Monthly Archives: February 2012

Reflections on a Course: Post 6 (Week 7): On Learners’ Autonomy

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When we reflect on our job, we always do it putting all the weight on the teachers’ side: What we must do to motivate students, how we must organise our lessons in order to get the best of them, how to teach certain skills, how to use ICT… but we usually neglect the learners’ side.

We must be really aware of our own process as teachers, of course: We must prepare ourselves to become better teachers in order to help our students, and we must learn new approaches and tools that will make our performance more efficient.

But we must also look carefully at the students’ side. Students have their learning process, which goes forth as it gathers knowledge and method on the way. Learners improve their learning skills as they grow. We teachers help them look at their weaknesses and strengths, at their needs. We help them analyse their goals as learners: What they want or need to achieve, and what they need to reach those goals…

Do we really guide them in their own learning process? As mentioned above, we do help them as we go hand in hand, and we show them the tools they need… but most of the times, we solve their problems, we make them practise… but what is also extremely relevant is to teach them how to walk the path of their learning process on their own. They need a sherpa to climb that hill, but when they are on their own, they also need a pair of good
hiking boots.

We must teach them to see those weaknesses by themselves, and to find solutions by themselves… what is that? They should be able to find their own way in order to improve their skills… writing, reading, listening, speaking… and how? Students must learn how to access resources where drills and activities can be used in their learning. They must find those resources which also help them see whether they are achieving the stated goals of the practice successfully or not… accessible rubrics for different tools, activities and students’ autonomous production would definitely prove really helpful when it comes to seeing how you are progressing on your own.

Tough job, challenging goal, but really rewarding… teaching students to lead their own learning path… alone again, naturally.

photo credit: Steve-h via photopin cc

Reflections on a Course: Post 5 (Week 6)-On Engagement and Innovation

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This week’s post has a slightly different approach: I wanted to talk about engagement, as it derives from the tasks we’ve being taking up this week, but due to the news that are constantly pouring out about the world situation and the scope things are taking, I am morally forced to give this post a layer of criticism embedded into a wrapping of sadness.

I was planning to talk about the importance of engagement in the dynamics of a class. New resources, new approaches and new methodologies are extremely relevant for a better teaching performance. But the real element that drives our students’ commitment and engagement is seeing the person in front of them truly believing in what he or she is doing. As I have mentioned in a comment in one of my posts, one of my best remembered teachers was an old literature teacher who would have us stuck into our chairs as he talked about the Spanish authors and their works. Just word and chalk!

If we really believe in what we do, in those projects we want to enrol our students, in those interchanges with schools across the world, in those plays and those sketches… our students will perceive our enthusiasm and they will get quickly engaged.

Moreover, we are the lucky ones to have this huge array of elements that help us “decorate” that passion we feel for our job (thanks, Luisa!). They will bridge the gap between us and those students eagerly looking for engagement in interesting things to fill their life most of the time so full of stimuli but so void of commitment.

In the end, I talked about what I was planning to talk, but I can’t escape a very worrying fact that is teasing me these days.

This week I got to watch the video you can watch below:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZkHpNnXLB0[/youtube]

As I was watching it, I realised that all this innovation might come to nothing very easily if things don’t change dramatically. We have spent the last years talking about innovation and the incorporation of cutting edge technology in education. Nowadays, budgets are being dramatically reduced, and families are quickly losing their purchasing power. Who will be able to support them if we want to introduce the use of elements such as mobile devices or powerful hardware in education. Will the state subsidise… the states are broke! Will families be able to take in extra expenses for hardware… I’m pretty sure most will not. I’m afraid that innovation might turn into a grand experience for a dwindling minority, and that makes me sad.

But I still feel passionate for what I do!!

Reflections on a Course: Post 4 (Week 5)

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We are moving forward and our goal seems to clarify. It’s hard to cope with online courses, regular work and a busy family… but the course is proving extremely useful in terms of fruitful reflection about ELT and the future of teaching.

This week we have worked on assessment. For many years the question about the true sense of assessing/evaluating students has been a controversial issue. Many professionals declared it was necessary to mark our students’ progress in order to help them see how far they had got in their learning progress… we all agreed that it was necessary for students to know if they had reached that established “passing line”. The problem arises when we consider what is the best way to use that indicator, and how it is presented to the student. A simple bulletin with letters A to D or a 1-10 scale for every subject? That only shows ho far the student scored… but does that help him in his/her learning process?
The answer is “Not much”. A simple mark is useless in the long run. What a student needs is a clarifying proof of his/her progress: Weaknesses and strengths, what students need in order to acquire knowledge/information/contents/skills/abilities… what they have done that has helped in their positive progress.

Rubrics stem out the concept of alternative assessment. Each rubric created fits the profile of the specific activity, drill, project or issue it describes.
“Descriptors” help students see the level of attainment/achievement of the specific performance, production or aspect described. It is therefore much easier than in traditional assessment to see the weakness or strength in that aspect. That highly depends on the accuracy of those “descriptors”. Teachers must be very specific when creating these explanatory items that show what the learner must attain and the possible degrees of achievement.

Even though many rubrics can be found in the Net for every aspect we can think of (for listening activities, for grammar,for projects…) It is much better if we create our own rubric for the specific project or activity we have planned. It will depict our students’ profile and their needs more accurately and it will therefore fit their possible outcomes and progress more proficiently. Rubrics can be created online at no cost in sites such as Rubistar.

Photo: Gabriel Pollard

Reflections on a Course: Post 3 (Week 4)

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This long week has been really fruitful. Our colleagues and I have been dealing with potential issues that might raise difficulties in our lessons.

One the most recurring issues is the difficulties learners have when they must speak in public, or, in other words, when they must speak in English.

Spoken English is the big issue, we could say. Historically, most teaching approaches were based on the written language, bot reading skills and grammar acquisition were paramount if learners were supposed to “succeed” in a language course. Of course, that did not account for succeeding with the use of the language they learnt when they had to use it in real-life situations. There are many adults who have undergone years of English lessons and who are not able to ask for help in English if they get lost in the middle of Seattle. This approach given in ELT classrooms has proved to be a reason why this happens.

With time, new generations of teachers have come to the classrooms, and many of them have given a different approach to lessons: learning through songs, TPR, role-play activities… Listening skills have been enhanced widely without neglecting reading and writing skills. But speaking is still down there… why?

Most of the times we try to encourage our students to speak by asking questions in class, or asking them to work in pairs and role-play. If they are not confident, progress will be scarce.

We might want to step further into more compelling drills that place students in a situation where they must use spoken English: Sketches to be played in front of the class, with dialogues created either by teacher or students; short talks given by students on topics assigned by the teacher; short sketches recorded with a videocamera, either depicting a story or simulating a news broadcast, giving a weather forecast or even explaining a cooking recipe!

Accuracy is important, style is also desirable, but the ability to communicate meaningfully is the real target!!

photo credit: Wayne Large via photopin cc