Reflection

Computer-Assisted English Language Learning

In my opinion, the knowledge that I got from this subject is very useful for me to apply in my teaching.  Nowadays teacher should have knowledge about using technology such as using ‘computer based instruction’ or ‘web based instruction’ for applying in their teaching. ICT, ET website, YouTube, Blog, Social Network (Hi5, Facebook, Etc.), LMS and MIT OCW, some of them are the new things. At the first time, I am very confused what/why we have to make an understanding of them, but after I had learned as a teacher; these kind of knowledge are very interesting. Even they are the new things for teacher and might be for students too, but I believe that after these people had learned and be able to use in professionally, they will find many of advantages such as easy to communicate, a lot of information for finding, open wide for learning opportunity, new learning style which can attract students have more attention in class, saving time and supply for studying etc.

For studying in this subject, it will be fun for learners who have a basic skill in computer and internet using because there are many of new things and useful knowledge that learner can get after finished the course. In other hand it also effects to learner who are weak in using of technology and adapt themselves for receiving the new knowledge of technology because they have to try harder than other students. 

 I decided to choose the E-learning system of Tubtong School to be LMS for teaching because it is easy to use for the students and also be free for the general people to use it. At the first, there are the details of the main topic and the process of using each topic that students can go directly to the lesson of their needs. The Forum that I choose for making a lesson plan is the forum of ‘Spell’s test’ and I choose the topic of ‘Living and Non-living things’ to be the Pretest and after I had taught about Living and Non-living things, I will use the same test to evaluate and compare the result of all students.

Here is the link of Tubtong E-learning Website

Here is the link of The forum of Spelling

Lesson plan

Subject: Learning English with using e-learning from Tubtong School

Content: Living & Non-Living Things

Class:  Grade 7

Time: 50 minutes                         

Terminal Objectives: Students should be able to classify things which are surrounded them and be able to explain about the difference between living and non-living things.

Enabling Objectives: 

1.    Students should be able to understand what are living and non-living things;

2.    Students should be able to gain more knowledge about the vocabularies from the lesson;

3.    Students should be able to understand and use the E-learning system to learn by themselves

4.    Students should be able to apply vocabularies which they got from this lesson to use in other situations.

Procedures:

1.    The teacher introduces briefly what’s the e-learning system and how to use for learning English.

2.    Teacher tests the background knowledge of students by let them do the pre-test by asks the students to search for “http://tubtong.ac.th/index.php?subject=English&page=bee” to link to the e-learning page and to the forum of ‘Spelling’ directly.

3.    Then teacher asks students to click of the topic 7 ‘Living and Non-Living Things’.

4.    Teacher describes the information to students about what they are going to do on that page;

-         Please look at the picture and fill the right answer in the blank on the right.

-         Identify whether it is ‘Living and Non-Living’ things 

5.     Teacher gives 5 minutes for student doing the pre-test.

6.    After students finished the test, teacher record the score of each students.

7.    Teachers distributes the supplementary sheets to students and teaches about what the meaning of living and non-living things are and how they are different in each other, also give the example of many words. For example;

- Living things: trees, grass, animals, etc.

- Nonliving things: air, cloud, table, etc.

8.    Teacher asks students to pair up and tell them to giving more examples of living and non-living things.

9.    Teacher asks for the volunteers to be the beginning pair showing their words to the class and also asks some friends to classify the words.

10.            After finishing all activities, teacher and students conclude the meaning and the characteristic of living and non-living things together.

11.             Teacher asks students to do the test on Tubtong e-learning again and check the final score to compare between the results of pretest & posttest.

 Evaluations

              1. Teacher evaluates students from the activities which were provided to students.

              2. Teacher evaluates students by comparing the score of pretest and posttest which students had done on e-learning of Tubtong School.

