Saturday, July 16, 2011

What I learned in WEEK 4

In the week 4, I discussed on teaching reading and writing with technology, after reading articles on the topic. Then, I thought about the current concerns that I have in my teaching context and posted concerns such as lack of time to input, limited content in the textbook, many students, and easy to get distracted.Finally, I wrote a technology enhanced lesson plan. it was really good and tough experience because I had to synthesize the ideas about the objectives, web sites, learners' needs, technology setting and activities including critical thinking and meaningful context using 4 skills.

I chose Phonics Silent-E as a topic for  my lesson plan. Since I found a great web site called Starfall http://www.starfall.com/, I had been thinking about using pages in the site for my teaching. I faced on the reality that my school has poor technology environment when I started to plan.
In my teaching context, bringing my computer into the classroom is the most realistic, because no computer in the classroom, the computer room are usually used by another class and Lab is in another building far from our building. In addition, I need to think about other concerns such as lack of time, limited content in the textbook, many students, easy to get distracted.
Therefore, I concluded that it is acceptable to have the students learn in whole group with one computer in the classroom and to provide them with homework which requires learning individually with technology at home. I chose following web pages:


Finally, I am very glad that the classmates posted comments for me and shared their great ideas and helpful information for me. Thank you very much!

4 comments:

  1. Hello, Tomoko.

    I always enjoy reading your posts. You addressed your issues and came to conclusion about the integration of technologies, which I think is realistic and achievable.

    By the way, as we already know, in the school year of 2012, English education is officially started at elementary schools, and many teachers are busy preparing for it.

    At your school, even though you said there are a few issues that must be dealt with, things seem to be going more and more advanced regarding English education. Thanks to your teaching skills as well as your tremendous effort, the students are surely being exposed to high-quality English lessons. I’m sure the parents must be happy about that.

    On the other hand, teachers here are having hard time finding ways to teach English because they have never received ELT training before. Friends of mine, who teach at public elementary schools, are at a loss due to lack of training. In that sense, you yourself function as a great resource. Good luck on your teaching!

    Makiko

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  2. Thank you for the comment, Makiko.

    I agree with you that it is hard for teachers who haven't had ELT training to teach English at schools. In Tokyo, Japanese homeroom teachers and ALTs will teach English at public elementary school. Is that the same in Okinawa?
    I think Interactive web will be a strong tool for Japanese homeroom teachers.

    Tomoko

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  3. Dear Tomoko,

    I really liked your lesson plan on Phonix Silent- E.

    Here I would like to share something regarding the untrained English teachers. Sadly, in Pakistan school teachers are not given proper/or any training to teach. It is just assumed that since you have a university degree you can also teach :)That is why when these students reach college they lack proper proficiency and skills.

    Akifa.

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  4. Dear Akifa,

    Thank you for sharing it. If they are not given proper training to teach, monitoring their teaching by themselves or peer teachers observation might be helpful.

    Tomoko

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