs in the area you listed.

3. Craigslist

According to the site, "craigslist provides local classifieds and forums for jobs, housing, for sale, personals, services, local community, and events." When you go on the site, you will see that it is organized into categories. From discussion forums to event listings, just like the description states, craiglist can be used for a number of things. In 2009 and 2010, Craiglist went mainstream after receiving a bad reputation for its role in several robberies and killings from its escort and massage services, however, it is still widely used and accepted.

4. Yummly

In addition to being one of my absolute favorite websites, Yummly is very popular around the world for those that like to cook and/or look up food recipes. Using the site is as easy as typing in a simple food and being given several recipes for it, or having a particular meal in mind and finding many different ways to prepare it. Although the site recommends that users join, it is not necessary; however, in order to enjoy the full uses of the site, one must create a login.

5. Wolframalpha

According to its description, "Wolframalpha is a computational knowledge engine or answer engine developed by Wolfram Research." I find this site most useful when trying to find mathematical solutions. I found this site very useful as a high school student in harder classes such as Algebra 2, Trigonometry, and Geometry. I like the fact that the site breaks the solutions down part by part.

6. eHow

This site is useful in finding out how to use an item or how to master a certain skill or trade. Whenever I have a question about how something works, I use this site. It is easy to use and produces meaningful articles with step by step instructions, which sometimes include a video.

7. Youtube

One of the most popular sites around the globe, Youtube is a video site that offers tutorials, comedy, informative information, and just about any video category you can think of. It has the potential to be used for bad, but for the most part, I feel that Youtube has been used for many positive things (including resources for this class)

8. Dictionary

Just as the site's name suggests, Dictionary.com is an online search engine for dictionary definitions. If you have a question about a word meaning, usage, or part of speech, this site is the place to go. I enjoy using Dictionary.com for quick reference. The site also has a mobile page and an app for on the go referencing.

Blog Assignment #4

Asking Questions: What questions do we ask? How do we ask?


Boy with thinking cap on
After reading this week's assignment for my fourth blog post for EDM310 which is on questions, the topic immediately captured my attention! While pondering the thoughts of what questions do educators ask and how do we ask them, it instantly brought back memories of my own elementary years. I began to think about my third grade teacher Mrs. Whalen and how she made sure to ask us effective questions and the many tactics she used to ensure that we understood what she was teaching. Then, my mind drifted to a not so effective method used by another teacher, who shall remain nameless. From this I concluded that not only is it vital that educators ask questions throughout the day, but it is extremely important to make sure that our students comprehend what we are asking and that each student can effectively respond to our questions.

Out of the 7 resources provided by Dr. Strange this week in our instruction manual for EDM310 blog posts, my favorites by far were The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom and Asking Questions to Improve Learning. Another source that I personally found to be effective is the video Questions in the Classroom by Annie Alpers.

The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom

"Most of us have been exposed to the questioning strategies researched by Mary Budd Rowe. She proposed that teachers simply ask a question, such as "What do you call it when an insect kills itself?" pause for at least three seconds, and then say a student's name: "Sally." By doing this, all the students will automatically be thinking about an answer and only after another child's name is said will they sigh in relief because they were not chosen."


I agree fully with this idea proposed in the article. Before viewing this article, when I thought of my elementary teacher's questioning tactics, this is what stood out in my mind. Of course, there were times when the selection for questions were not random. However, the random selection is something that I think every student can say that they remember. For some students, it was the memory when he or she had their tiny fingers crossed and the tiny voice inside their head was screaming,"PICK ME. PICK ME!" Then for some students, there may be not so fond memories of hoping to be a chameleon that was able to change to the color of the wall in order to not get chosen. However, no matter which memory comes to mind, I am positive that most students will agree that they are familiar with this style of questioning. I feel that this method has been very effective in making sure that students knew key concepts in the past, and it is still very relevant for learning in the future.

Asking Questions to Improve Learning

This resource provided many valuable contributions to my thoughts on questions in the classroom. I love the strategies for asking questions that it provided, as well as the tips towards improving and producing effective student responses. A few of the points that I took note of were the concepts of avoiding leading questions, asking a mix of questions, waiting for students to think and formulate thoughts, and asking students to clarify vague comments. I feel that all of the concepts listed in the article are important, but to me those four are extremely important when it comes to comprehension for students.

Questions in the Classroom

"Consequently, students come to believe that their role is only to listen, rather than to become active participants in learning."- Kenneth Chuska

In addition to the resources listed by Dr. Strange, I did some browsing of my own on the topic of questions being asked in the classroom and I stumbled across this Youtube video. I decided to watch the video in its entirety, and it provided some valid points! One of my favorite messages that I received from the video was the quote by Kenneth Chuska and a more condensed version of the QFT method for questions.