Week 10 Overview of the course

Dear all,

I can't find the words to say how grateful I am to this e-course. First of all it was my first experience of distance learning. I was a little bit nervous at the very beginning, and thought I would fail. But thanks to clear instructions, realistic objectives, appealing topics for discussion, and presentation of innovative teaching ideas I tried to do everything possible to move further and learn more. I learned much from Deborah and Sandra, from our professional guest moderators, and from all the participants.
As I have already mentioned at Nicenet posting, it is impossible for me to decide what topics were most successful because they all relate to my teaching practice and relevant to what I do. Each week there was a little discovery for both me as a teacher and me as a learner because each week was very specific, full of interesting ideas, innovative teaching techniques and tools.

I would like to thank our instructors for:
Clear, measurable and realistic objectives
Helpful resources
Effective course management
Efficient Evaluation System
Interactive classroom design
Innovative teaching ideas
Providing the self-directed learning
Helpful samples/templates

Thanks to this course I am inspired to start a series of workshops for the teachers on different topics we discussed throughout the e-course to share the teaching ideas, modern techniques, and opportunities the technology gives to improve the methods of teaching.
As for my future expectations, it will take some time, but I will continue to increase my levels of teaching innovations I implement more advanced technological techniques. I am grateful for this course's ability to introduce me to both the technological opportunities for teachers but also the teaching methodologies related to using mentioned techniques.

It was such a pleasure to work with you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you all,
Best regards,
Luba from Kazakhstan

WEEK 9 Weekly Reflection

Hello all,

Another challenging and busy week passed. We are too close to the end of the course now which makes me sad, but at the same time satisfied with all the job I did throughout this course.
Last week I kept working on the "Village Outreach Teachers Training" project as a facilitator/instructor. It took so much time and effort, but all the effort was worth it. It's such a pleasure to see the real results of your work...I hope our instructors who did so much for us would feel the same next week.
Last week I managed to generate a true or false test using one of the resources offered by our instructors, unfortunately I failed to create a crossword activity because of Internal Server Error. But it was just an attempt; I will have many opportunities later on, I am sure. Those websites make the teachers' lives easier, save much time and energy, help to create more interesting and interactive classrooms. Thanks to this e-course I know about them and will definitely advise other teachers to use them as well.
I am also happy I finished working on my final project report. I want to thank Manana for her Peer Review; her advice helped me a lot to change things and make my project report better.

Thank you,
Luba

WEEK 8 It's hard to believe this week is over

Hello all!!!

I am happy one of the busiest weeks is over. It seems as if it took me forever to cope with all the week tasks because I had only 2 days to do it.
Currently I take part in "Village Outreach Teachers Training" project as one of 3 facilitators. We go to villages which are lack of access to native speakers (culture/linguistic sources) and current teaching resources. Therefore, students in these regions are limited in skills which could aid in upward mobility. The priority of this project is to enable local teachers to provide exemplary teaching to use in their everyday work.
Though the week was busy, I still had a chance to learn much from the articles offered for reading as well as the ideas posted by other participants. What I like about the format of our e-course is that we try to apply all presented ideas in practice; it makes me feel I learn something "real", something that will work well for my teaching practice later on. This week I created another lesson plan I would definitely use with my students. I also thought a lot about learner autonomy and activities that would encourage students self-directed learning.
As for the draft project report, I want to say special thanks to our instructors for giving clear instructions and providing us with template, check list and rubric. All these make learners' life easier.

Thank you
Best regards,
Luba

Week 7 Reflection

Hello all!!

