Week 7. New experience followed by unexpected difficulties...

http://blogs.brandeis.edu/gps/

The week has started with so many new articles for reading, new discussions. We have met a new person on our Nicenet discussion, Rachel and I am really happy about this, since not only books, articles or discussions help us grow as better teachers but also people like Rachel, Sean and my groupmates. Yet, the week finished in a very upsetting mood..I fell ill yesterday night and have spent the whole night and day in bed..I am writing this post on my blog while experiencing huge pain, therefore please forgive me for my short overview and reflection of this week.

There have been two topics offered for us this week, i.e. learner autonomy and one-computer classroom. I have always been interested in learner autonomy therefore have opted for this particular topic and have been so happy to find out that teachers should always foster this particular way of learning. The teacher's role has altered and he/she is the one who guides his/her students, who shows them ways how to do certain things but leaves lots of space for the learners to discover, make mistakes, learn from mistakes and enjoy their learning process.

http://alternativelearningprocesses.blogspot.com/2010/10/autonomous-learning_03.html

I was also happy to think of my students as autonomous learners. They are very creative young people who take responsibility for their learning process, who support each other when performing a variety of activities, who collaborate together with their groupmates and the teacher. I will definitely continue working this way so my learners would be self-confident people and eager to study for all their life.

http://badinertech.blogspot.com/2013/05/tech-tip-padlet-new-wallwisher.html

The task of the week was to post some links, articles or videos on our class padlet. I am happy Sean has introduced us to this great online tool, which can successfully be utilized in our teaching context. I have already started thinking of how and then to use Padlet in my classes and I am sure the students will simply love it, since the tool itself is so versatile and so appealing.

http://childbirtheducation.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html

Finally, we are all approaching the stage of implementing our projects or the stage of carefully planning the project itself. I have no studnets at the moment therefore I am thinking a lot over my plan. I have created a class blog, staretd thinking of the tools and activities I will use there and I am happy to have such a great partner as Lupita for my peer review week. Thank you Lupita and I hope we will be a great team together! :)

It seems that Week 8 is already knocking on the door. Let's see what exciting things it will bring and I hope that I will recover soon.

Best wishes,

Jurga.