Week 5: Reflection – Less Teaching More Learning

Hello Donna and e-friends,
WEEK 5, I remember, is now about over. As I did in the earlier weeks, I enjoyed a lot this week too. Something special that I knew heartily this week is LESS TEACHING MORE LEARNING. All the tasks that we had to carry out were interesting and would demand meticulous labor from our side. How lucky we are! We got the opportunity to be familiar with Rubistar, WebQuest, WebGarden and so on. I will present what I learnt this week.


Enjoying with Alternative Assessment

I went through the reading materials related alternative assessment, a new approach for assessing the learners’ performance. It is student- focused and has been designed with the activities in which students actively participate. As stated in the article, effective alternative assessment relies on observations that are recorded using checklists and rubrics. So I learnt something about checklist and rubrics.



Reading about Project Based Learning

The next thing I consulted this week is Project Based Learning (PBL). I went through the given reading materials. After reading them, I got more insights on how we can use it in our class. I found it the best approach to make meaningful learning. It assures “Less Teaching More Learning” so it is the radical shift from the traditional teacher-centered approach of teaching. In this approach students keep on doing something while learning. During the project task, students are engaged in producing or creating something collaboratively so they are highly motivated.
For this task, I consulted the following websites:
http://www.globalschoolnet.org/Web/pbl/plan/assres.htm
http://www.sun-associates.com/lynn/pbl/pbl.html
http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning
http://www.atesl.ca/cmsms/home/newsletters/december-2007/project-based-esl-education/
http://susangaer.com/studentprojects/



Creation of a Sample Rubric: Lesson Planning

The task related to creating a rubric is very important for us. I created the rubric in lesson planning. It was new to me so in the beginning I got confused and failed twice but later I followed the procedures meticulously and I succeeded. My URL is - http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&rubric_id=2072696& .
For this task, I consulted the following websites:
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/
http://health.usf.edu/publichealth/eta/Rubric_Tutorial/default.htm.



Creation of a WebQuest: Two Long Term Problems: Overpopulation and Deforestation

This task is equally important for us. It enhances quality teaching and quality learning. As rubrics, it was also a new task for me. I got success only after several attempts. I went through the WebQuests that other teachers have created. Most of them are wonderful and precious for both teachers and learners. I also created one focusing the learners of intermediate level in our context. My URL is - http://www.zunal.com/webquest.php?w=108828. For this task, I consulted the following websites:
http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/webquests/index_sub3.html
http://www.webquest.org/search/index.php
http://www.webquest.org/index-resources.php
http://www.zunal.com/


Continuation of the Project Work Discussion

As given in the weekly assignment, this week I described some potential changes of my class. I expressed how I am engaging my students to introduce technology in their learning.


How I apply the knowledge in my language class:
- I will apply PBL in my language class so the learners who are shy and less active become very active.
- I will use the WebQuests in my language class as they are the strong tools for both teachers and students.
- Rubrics are very important for evaluating the learners so I will create and use them when I have to evaluate their performance.
- I will try to use more and more technology because it enhances LESS TEACHING MORE LEARNING.


Thank you all.
Kamal