Come to Bucheon this Friday!
Monday, November 18, 2013
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Blog #8 Concept to Put into Practice
I have to admit, while I was excited about this course, I had no idea I would get so much out of it. The tools I've learned and the information I've absorbed in the last five weeks have been and will continue to be invaluable for my growth as a teacher, in turn creating a far better experience for my students.
The assignments we were given in this course were those which I can apply to my own classes. They were the type of assignments that forced the student to explore and discover skills he or she perhaps otherwise never would have. This left a true sense of ownership of the learning experience on the part of the student.
I think it is this 'student- centered' learning approach that I will be able to most benefit from. I've always said that my goal was to have as little as possible teacher talking time and more student interaction time. I believe putting into practice what I've learned will help me take that concept and make it a reality in my own classes.
The assignments we were given in this course were those which I can apply to my own classes. They were the type of assignments that forced the student to explore and discover skills he or she perhaps otherwise never would have. This left a true sense of ownership of the learning experience on the part of the student.
I think it is this 'student- centered' learning approach that I will be able to most benefit from. I've always said that my goal was to have as little as possible teacher talking time and more student interaction time. I believe putting into practice what I've learned will help me take that concept and make it a reality in my own classes.
Friday, November 8, 2013
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Blog #7-New Tool for this Teacher's Shed!
During this course, I've acquired a number of good tools to help me enhance my teaching and hopefully my students' experience in my future classes. I would say my favorite would be having a better handle on iMovie, with knowledge of using Prezi coming in at a close second place. I have to admit, three plus years after having made the transition from PC to Mac, I still hadn't bothered to delve into the program at any depth-that is until this past weekend. The movie unit in this course has forced me to open the program up and have a go. And well, I love it! Here are a couple reasons why:
1. It's so easy!
I never realized how simple it could be to make a relatively high quality looking video. Whether involved in some sort of music video or the like, I've always just left the video 'stuff' to the video 'people'. However, with just a few hours of tinkering, and simply dragging clips into the timeline, I saw what was the beginning of a piece of video I might actually be proud to say I took part in making.
2. From, "Ah, I dunno." , to , " It looks pro!"
Well, maybe not 'pro', but the editing features in iMovie are ridiculously cool for a first-timer. Sure, at some point after using iMovie on numerous projects one might want to take the leap to something more comprehensive and in-depth like Final Cut Pro, for example. But for hobbyists, or teachers and students in this case, iMovie can't really be beat. Lori, my partner, and I were amazed with the results, even from the beginning of the editing process for our little vid. We took 28 minutes of footage from her camera and condensed it into a pretty decent looking 4 minutes.
I will more than likely be asking my students to create their own videos in the future. For an ESL class, it could be particularly fun and useful, taking something like role-play to a whole other level. What's more is that I could easily brief my students on the basics of iMovie (I hear Windows Movie Maker is very similar in its ease of use, and would almost certainly be what most of my class would be using due to the lack of Macs at my school, and the majority of Korean students having PCs at home). If I can do it, my students should have no problem. I'm looking forward to incorporating video-making into my future classes.
1. It's so easy!
I never realized how simple it could be to make a relatively high quality looking video. Whether involved in some sort of music video or the like, I've always just left the video 'stuff' to the video 'people'. However, with just a few hours of tinkering, and simply dragging clips into the timeline, I saw what was the beginning of a piece of video I might actually be proud to say I took part in making.
2. From, "Ah, I dunno." , to , " It looks pro!"
Well, maybe not 'pro', but the editing features in iMovie are ridiculously cool for a first-timer. Sure, at some point after using iMovie on numerous projects one might want to take the leap to something more comprehensive and in-depth like Final Cut Pro, for example. But for hobbyists, or teachers and students in this case, iMovie can't really be beat. Lori, my partner, and I were amazed with the results, even from the beginning of the editing process for our little vid. We took 28 minutes of footage from her camera and condensed it into a pretty decent looking 4 minutes.
I will more than likely be asking my students to create their own videos in the future. For an ESL class, it could be particularly fun and useful, taking something like role-play to a whole other level. What's more is that I could easily brief my students on the basics of iMovie (I hear Windows Movie Maker is very similar in its ease of use, and would almost certainly be what most of my class would be using due to the lack of Macs at my school, and the majority of Korean students having PCs at home). If I can do it, my students should have no problem. I'm looking forward to incorporating video-making into my future classes.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Blog #6-In response to Grant Wiggins' article, "Everything you know about curriculum may be wrong. Really."
