TeachersReflect

WHAT IS A GREAT POST?

teachersreflect — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 06:10:32 +0000

There is no great post to write or there will never be one.

Writing is a journey into the self, and that places any written work within personal confines.

However, there should be no doubt that every post composed is unique in its reflective quality, and it is what matters most.

The most beautiful thing about writing for such a big community of sharing educators is to know that I will receive feedback, whether positive or negative, and it will aid me further on the road to development.

I think it is a great blessing, for response from others gives more reasons for the act of writing which already comes from within.

What can be better than doing what you like most and being rewarded by guidance and inspiration from valuable minds?

THE TEACHER EFFECT-POWER TO TRANSFORM

teachersreflect — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 16:24:01 +0000

It is an undeniable fact that the circumstances in which we live in the 21^st century require us all to overcome more challenges than ever, thus posing the need for every individual to learn and develop constantly for sake of acting more efficiently in any field of life. One area that everybody should consider essential is the need to improve communication and develop transcultural awareness in an ever-changing world of international relations. It is certain that such abilities will help individuals become more culturally knowledgeable, and hence transmit their intended messages across cultures.

In the light of such requirements, it is not only important to know foreign languages and cultures from books; it is also important to learn how different forms of knowledge are communicated across cultures. That kind of knowledge is never easy to acquire; in fact, it is extremely demanding for those who endeavor to do that. It is not sufficient simply to learn this kind of knowledge through books, or through formal methods in a classroom. The only way to acquire it is through co-operation and mutual understanding of the parties involved.

As a teacher of English in Turkish institutions for a decade now, I believe that the key factor in the dissemination and sustenance of knowledge across cultures is co-operation – between learners and educators, as well as the source and target cultures they deal with. This can only be sustained by what I might call “The Teacher Effect”. The very reason for this claim is that educators should be the guides who should first lead learners up the path of learning about and discovering foreign languages and cultures, and allow them the opportunities to walk in the path by providing “Road Maps to Learning”. Unless the route is clear, no learner can be held responsible for losing their motivation.

Personal experience reveals that it is to the learners’ best advantage if learners introduce a “System” into their lessons and move on in accordance with pre-set principles. This system is not knowledge-based, but should derive instead from the educators’ understanding of learner psychology, coupled with a readiness to cope with the barriers preventing or inhibiting understanding of the foreign language or culture. Such barriers might include lack of self-confidence, a belief that the language or culture is somehow ‘difficult’ to understand, or that the task of learning that language or culture might be ‘pointless.’ My opinion is that anything is possible when the right approach is adopted, based on the awareness that learner expectations differ from one culture (or even classroom), as opposed to another.

The need to create an environment for learners to gain confidence is of the utmost importance, and it should be dealt with prior to any learning experience. Learners become more confident if they understand that mistakes – or supposedly ‘erroneous’ knowledge – is not something to be ashamed of, but rather provides an important stepping-stone the road to transcultural learning. Educators can make it possible by creating “scaffolding” – a series of support-mechanisms (including feedback, questioning), as well as structuring the syllabus in such a way as to enable learners to acquire knowledge and understanding step by step.

There should be no doubt that in such contexts, learners will acquire more confidence, as well as wanting to undertake tasks on their own, which in turn will make it possible for teachers to expose them to the target language and/or culture as much as necessary. By such means learners can become more aware of their strengths and weaknesses, and thereby set realistic goals for their own learning. In other words, they are empowered to discover language, as well as cross-cultural issues on their own. When this goal has been achieved, it will be much easier for teachers to consolidate learners’ knowledge and prepare them for more complex assignments requiring different abilities, as well as involving the discovery of new kinds of knowledge.

Encouraging further learning is another element that certainly proves beneficial for learners. To achieve this aim, educators need to possess an unshakeable belief in the efficacy of activities that require “collaboration” among themselves and their learners. It is best if educators understand that working together with their peers provides space for sharing responsibility for learning, and takes the stress out of learning. The wonders that group projects or extensive reading assignments can work as a result of collaboration are often marvelous to behold.