It seems as if Week 7 was the most industrious for me from the practical experience point of view. I studied much information, processed and generated some ideas and tried to put them into practice creating something new.
I agree with our instructors that PowerPoint is very commonly used in teaching, but it is rarely used interactively. Unfortunately my teaching experience also proves it, hope my previous experience because from now I am going to use Power Point in different way.
This week task was to create a short interactive PowerPoint presentation; I should admit it took some time and efforts, but the result was worth it. I felt really satisfied after I did it, though I understand the content is very simple, and the presentation may be improved. My understanding of what may be changed and how it may be changed really matters. I was so excited by the idea of Power Point interactivity that I couldn't help from sharing the ideas with other teachers working for our department at the university. We decided to have a short session next week to discuss the interactive opportunities of PP which may be applied to teaching practice.
My students and I keep working on the project (one I created for week 5 project task). This week was the second one in the process of their project development. I should say that the students worked hard on the first part of their project task. We had a group discussion regarding their first challenges and successes. For the next week task they were given parameters for finding innovative information from web-based sources and apply those ideas to their projects.

Can't wait to start another great week of learning+

Thank you,
Luba

PS I want to say special thanks to Manana who agreed to work as my partner for peer-review!!!

WEEK 6 Blog Reflection

Hello all,

This week we had a great topic for discussion. Improving and developing various learning styles is something every teacher thinks a lot of. Technology is a great supporting tool to achieve it.
This week we were asked to share ideas about ways of technology application to address a variety of learning styles in our classes. For the first time I tried to use some ideas of mine in practice before I posted them at Nicenet to check if they really work effectively with students.
What I really like about this course is those little discoveries. 6 week discovery for me was an idea posted by Aleyda about using Poll Surveys" with the help of mobile devices. Can't wait to use it in one of my classes soon.
I appreciate George's comments, valuable advice and questions that made me sometimes think in a different way that I am used to, he is a real professional.
I started working on the project with my students; the project I created and described last week. As my project will be developed in the course of three weeks, I took the first part of it. The first stage of the project seemed to work well. I also gave my students, those who work on the project the rubric for peer evaluation for them to know the assessing criteria at the presentation stage.
It's a pity another week has passed. But I am sure we still have many things to know and many ideas to share.

Hope to hearing from you soon again,
Best regards,
Luba

PS I am sorry I don't comment on your blogs, dear colleges. The website is still blocked in my country.

Week 5. "Goden Middle"

Hello Dear all!!!

I know it's weird, but it seems that though the tasks are more difficult from week to week, it's easier and easier for me to cope with them. It's great!!! I feel like applying all/many ideas I've learnt and keep learning from this e-course to my teaching.
To tell you the truth I hated methodology earlier; I thought it was something abstract and boring to death, my opinion was changed as soon as I started to apply something I learnt and read about in reality. When I saw it worked, it made me happy. Now I understand methodology is interesting, catching and 100% applicable. This course's assignments prove it.
This week was very informative and rich in great ideas on how to use project-based learning in teaching. It took me a wile to think and create an outline of the project. In spite of the fact it was challenging, it excited me very much (can't wait to give it to my students)! I still have many things to think of, change and improve for it to work well... but I'll try to do my best!!!
It's great our instructors, giving us the tasks, make us think, understand and explain why we work on this or that issue+

Another week I learned a lot from has passed. I am sure the next week will be as great, motivating, encouraging and effective as all the previous ones...

Thank you all,
Luba

Week 4 Weekly Reflection

Hello all!

The fourth week has passed. Time flies.
This week was very productive and hardworking for me. The articles offered for reading were really helpful, the activities and ideas suggested by the authors may be easily and efficiently used in teaching practice.
I've spent much time trying to find interesting and valuable materials to create a Tech-Enhanced Lesson Plan and make it effective, found this experience very useful. Hope my students will like the lesson later on.
It's great our instructors keep asking us to work on ABCD objectives. I think it is important for a teacher to understand what he/she wants to achieve delivering this or that lesson. The more I work on creating objectives the easier the process becomes. So, the best way to learn something is to practice it a lot!!!
This week I've learnt much from the instructors as well as the participants, whose comments and ideas I appreciate a lot, that's what I really like about this e-course - the opportunity to apply gained information in real teaching practice!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Best regards,
Luba