http://beekman1802.com/5-beautiful-things-81/

Week 5. Thought-provoking reading, challenges, new assignments and activities.

What a strange feeling lives in my soul when we have reached the middle of the course. I still feel happy, still feel interested and excited, yet as all students feel in the middle of the course, I feel a bit tired...I do think this is a normal feeling, since our lives have become much more intensive, and much more pleasant emotions appear when I start thinking over the rewarding results we will all achieve at the end of the course, i.e. lots of knowledge, experience, discussions and even created lessons, lesson plans, WebQuests, etc.

The week has started with a bunch of activities. I could say "like always", yet they all seemed very different again and attractive indeed at the same time. This makes the course even more appealing and unpredictable to some extent.

http://www.imostateblog.com/

The broad topic of the week was named "Alternative Assessment". I am sure all teachers who are motivated and seeking for changes in their classrooms, aim at looking for other means of assement in addittion to the traditional one. Hence, we have had a chance this week to get acquainted with or analyse deeper such forms of Alternative assessment as Rubrics, Checklists, K-W-L Charts or even Portfolios. We have had an assignment to create a rubric for some specific task assigned to the students, however my attention has especially been attracted towards K-W-L Charts and Portfolios. The former, deeply involves the students in the lesson starting with the introduction of the topic and throughout it. Moreover, these charts let the teachers know their students more, since we can get information over their backgound knowledge and present needs as well. I am sure students will feel satisfied at the end of the class to find out and record themselves over the results they have achieved in this/that particular lesson. I have known about Portfolios before and had one myself when I was a student during the teacher training course in Canada. This is a great tool to observe the students' development for both the teachers and especially the students themselves. Rubrics as a method of alterative assessment is a great tool that helps teachers evaluate their students objectively especially when working with such subjective tasks as Writing or Presentations. It is essential to remember that your created rubric must always be shared with your students, since teachers always collaborate witht heir students and they must let them know what they can or need to do to achieve the required or desired result. I will definitely implement various types of alternative assessment, since I can foresee now that it could work as an addittional tool of motivation when learning the language. All of the teachers should only bear in mind that alternative assessment must be introduced to students step-by-step not to make them scared or demotivated.

http://www.cheme.utm.my/cheme/index.php/cl

I have chosen this picture on the right to share with you my thoughts over the Project-Based Learning (PBL). We have discussed a lot over this approach towards teaching on Nicenet therefore I would not like to repeat myself here. However, I should say that PBL is an amazing tool to teach students learn independently, to teach them how important it is to collaborate to achieve certain aims. PBL is a way for the teacher to be a facilitator rather than a teacher who simply tells what is good or bad, right or wrong.  It is also a means to teach the students that any problem has a way out and that they always have a great chance to look for this way, learn from mistakes and attain the wanted result. Project-based learning gives a chance to feel the language, work with it, analyse, create and even share the results of it with others, for instance their school/university community. I will definitely give a go for this, no matter that I am confined by the course syllabus. Projects can be smaller or bigger, shorter or longer but they will surely give lots of joy, experience and knowledge to our students.

http://pls3rdlearning.com/blog/steve-barkley/creativity-and-critical-thinking/

I would summarise my thoughts with the selected picture. I want my students to be inquisitive learners, who are able to think critically, who are able to look at the problems from a creative and analytical perspective. I want them to fall in love with the language they study and most importantly, I do want them to "think outside the box". Project-based learning combined with all other interactive tools will definitely help them be self-confident and creative people whose language skills will enhance via real life assignments or situations.

One more week of learning, which makes me feel happy that I have this opportunity to be here with you, Sean and my groupmates. :)

Thank you!

Jurga.