The most significant in for devising a systematic approach to transcultural language learning is to encourage learners to “reflect” on their own learning processes before, during and after every assignment. Doing this is not only a means for learners to understand themselves and their capabilities – as well as assessing their own levels of linguistic and cultural knowledge of the foreign culture – but also it helps them to see how far they have come, and how they might develop in the future. This provides a much more relaxed approach to learning, rather than worrying about the excessive amount of work they might need to put in before they can be deemed ‘proficient’ in the target language, or ‘knowledgeable’ about the foreign culture. “Reflection” on experiences is so powerful that it might be perceived as the North Star in the pedagogical sky, even if one might be bereft of a compass.

Finally, educators, as well as academics, once they adopt a “system”, should also acquire more confidence – not only in terms of their classroom practice, but in the way they write about their experiences, whether pedagogical or in terms of their knowledge of a foreign language or foreign culture. Such confidence will gain them respect and recognition from learners, as well as fellow-educators. Confident educators will always be role models, thus the example they set will never go ignored. Most importantly, confidence will encourage educators to learn more about what they are doing and why they are doing it, which is the gateway to “constant professional as well as academic development”. Educators who are “learners” will not be just educators, for they will start seeing themselves as “facilitators” and act accordingly at all times with any type of learners in various circumstances. In essence, they will stand as solid evidence as to the possibility of “transformation” through perseverance.

OOPS I DID IT AGAIN!

teachersreflect — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 14:51:09 +0000

Yesterday I made a crucial mistake.

At first, I didn’t realize it was a mistake and blamed others for the result that damaged my whole day.

Then when I came to my senses after taking a nap for about half an hour, I began to analyze the sequence of events that led to the disaster.

Once more I understood the miraculous power of REFLECTION as I saw that if something went wrong, it would only be because of ME.

Now let me briefly describe what happened.

As a unit head in my institution, one of my responsibilities is to have weekly meetings with the teachers who teach at the level I am responsible for. The point of doing that is to ensure that every member of the unit works in COLLABORATION to FACILITATE students learning as much as possible. Needless to say, the key factor for achieving such a goal is to SHARE ideas, feelings, and practical tips as to how we, teachers, should be acting for everything to function seamlessly.

However, I became aware in yesterday’s meeting that it might not always be easy to create a LEARNING ENVIRONMENT for those in my team because I was opposed harshly when I tried to explain to them my intentions about the content of our weekly meetings.

Every teacher, including even the least experienced, present for the weekly meeting protested against the idea of coming together for sharing and reflecting. Shocked by the reaction, I uselessly spoke words of encouragement and made efforts to justify my point.

Despite all I did, they just said:

1) We are already experienced enough to cope with even the least motivated students.

2) We can already teach even the most complicated points.

3) We are not responsible for the other teachers because we will be all right as long as we can agree with our partners.

4) We do not need to feel like a community.

5) We are tired enough and cannot be worried about each other’s learning.

6) We do not believe that meetings are necessary at all.

I must say I was about cry and I even thought of ending the meeting without saying anything. I had no idea why they were so negative and what I could do to change their mind.

Having thought about it all night, I am now able to see that I started the meeting inefficiently and that caused me to lose control. What I did for the start was to ask them “Do you think it is necessary to meet every week?”, which clearly provoked them to vomit out all the negativity inside them because they had taught between 12-20 hours during the week and they were dying to leave the school to live the rest of the day as would be suitable for a Friday.

If I could go back in time, I would never have such a start for the meeting. Sadly, I cannot do it and the teachers in my unit probably feel that I am not good enough to lead them. What upsets me most is that it is the first time I will be working with those teachers, so I might not have the chance to affect them positively about the possibility of creating a learning environment through meetings.

So, what I am left with for the time being is that I know how I should preside a meeting with all new team members next time:

1) I should make coffee available in the room.

2) I should make some jokes and win those present before starting.

3) I should show some slides and ask them to discuss in pairs or groups the messages the slides have.

4) I should create an opportunity for them to see that they can act as a team by assigning a task and allowing them to complete it collaboratively.

5) I should make the impression on them that they are there to relax and recharge their energy for the following week.

Had I followed the above-mentioned steps, I would not be writing this post now, and I would be certain that my unit meetings would be for the benefit of teachers, thus most importantly for the benefit of students.

Can I still make things good again?