Teaching aids

          For each student;

               1. Computer with Internet Connection

               2. Web Link to Tubtong E-learning school

 ‘http://tubtong.ac.th/index.php?subject=English&page=main’

               3. Supplementary Sheet

             4.  Point Accumulating Form

I decided to choose Hi5 to be SNS for my teaching because it is convenient for the students to study. Hi5 is wide opened for people around the world to have their own account for free and people are able to find their old friends or make a new friend with other people on Hi5. Moreover people who are not the member of Hi5 can search the link to visit person whom they would like to see on Hi5, however it depends on the privacy allowance of each person too. I also have my own account on Facebook website but when compare between Hi5 and Facebook ever both of them offer many of similar functions to do but I think Hi5 is the best for my teaching because students can link to visited my Hi5 and comment or express their idea without the process of register requirement, it opposes to Facebook that students have to create their own account first.

Here is my web link of Hi5 http://jolieaoy.hi5.com

Here is web link to 'Group forum'

Lesson plan

Subject: Learning English via Hi5 website

Content: The Communication Error  

Class:  Grade 11 

Time: 50 minutes                         

Terminal Objectives: Students should be able to understand about what the communication error is and apply the knowledge from this content to be the caution of using language to communicate in their real lives.

Enabling Objectives: 

1.    Students should be able to think in critically about the factors of the error in communication and find the way to solve the problem; 

2.    Students should be able to improve their English’s listening and writing skills;

3.    Students should be able to understand how to use social network ‘Hi5’ to study and submit their work in ‘group’ topic.

Procedures:

1.    The teacher greets students and introduces the lesson by using examples of the communication error to motivate student’s attention and notify about what they are going to study.

2.    The teacher asks the students to search the link of ‘http://jolieaoy.hi5.com’

3.    Teacher asks students to watch the short clip of the communication error in the forum of ‘favorite movie’; students watch the clip two times.

4.    After students finished watching the video clip, teacher asks students to pair up and gives the times for discussion about 10 minutes.

5.    Teacher asks each pair to stand up and show their opinion about the video clip, also express their ideas to other students in class.

6.     Teacher concludes the meaning and the characteristic about the communication error.

7.    Then teacher asks students to click on the forum ‘Group’ on the top of the web page and choose the group name of ‘English Teaching By Aj. Waranya’. After that students select the topic of ‘The Communication Error’.

8.    Students will see the details of assignment’s content which teacher had posted;

-         Please express your opinion from watching through the video and

answer following these questions;
1. What's the communication error from the video?
2. Why does the man misunderstand/ what are the factors of the error in communication's occurring?

9.    Teacher asks students to reply the question and express their idea and the effective solution way for this situation, post their answer follow that topic.

10.           Teacher provides the opportunity or the optional for students to decide doing this assignment in pair or individual.

Evaluations

              1. Teacher evaluates students from the activities in class (pair work).

              2. Teacher evaluates students from checking the answer that students had reply follow the group’s topic on Hi5

Teaching aids

          For each student;

               1. Computer with Internet Connection

               2. http://jolieaoy.hi5.com

               3. Microphone

               4. Projector

           I decided to choose blog from the web http://www.englishsubject.net/2009/03/23/english-grammar-%E2%80%93-when-to-use-commas/ because it offer many of useful articles and web links of the learning English for reader. I think the Web page is easy to understand how to use and learn the content that students might be interesting in. The article that I choose for doing the lesson is the Recent Posts blog of this website, I believe it is very useful article for students to read and learn

Lesson plan

Subject: Learning English with using blog from "www.englishsubject.net"

Content: When to Use Commas

Class:  Grade 10 

Time:  50 minutes                         

Terminal Objectives: Students should be able to understand about how to use the ‘Commas’ in the right position and be able to apply in their English writing as well

Enabling Objectives: 

1.    Students should be able to read  and understand text from blog which teacher provides;

2.    Students should be able to improve their English’s skill especially reading and grammar ‘Using of Commas’;

3.    Students should be able to get the main idea and also can make the conclusion or summarizing the text.

4.    Students should be able to write the sentence by using the commas in sentence also.

Language focus:   Reading, Grammar, Writing

Procedures:

1.    The teacher greets students and introduces briefly about using ‘Blog’ in learning English.

2.    The teacher asks the students to link to www.englishsubject.net and select the post of topic ‘English Grammar – When to Use Commas’.

