WEEK 10: THE LAST WEEK OF OUR E-COURSE

       Dear Sandra, Deborah and friends from all over the world, 

      Our Building Skills course is over. Week 10 - it was the last chance to share ideas with so nice people from all over the world. Thanks to Deborah and Sandra we were guided through constructive discussions and tasks all that time.
       This is not the end, this is the beginning of applying the acquired knowledge in the classroom. The students have to witness changes based on working with interactive PowerPoint presentations, WebQuests, posting in blogs, being autonomous learners on the one hand and on the other being able to interact with peers. I learned how to set learning objectives, learning styles, rubrics and learner autonomy. I learned new methods of teaching and exploring websites for creating teachers' materials. Every topic, every piece of information was very useful and valuable for me. I also learned a lot from the experience shared by my coursemates.

       I will miss everyone. I hope we will keep sharing ideas and helping each other. Let that not be the end, but the beginning of a long and productive collaboration. Hope our friendship will continue.

      I decided to show you some photos from Bulgaria and Stara Zagora, the town I come from. You are welcome to Bulgaria. Come and visit us. I would be glad to meet every one of you.

My kindest regards, 
Zlatka

WEEK 9: EXAMINING WEBSITES

        Dear mentors and friends,

        Our course is going to its end! Sad, because it has been pleasant and useful experience for me with wonderful people to share what I have learned; but pleasing, because the time to apply what I have learned has come.

         This week I found out how many new sites exist on the web to help me create and design activities for my students, different from what they have done so far, engaging them to be autonomous and promoting their motivation to learn. Going through the recommended websites, I  discovered several helpful tools and used one of them to accomplish my task for the week.

        It was the time when I created my first school blog and published the first assignment for our students. You are invited to visit the blog at http://trayanaschoolsz.blogspot.com. The topic I decided to use for the opening post was “Time for Fun” where I created a crossword and suggested the students to do. I hope it will be enjoyable for them to participate in the comments.

        Another exciting occupation was being Gulsen’s peer viewer for her project report. It was so well written that I could hardly find what to comment on. Her comments on my report were extremely valuable for me to improve the initial draft I had. Now my final version of the project report is ready and I have uploaded it on the course wiki.

         I am leaving Week 9 of our course looking forward to the last week of being with so nice people all over the world sharing knowledge, thoughts and opinion which I will keep in my mind life long.

My warmest regards

Zlatka

WEEK 8: HOW TO BE AUTONOMOUS

Dear friends,

It was pleasure for me to welcome our guest moderator Jeff Magoto this week.

After reading the recommended sources for the discussion, I have thought quite a lot about autonomy learning and the process of learning to be autonomous. In my opinion, this process begins from early childhood.But at school we, the teachers, have the honour to mauld the new generation guiding the students what to learn and how to learn it. This is the exciting point of our profession, isn't it? I will try to find appropriate ways to encourage my students to be more autonomous in order to achieve higher results in the learning process.

The task we had to create a sample lesson for a one-computer classroom was very enjoyable for me. I read a few materials and came upon interesting tips. The topic of the lesson which I decided to prepare is in the curriculum. Comparison of adjectives is just what follows to be taught in Grade 8 and the prepared lesson will be another chance to implement technology in the classroom adding to the techniques of the textbook.

Working on the course project is not an easy job. Although I thought I had been getting ready for it during the past weeks, it appeared to be more complicated to sum up all the work done, but I am working and will be able to send it to Gulsen, my peer viewer, on time. I'm expecting her to help me with things I am not clear enough with or have missed. I am ready to give her a hand, too.

Work is becoming strenuous, we have to be tough!

My best wishes to you all,
Zlatka

March 1st - a Bulgarian feast

         Dear tutuors and friends,

         If you by any chance visit Bulgaria on the first day of March you are certain to notice almost every person decorated with small tokens made from red and white woollen threads. March 1^st is known as the "Baba Marta" Day in Bulgaria – so, on the very March 1st, as well as the days following, all people give each other red-and-white tokens in the form of strips, often  ornamented, known by the name Martenitsas. Generally, the Martenitsa is believed to preserve the person wearing it from any bad luck or illnesses.

