Farewell

     This is a relatively easy week, compared with the previous ones.

     And this is the last week-- I know.  

     Not until I received Mr. Elliott mail, announcing something we need to notice at the final stage, do I sense “this really gonna come to an end.” It is a bit of sad.

     The first week I was gleeful; afterwards came with a myriad of tasks to be fulfilled. The sixth or seventh week was the most overwhelming one—my brain was replete with ideas, plans and tasks awaiting me to carry out. Then, after submitting the final project, I in a blink of eye found the busy life vanishing. I now miss the life occupied with things, which replenish me with prospective exploration of my teaching. The trip takes after a journey to the Treasure Island, Initially, I feel ossified with the dazzling gold lying in front of me, but when coming to my sense, it is a little late to grapple for more-- time for home. Even so, I still get so much, I could hinge on them for the rest of my teaching career.

     A plethora of web tools and reflective theoretical articles pave a broad path for me to stride gallantly, facing the impending challenges from new teaching environment and learners. I still remember how thrilled I was when students, sitting together discussing their writing in English, went from strength to strength owing to the overhaul of my teaching approach. However, before the course about between 2008 and 2011, I almost couldn’t hang on there. What do you think is the most terrified thing? My answer is that when you lose the passion for what you are doing. Approximately in 2008, I felt like quitting my teaching job because I was very tired of teaching in the traditional way--grammar focus, translating English into Chinese, teacher-centered, teaching for tests. So, I embarked on my exploration of teaching. I kept making adjustments, but found no breakthrough until a student groaned with his dissatisfaction. Then he suggested me using PowerPoint to expedite my teaching. As soon as I started to apply technology to my teaching, I realized what a great facilitator technology is.

     However, I knew there was still something missing— I am not on the right track I would like to lope on; a language classroom should be more than I managed then. What tips the balances is that I was admitted to the E-Teacher program of University of Oregon. With the learning and practice into real setting of technology, my teaching style shifted form teacher-centered approach to learner-centered approach. I also made a break personally. I created the first online survey of my own, the first personal webpage of my own, and the first English blog of my own.

     Well goes the Chinese saying, “There is no banquet with an end.” In English, it says, “Everything must come to an end.” The former or the latter, a hint of sadness comes to me. Farewell, dear participants, and Mr. Elliott, who shares so much with us. Thank you.

 

 

 

Learner Styles, Mutliple Intelligences and Learner Diversity

In 1983, Howard Gardner, a professor of Harvard University, offered a brand new perspective that varied from the main stream of that day, IQ being the deciding factor of a person’s development. According to Professor Garder, different people have different intelligences; he called them Mulitple Intellgiences. They are verbal/linguistic intelligence, logical/mathematical intelligence, bodily/kinesthetic intelligence, visual/spatial  intelligence, musical/rhythmic intelligence, inter-personal/social intelligence, and intra-personal/introspective intelligence. The theory aimed to modify the bias of IQ being the center of an individual’s intelligence. As of the lauch of the book, Frames of Minds, professor Gardner’s theory has been widely accepted and replaced the traditional dominance, IQ. Owing to the theory, educators gradually identify the multiple-faced talents students are inherently in possession of.

However, it is no easy job to undertand an individually distinctive intelligence of a person. For educators, the judgement of a person’s Intelligence Quotient is not difficult because of the higly-developed tool of assessment, contrast to which, other intelligence tools of assessment are relatively fewer. This also engenders bafflement for teachers who try to help leanres. Presumbaly because of this, corresponding exploration on a person’s propensity, learner style in particular, has been constantly discovered. Learner styles are emphasized as well as multiple intelligences.

According to Richard M. Felder, a professor in North Carolina State Universtiy, there are some different types of learners—active learners vs. reflective learners, sensing and intutiive learners, visual learners vs. verbal learners, sequential leaners and global learners. All these pairs are mutually contrast, one being the other’s counterpart. For example, active learners do something active with it —discussing or applying it, while reflective learners prefer to think about it quietly first. The types are literally understandable. But what is sequential learners and global leaerns? Felder thinks that sequential gain understanding in linear steps, which means learners tend to follow steps logically. Contrast to them, global learners prefer learning in large jumps, which indicates they absorb material almost randomly without seeing connections, and then suddenly “getting it.”

As a matter of fact, almost most learners are amalgams of different types. In other words, one could be active or reflective, sometimes sensing or some other time intutitive. No matter what type someone is, one thing is for sure, she/he must be oriented by a certain type. For example, one might a visual-geared leaner, but in certain scenario she/he still adopts learning approach used by verbal learners. By the same token, though someone is obviously, for example, oritented toward verbal/linguistic intelligence, he is also likely to be partially visual/spatial intelligence-geared.