3.    Before reading the text, teacher gives the opportunity for students to ask the meaning of words which they don’t understand.

4.    There are eight paragraphs in the text. Teacher counts the number 1-8 for each student. Each student makes an understanding in their own paragraph following their number.

5.     Teacher gives the time around 15 minutes for students to read the article/text.

6.    After all students finished read the text, teacher asks students who are in the same number, starting from students who read the first paragraph to talk about what they got from the paragraph which they are responsible for and explain to other students in class. Then the students who read the second paragraph come to explain the knowledge which they got from the text and the third, the forth…until the last one do the same things. 

7.    Teacher and students summarize about the main idea, conclusion and how to use the commas in the right way/position for writing the sentence.

 Evaluations

              1. Teacher evaluates students from observing the participation in class and the conclusion that students had done.

              2. Teacher evaluates students from checking the exercise which provide for each student after finish the class follow these structure;

-         Write the main idea and conclusion of the text that you had learned in class.

-         Write the sentence by using the knowledge that you got from the text to create the sentence and also using ‘Commas’ in sentence, you are allowed to use all conjunction such as ‘and’, ‘so’, ‘for’, ‘but’, etc.  

Teaching aids

               1. Computer with Internet Connection

               2. Web blog address ‘http://www.englishsubject.net/’

               3. Exercise sheets               

 Here is  link of my twitter http://twitter.com/jolieaoy

Kalamare

Tyrese Gibson

Also known as ‘Tyrese’ ‘Black-Ty’

Date of Birth: 30 December 1978

Birthplace: Watts Quarters, Los Angeles, California, USA

Occupation: Actor, singer-songwriter, rapper, model, VJ, screenwriter, film producer, television producer

Tyrese Gibson is also a famous person who has many talents. His career began when he won a talent show at the age of fourteen. After that he had appeared more in many of works. Tyrese Gibson had played the roles in several Hollywood films.

Tyrese Gibson is the actor whom I admire him in the films ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’, he formed as a close friend of Paul Walker. This film is the second installment of The Fast and the Furious film series; it is about the car street racing which is one film that I like most.

Here is his link of twitter http://twitter.com/Tyrese4ReaL

Environmental Education in the Schoolyard:

Learning Styles and Gender

By  Sarah J. Carrier

 

          From the abstract, Sarah J. Carrier who is the author of this research would like to show about the overview of research. The author studied about the impact of environmental education lesson comparing between activity conducted in schoolyard and traditional classroom activity, together with elementary school boys and girls. The author conducted into 2 (group traditional/treatment) Î 2 (gender) and using multivariate analysis to compares about scores: there are knowledge, attitudes, behaviors and comfort levels. The results were revealed that:

1.     In the environmental knowledge’s score showed that both boys and girls had higher scores in the treatment condition than traditional classroom setting.

2.      In case of the environmental attitudes, girl’s scores revealed no significant different between the traditional and treatment condition while boy showed greater gain scores in treatment condition than traditional condition.

3.      The environmental behavior, the scores was same as the result of environmental attitudes.

4.      The data measuring comfort levels showed the boy’s score in traditional classroom group were lower than were the girl’s scores but in the outdoor treatment condition, both of boys and girls expressed comfort levels that were similar to each other.

From the result above can conclude that boy performed statistically significantly greater gain scores in the outdoor treatment group in the traditional classroom for all 4 outcomes and had scores which were higher than girl in points of attitude and behavior.    

 

Web link E-thesis abstract

 

Positive Change Affects Educators and Learners

By Yvonne M. McShay

 

 

 

This article is about the author’s experience in community college learning. Yvonne M. McShay is a teacher who teaches commuter student and had taught in many school which is far away as in other cities. She had an opportunity to participate in the community college’s open door policy which invited learners and educators from many schools and institutions. After she had learned, she found “Six Cultural Literacy Terms”, there are Accountability, Leadership, Ownership, Respect, Trust and Paradigm. These terms come with the quote and it doesn’t have right or wrong answer when professor, teacher and student had given the definition of them. 

