Week 4 Has Finished

Well, Week 4 has finished and we are almost half-way through the course (after next week).  It always amazes me to turn around and realize that the course is half over.

This last week we focused on reading and writing.  These are particular loves of mine--as I've been focusing on teaching reading and writing for a long time.  I really love to teach writing--most teachers hate it.  I believe in giving a lot--I mean a LOT--of feedback to my students on their writing.  I also believe that students need multiple drafts of their writing tasks and a lot of scaffolding in the form of outlines and organizers.  Organizers are particularly helpful as they give students something to write "into." 

As I said, most teachers I know hate to teach writing because it means huge amounts of grading and marking and writing feedback.  It takes hours and hours.


I also love to teach reading.  I believe (and research backs me up) that students need both intensive and extensive reading.  They need to be explicitly taught reading strategies.  They need to intensively take apart difficult, academic reading material in order to understand it, and they need extensive reading.  Extensive reading should be interesting, fun, and at or below their reading levels.  Making students read material that is too difficult for them--without helping them with the content and vocabulary--makes them hate reading.


Finally, students must be taught vocabulary.  Reading well requires a great deal of vocabulary.


Well---Week 4 has been a good week.  I hope everyone has learned or been reminded of a few things.


Donna

Week 3 is Almost Over

Well, week 3 is almost over and things are going fine.  It's been a week of some excellent discussions.  An interesting question came up this week.  It had to do with authentic English.  What is "authentic" English?  Whose English is authentic?  If students are watching a video, made in America in which the actors are using "Valley" English--is that authentic?  If students are watching a movie that is filled with slang and inappropriate language, this that authentic and good for them?  I wonder.  How authentic does the language have to be?  How do we get authentic language to our students?

Another question that came up concerning pronunciation is what accent (American? British? Canadian? Australian? etc.) do we teach our students and how accent-free do we wish them to do?  Isn't it unfair and impossible to ask our students to be error-free in their pronunciation?  How great a tolerance should we have when we grade our students?  Shouldn't we go for intelligibility?  What's the "right" accent?

Anyway, these are questions that came up for me this week.  I'm finding it intesting to ponder
them.

Week 2 is Over; Week 3 is Beginning

One of the things I like about this course is the introduction to ABCD objectives.  Of all the ways of writing learning objectives, the ABCD method is a very good one as it's clear and easy to apply.  And there are hundreds of websites and articles about how to write objectives!

Writing learning objectives is an art--and one that takes some time to perfect.  When first beginning to write objectives, one often has the tendency to write too much.  The urge is to include everything we can think of.  However, if we focus on just one thing that will be assessed, it's easier to write the objective.

Goals are the overarching aims of instruction--what we want the students to learn and do at the end of an entire instructional year or term or program of study.  Objectives are the small demonstrations of the steps the students take to reach the goal.

Assessment and objectives are closely connected.  Objectives must name observable and measurable behavior.  Assessment is the measure of the behavior.  If it cannot be observed and measured, it cannot be included in an objective.  A good way to think about this is to ask yourself, "How do I know a student has accomplished this?"

Rubrics are totally wonderful, because they go hand in hand with assessment.  Rubrics inform students and instructors exactly how a task is measured and evaluated on a numerical scale.

Education should never be a mystery.  Students should always be given learning objectives, clear ideas of assessment, and rubrics.

Anyway, I've always liked Week 2 because I think it's a great idea to begin the course with a focus on writing good learning objectives.

Now, we're off to Week 3 with another incredibly wonderful too--Delicious!

Donna