The two theories combined in effect help educators recognize learner diversity. Educators siutated in a real teaching scenario could empathize learners much more than the two theories being released. They are aware that though they are authortity in large part in their classroom, they should respect learner diversity. However, it purturbs teachers how to put into consideration as well as practice multiple intelligences and learner styles. Even though the established respect for the two features of learners, they are still alien to how to proceed with their teaching associated with the two theories released.

Then, let’s conjecture the situation—what about teachers are able to distinguish each student’s learning style or individual intelligence? Can we assemble students with the same quality together? The possiblity is actually negative, and the truth is that we can never have the opportunity to have such a mission completed. Therefore, they may as well extend the socpes of teaching as identify learner diversity; the key in coping with the diverstiy consists more in teaching than identification of learner diversity. Teachers should varify their teaching to cater to the diversity of learners, because there is a stark distinction whether teachers are able to distiguish learner style or intelligences.

With the advent of technology, teachers are likely to overcome a quandary of how to be confronted with learner diversity. I have a personal experience. In my class, there are four to six students who always cannot follow my steps; they are more like outsiders than students attending a class. Frankly speaking, I do not know what learner styles they should fall category into or what mutlitple intelligence they own. I merely felt annoyed by their attitude until I asked students to take their technological gadgets into the class to help their learning. Presumbly they are active learner (as opposed to reflective learners); therefore, once the teaching style is geared toward their learning style, a postive learning outcome that a teacher looks forward to arises.

I do not suggest techonolgy is an elixir to cater to diverse learner styles. What I really mean is that technology provides in effect all teachers another perspective to look at their own teaching, and a viable way to broaden their own teaching spectrum.

Sur-viv-al

     I am struggling. It was really, really a busy week. I had been saddled with a chain of tasks, and school workloads. Besides the routine discussion and tasks, there was still one final project draft because the course was coming to an end. In addition, this week my school was having a monthly test, so I had a plethora of test papers to correct. All the week my mind had been occupied with the work, which lingered to impel me to fiugure out what had been done, or what had still been left to deal with.

     What was worse, I was baffled by the creation of my wiki, which took me too much time; until now, my wiki is still a half-done webpage. Owing to that, I was delayed to not have other tasks done. Well the saying goes, “It never rains but pours;” my printer was out of order so that I could not have some papers printed out. I probably got too many rain checks.

     I even got indecisive—whether to create a Nicenet or a Wiki. Pondering for one day, I decided to have a wiki. “Every solution breeds new problems,” which I couldn’t agree with it more. What template to adopt becomes another quandary. On the Wednesday afternoon I had no class, after working the final project draft out, I kicked off the creation of my Wiki. To my dismay, I tried and tried but still stayed under the initial stage, though. That night, I felt worn out, lying on the bed, those icons, templates emanating from my brain. Then it followed a bad night. Alas, everything takes longer than I think.

An Ideal English Classroom

     Why do we have to help learners gain autonomy? All English language teahers should always ask themselves the question before, amid, and after their teaching. American philosopher and educator, John Dewey, advocates the doctrine, “Learning by doing,” which is pivotal to language learning. In terms of Dr. Deway’s idea, I try to figure out the correlation between using target language and learner autonomy, and besides between collaborative work and learner autonomy.

     In the process of developing learner autonomy, David Little thinks that a teacher should "use the target language as the preferred medium of classroom communication and require the same of her learners..., and require her leaners to identify individual goals but pursue them through collaborative work in samll groups." I believe that many English language teachers prefer staying in their comfort zone—using their mother tongues rather than the target language as the preferred classroom medium. However, once they choose their mother tongue as the main classroom medium, learners would never have the potential to develop their autonomy. The acquistion of language arises because learners put the language into practice. What if teachers apt to use their mother tongue in the language classroom, learners would certainly feel unusual to speak with their teachers in the target language. As a matter of fact, this is a formation of cognitive process--through a teacher's guide, learners develop a concept that in Englis class, both the teacher and the learners should use the target language. The reason falls into place with ease if we think of the occasion when we speak with a native speaker, who spontaneously takes the leading role in guiding a conversation discourse; we as non-native speakers acquire the target language with the guidance of the native speaker. What counts is that we are on the way to autonomy through the guidance. For learners, a language teacher resembles the native speaker, and her/his language is conducive to the acquistion of learners’ target language. Learners, though unconscious, initially base their autonomy on enlightment from teachers. The relation starts with reliance on teachers, and later learner autonomy comes into bud (cognitive learning) until they are entirely independent of guidance (metacongitive learning).  

