End of a Journey....

I remember the song'Goodbye' from the famous film "Sound of Music", and I am happy instead of being sad at the end of this course. I'm happy because I've learnt so much. I'm happy because I can now expand my learning which will ultimately benefit my students. I'm happy because I've made such wonderful friends. So, why should be pensive?

As my journey began, I was skeptical of my involvement in it. Unsure and scared of what I'll understand, knowing my initial inhibitions about technology. But Courtney's encouragements and the sharing and insights from my course mates truly helped my to move on. I started looking into the different facets of the course in a positive manner. The ABCD model, the importance of CALL, learning to blog for the first time, creating delicious page and adding favourite links to it, learning about PBL, Web Quest, creating Rubric for the students, every activity and task was like a new world opening for me. There was so much reading of specific resources that we all had to do, and to juggle that while teaching and grading papers at times became stressful. Yet, I moved on because I knew that the reward at the end of the journey would be sweet. To me, 'Reward' is not the certificate that I receive, but the smile I can visualize on the faces of my students, when they see me trying out innovative methods in the classroom with the help of technology. I can see their animated expressions, when they start creating a class Padlet. That is going to be my reward!

After these ten weeks more than being technology savvy, I'm richer in an amazing experience which I'll always treasure. It has helped me to be positive in difficult situations and I now know what to do to make my teaching unique, creative, interesting and approachable for my learners. That is my biggest reward from this course!

So, thank you Courtney for being such a wonderful instructor and guiding me, even when Internet Explorer and Nicenet would not side with me. Thank you University of Oregon, to have given us this  opportunity to be a part of such an enriching course. Thank you my dear classmates for your insights and sharing your ideas.

Let us all promise to keep in touch with each other and someone, may be Ahmed or Sanjiv,  quickly think of a group, which we can join and keep communicating regularly.

Best wishes and goodbye to all.....

Marching to the end.....

A week of highs and lows! As we come to the end of our glorious journey in this course, I want to savor the memories of interaction through Discussion and posting in the Nicenet class and class wiki regularly. Yet there is always something that keeps blocking my way , and that is the SERVER. It has become the bane of my life, that stops me often in my smooth journey. I try not to give up, I persevere, yet often fall behind the class.

In spite of the technical troubles, I devour through Howard Gardner's article on Multiple Intelligences http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic68.htm . The 9 intelligences that support classroom activities were supplemented by the reading of Richard Felder's article on 'Impact of Different Learning Styles on Classroom Performance' - http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSdir/styles.htm
If we teachers know and understand the classroom situations, then as facilitators we'll b able to engage the different learning styles and the multiple intelligence of our learners.

This week was also about posting my final project for evaluation in the class wiki. My project is on the way to enhance creativity among my class 10 students in writing Formal Letters. Here, I've planned a blended method of the traditional with the use of technological tools. I would start the class with brainstorming on the topic 'Women Trafficking' with some questions for the students, that ultimately help them in writing. This will be followed by a Web Quest on the same topic, and I feel this will definitely help foster the creativity of my students. Finally my students will start writing their letters in email and send them to me for evaluation. As an incentive and motivation to my learners, I'll select 10 best letters and publish them in the students' edition of The Times of India. I'm grateful to Sophia, my partner for her review and kind words. Her comments have been a morale booster for me.

This journey has been quite a roller coaster for me...this is difficult academic time for me with umpteen papers for final evaluation and grading, with very short deadline. To juggle that and the tasks of this course, at times were very stressful. Yet, I enjoyed it thoroughly. The time constraints, the interaction with friends, Courtney's motivating words...made me look forward to it everyday. I really do not know, with the kind of technical support that we have today, how far in the reality I'll be able to put to use all that I've learnt in this course. But I'm going to cherish the treasure that I've come across here, and will definitely use some of the tools that I know I can blend in, in spite of all the odds. Then, I'll know that my learning has not been in vain!

Marching Towards the End of the Road....

Week 8 is coming to an end...just 2 more weeks left and it feels like yesterday, the course had begun. How time flies! 

We had an honoured guest amongst us, Jeff Magoto. His expertise in Web skills, Teacher share lesson and Materials Development is an inspiration to all of us. The more I come to know people like Jeff, Andrea, and Courtney, the more I feel how little I know. Jeff's creation ANVILL, a virtual language lab, can be used for speaking skills in Language Learning. It also infuses Collaborative Learning and Learner Autonomy. This is a great tool for the communication of distant learners, to develop their oral/aural skills. Thank you Courtney and Jeff for guiding us through, and always sharing with us new tools.

I've shared the draft of my Plan Project with my partner Sophia and thank her for her kind and encouraging words. I was quite confused initially before writing the draft. I somehow couldn't understand how to go about it. Reading all the resources, reading Courtney's mails again and again cleared the maze and I was able to venture into it.  I have used a blended technique, using the traditional and the technological. I have tried using the tools which I feel will make my class learner-centric, creative, collaborative and help my students to become independent. I feel this blended method will help me achieve my goal.

This week we had to create a class wiki or an online exercise that can be a handout. How I wish I knew about this a fortnight back. When I was taking a revision class with my class 9 students before their final assessments, this would have been of great help. However, keeping the thought in mind, I have created a crossword puzzle exercise on 'Relative Clauses', which I plan to use in the next session for my next class. Here the article by Lanternfish and the link by Chris Gunn truly helped me. I would once again like to thank Courtney for sharing these excellent articles and links with us.

I have been going through the lesson plan drafts of my friends in this class. They are so good and the plans are very intelligent. I've learnt much from them and would like to thank all of them. Friends, you are all excellent!!

When I started this journey, as a novice in the use of technology, many things seem difficult, vague and unreachable. Now, with the passage of 8 weeks, slowly and steadily all the learning is falling into place. I would never say that I have mastered the use of technology in class, but yes, I'm more confident in the use. I'm still learning...and will keep on learning even after the end of the course, but all is not dark....I can see some light!

If we want the best for our learners then change is a must. Our condition does not change but we bring the change in it that ultimately benefits our students. Here I'm reminded of what Walden Thoreau had said: " Things do not change; we bring the change."

Best wishes to all,
Paramita