I think the line,"All I know is that I don't know nothin'..." from the Operation Ivy tune , "Knowledge" describes at least in part what Grant Wiggins is wanting conventional writers of curricula(specifically K-12) to admit to. By listing example philosophies of famous scholars and educators alike, and using various analogies he takes a strong position in favor of curriculum reform.
In brief, he says the end goals of both traditional and non-traditional curricula are the same: to help us improve as people and live better in this ever-changing world. Unfortunately, the conventional curriculum is unsuccessful in doing so. He indicates that kids are bored and have no attention spans. He proposes the idea of a backward approach to learning, performance followed by knowledge as opposed to the traditional knowledge followed by performance. He compares his and others' philosophy to sports calling the curriculum the 'game'. You can't 'know' the game without actually playing and learning from experience. In contrast, conventional curriculum would propose that learning the rules and different plays beforehand are enough to know how to play. Similarly, he describes learning in the conventional curriculum as requiring a "didactic march through content." But then notes that if this is true, "why are movies and stories so memorable?"
I like what Wiggins has to say about curriculum reform. I think what he says certainly holds true in real life. I just think of a friend of mine who graduated with honors with an arts degree. Like many people though who decided to change their career path, he went to learn a trade. He had a lot of knowledge in his head after university but wasn't really sure where to go with it. So, he chose to change his path, and finds it very fulfilling both socially and economically. Kids don't have much of a choice of what or how to learn in the conventional learning environment. Maybe we should be giving them more choices, and chances to learn hands-on and cooperate and create with their peers at an earlier age instead of just letting them memorize dates and the like. Perhaps it would help them figure out their personal strengths, weaknesses and passions earlier on in life. This would help them be better prepared for real life challenges and confrontations, and just better off socially.
In brief, he says the end goals of both traditional and non-traditional curricula are the same: to help us improve as people and live better in this ever-changing world. Unfortunately, the conventional curriculum is unsuccessful in doing so. He indicates that kids are bored and have no attention spans. He proposes the idea of a backward approach to learning, performance followed by knowledge as opposed to the traditional knowledge followed by performance. He compares his and others' philosophy to sports calling the curriculum the 'game'. You can't 'know' the game without actually playing and learning from experience. In contrast, conventional curriculum would propose that learning the rules and different plays beforehand are enough to know how to play. Similarly, he describes learning in the conventional curriculum as requiring a "didactic march through content." But then notes that if this is true, "why are movies and stories so memorable?"
I like what Wiggins has to say about curriculum reform. I think what he says certainly holds true in real life. I just think of a friend of mine who graduated with honors with an arts degree. Like many people though who decided to change their career path, he went to learn a trade. He had a lot of knowledge in his head after university but wasn't really sure where to go with it. So, he chose to change his path, and finds it very fulfilling both socially and economically. Kids don't have much of a choice of what or how to learn in the conventional learning environment. Maybe we should be giving them more choices, and chances to learn hands-on and cooperate and create with their peers at an earlier age instead of just letting them memorize dates and the like. Perhaps it would help them figure out their personal strengths, weaknesses and passions earlier on in life. This would help them be better prepared for real life challenges and confrontations, and just better off socially.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Blog #5-"Did You Hear? So and So Just Cut Up a New Record."
I just watched part four of Everything is a Remix and enjoyed it. Being a musician with a keen interest in music 'biz' as of late, I could easily be coerced into doing a research essay on this video's subject matter. However, I'll try to keep my thoughts brief.
Star Balls
I love the Star Wars intro to this video. While I didn't think much of it at first glance, I kind of laughed out loud when the irony hit me. It is almost like a visual abstract of the video. You think, "Hey, he copied Star Wars." and then, "Oh, but that's funny and entertaining so it's okay." Suddenly, I feel the urge to download, the satirical remake, Space Balls.
Peanut Butter and 'Jam'
I can remember eating my grandmother's P, B, and J's when I would visit on the weekend decades ago. I also enjoyed the ones my mom packed in my lunch for school, but they weren't the same as my grandma's with her homemade bread and jam-and Mom would probably agree. A similar thing can be said about versions of songs regarding their creators and copiers. There's a huge difference between jamming out a popular cover tune and stealing an obscure track off an old 45 rpm record and calling it your own. In my opinion, copying tastefully is not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to music as long as credit is given to the original composer and lyricist. After all, it's the artist's bread and butter being spread around.
