http://twistynoodle.com/nine-3-coloring-page/

Week 9. Learning styles and Final Project/ Plan reports

One more busy week that seems so short! I have always had the feeling throughout our Webskills course that time simply flies away and there is constantly little time for everything to do. :) I suppose this is a natural feeling, since teachers always have a lot of things to do, e.g. get ready for classes, correct the tests or essays, look for video material, etc. For us, there are always additional tasks waiting, i.e. our Webskills course assignments. And this is great, since we learn, we grow as teachers, we also learn how to manage our time properly. Most importantly, we gain knowledge and experience that we will be able to share with our students, colleagues and friends.

http://www.ccsf.edu/NEW/en/about-city-college/slo/professional_development/learning_styles.html

The discussion topic of the week was connected with Learning styles. I simply love this topic, since as a teacher I know how essential it is to be aware of the learning styles that prevail among your students. Moreover, it is not only enough to know them but rather more significant it is to look for the activities so that different learners would feel comfortable in the class and would attain the best results while learning the language. I do like the picture above, which clearly discloses a variety of learning styles and visually makes the teachers understand that the selection of tasks must be well-thought over. Most probably all of us sometimes notice how uncomfortable some students feel with certain tasks like group work, pair work, listening, games, etc. How to solve such an issue? Is it possible to tailor the lesson so that each individual student would feel great while learning? Well, I guess, it is impossible to create a lesson plan for every individual learner in the class, but why should we do this? Based on the reading material of this week, I could state that a teacher can successfully create a lesson where different students, with different learning styles would have a chance throughout a class to feel satisfied, happy, relaxed and pleased to learn. The only thing a teacher needs to do is to be attentive and creative. Coming up with a variety of activities in one lesson, already gives choice to students. In addittion to this, they can also learn that different approaches and styles help to learn the language in a different way, and I think that we should encourage students to try a variety of methods. Another helpful tool for the teachers to address different learning styles is connected with technolgy. A great number of web tools we have learnt so far in this course (Padlet, WebQuest, PowerPoint, etc.) can be implemented in the class and can also let the teacher look for the activities that can satisfy different learners, e.g. those who prefer listening, group work, writing, project-based activities, etc.

http://symetris.ca/blog/5-essential-steps-good-project-management

The most significant part of the week was related to our Final Project/Plan reports. I have created a Project Plan, since my students had holidays in February and have just come back to university, therefore we have a Project Plan and will implement it throughout this semester. My plan is connected with enhancing students' writing skills via blogging and thus a class blog has been created so they could try a bit different approach towards both theoretical and practical parts of writing field. We had to finish the plans based on the feedback of our partners and having received one from Lupita, I immediately turned to finishing the plan. I do want to thank you, Lupita for your comments and just want to add that the feedback is really important while you study. I do hope that this plan will be successful and will bring lots of joy to both my students and me. :)

http://buffalomountaincoop.org/news/785/2013-customer-survey

The last assignment was to complete the survey for the AEI ELearning Department related to the evaluation of the course. I tried to be as specific as I could while answering the questions there, yet I have also expressed my gratitude for this amazing opportunity to gain so much knowledge and experience while being here with all of you. I would also like to thank you, Sean and you, my great groupmates for the fruitful discussions, support, inspiration, feedback, questions, which all will make me, I believe, a better teacher. :)

Thank you, sincerely!

Best wishes,

Jurga.