        The legend connects the tradition with the foundation of the Bulgarian country long, long ago, in the

year 681 AD.  Once we have had our Martenitsas pinned on our clothing or tied around our wrists (it is usually the right wrist we are supposed to put the Martenitsa on), we have to keep them there until we see some sign of spring - such as a stork or swallow, or a blossoming tree. Only after seeing that sign,do we remove the Martenitsas, as only then we know for sure that spring has truly arrived. After seeing one of the signs, we are supposed to tie our Martenitsas on a fruit tree, and make a good wish, which is believed to always come true.

Enjoy the feast of spring with your red-and-white tokens – the wonderful Martenisas!

Let health, joy and happiness be always with you!

My love,

Zlatka

WEEK 7: POWERFUL PRESENTATIONS

             Dear everyone,        

            The readings that week helped me to get the right idea what a real interactive Powerpoint presentation is, how to create one and how to present it. Teaching a large class is not an easy job. To attract the attention of  many people who have different styles of learning, different abilities and motivation to learn, the teacher should be not only well-prepared but should know how to use activities distinctive from those in the textbook. Technology comes to help. "Personalizing Language Learning in Large Classes" offers ideas, some of them so simple, but very effective. They can be perfect solutions of reorganizing the classroom and engaging the students more actively in the learning process.
         "Best Practices in Presenting with PowerPoint" and "New Ways of Using PowerPoint" from the UO's Teaching Effectiveness Program show us  how to turn a lecture into an interactive experience for students. I myself have often used PowerPoint  in my teaching, but not  interactively. I knew nothing about interactive presentations and now creating one was an amusing experience for me. Although some of the elements of my PowerPoint show are not in the way I wanted them to be, I can still say that I already have my first interactive  presentation. I tried to insert a video but I couldn't do it in the right way, although I followed the instructions. I have a slide show, too. For unknown reasons to me on the wiki it doesn't open. In the saved file on my computer it does. I don't know what  wrong I've done. PowerPoint presentations are attractive and combine a variety of techniques. I went through all the published shows on the course wiki and liked them very much. Some of my coursemates are very experienced.
        During this week another exciting thing I did was going through the class blogs of  Gulsen and Dilip. What I read and saw was really amazing.
        In the passing week I spend some time in my 11th Grade / upper-intermediate class / preparing the students for the WebQuest of my project which we will do next Thursday. We talked about the possible elements of the WebQuest, I gave them the topic and asked them  to look for some information. I also made a short survey about their expectations. I am going to make some changes. Gulsen is going to be my peer viewer and probably Marcia. I rely on their opinion, so I am expecting them to give me a hand. I am ready to help them with their projects, too.
        The past weeks were busy, the coming look even busier. I am ready to do my best.

       We shouldn't forget that we,  teachers, are like the conductors of an orchestra and it is up to us what kind of music will be played and how each musician is going to perform.

My best wishes to every one of you,
                          Zlatka

WEEK 6 : STYLES AND INTELLIGENCE

Dear tutors and friends,

       Another week is over with new knowledge gained. The articles " Learning Styles and Strategies"/R.M.Felder and B.A.Soloman/, "Enhancing Learning by Engaging Students"/R.Finnan and D.Shaw/ and all the websites recommended by our tutors opened my eyes for a new outlook to the teaching process in class. I like the ideas of activating the students using their senses and intelligence in finding ways of engaging every individual in the group. " To teach is to engage students in learning..."/R.Finnan and D.Shaw/, if only that could happen every single lesson with every single student! Technology is the source to help and I know that I shouldn't miss a lesson using it.

      The task of creating a rubric wasn't difficult. I found it enjoying. I tried a few versions hoping to find the most acurate criteria for assessment of a research report for the WebQuest which I am going to use for my final project.

