Flipping the Classroom!

I recently read two articles about what "Flipping a classroom" means. Why It's Time to Rethink (And Question) Homework and 7 Things You Should Know About Flipped Classrooms shed light on one of the more recent methodologies of teaching. Flipping a classroom, according to these articles, describes a scenario in which a student watches videos before class (comparable to a lecture of a professor) and then when he or she comes to class, the time is spent there with activities that reinforce the lectures. While I find this to be a brave attempt at creating a new methodology of the classroom, I don't necessarily agree with it. I haven't seen the quantitative facts, nor have I researched how the students feel and get along with this program, but I don't think this is a one-size-fits-all program. I say this because many students don't feel motivated to do the homework they are assigned already, but to add more on top of it? Students must learn the material themselves and then do more homework and spend class time with hands-on activities? I think this type of classroom would fit motivated and gifted learners, but what about our special learners? Or the the students that aren't yet so self-motivated? Also, I would ask the question, How do students now feel about the roles of their teachers now that they aren't teaching material? Again, I think this is a brave attempt to create a new classroom system, but it would have to be way more geared towards specific learners. I hope to learn more about this system and see how they could manipulate it and regulate it, but until then.. I don't think I'm a believer.

Gamification

Gamification, a generally new vocabulary term, but a long-used method of learning. When I started this Mod for my online class, I wasn't sure what the title Gamification was exactly going to entail. Were we going to be playing video games the entire time? What does this have to do with learning? I was shocked to find out that gamification was present throughout my entire education as a student and in fact, still is. Gamification, in my best definition, means including game-like techniques into learning to encourage students to be involved in a reward and praise filled environment. One prime memory of this in my education is when teachers used Jeopardy in our classes to be able to study for exams. I know on the days that we played Jeopardy, I payed attention. It takes the monotony out of learning and gives education the spice that kids need to really engage in their own learning. 10 Gaming Genres to Adapt in Class Kyle Mawer gives multiple examples and various adaptable scenarios to bring gaming into live classroom situations. Among the great ideas, a few stand out to me: Pacman (Arcade) and Puzzle Games. Arcade games (specifically pacman) stands out to me because it transforms a classic and well-known game into a learning experience. Who would have thought that pacman could bring out so many vocabulary terms... Colors, directions, exclamations. It's a full learning experience and you wouldn't even know it. I love bringing traditional things and making them learning experiences. I like the puzzle game ideas for the same reasons. I've always had puzzle games in my education and they have really benefited me as a student. I would love to carry on using them. In the article Sculpting Flow and Fiero Zac Hill one quote stands out in particular to me. Zac Hill states that "...a game designer can create and share a core emotional experience with an audience." Gaming goes beyond a latent interaction with its players. Gaming elicits an emotional response that connects with its gamers. This is an extremely valuable notion and idea that can be connected with the classroom with great success. What student wouldn't want to learn and keep learning by playing games? It's a great great idea and needs to be further developed. So.. How is gaming being used in the classroom? I think the article 7 Things You Should Know About Gamification gives a great explanation to this question when they say " In academe, gamification
typically employs elements such as points, badges, or progress bars to engage or motivate students in the learning process." We can really use gamification to bring our education to a whole new level. I can't wait to be able to include these themes in my classroom and I hope you found this research educational to you as well!

 

Twitter Chats!

Although unfamiliar to twitter before this activity, I found the twitter chat to be easier than I thought it would be. I was nervous to be a part of the chat all week because I was so unfamiliar with twitter. Where do I sign up? How do I post? How do I hashtag? It all came into focus while actually doing it! I was really pleased that it wasn't as hard as expected.
The chat that I followed was #langchat. This group chat is mostly comprised of language teachers that discuss language issues. The issue of the night was Learning vs Acquisition and how it impacts our teaching. While I am not currently a teacher, I do have some strong feelings about this topic which made it easier to blend in. It was really fun to me to see that people were responding to what I had to say as well as appreciating my words. I loved getting retweeted and favorited! It was mostly concerning how we stray away from straight learning in the classroom and bring students closer to a native level status. This to me speaks highly about pragmatics and ensuring that we bring in outside materials to ensure that our students are learning from as many "natural sources" as possible.
I definitely liked the twitter chats. I found them to be really interesting as well as full of potential ideas and debates. I think at any given time if the topic is right I would love to join in and learn some new information. This I could definitly see myself learning as it is important to form a community of learners.
As per twitter itself, I still am really confused by the site itself. I don't really know its potential at this point having only been a member for a few days. I have a lot of learning to do and information to gather but I think it would give me ideas as a teacher and help me to stay current. I don't think this will be my main fountain of information as a teacher and a learning but I could see myself using it for the chats or just to look at news and ideas.
Thanks for listening!