Well, I am really not sure about that, but I will try my best to erase the effect of a grave mistake. After all, I ADMIT I was mistaken, and I have clearly LEARNT a lesson. What remains to be doe is NEVER TO REPEAT that mistake.

DEDICATED TO ALL THE BLOGGERS!

teachersreflect — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 09:11:44 +0000

A blogger’s job is REALLY hard.

First of all, it is a matter of great RESPONSIBILITY to blog. Once the path is taken, there is no turning back because the joy of sharing and getting ILLUMINATED by what others share spreads to the remotest cells in the body. Even at times when there is the struggle to run personal errands, the inside voice that keeps saying “I MUST write” is always there to remind of the responsibility to give people a good thing to show gratitude for the RESPECT and ADMIRATION they display for the work done.

Secondly, it is NOT ALWAYS POSSIBLE to come up with a good idea to build into a post. When this happens, and it may happen quite often, a blogger can feel DEPRESSED. Personally speaking, I do not know many things as painful as fighting against my own brain to give life to some other new thing that will be worth sharing with those out there who are kind enough to welcome into their lives my reflections.

However, BLOGGING is one of the few things that I REALLY enjoy doing. I know I need it as much as I need food and water. It is for me a form of MENTAL EXERCISE that lifts my spirits as well.

For the past couple weeks, I have been rather busy coping with certain personal business matters, thus being unable to spare time for doing blog reading. There are no words I know of to describe how that made me feel when I was sort of disconnected from all the blog stuff. I can simply say “It SUCKS not to be a part of the world changing”.

Today, I feel different because I was lucky enough to spare about two hours to do some reading on the BLOGOSPHERE and get the INSPIRATION to blog and maintain my hopes for better posts to share with the world.

And it is all thanks to the wonderful Personal Learning Network that I have. This very post is dedicated to all the bloggers out there writing and reflecting to change lives for better!

Are You TEACHERS or TREACHERS?

teachersreflect — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:44:24 +0000

If you keep checking your watch and sigh “Oh, God… Still more to go…”

- It means that you are bored in your own lesson.

If you complain “Why on earth do they not listen to me?”

- It means that there is a good reason why you are bored in your own lesson, which is you ARE boring.

If you wonder “Why can’t they just understand it? I have been revising it for the third time”.

- It means that they can’t understand you, not English.

If you regret “I should have brought a book to read”.

- It means that you will check your watch many more times.

If you think “This activity just does not catch…”

- It means that you don’t know your students.

If you say “I miss home sweet home”.

- It means that it might be a good idea to think of planning a different career.

How do you respond to the question in the title?

Extensive Drama-Ways to Enhance Learning (2)

teachersreflect — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 11:41:32 +0000

As I mentioned earlier, I was fortunate enough to attend an extensive reading workshop by Bill Bowler a couple of weeks ago, which now serves as a revelation for me because I approach the issue of integrating extensive reading into classes more enthusiastically than ever. Those of you who have read EXTENSIVE DRAMA-WAYS TO ENHANCE LEARNING (1) will remember that the particular post was about staging a chat show using any of the characters that Oxford University Press offers in the Bookworms series.

The second drama activity that can be applied as an EXTENSION to extensive reading is called “Character Role Play”. What it entails is that students get in pairs and each one picks a graded reader character; for example, Pollyanna and Dracula. Then, they compare and contrast the qualities of each other’s characters and try to create a context suitable for those characters to be able to help each other with their desires.

Although it might sound a bit challenging for students at first, it actually involves a lot of fun. I know it is because I had the opportunity to try it in one of my classes last week, and I can say without hesitation that my students loved it. I must also say that I modified the activity to some extent by asking students to pick any character from any tale that they had read because we had not specifically studied for extensive reading since the start of the module.

Back to the “role play”, the pairs decide WHERE and WHEN their characters meet and WHAT THEY WANT from each other. This done, they negotiate for a possible way of helping each other so that the desires of both parties are met and everyone is happy. Supposing the characters are Pollyanna and Dracula, the former can teach the latter to be content with drinking the blood of animals without harming humans, and Dracula can help Pollyanna to convince people that it is better to be a human than a vampire for they are blessed with the luxury of eating and drinking whatever they may like as well as the beauty of sunshine and the blue skies.

