Week 4: Small Steps Can Take You Far if You Keep Walking

Already Week 4 and such a busy schedule that I almost forgot ever being outside the virtual classrooms. Now I have two of these to attend, which I will explain shortly.

After days of marathon-like classes in school and meetings concerning Hate Crimes Prevention Project with OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) that four of my students and I are participating in together with representatives of the media, governmental and NGO sector in the town, it's good to be able to get online, and without a rush read through posts and comments by my colleagues in the Nicenet. The main objective for us was to learn particular ways how technology can enhance reading, writing and vocabulary skills. As before, there was a great variety of useful websites and links to explore and try to incorporate in our teaching. Moreover, this week was all about practicing writing technology enhanced lesson plans and using google docs to post them online in order to get feedback from the colleagues and the instructor.

I browsed through Bygosh.com - a family-friendly website with interactive books and short stories. Since it was Halloween this week, I thought it would have been nice to look for some materials to use with my students. Having opened "Scary Short Stories for October", I got a perfect idea to use it in the class with taking into consideration ABCD lesson objectives framework. A group of 25 intermediate high school (aged 15-16) students (Audience) will choose from the website list (Condition) one short story to read (Behavior) and then provide the story map with 6 most important details about the story (Degree).

Another idea was to use Huffington Post Live. The website gives a possibility of having an interactive realia used for both listening, reading comprehension and writing. You can find a certain topic/show and the time when it will be broadcasted, as well as additional reading with it. For instance, I found the show with the topic "Tell me Why ScaryMovies"  that will feature a guest who is a 10-year old horror movie enthusiast. The show is provided with additional information sections such as LOOK: Forgotten Horror Movies You Should Revisit READ: 10 Best Scary Movies To Watch This Halloween SCARY: 10 Maniacally Mind-Twisting Movies. You can also join the chatting community and discuss the topic with other viewers. I think my students would be quite interested in listening and watching the show, as well as reading the additional information and commenting.

 However, one of the major endeavors for this week for me was first getting familiar with the use of and introducing Edmodo to my students. I created two groups for my upper-intermediate classes, got group codes for each so that students could join. 

 My Teacher's Profile on Edmodo

The platform does remind of Facebook, and I first used it to post a note with a link of the website (http://idebate.org/motions) where I wanted my students to choose a topic for a discursive essay that they would have to write. I also uploaded a pdf document where they could also choose a topic. Next was creating assignment with a deadline.

 So far, 37 out of 50 students have joined the group, filled in their profile and provided details about what kind of learners they are (aural/visual/hands-on) and what their career goals are. 4 students have posted some questions and comments and, one student has turned in his essay already.

A Student's Profile on Edmodo

I really look forward to their feedback about the things they have done so far.