     What other fosters the construction of learner autonomy besides teachers’ assistance? In a language classroom, learner-centered strategy should be galvanized, a prospective Mr. Elliott agrees with as well. “…… the group learns to rely on each other more, and less on the teacher as authority figure. As they work together they gain confidence in the knowledge of their group and awareness of their own abilities.”  On the one hand, the formation of learner autonomy implies that teachers as authority figure transform as “a facilitator of learning, a counselor, and as a resource.” On the other hand, the acquistion of a language always comes with frequency: the more one uses it, the more fluent it becomes. In cooperative learning, learners have more chances to use the language than in a teacher-dominant classroom. In addition, pressure mitigates among peer interaction, which motivates learners to take active role in using the target language. The actual scenario has displayed a stress-free communication. Collaborative work are more likely to conduces to learner pragmtism than teacher-centered learning. According to Little, collaborative work results “in their commitment to self-management and their generally proactive approach, autonomous learners are motivated learners.” In the actual teaching scenario, my personal observation is that learners are move involved in learning process-- in cooperative learning, learners are more active, creative, and curious; some questions they bring forth transcend the scope I have prepared. Let’s go over a little on teacher-centered learning, which is built on positivism: learning in large part consists in the transmission of knowledge from one individual to another. It means learners learn from teachers. In contrast to teacher-centered learning, coopoerative learning is constucted on cosnturctivism and critical theory. Through interaction bewteen learners, they come to acqurire what they need. As for the teacher, he/she is more of a facilitator than of an instructor. Learners stride toward autonomy, owing to the transmission of a teacher role, and the elevation of learners confidence and self-awareness.

     Therefore, an ideal language class should operate as follows: it is a learner-centered learning; it is a cooperative learning; it is a PBL learning, which prominently motivates learners.

A Huge Break

I am not averse to activities, but the problem is that whenever I proceed with my teaching via them, I feel guilty. It’s because some students just hang around along the way, not involved in group working or discussion. The other is that activities are always time-consuming. In a 50-minute period, activity process always do not flow smoothly and efficiently. As a result, I try as safe a way as I can, teacher-centered approach. However, deep in my heart, I know a language classroom should be more than a teacher’s show; it should be a stage for learners to perform. A teacher is nothing more than a director. But I lack a clear script on how to direct.

     The tasks of week 5 triggered chemistry. While I was working with the tasks, I actually expected nothing until I kicked off my experiment. The first time, I only prepared pieces of paper so that students could work on the assigned tasks. The stark difference was that I asked students to bring their own laptops, smart phones, or tablet computers. The outcome went beyond my expectation. What amazed me most was that none of them was hanging around in the process; everyone was absorbed in the activity: some of them had been easily distracted or even snoozing in class. It was elated to see them “come back” to classroom learning (I had an impulse to take a video to record that incredulous behavior change). But one glitch was that they still procrastinated. Then I pondered how to direct “the play” efficiently. I thought the activity would gain efficiency if rubrics fell into place. I drafted the rubrics, and then overhauled them three times.

     Right before the second-time experiment, I tried to make the rubrics as explicit as I could, making a demo, and then students initiated their tasks, which went from strength to strength. It was a great success—students were involved, no group procrastinating, the assigned task done with alacrity.     

     Personally, the task is success because technology as an incentive is applied to their learning. For example, smart phones are gadgets for them to play games only, and what’s more, they are impossible to use in class. But when the students were asked to use something forbidden in class to facilitate their learning, the novelty must have played a significant role. Besides, they were well acquainted with game rules. When the rubric was projected onto the screen, I could feel the awe in their eyes. Presumably, they were clearly informed of the objectives and the procedures of the tasks. In addition, one of the tasks’ objectives was to find example sentences from news reports and then translate them into Chinese. Many groups selected news headlines about MBA, whose star players are well known to them. Way different from example sentences made up by the teacher, those sentences were authentic and entertaining, their motivation being aroused.

     I am pleased to say the experiment turns the corner in my teaching. Then next, I am posed to perform experiments on writing, and reading. I know it will take up much of my time, but having taught for almost 20 years, seeing many of my colleagues’ passion for teaching dispelling, I feel so blessed.

The First Half

That’s crazy. For the course, I have got registered a litany of websites. This week I have another three, RubiStar, Zunal, and QuestGarden. In a sense, the cyber world is convenient, but, on the other hand, is it that convenient? At least, I am subconsciously bound by these websites, and technological gadgets. With them, I really work with ease. But without them, I become an idiot. So, is it convenient? With so many passwords, is it convenient? You might say, “just one is enough? Use a number you are familiar with.” Then online robot might hack it. Is it convenient?

