Cecilia Carneiro

onlinecourse

Wek 4 reflecting on RSS

RSS is another fantastic tool, but again I'll need time to fully enjoy it.

 

First of all because I still haven't understood how exactly to use it, for example I don't know how to add new sites. (I've seen the videos, and read the explanations)  I could only add the sites which were "readymade" for me.

I also was not able to share sites with other people.

 

The concept behind RSS is crystal clear, again is to make our lives simpler and to exchange knowledge. I guess the world is becoming a very small place.

 

I love the idea that knowledge is not in the hands of few powerful ones. Well, much has to be done but we've come a long way since the dark Middle Ages, haven't we?

reflctions week 3

Dear all,

 

I decided to attach two photos. The first one is to show you how I felt at the beginning of the week and the second one represents how I'm feeling now, after having finished the task. You that have never seen me have no idea how difficult it is for me to deal with computers, for most of my life I've been using them as typewriters, do you remember them?

 

The idea of using blogs to teach seemed to me a great one, for all that have been said, and for all that we have read about.

 

Still, I would like to comment on one or two points. Something that I really like is the possibility of providing students with an audience. I always tell my students to bear in mind the reader, whenever they write something. But if the reader is only me then this sounds sort of artificial. I used to ask my students to hang their compositions on the classroom's walls, but of course a blog is much more effective.

Another thing is that although a lot is said about writing what I really like is the chance students have of reading.

 

I decided to post an activity that would be a follow up for a speaking task my students of Escola de Linguas /UNB are going to do tomorrow.  Tomorrow I'm going to give them my address and hopefully they'll post their comments (this is going to be the homework) which will be discussed in class next week. If everything goes right they'll have the chance to practice the structure they learnt, but this time they'll write instead of talking and of course, will have the chance of reading as well.

 

The fact that they'll write what they want, even though the activity is guided, not yet a free one, will I'm sure give them a sense of being really taking an active part in their process of learning, especially because what they write will be used in the following class. I think they'll feel that there'll be a real reason for doing their homework.

 

I think that this is one of the ways of engaging our students in their learning process, is to show them that they are not passive spectators of what goes on in class. But what they produce is used in class.

 

I have to apologise but I can't quote the person who mentioned what I'm going to talk about now, after learning so much in three weeks I'm a bit confused (remember the typewriter?), but what really worries me is that if student don't take up the idea of blogging ……nothing will work.  Well, I think the solution is to start little by little and try to show them the advantages of being responsible for constructing their own learning.

 

 Am I going to get there? Hope so.  

(download)

Reflecting about diigo

I've always loved using supplementary material in the lessons, I remember that before the internet how difficult it was finding games, songs etc.. I was always buying resource pack books. And every time I had something that I thought was interesting I would run to the teachers' room to share with my friends.

 

So, that's how I feel about Diigo and bookmarking. The possibility of having lots of resource pack books at hand and an enormous Teachers' room full of friends to share what I've found with.

 

I'm still a bit taken by the feeling of being able to do whatever, so I'd have to think more about what I'd do in class. There's so much to do!

 

I'm still trying to add friends to my list. I haven't managed to do it. Also I got kind of scared with the amount of resources available. Resource packs are, as we all know, so very limited.

blogging for the firs time/reflecting

I'm a real beginner in the internet, apart from the basic uses (Google, e-mails…). So what a surprise to find out in the web 2.0 safari that someone like me can add ideas, pictures….to the web

 

I think students learn through different ways, each has their own strategy, but I'm sure all students also learn from interacting with the other students in class. So what can we say of the web with its unimaginable number of possibilities of interaction?

 

There's no such a thing as tech-richness in my curriculum. I think is too soon to say if this would interest my adult private students or not.

 

I'm not using any www to teach my students, and that's the reason why I decided to take this course. Maybe I'll have a chance to use it in the future, if I have another type of job.

 

I would say that if I were teaching at a school or at an English course, I would not be engaging my students, and I would be very worried about it and would also be trying to be speaking their language, I mean using the possibilities that technology offers because I'm sure students feel quite bored by the way most schools teach them.

 

I think we can only turn our 21st century classrooms into learning engines if we really make our students interested in what they are learning, if they see the reason why they are learning, if they believe that what they are learning will be of use for them in the future, if they see any meaning in what they do at school, and only by giving them the chance of using the tools they are used to we'll be able to reach them.