The author believe that these cultural illiteracies is necessary for everyone to know the meaning in their own words because it can presents an opportunity for students have a positive attitude and feeling when starting in each semester, also with can improve their social  skills in class and critical thinking skills for team-work.

 

Web link Journal 2

 By Debra Drury

 

                  From this article is about the discussion of the best time for using video or movies in learning course.

              Science teacher was trying to know about the time when technology or visual media has the most affect to his student. He used video which related with Science Subject showing in three period of time. At the first, teacher showed the videos prior to beginning each topic to engage students. The result was student reactions ranged from one the chapter on chemical properties as part of the extreme to another. It was because of students weren’t interest in Subject or the movies were too technical. After that he use the same process with students in different grade, as the same also had discussion about lesson before and after class, showing the movies during the class, also creating various activities for his student after the lesson. He observed that after seeing movies student were reaction in each other, they could understood and having question about the lesson. The third observation time, he decided to teach his students in higher grade about lesson which related with the topic that they had learned already. He began the lesson with teaching, discussion, do an activity and showing the movies in the end of class; the result was students were more enthusiastic, they were great understanding about the lesson and also getting a new knowledge from seeing the movies. At the end he asked his students about the time that they prefer to see the movies of study in each lesson, all of students were reply the same answer that is ‘The end of the lesson ’.

From this investigation show that student are great understanding about the lesson and can create the question from movies when they have background knowledge in that topic as well.

Web link Journal 1

Praht Thai is an international school in Thailand which has ICT teaching policy for all class. It provides for all student following their ability and needs. Praht Thai realizes that every student should have computer skills that need to be learned as well as a part of their life today. There is no doubt of teaching plan because they have effective and efficient teacher who can guarantee the quality of teaching. They believe that ICT learning can help their student have more confident, creative and also helping each other when they receive a work which is related with ICT. The another expectation of Praht Thai school to their student is having positive attitude to computer using and know how to use it in the right ways. Now, Praht Thai has a future campus for building new school where is near by Suwannaphum Airport and will be ready to use at soon.

The reason that why I should this school because many of their policy or teaching plans are fantastic, they think of the happiness of their student when they come to study in this school with friendly staff and marvelous environment surrounding both of inside and outside the school can attract students to be happy in this school. And finally the reliable of security system is the one factor which is interested me.

 

Information and Communication Technology     

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1.   Aims
1.1   ICT has become part of the way we all work and entertain ourselves. Praht Thai has adopted a philosophy that ids grounded in this reality. We consider ICT in two ways. A subject to be taught, with skills that need to be learned as well as a part of our life today that is to be accepted and used by natural consequence. In the school environment we touch ICT in so many areas:

• online lesson research, teaching plans and resource materials;
• logging of student records and attendance
• student identification  systems;
• lesson delivery via PC screens, overhead projectors or interactive whiteboards;
• computer involvement and use by students in producing work;
• communication by e-mail and fax;
• document distribution and storage;
• assessment information analysis;
• production and editing of reports.

1.2   Through teaching ICT we equip children to participate in a world of rapidly-changing technology. We enable them to find, explore, analyse, exchange and present information. We also help them develop the necessary skills for using information in a discriminating and effective way. This is a major part of enabling children to be confident, creative and independent learners.
1.3   The objectives of teaching ICT are to enable children:

• to develop ICT capability in finding, selecting and using information
• to use ICT for effective and appropriate communication
• to monitor and control events, both real and imaginary
• to apply their ICT skills and knowledge to their learning in other areas
• to explore their attitudes towards ICT and its value to them and society in general. For example, to learn about issues of security and personal safety, confidentiality and accuracy.

