Bookr

Here's the link for my Bookr: A Stray Cat.

Bookr is a very cute and easy-to-use online tool and I made a storybook myself by using it! It's a really cool experience!

I think the objective I can use for Bookr is to help the students learning some specific knowledge, like how to use past tense or to learn some grammar things. By using the Bookr, I use a lot of past tense in order to teach the students how to use the past tense and at the same time make my instruction interesting and attention-grabbing.

The type of story I would have my students create is the story that has a clear storyline and not very abstract. Like I would like my students to telling a story about their Spring Break or to create a fairytale using past tense.

I would not use this tool as my main teaching material, because I found that Bookr's picture search is not that fully developed and I cannot find many nice pictures. I would use it as a "dessert" for my teaching and to give students some different learning experience.

pics

photo by Seantoyer
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Twitter: to talk to the world

  I've read these two articles: Twitter: expanding our class- shrinking the world, and Twimpact: Twitter's impact on my week.

  The first article mainly talked about the teacher used twitter as a media to connect to the world and had his  students to get to know the Greece culture and got an opportunity to communicate and interact with other students who are also studying western culture and they were at that time studying Greece as well. The teacher had his students to have an interaction with those students and being the judges of those students' presentations. I think this kind of twitter-caused class activity is very interesting. At first it helps students to memorize the knowledge well and at the same time make the students realize that they were not alone and  other students in different school are aslo learning the same knowledge they are learning. Also the twitter also promote the interaction within students and students would follow the world events on twitter. I think especially for the language learners and culture learners, it is crucial for them to get to know the language and culture by various ways and really make the students get interested in what they are learning. Using Twitter not only could broaden the horizon of the students' world but could have them more engaged in what they were learning.

  I might use Twitter in my class in order to give my students' a twitter discussion and set a topic and make them discuss and do researches online. Also just like the Twitter: expanding our class- shrinking the world said, I can connect to the world and Skype to students or teachers in other parts of the world and talk to them or chatting with them in order to give my students a more directive and objective impression of what we are currently learning and what other culture is or learn with each other and then get mutual benefits.

  The second article mainly talked about his Twitter experience which is very impressive. He could use Twitter to communicate with many educators, read a lot of articles, get in touch with many friends and learn language. This article reminds me that I also have a Twitter and I used this Twitter to learn English, like I can learn to how to express myself better in English and I must say that the Twitter is a good way to learn language because the language on it is very practical, daily used and authentic. 

  However, as a teacher one thing we should keep in mind is that there are just so many information on the  Twitter, and it is our responsibility to remind our students to pay attention to the Internet safe while learning through the Twitter. Also Twittering may become very time-wasting if the students don't have the self-discipline to control themselves from work procrastinating to browsing other websites.

Learning with computers

  I find it very useful to join this online forum "Learning with computers" on which I could talk with many language teachers and get various answers to different online teaching problems and being updated to many latest teaching information.

  On this website, I can get many practical advice of how to make my class more students-engaged and I can get to know many useful appliances which could enhance my online teaching and I also realize that there are some free resources that could benefit English teacher all over the world which is really a surprising gift to me. I found many worth watching podcasts concerning about TESOL and I shared this link and this forum at once with my friend who is an English teacher in China.

  This free podcast remind me of some free Harvard iTunes U on the apple store. Through these iTunes U I could learn many subjects like business, physics, history, etc. I think these iTunes U are also an application of Connectivism that could benefit learners globally and everyone could have a chance to learn the subjects that they like.

  Through the video New video consortium which made me rethink education and make me realize that network could be a very useful convenient and "love to help" resources, and on the network students could discuss with students or teachers and they could even challenging the teacher. It made me realize that the online source is not "teacher teaching and students receiving knowledge" method, but the online teaching is an interactive teaching method. This video tells a story that the students spontaneously translate the course syllabus into 5 different languages which could help learners from other countries or other languages get the knowledge more easier. This made me realized the power, I mean the overall power of the online students who come from the world and they help each other by translating the syllabus into other languages and they spread this knowledge freely and globally. I think this is really amazing and I think this is where the online teaching charismatic is. To spread the knowledge globally is the thing that classroom teaching really can't do:)

A learner is like a...

  To me, a learner is like a passenger, who is traveling on a train and when the train has arrived its destination, the passenger took off the train and switch to another train, and the train system is extensive and convenient and the train system could take the passenger anywhere at anytime.

