Week 5

This week`s tasks were very responsible, we had to make a decision and plan our future work.

1.      Project step 4

This week I was thinking how to create individual learning routes for my  students, it should be  a special resource, some kind of an interactive support of the course, where all the materials could be gathered and the students could have a chance to work at their own speed developing their skills and abilities. I think it will be a blog where once a week I`ll publish some information for them to comment (aimed at writing and speaking skills development) and some links for grammar  training, listening and reading practice. Every student will choose the materials he has problems with and work independently, I`ll coordinate their work, comment and try to follow their individual route the most careful way. Hope it will stimulate their learning process and will help them pass exams successfully!

2. PBL, Rubrics and Assessment

PBL (Project-Based Learning) is treated in our methodology as Project technologies and are rather popular in teaching foreign languages. I have used them in my practice for more than 10 years as they are practically-oriented and provide students with different activities both developing their skills and competences and stimulating their motivation. More over, PBL gives us lots of opportunities for class interaction: brainstorming, problem solving, collaboration, critical thinking and so on.

Working with Rubrics  was a completely new technique for me and now I am planning to use them in my work as it seems to me a really effective evaluation  tool. Rubrics also make grading much easier on the teacher and the grading is more efficient.They make the assessments more reliable, relevant, and objective. The list of criteria helps students to concentrate on and later analyze their answer/performance.

Here is the link for my Rubric: http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=PrintRubric&rubric_id=2379105&no_return=1&
It deals with project presentation criteria.

3. WebQuest

WebQuest as an inquiry-oriented activity that uses resources on the World Wide Web. WebQuests pull together the most effective instructional practices into one integrated student activity. These Web-based projects use World Wide Web sites to help students develop problem-solving and decision-making skills. WebQuests are interesting and motivating to teachers and students. An effective WebQuest develops critical thinking skills and often includes a cooperative learning component.

I have heard a lot about WebQuests but it was my first experience in creating it. My WebQuest deals with Schooling systems of English-speaking countries: http://questgarden.com/164/24/3/131109073454/

The week is over…

Looking forward to new ideas, tools, activities and positive emotions…