      What have I done so far?
The class for the lesson will be Grade 11, upper-intermediate students at my school.
The issue is to activate the students in reading and writing and motivating them to communicate sharing opinion.
For that aim, I am going to use a WebQuest and as it is something they have never come upon, I started acquainting them with the characteristis and specifics of that technique.
I hope the next steps will be successful in realizing the plan for the lesson.

     I am expecting the next assignments with excitement.

My best regards to all of you,
Zlatka

WEEK 5 : WEBQUESTS

 Dear Colleagues, 

 Welcome to this week's guest moderator Rick Rosenberg!

Another busy week is over! The more I do in the course, the less I think I know.

Webquests happened to be a black spot in my teaching experience. I new nothing about them. My start was to find out what a webquest is. It appeared to be a very interesting technique, something completely new and different for me, not to mention the  students. There are step-by-step instructions to follow given by our tutors but when I first do something it always takes me more time than it should, because I try different things, change here and there, don't like what I have done, look at it, think it over and......and.....I started creating a webquest on sports and games dedicating the lesson to the opening of the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, but it's not finished yet. Whatever the stage is, I'll post the URL for you to comment and will continue improving it.

I wouldn't have done "that piece of art" if I hadn't read B. Dodge's article "Some Thoughts About WebQuests", or Zunal.com WebQuest Help. S. Gaer's  "Less Teaching and More Learning" is another valuable article helping to solve issues in the language classroom.

This week's project task on implementing technology-based changes in the class was a good opportunity for me to focus on solving the issues using the available technolgy at school. One of our problems is that there is equipment which is not utilised enough.

The postings " Just for Fun" are really fun. I logged in to see most of those offered by the colleagues and I gave the URL of one I consider enjoyable for the students and the teachers, of course.

I am tired now, but have to finish the webquest.

My best wishes to all of you friends,
Zlatka

WEEK 4: REFLECTIONS

          What a week! The end is coming but looking back it seemed to me a whole month, but that "month" was with too short days.  I had to do so many things.   At school we had the end of term with many reports and other office work. For my assignments I wanted to read all the recommended materils and I had to spend enough time doing so.
        At the beginning of the week we had the pleasure to welcome our guest for the discussions Leslie Opp-Beckman.
       What more? It was interesting to study the articles. D. Hoopingarner's article on best practices in technology and language teaching regarding the use of technology asks the question "how" not "whether". From the review on the approaches of scholars throughout the years, I got an idea how the attitude to language teaching has changed. Invaluable are the thoughts focusing on the specific language skills in the classroom - listening, speaking,  reading and writing. On the other hand L.Miller's article was very specific on developing listening skills with authentic materials. Distinctly the three main parts of that lesson are marked as pre-, while-, and post-listening stages. Authentic materials from radio, TV/video, the Internet/CD-ROM can be used in any of the stages by the students and the teacher.
      Examining the 4 websites was a real challenge for me because there was so much to go through. Everything I came upon I found useful and applicable, but finally I made a choice for my posting.
      The tech-enhanced lesson plan was not very easy to do as I tried to follow the recommended template which is in a way different from the plans we use  in Bulgaria.
In the end, having in mind my students I thought of some issues that thechnology might help with, but if teachers could be trained to use that technolody more efficiently, it would be great.
     I am an optimist and facing all the problems with the desire to solve,  we will achieve  higher and higher results. I am certain that optimism helps but when we make efforts. Do you agree with me , dear colleagues?