2.   Teaching and Learning Style
2.1   As an objective of teaching of ICT is to equip children with the technological skill to become independent learners, the teaching style that we adopt is as active and practical as possible. In addition to providing our students direct instruction on how to use hardware or software, a prime emphasis of our teaching in ICT is for individuals or groups of children to use computers to help them progress in their studying. This will provide them with a ‘natural’ feel for the use of computers as they grow. For example, children might research a history topic by using certain software that engages them in a highly visual way, or they might place themselves in a historical setting by manipulating a digital photograph, or they might investigate a particular issue on the Internet through encyclopaedic style research.

2.2    We recognise that all classes have children with a wide range of ICT abilities. This is especially true when some children have access to ICT equipment at home, while others do not. We provide suitable learning opportunities for all children by matching the challenge of the task to the ability and experience of the child. We achieve this in a variety of ways:

• setting tasks which are open-ended and can have a variety of responses;
• setting tasks of increasing difficulty (not all children complete all tasks);
• grouping children by ability in the room, and setting different tasks for each ability group;
• providing resources of different complexity that are matched to the ability of the child;
• using classroom assistants to support the work of individual children or groups of children.

3.   ICT Curriculum Planning
3.1   The school uses the national scheme of work for ICT as the basis for its curriculum planning. We have adapted the national scheme to the local circumstances of the school.
3.2   We carry out the curriculum planning in ICT in three phases (long-term, medium-term and short-term). The long-term plan maps the ICT topics that the children study in each term during each key stage. The ICT subject leader devises this in conjunction with teaching colleagues in each year group, and the children often study ICT as part of their work in other subject areas. Our long-term ICT plan shows how teaching units are distributed across the year groups, and how these fit together to ensure progression within the curriculum plan.
3.3   Our medium-term plans, which we have adopted from the national scheme of work, give details of each unit of work for each term. They identify the key learning objectives for each unit of work, and stipulate the curriculum time that we devote to it. The ICT subject leader is responsible for keeping and reviewing these plans. As we have some mixed-age classes, we do our medium-term planning on a two-year rotation cycle. In this way we ensure that we cover the National Curriculum without repeating topics.
3.4   The class teacher is responsible for writing the short-term plans with the ICT component of each lesson. These daily plans list the specific learning objectives and expected outcomes for each lesson. The class teacher keeps these individual plans and s/he and the ICT subject leader often discuss them on an informal basis.
3.5   The topics studied in ICT are planned to build on prior learning. While we offer opportunities for children of all abilities to develop their skills and knowledge in each unit, we also plan progression into the scheme of work, so that the children are increasingly challenged as they move up through the school.
3.6   Parents should note that we do provide access for your child can use the Internet, either in guided or in independent school work. The parents are assured that their child’s use of the Internet at school is always supervised.

 
4.   The Early Stages - Kindergarten
4.1   We teach ICT in KG classes as an integral part of the topic work covered during the year. In KG, we relate the ICT aspects of the children’s work to the experience of IT and keeping it as natural as possible so that children can relate easily to technology as it is and as it changes. The children have the opportunity to use the computers, a digital camera and a floor robot. They will gain confidence and start using the computers as they progress to find information and to begin producing computer generated work.