Original Syntax
Speaking of things that can be sliced, I am pretty sure that in high school English class we did a similar activity, a remix if you will, based on William S. Burroughs' idea. Similarly, you never know what you will get when you cut up lyrics of different songs and mix them together; and the more you cut them up , the further you get from the originals, potentially spawning a flavorful and unique piece of writing. If you're looking to do some writing, try out a cut up engine to get you started.
To conclude, I would agree that it is almost impossible to create something that is 100% original. Having said that, I think a person(especially a struggling artist)should be able to own their idea even when it displays obvious prevalence of another's influence and style, but is not an outright duplication.
Star Balls
I love the Star Wars intro to this video. While I didn't think much of it at first glance, I kind of laughed out loud when the irony hit me. It is almost like a visual abstract of the video. You think, "Hey, he copied Star Wars." and then, "Oh, but that's funny and entertaining so it's okay." Suddenly, I feel the urge to download, the satirical remake, Space Balls.
Peanut Butter and 'Jam'
I can remember eating my grandmother's P, B, and J's when I would visit on the weekend decades ago. I also enjoyed the ones my mom packed in my lunch for school, but they weren't the same as my grandma's with her homemade bread and jam-and Mom would probably agree. A similar thing can be said about versions of songs regarding their creators and copiers. There's a huge difference between jamming out a popular cover tune and stealing an obscure track off an old 45 rpm record and calling it your own. In my opinion, copying tastefully is not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to music as long as credit is given to the original composer and lyricist. After all, it's the artist's bread and butter being spread around.
Original Syntax
Speaking of things that can be sliced, I am pretty sure that in high school English class we did a similar activity, a remix if you will, based on William S. Burroughs' idea. Similarly, you never know what you will get when you cut up lyrics of different songs and mix them together; and the more you cut them up , the further you get from the originals, potentially spawning a flavorful and unique piece of writing. If you're looking to do some writing, try out a cut up engine to get you started.
To conclude, I would agree that it is almost impossible to create something that is 100% original. Having said that, I think a person(especially a struggling artist)should be able to own their idea even when it displays obvious prevalence of another's influence and style, but is not an outright duplication.
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Blog #4-"If I Had a Million Dollars, I'd Still Teach Something on the Side."
I think one of the greatest things about teaching is that, when the chance arises, you can personalize a lesson by incorporating a hobby or talent into it. I enjoy playing and making music, so I have from time to time used my guitar and singing as a teaching tool. For the most part, I find that students quite enjoy seeing the 'real' side of their teacher, and consequently tend to be more attentive to the lesson being taught. There is a song that myself and many another teacher in the ESL field like to use for teaching the second conditional tense. I am sure you have heard it or perhaps used it yourself. It's called, "If I Had a Million Dollars" written and performed by Canadian group, The Barenaked Ladies.
While the main goal of this lesson is generally to teach a grammar point, there are a few simple inherent goals that I hope for my students to achieve by the end of this lesson or any lesson where I have used music. First, the ESL class can sometimes be a nerve-wracking place for students. I have found, however, that since most students like music, they will usually tend to loosen up a bit after they have a melody to hum along to. Secondly, before you know it, they are learning a kind of false fluency by attempting to sing with their groups. Regardless of whether they completely understand what is coming out of their mouths, they are moving their vocal muscles in different ways than they are used to and singing in a foreign language. This is in my opinion is usually a wonderful precursor to building the third goal: confidence in their ability to communicate.
Listed below is the basic procedure for the way I teach this song to intermediate students(of about middle school age and up). Depending on numerous factors, it will usually take about an hour or more and goes as follows:
1. Tell students they will be learning a song.
2. Present some pictures on PPT or in a matching exercise to do in pairs. Check/Feedback
3. Ask them to explain what they think the title means? Check/Feedback
4. Use the vocab items to fill in random blocks of a bingo sheet.
5. Listen to the song and work individually or in pairs to cross off the words as they hear they here them. The winning person/pair yells bingo when they have a predestined amount of lines. Check/Feedback
6. Listen a second time to fill-in the blanks of one verse and check with a friend. Check/Feedback
7. Listen a third time to order sentences of another verse.Check/Feedback
8. Do comprehension check of 'if' and 'would' with yes or no answer questions.
i.e. Teacher: Does he have a million dollars?"
Students: No.
9. Go over structure and have students write simple sentences about things they would buy. Check/Feedback
10. Students form groups to sing a short verse that they've created using their sentences from the previous exercise. This last one can usually be a competition of sorts depending on the enthusiasm/ability level of the class.