DUM SPIRO, SPERO.  / Latin saying /


My best regards to all of you,
Zlatka

WEEK 3: A DELICIOUS WEEK

      
 Dear colleagues,

       I have had a very intensive week. I did some reading and surfing into the Internet to do my assignments.
Doing all that was an interesting experience to me and I learned and had the opportunuty to do a lot of new things.
        To begin with Deliciuos.com,  I didn't know about its existance. It opened my eyes. Now I wonder, if there could be anything more useful for my future work. I can store all websites I intend to use and sharing them with my students, they can gain advantage when searching for materials to make the process shorter and easier. We all know that, often, to find what we need could become a time-consuming procedure.
       Managing to read the two articles offered by our tutors about technology teaching I was amaized by the broad views of the authors as professionals. I could see different points and approaches of teaching listening, pronunciation and speaking throughout the years. The tips they give make you in a special way think about them, summarise what you do and work out new aspects of teaching.
       Last to mention, but not least is the task with the skill-building websites.I examined different links offering various skill-building activities refering to listening, pronunciation and speaking. What I decided to do was to experiment a pronunciation exercise with my upper-intermediate students on assimilation of sounds when pronouncing connected word and sentences. Although this is a problem with us, Bulgarians, I have rarely done such kind of exercise, but it worked. It was fantastic. Definitely, it won't be the last time, but probably the beggining of that kind of experience in our classes.

      I  am looking forward to new challenges next week.

My best regars to everyone,
Zlatka

WEEK 2 : WEB SEARCHING AND SETTING OBJECTIVES

         Dear Deborah, Sandra and coursemates,

         This week has been very busy and fruitful for me. I learned a lot of new things starting with Searching the Web.
         I've been using Google so far and have been happy with the information and materials I come upon. Deborah's tips and Noodletools opened my eyes to the bottomless ocean of information of the Internet and the importance of defining the exact topic. I didn't know where to start from having so many resources in front of me. I was confused with all those entries, nevertheless, I decided to try something unfamiliar to me. Unfortunately, I wasn't successful with my searches. I concluded for myself that I'm quite inexperienced and need some time to concentrate, develop and improve my searching skills. Otherwise, I wouldn't be helpful enough to my students. I'll go on exploring search engines to see which ones will suit my needs most of all. It's worth spending time on activity like that until I examine it thoroughly. The experience I achieve will help me in the future to save time and find appropriate materials more successfully. I am going to share my experience with my students and colleagues at school. They will definitely benefit from that as their main search engine is Google. Furthermore, I should be able to advise my students to use the web more effectively.

     The other topic which surprised me immensely / positively, of course / this week was, the new for me,  approach to setting an objective. What I am used to is formulating objectives which happen to be long and wordy. Sometimes I myself find them not very clear and accurate, not to mention the students. Now, from the sources given to us by our tutors, I came to know about and was able to practise setting objectives using the A.B.C.D. method. I have already found the right way to compose objectives concise, accurate and exact for my students at the same time clear for assessing the task. I am certain that will bring to better performance of assignments and higher results in gaining knowledge in the class.
        Another interesting idea to define objectives with the words standing for SMART was offered by Hassina. Thank you, Hassina, it is very pleasant when you learn something from a friend. I also learned a lot from the postings of the colleagues in Nicenet.
        Thanks to Deborah, Sandra and everyone in the group.
        It has been an enjoyable week for me. I am looking forward to the challenges of next week.

       Best wishes to everyone,
       Zlatka
 

      

WEEK 1 : MY FIRST BLOGGING EXPERIENCE

Dear Sandra, Deborah and colleagues,

       This is the first time I have ever done a task like this one - creating a blog. What I had to start with was doing some reading - that recommended to us. But it turned into a difficult and time consuming job when I began the achievement. Having no blogging experience, it appeared to be not a very easy task.

      When I first tried to follow the instructions in creating my blog, it didn't work. Then I had to go over some of the information and instructions again, to examine other people's blogs, now with another eye, and at last I got it.

       I am certain that in a couple of  weeks looking back at what I have " done "  will just make me smile but I hope I will have the knowledge and opportunity to make things better and show improvement. Now I am a bit satisfied with the goal I have accomplished, although to some people it may seem to be just a snapshot. I am curious to see what I will be able to do at the end of the course.

       That new experience would encourage me to use the new techniques in my classroom step by step and at the same time to carry out  fruitful discussions with every colleague in the group.

      NEVER SAY " I CAN'T ", BUT SAY " I'LL DO IT " !