Learning to Teach Better

I posted about the Canadian government experiment called Portfolio Based Learning Assessment and noted some of the issues I had with it. Here is a blog post by a teacher who has had more experience with it. Just thinking about teaching and how to teach better... http://blog.teslontario.org/reflections-on-the-implementation-of-pbla/#.WvCDXhcUOVN.google_plusone_share

I think instead of commenting on the tips I just want to say that this online experience has been great!! I compare it to an all day workshop at a conference. In reflecting on what took place and how much learning took place I can honestly say that this gives F2F workshops at conferences some serious competition. I love going to conferences..... But - I found the extended time between sessions gave me time to reflect and think and try out and read other's posts -and communicate in a real way...I'm a little surprised at that. Of course the presenter is always key but I felt real communication, respect, appreciation happening between participants. The comments and replies were real - not just something that had to be done because of a requirement. Hmm - peer teaching. Of course!! Just like what happens in our classes. It was a privilege and joy to be part of this experience with you all. I wish you all happiness and success in your different places. Thank you for your generosi...

After our visit to the Ontario Legislature the follow up activity was to write a letter to a friend describing the trip and giving their impressions of the Parliament. I'm looking for letter format, paragraph format, flow, etc. This group mostly copied information from the pre teaching activities - and from the brochures they picked up! No matter. Reviewed vocabulary and information. We did discuss if copying from the brochures was plagiarism - and also if our friends really wanted all that information...I'm really big on displaying learner work...make sure everyone gets something up...if not this time,then next time...if they don't give work to me I don't hound them..it is a non credit course..

Week Three over so fast...all the sessions have had an impact on my teaching. I am more deliberate, and more aware of use of time, notice things - like I can get a bit lazy about planning -especially listening and speaking activities. ...I have included more speaking activities (conversation as the students like to call it). They are happy. But I also noticed that there are things that I do that are found in the tips...and that is very validating. I raised the question of PEDs (Personal Electronic Dictionaries) use in the chat and Penny asked me to repeat it here. I think I mentioned that I do not allow my students to use their cell phones in class. The first reason is selfish. It drives me crazy. I'm sure they are texting, looking at Instagram....not listening to me. I also do not let them use their phones IN CLASS DURING BREAK ( and I do not use mine!) And that's just because I think it is not good manners. I tell them my daughter met me for lunch. I took out my phone. ...

If a computer can replace a teacher it should. If a teacher can replace a computer - they should... hmmm And hmm...thinking about second session. To give honest feedback - of course it was lovely, of course ideas stayed with me all week. But to be honest it felt more like a teacher centred lesson - With the interactive pen and paper activity Session one was sooo engaging...and MAYBE that explains the drop in online engagement..or just we need time to absorb, out into practice, and asynchronous feature is very seductive...can comment later... Along with the tips I am "observing" this as a "demonstration"of online teaching and learning...a field still in its infancy. Joining class now for session 3!

This is a discussion activity that can be used for many topics. This is around phrases from "O Canada" (national anthem) basically talking about values and citizenship rights and responsibilities. Part of Remembrance Day content. The prompts come from "A Grab Bag of Canada " by Elizabeth Ganong and Dan Ingram. Some of questions (on the little orange rectangles) are "What makes a country feel like home?", "How do people show they love their country?" What Canadian values need to be protected and how can we do this?" Six questions on six sheets of flip chart paper. Six groups of 2-3 students. Each group gets a paper. Five minutes to discuss the question and each student writes their opinion. Then the paper moves to a different group and they add their answers. ( Everyone gets a different coloured marker. Signing is optional. If the group runs out of time the students can add their contribution later...!Then we put them up as a display and t...

...I feel a bit guilty that I did not post before but I needed time to reflect, see whether anything from Sunday "stuck" with me, and I wanted to see what sort of things everyone posted. I kept getting notifications from Google+ so I read most posts -sometimes I replied. It was very illuminating, fun. Part of my brain was observing how an online community forms ( I have done online courses before but the posting was obligatory ( University) or part if a MOOC (FutureLearn) and not as authentic and natural as this is. My takeaways from Sunday were: 1. Use time more deliberately and constructively (less waffle Claudie; you really need to plan better, give students more useful activities to discover/practice. I think I do too much "teaching in the moment" ...storytelling is good but I need to monitor for balance..students can tell stories too.) 2. Hmm, then, think about whether to preteach vocabulary, or not, before a listening. Some course book listening texts h...

Hi Penny, Steven, Anne and everyone, Happy to join this course. I'm Canadian and live in Toronto, but I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. I have travelled and lived in many countries and have picked up a couple of languages other than English. I have been teaching ESL to newcomers to Canada for 17 years (adult, noncredit programs, all levels) At present I teach a Level 6/7 class (high intermediate I guess - but really any class of 20 people has 20 levels! Agree? ) I'm interested in assessment - not because I like to do it but because it seems to be a very hot topic now. I've learned from taking other online courses to be very flexible about my expectations - and to always be pleasantly surprised by what I get from the courses. So - looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow! Claudie