I really enjoy this type of lesson and find it to be useful when appropriate. I have definitely experienced far more positive results than negative when bringing the guitar to class. I would encourage you to try(if you've not already done so), to incorporate your interests or talents into your lessons in some way. Not only will it help improve your rapport with students, your level of comfort and enjoyment teaching a particular point will almost certainly increase more quickly by tackling it with some previously honed skill.
While the main goal of this lesson is generally to teach a grammar point, there are a few simple inherent goals that I hope for my students to achieve by the end of this lesson or any lesson where I have used music. First, the ESL class can sometimes be a nerve-wracking place for students. I have found, however, that since most students like music, they will usually tend to loosen up a bit after they have a melody to hum along to. Secondly, before you know it, they are learning a kind of false fluency by attempting to sing with their groups. Regardless of whether they completely understand what is coming out of their mouths, they are moving their vocal muscles in different ways than they are used to and singing in a foreign language. This is in my opinion is usually a wonderful precursor to building the third goal: confidence in their ability to communicate.
Listed below is the basic procedure for the way I teach this song to intermediate students(of about middle school age and up). Depending on numerous factors, it will usually take about an hour or more and goes as follows:
1. Tell students they will be learning a song.
2. Present some pictures on PPT or in a matching exercise to do in pairs. Check/Feedback
3. Ask them to explain what they think the title means? Check/Feedback
4. Use the vocab items to fill in random blocks of a bingo sheet.
5. Listen to the song and work individually or in pairs to cross off the words as they hear they here them. The winning person/pair yells bingo when they have a predestined amount of lines. Check/Feedback
6. Listen a second time to fill-in the blanks of one verse and check with a friend. Check/Feedback
7. Listen a third time to order sentences of another verse.Check/Feedback
8. Do comprehension check of 'if' and 'would' with yes or no answer questions.
i.e. Teacher: Does he have a million dollars?"
Students: No.
9. Go over structure and have students write simple sentences about things they would buy. Check/Feedback
10. Students form groups to sing a short verse that they've created using their sentences from the previous exercise. This last one can usually be a competition of sorts depending on the enthusiasm/ability level of the class.
I really enjoy this type of lesson and find it to be useful when appropriate. I have definitely experienced far more positive results than negative when bringing the guitar to class. I would encourage you to try(if you've not already done so), to incorporate your interests or talents into your lessons in some way. Not only will it help improve your rapport with students, your level of comfort and enjoyment teaching a particular point will almost certainly increase more quickly by tackling it with some previously honed skill.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Blog #3-"When Did That Happen?"- A Personal Glimpse Into My Online Rep
I can laugh a little at myself for the silly and, by times, down right stupid things I have done in my early adult life. I can also hope that nobody else remembers some of those silly things as some, if I am honest, could be somewhat detrimental to my reputation professionally. Furthermore, I am so thankful that at those times not everyone and their dog was holding an unbelievably powerful 14 pixel cell phone camera; a camera in a person's palm, ready to instantaneously project a questionable image on everyone else's beautifully backlit computer screen for their Sunday afternoon tea time viewing pleasure. Alas, after having moved to Korea, this type of thing has become a little more difficult to avoid.
How many times have we been in situations where a potentially embarrassing photo(or worse a video) had been taken by someone on their phone and the next day you got a pop-up message saying 'so and so' posted a photo of you on 'such and such'?-Probably more than once. If you're like me, you may have sometimes said things to yourself like, "I am never going out again.", or perhaps, "When the(insert curse word of choice)did I do that?" While not every posted photo I see of myself is completely dignity shattering or cause for a complete emotional meltdown, there have been times where I have wished I could delete a particular snapshot. Unfortunately, that is often easier said than done.
So what can one do to avoid these situations? Well, while it used to be true that what you did outside of work was your own business, it is unfortunately not the case in this seemingly more 'big brother' type of world we are living in. Anybody can take a pic of you at your worst, and have it displayed on social media for all to see, including present and future potential employers. What employer needs to look at a resume when he or she can simply search a name and instantly find any social media tags attached to it. Any reputation destroying footage will almost surely deter that employer from digging deeper and having a look at a person's credentials on paper. So, should we just stay home? I say, "No." However, I would simply suggest, to others and absolutely to myself, a few things to help modify the potentially regrettable outcome of a big night out captured on Instagram:
#1-Plan ahead. Try to make concrete decisions and plans, for the course and end of the night, prior to venturing off to a bar or club with friends or co-workers.