5.   The Contribution of ICT to Teaching in other Curriculum Areas
5.1   The teaching of ICT contributes to teaching and learning in all curriculum areas. It also offers ways of impacting on learning which are not possible with conventional methods. Teachers use software to present information visually, dynamically and interactively, so that children understand concepts more quickly. For example, graphics work links in closely with work in art, and work using databases supports work in mathematics, while role-play simulations and the Internet prove very useful for research in humanities subjects. ICT enables children to present their information and conclusions in the most appropriate way. Quite a lot of software is generic, and can therefore be used in several curriculum areas.
5.2   Languages
ICT is a major contributor to the teaching of our language streams. Children’s reading development is supported through ICRTT based programs designed for this task. As the children develop mouse and keyboard skills, they learn how to edit and revise text on a computer. They have the opportunity to develop their writing skills by communicating with people via e-mail, and they are able to join in discussions with other children throughout the world through the medium of video conferencing. They also learn how to improve the presentation of their work by using desktop publishing software. Language learning is enhance through the ICT based Language Laboratory. This is a purpose built facility that is designed to provide powerful and more intimate language practice to accelerate the language attainment and confidence. We deploy a wide variety of software which targets language acquisition overall as well as specific reading, grammar and spelling skills.
5.3   Mathematics
Children use ICT in mathematics to collect data, make predictions, analyse results, and present information graphically. Screen robots allow pupils to give exact instructions for a particular route, or to use their knowledge of angles to draw a range of polygons.
5.4   Science
Software is used to animate and model scientific concepts, and to allow children to investigate processes which it would be impracticable to do directly in the classroom.
5.5   Personal, social development
Students in ICT classes learn to work together in a collaborative manner. They also develop a sense of global citizenship by using the Internet and e-mail. We aim to develop a set of safe and discriminating behaviours for students to adopt when using the Internet and other technologies. Through discussion of safety and other issues related to electronic communication, the children develop their own view about the use and misuse of ICT, and they also gain an insight into the interdependence of ICT users around the world.
5.6 Music
We recognise that music resources need to be produced, arranged and manipulated using ICT not only as a curriculum requirement but also as a necessity for teacher preparation and presentation of music making activities. Middle and Upper school students will become involved in producing music and musical pieces on the PC further integrating the cross curricula activity.

6.   ICT and Inclusion
6.1   At our school we teach ICT to all children, whatever their ability and individual needs. ICT forms part of the school curriculum policy to provide a broad and balanced education to all children. Through our ICT teaching we provide learning opportunities that enable all pupils to make good progress.
6.2   We enable students to have access to the full range of activities involved in learning ICT. We have a range of software which is designed to include all learners. Our hardware can accept a range of input devices catering to students with specific difficulties. Where children are to participate in activities outside the classroom, for example, a visit to an ICT exhibition, we carry out a risk assessment prior to the activity, to ensure that the activity is safe and appropriate for all students in accordance with the PTS Excursion Policy.

7.   Assessment for Learning
7.1   Teachers will assess children’s work in ICT by making informal judgements during lessons using a variety of tools. These include portfolios, class work, attitude and examinations.
7.2   The Head of ICT will collect samples of children’s work in a portfolio. This will be used to demonstrate the expected level of achievement in ICT for each age group in the school.

8.   Resources
8.1   Our school has the appropriate computer-to-student ratio, and Internet access. Most software is already installed on PCs. Some software is installed only on the class PC.
8.2   All our equipment is maintained in good working order. Members of staff report faults in the book provided for that purpose in the ICT suite. Our head of ICT is responsible for all new ICT equipment specification, set up of new equipment, and installation and monitoring of software and peripherals.
8.3   In order to keep our school computers virus-free, no software from home will be installed on school computers. Student bringing in work on portable storage disks must first have it scanned, but it is easier if the work is e-mailed to the teacher concerned. Where teachers are transferring files between their home and school, they must have up-to-date virus protection software on their home computers.
8.3   In order to maintain appropriate and proper use practices on our school computers and school network all school systems are monitored in accordance with the PTS ICT Policy.

9.   Monitoring and Review
9.1   The monitoring of the standards of the children’s work and of the quality of teaching in ICT is the responsibility of the subject leader. The ICT subject leader is also responsible for supporting colleagues in their teaching of ICT, for keeping informed about current developments in the subject, and for providing a strategic lead and direction for ICT in the school. The subject leader gives the head teacher an annual summary report in which s/he evaluates the strengths and weaknesses in the subject, and indicates areas for further improvement. The subject leader has specially-allocated time for carrying out the vital tasks of reviewing samples of the children’s work, and of visiting classes to observe the teaching of ICT.

10.    Professional Development
10.1   We recognise that an ongoing professional development programme is vital component to a successful ICT programme. All staff are given opportunities to identify their learning needs and encouraged to develop their ICT skills. Staff share on a regular basis their learning. Every school year a whole staff ICT training day is reserved for professional development needs.
10.2  The Head of ICT is given time to attend professional development courses, observe  practice in similar schools and keep up-to date on current developments in the curriculum area. They will provide feedback to staff.

...This policy will be reviewed every three years...