  I've learned a little about sociolinguistics and I read about Vygotsky's theory about language learning occurs on two planes, one is inter-relationship and the other is intra-relationship; Learning is not only about the learner himself, but is also occurring between one and the other person. When I read the article "Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age", it is not that unfamiliar to me, because I know that "One of the most persuasive factors is the shrinking half-life of knowledge. The “half-life of knowledge” is the time span from when knowledge is gained to when it becomes obsolete." Connectivism deepen and strengthen my knowledge of nowadays learning.

  Indeed, "In a knowledge economy, the flow of information is the equivalent of the oil pipe in an industrial economy." And truly, today's knowledge is no longer life-time knowledge. Today's knowledge is half-life of knowledge and "When knowledge is gained to when it becomes obsolete."

  I think to take this online course is not about learning the knowledge of how to integrate online technologies into our teaching, but it is about how to apply this Internet knowledge into facilitating the gaining of our knowledge and our students' knowledge. Just as the video "The Conflict of Learning Theories with Human Nature" says, "To focus less on try to bring knowledge into the mind of a person and more on developing the skills of our learners".

* Click on the high-lighted sentences and you will go to the website links of the related content.

TED is an awesome teaching resource

  The blog named Authentic Teaching and I have read and comment on this blog's post Frank's Frustrated Teaching which is telling a story about a language teacher's frustrated experience. This teacher complains about his students' frustrating cooperation and communication and the learners just don't have the "hot buttons" and the teacher don't know what to do. This situation is worth thinking for every person who is engaged in Education career. 

  I think it is not enough with only the instructor possesses passion. Teachers and students both should have passion. In China, English teachers are often in a awkward position that teachers want to foster students’ interest in English, however on the other hand, they have to be a test preparer who is instructing students how to get a higher grades in exams, instead of giving the students some insight about learning language. Teachers could only stimulate students with if you learn English well you could get a higher points in exams and in the future you would probably go to a famous college and find a better job and earn much money. That’s the way we Chinese English teachers encourage students. So I really want to change the situation.

  After reading Willy C. Cardoso’s post, I get to know the website TED.com which is an awesome website! It covers various interesting topics and I think I could use those video clips in my future English teaching! I think this website could easily arouse students’ interest and give them motivation to learn English well. I mean, it could give them motivation that with learning English well they could really broaden their horizon and get to know the world better!

Let's get started to adapt to this ever changing world!

   I'm writing this post to respond to the video 21st Century Education in New Brunswick, Canada. and the video RSA Animate-Changing Education Paradigms. 

   I have to say that 21st Century Education in New Brunswick, Canada is a really brainstorming and inspiring video to me!! This video makes me think about how dramatically this world has been changed. Indeed, it is a decade ago that I sent a film out to have it developed. When I was in elementary school, I used the pay phone to remind my parents that they forgot to pick me up... However, today, nearly every elementary students got a cell and could contact to their parents or friends just any time they want. Indeed, this video makes me think a lot.

   Just as the question raised in the video that nearly everything around us has been through a big change, what about education? Frankly speaking, before watching this video I don't have much clues about how this online-course would arm me with what kind of knowledge. I just didn't see the future of education career and I just stayed in the circles which has been filled by much old-fashioned and obsolete teaching method knowledge. After watching this video, I realized that the world is a ever changing place and in recent years, it is changing more and more fast. We should get students' attention and try hard to adapt to this changing world and what we can teach has to change as well. Just as the video says, "we must keep pace and stay relevant to keep students engaged."
 
   After watching the video RSA Animate-Changing Education Paradigms. This video has given me much insight about education. The quote "Our education is anesthetizing the students" really shocked me. It's like a wake-up call to me. Nowadays there are way too many distracts like many hi-tech kits, e.g. iPhone, computer games, TV series etc. Compared with these fun and interesting distracts, how can we make our class fun enough to attract our students and at the same time teach them efficiently. What's more, the school is still running just like a factory. "We put the students through the education system by age group." Truly, why do we do that? Can we put more focus on developing students' divergent thinking? These are really worth thinking about questions. Encouraging us teacher-to-be students to have a second thoughts on the questions. At the same time, I'm wondering that if I originally had some creative talents but had been suppressed by traditional teaching method and I myself by no means want to see this kind of situation happen again on my students.

   I will encourage students to think out of the box and always trying to keep pace with the changing world in order to make my class more vivid and interesting.