#2-Turn it down a notch or two. Try to be more aware of your actions. It's not necessary to get aggressive with someone, to always be the one dancing on a table, or to do ANOTHER shot with that person you just met.
#3-Keep the shutters closed. One might consider asking their friends to not take lots of pictures-or at least ask permission before doing so. Furthermore, while you may not remember every little detail of the night, sometimes a group photo taken early in the eve is enough to know that everyone went out and had a good time together.
#4-Finally change your privacy settings. These days there are ways to eliminate some of the privacy issues we can encounter without having to completely change our name or disable our accounts with a particular social media.
Even if it takes a little back pedaling to get my social media pics in order, I hope I can at least begin walking on the path to enlightenment when it comes to keeping my digital footprint in check.
I am not sure why the title of this song comes to mind, but just for fun, here's an old Canadian band rockin' their catchy tune, "She Ain't Pretty".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG3ExHB133k
Thanks for reading,
Brodie
Even if it takes a little back pedaling to get my social media pics in order, I hope I can at least begin walking on the path to enlightenment when it comes to keeping my digital footprint in check.
I am not sure why the title of this song comes to mind, but just for fun, here's an old Canadian band rockin' their catchy tune, "She Ain't Pretty".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG3ExHB133k
Thanks for reading,
Brodie
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Blog #2-No More Pencils, No More Books, No More Teachers' Dirty Looks...
Well, at least the former two would be true if you're thinking of digitizing your assignments. What might be your reasons for digitization? To keep yourself and students better organized? Students will no longer have an excuse for not handing in their homework on the due date? To keep up with the times? Students will relate better? I would have to say all of the above and some.
When I think of how digitizing my assignments could help me be more organized, I think of what a disaster zone my work space can be. I have books, markers, dictionaries, post-it notes, and piles of exams and assignments sprawled in and around my desk. It is often a mess, and it is not unheard of for me to mix up different classes' assignments or to not be able to find a worksheet I made to supplement a particular unit of the text. My filing system pretty much goes like this: staple a pile of tests or assignments together and set it beside another pile if my desk drawer is already full-which it is. Digitizing all or at least a portion of my assignments would help to clean a lot of this up, replacing much of the aforementioned items with bits and bytes of info stored in folders on a hard drive or virtual file system on the Internet such as iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, or one of the popular Learning Management Systems(LMS) currently available such as Schoology for example.
How many times have we heard our students use the excuse, "I lost my paper", or "It's at home, sorry teacher."? I can only imagine how nice it must be for teachers who have made the move to digitizing their assignments. There's no excuse for late or lost work when the instructions are online and accessible via any of the students' devices able to have an Internet connection. The convenience of this is awesome. If a student has a tight schedule and has genuinely had trouble getting an assignment done he or she can easily do it on a mobile device while riding the subway if the desire to do so is there. I was recently at the annual Kotesol conference in Seoul and was checking out one of the latest LMS's available for ESL instructors called Language Cloud. One of the developers was leading me through a virtual tour and pointed out that teachers can easily monitor the activity of their students. It was very interesting to see that a very high percentage of assignments were being completed only hours and sometimes minutes before their respective due dates/times.
Speaking of dates and time, while you can't believe everything you read or see on the Web, the stuff online that is true is generally more current than any book or periodical you find on the rack at the library or bookstore. And while it's a little sad to think of the library as a slowly disappearing resource for study and research materials, it is comforting to know that much of the info we find on the Internet is up-to-the-minute. An example might be if you give an assignment to summarize an article for discussion for the following class; there could be heaps of new material on a given subject available between the date assigned and the following class.
Finally, while it might not be a particularly good idea to completely eliminate teaching students how to navigate the library for a book, using tools that they already know how to use is almost always of an advantage for both teacher and student. It stands to reason that students would simply feel more comfortable working in a way that is familiar to them. If most students are already fluent in the digital world, and mainstream educators are moving in that way as well, why not follow suit and digitize not only assignments, but a whole curriculum?
And with that, I leave you with a song. Albeit an old song with a chorus obviously celebrating the end of the school year, it is also one that I feel some of the lyrics could easily describe today's emergence of digitized education.