ePals

WOW! I cannot even begin to fathom how useful this site could be in my future. ePals is a global website which focuses on language learning through sharing ideas and even classrooms. You can link up with another classroom and have students collaborate and correspond through email! This site is incredible. I wish I would have had an opportunity like this while learning Spanish. Even though I'm in the ESOL field, I'm still not sure what my future holds or which subject area I'll be teaching. If I do end up as a Spanish teacher, I would love to use this in my classroom. Being from a small town, I never got the opportunity to converse with native speakers of Spanish and i'm sure a lot of Spanish native speakers would say the same. Not only is this real life practice of conversing with natives, but also boosts cultural learning in the classroom. This corresponds with the LOTE Standards 1& 2 and would be really helpful to students to actively engage in learning. As per the ESOL benefits of this website, there are numerous. One of my favorites is the in2books feature, ESOL students are able to gain literacy skills by linking up with an eMentor in which they can share important ideas about what they have read. This is a great learning tool in which students can use their English skills to interpret their reading and be able to receive meaningful feedback in order to reflect and get better at their skills. This corresponds to the NYS ESOL Standards 1, 2, and 3. This website has great tools available for language teachers as well as students and I can't wait to use this in my future classroom.

Google+ Communities

As an up-and-coming ESOL teacher, I'm constantly looking for new resources and ways to connect with like-minded people in my field. Joining social networking groups gives us the opportunity to form a community of learners with others in our field as well as share ideas so that we can all benefit from a pool of knowledge. One social networking group that I found particularly useful to me is the Google+ Community English Language Learning. This community allows for both teachers and learners of English to share ideas and questions with each other. Once you are a member, you can also post and answer questions within this site. It's a useful tool because as human beings we can't know everything, pooling knowledge and connecting with others can boost the amount of knowledge we know or can find out. This community is a valuable asset to anyone in the ESOL field, or just curious people! I can't wait to find out more information from experienced people ahead of me in the field!

A learner is like...

A learner is like a sponge, constantly soaking up and growing bigger by what is around them. Learners have the ability, in the right environment, to keep on growing and soaking up information. If however their environment lacks the right conditions, they can dry up once again and lose that information. Providing students with a nurturing environment can give unlimited potential to what a student can soak up. In an age where traditional learning is almost obsolete, we must invent new ways for students to learn. We must stimulate their minds so that when they leave the classroom, the knowledge that they have doesn't dry up.

In the article Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, George Siemens makes an especially good point when he says the following, "Learning needs and theories that describe learning principles and processes, should be reflective of underlying social environments." A social environment now a days involves technology which should be directly influencing what students learn in school. They shouldn't be learning a method or way to do something and never be able to use it again. We need to supply our learners with the equipment needed to be successful so they can continue to use these strengths and soak up the world. By equipping students to do this, we are ensuring that they are prepared for higher-level learning as well as being successful in the future. We need to ensure that they will not lose this information and that the half-life of their knowledge will be significantly decreased.

Another quote of George Siemens as stated in his YouTube video entitled The Changing Nature of Knowledge, speaks again to the relevance of technology in the classroom, "Knowledge is really about the distribution that occurs across an entire network." He relates to the fact that knowledge these days isn't just about what an individual learns in class and retains inside his or her own head. It's also about the collectivism and connectivism theory that allows people to join together as a collection of ideas and knowledge and pool what they know with each other. Technology has made this a possibility and a reality. We are able to form a community of learners and share what we know among others. We can retain that information as a sponge does and on top of that, rely on what the professionals or peers in our life know as well and together, we are a bigger sponge.