      In attempting to register in QuestGarden, I was asked to write down my last name, mine is Yu. But the registered page said, “your name must consist of at least three characters.” I was forced to key in You, which makes me feel very stupid. Is it convenient? I was forced to change my family name due to a STUPID webpage. I remember an essay question in TOEFL writing is, “….do you think will it be possible that humans beings will get stupid because of technology advance?” thing of this kind. I think this proposition can’t exist at all. Robots are stupid, how could they replace humans some day? But I do think the proposition can be adjusted into, “….do you think will it be possible that humans beings will get CRAZY because of technology advance?”

After weeks of confusion, I come to understand the outline of the course. Before attending the course, I had been wondering what I would learn, I didn’t quite follow it even after 4 week learning. But now it dawns on me that the course is perhaps designed with the following concept: the course aims to help participants/teachers instruct English through website skills, so they need to know some web tools to facilitate their teaching. And due to web learning is based on learner-centered mode, participants/teachers thus have to be aware how to make up an online learning lesson plans and set rubrics for learners to follow. In the end, participants will have a final project to demonstrate what they have learned during the 10 weeks.

     And that’s why we have to learn to use some new web tools. Actually, I indeed think they are helpful. From the first week’s search engines to WebQuest this week, they are all impressive, and with the web tools, I come to reconsider and adjust my teaching style. In my country, educational reform is on the way. One of the reform engineering is to elevate teachers’ teaching. Many seminars are, therefore, being held to carry out the stupendous task. However, the problem is that those seminars are exclusively restricted to theories, and what’s worse, teachers can merely sit and listen to officers’ and experts’ lectures. The ramification is relatively negative. Now, I feel fortunate that I attend the course. April 26, I made a presentation in front of my colleagues of English department, using some skills and web tools learned from the course. I know it is successful because after that presentation, some of my colleagues came ask me of relevant information. I am pleased with the result, one I expect. Through the presentation, some useful and helpful information is imparted to my colleagues so that learners can be benefited due to teachers’ progress.

     A feasible change that I am poised to make is project behavior learning (PBL). In my teaching scenario, I scrabble for ideas to encourage students to learn. Sometimes, I am deviated away from my teaching for students’ distraction. I cannot blame students for that because once students are obliged to be sedentary for 10 hours a day in the school, they certainly tend to “eke out” in class. PBL appears to be a wake-up call to spark students’ fervor for learning English.

     The first half is interesting and impressive. What about the second half? I am looking forward.  

A New Start

Among these tasks, I like keeping the blog most. I like being free; I am more fond of the idea that I may avoid following some directions, which tend to restrict my thinking  to certain forms, such as ABCD objectives. But it doesn't mean I will scribble down whatever in my mind. Contrarily, from these weeks’ experiences, I come to develop a rule embarking on keeping the blog. Not awaiting the time to write, then I start to think what to be involved in the blog. Instead, I record ideas flashing through my mind. By so doing, once starting, I only have to organize my ideas. And I won’t end up with a nonsense scrawling.

While glancing through the websites of writing and reading, I did feel it is rewarding to attend the course: so many websites to foster my teaching. Most of them are delicately organized ones, and free of charge. Besides, these websites are categorized according to different purposes: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. While teaching, I am always anxious what activity I should adopt to interest learners and so benefit them. Therefore, I often beat my brains out, and now these websites allow me to gain a convenient access to ideas, approaches. In addition, I should say I am kind of surprised to learn some participants are able to share with us useful and practical websites. All the websites resemble a door to another level of teaching English. Awesome!

Before making up my lesson plan, I actually worry that it might be a hard task. But after looking over some from Baltimore County Public Offices of Technology Instruction, the anxiety dispels. Clear and simple, not complicated at all. Indeed, a lesson plan should be drafted in this manner. Just think about the real teaching scenarios. A teacher has so many lessons to teach, but if writing a lesson plan becomes a stupendous task, then lesson plans will not be planned. While I was earning my teacher license, it is a colossal task to write a lesson plan. Then, I felt it was way too impractical. That kind of lesson plan was ironically written for professors’ examination only,  not in a real teaching setting. In fact, that horrible experience causes me to have a fear for writing lesson plans.

Finally, I start to reconsider the upsides of using Delicious. Perhaps, I will have a different thought about it some time later. By the same token, I trying using an alien browser. Internet Explorer is my habitual browser, but I trying getting accustomed to using Chrome to cater to the course. The new software and browser will likely oblige me to raise myself to a new level in the use of technology in teaching English. And, I believe I just need time to get used to them well.