Enjoy and thanks for reading!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMe0P_DqmCg
When I think of how digitizing my assignments could help me be more organized, I think of what a disaster zone my work space can be. I have books, markers, dictionaries, post-it notes, and piles of exams and assignments sprawled in and around my desk. It is often a mess, and it is not unheard of for me to mix up different classes' assignments or to not be able to find a worksheet I made to supplement a particular unit of the text. My filing system pretty much goes like this: staple a pile of tests or assignments together and set it beside another pile if my desk drawer is already full-which it is. Digitizing all or at least a portion of my assignments would help to clean a lot of this up, replacing much of the aforementioned items with bits and bytes of info stored in folders on a hard drive or virtual file system on the Internet such as iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, or one of the popular Learning Management Systems(LMS) currently available such as Schoology for example.
How many times have we heard our students use the excuse, "I lost my paper", or "It's at home, sorry teacher."? I can only imagine how nice it must be for teachers who have made the move to digitizing their assignments. There's no excuse for late or lost work when the instructions are online and accessible via any of the students' devices able to have an Internet connection. The convenience of this is awesome. If a student has a tight schedule and has genuinely had trouble getting an assignment done he or she can easily do it on a mobile device while riding the subway if the desire to do so is there. I was recently at the annual Kotesol conference in Seoul and was checking out one of the latest LMS's available for ESL instructors called Language Cloud. One of the developers was leading me through a virtual tour and pointed out that teachers can easily monitor the activity of their students. It was very interesting to see that a very high percentage of assignments were being completed only hours and sometimes minutes before their respective due dates/times.
Speaking of dates and time, while you can't believe everything you read or see on the Web, the stuff online that is true is generally more current than any book or periodical you find on the rack at the library or bookstore. And while it's a little sad to think of the library as a slowly disappearing resource for study and research materials, it is comforting to know that much of the info we find on the Internet is up-to-the-minute. An example might be if you give an assignment to summarize an article for discussion for the following class; there could be heaps of new material on a given subject available between the date assigned and the following class.
Finally, while it might not be a particularly good idea to completely eliminate teaching students how to navigate the library for a book, using tools that they already know how to use is almost always of an advantage for both teacher and student. It stands to reason that students would simply feel more comfortable working in a way that is familiar to them. If most students are already fluent in the digital world, and mainstream educators are moving in that way as well, why not follow suit and digitize not only assignments, but a whole curriculum?
And with that, I leave you with a song. Albeit an old song with a chorus obviously celebrating the end of the school year, it is also one that I feel some of the lyrics could easily describe today's emergence of digitized education.
Enjoy and thanks for reading!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMe0P_DqmCg
Monday, October 7, 2013
Blog #1-How I Would Like to Improve as a Teacher: Presentation Skills Will Come in Good Time
There are so many ways that I could improve as a teacher. Of these, the most pertinent would probably include my lesson planning and timing combined with presentation skills.
It has been almost ten years since I completed my CELTA certification in Vancouver. Upon finishing that very comprehensive and intensive course I felt a whole lot more confident about my ability to get up in front of an audience and conduct a decent, well thought out presentation in lesson form in a relatively interesting and timely way. Since having lived in Korea for almost nine of those ten years, however, I have definitely found my ability and admittedly my desire to do so dwindle somewhat. I believe it's partly due my mistake of not having kept up with most technological advances in teaching practices. There has certainly not been a lot of professional development tended to in my nine year teaching career.
I am looking forward to learning about current programs that today's educators are using and the ways in which they implement them into the learning environment. And while I do not necessarily want to become completely reliant on technology alone, I think the process of creating organized tech-inclusive lessons will hopefully result in my being both more enthusiastic and apt to start and finish a lesson on time. Even after our first day of class in Framingham State University's EDUC 932 , I am already feeling some inspiration and hoping this course will help me get on the right track.
It has been almost ten years since I completed my CELTA certification in Vancouver. Upon finishing that very comprehensive and intensive course I felt a whole lot more confident about my ability to get up in front of an audience and conduct a decent, well thought out presentation in lesson form in a relatively interesting and timely way. Since having lived in Korea for almost nine of those ten years, however, I have definitely found my ability and admittedly my desire to do so dwindle somewhat. I believe it's partly due my mistake of not having kept up with most technological advances in teaching practices. There has certainly not been a lot of professional development tended to in my nine year teaching career.
I am looking forward to learning about current programs that today's educators are using and the ways in which they implement them into the learning environment. And while I do not necessarily want to become completely reliant on technology alone, I think the process of creating organized tech-inclusive lessons will hopefully result in my being both more enthusiastic and apt to start and finish a lesson on time. Even after our first day of class in Framingham State University's EDUC 932 , I am already feeling some inspiration and hoping this course will help me get on the right track.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)