During the workshop, two of my colleagues staged a great performance playing Saladin and Dracula, and Saladin promised Dracula a certain amount of blood everyday while Dracula said he could help Saladin in his fight against his enemies.

Still I must point out that the performances staged by my students were by no means inferior to that of my colleagues. Some of them were even more imaginative than my colleagues and me.

This being the case, I feel confident that you would have no problem administering “Character Role Play” in your classes. All that is required is trust in students, and they will easily do the rest as their imagination can really surprise teachers.

Don’t you think it is at least worth a try?

WHAT DO MY STUDENTS LOVE MOST?

teachersreflect — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 08:35:38 +0000

- They love to be praised even when they do not deserve that at all. They believe the right attitude might change things around.

- They love to be instructed in the mother tongue especially when they feel confused.

- They love to be treated as individuals instead of pairs or groups of students. They think they do not benefit at all from cooperative tasks.

- They love to put the blame for failure on the school administration. They claim that the system is responsible for their lack of success.

- They love to be spoon-fed knowledge instead of being allotted space for discovery. They say they cannot be expected to discover while not proficient enough.

Clearly they do not share the same values as most instructors do. Oddly enough, they do not match the definition of the 21^st century learners depicted every so often by language teaching circles across the globe.

by gracespace.org.uk

Then someone is totally wrong about the approach to learning. It is either the students because they may not be really enthusiastic about self-development or the teachers who might have a serious misconception about what students really need and even about what would work best in the classroom.

Is there really a point in insisting that the current view of how learning should take place is the correct one? Or is it ever possible to make sure that students will feel better and more motivated to learn if teachers adopt the student way?

Personally speaking, the answers from students reveal something a lot deeper in meaning. As they list what they would love most for their classes, they also pinpoint the fact that some teachers still need further training for the implementation of the methods and techniques required for creating a more meaningful learning experience for their students.

Extensive Drama-Ways To Enhance Learning (1)

teachersreflect — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 12:18:18 +0000

Last week I was fortunate enough to attend a series of workshops by Bill Bowler from Oxford Teachers Academy. The rationale behind the series was to acquaint us (the learning unit heads and curriculum development guys) with further applications of extensive reading in classrooms.

Needless to say, the workshops were a success, and we enjoyed everything that was done. If you wish to have a complete account of all the points covered for three full days, I suggest you follow Aysun Gunes’ blog, for she is already at work writing a summary of the whole thing from a personal point of view on her spectacular blog http://languageteachingtips.wordpress.com.

What I, for my part, intend to do in a series of new posts is to provide insight into drama activities that can be used to enrich extensive reading for the mere benefit of learners.

The first one, in my opinion, is the best because it helps learners create their own role cards for the role-play activity that comes next. For this students are given a character questionnaire (a sheet of paper) to fill in individually. What needs to be done is to pick one of the characters in one of the many Oxford Graded Readers and answer the questions that follow:

1. Why do you think you are so famous?

2. What do you think has been your greatest achievement?

3. What is your greatest dream?

4. What do you like doing in your free time?

5. What is your favorite food or drink?

6. What do you think is the most important thing in life?

Once the questions are answered with imagination included, students get in pairs and are interviewed by a friend who chooses to be the chat show host. I must point out that the sheet of paper also has some useful phrases to help those to participate as hosts. The phrases are:

a. Now for my first/last question…

b. How interesting!

c. What a great answer.

d. Thank you for sharing that with us.

e. Hmm, that’s a good question/a difficult question/an easy question to answer.

When this has been done, one pair of students are asked to volunteer to present their chat show to the class, and if there is desire, the performance can be recorded for further analysis of language. On great thing about the performance is that teacher writes Applause, Laugh, Gasp on the board prior to the activity and guides the audience to react differently to different remarks from the guest and host in order to create a real-like chat show atmosphere.

With our teachers group I was one of the two who volunteered for the chat show to act as the guest. The character I had chosen for the questionnaire was Saladin, and there I was to play the great commander. The activity was better than I had predicted, and it was especially so due to the excellent performance of the host. It should also be said that everything went fabulously well with super timed reactions from the audience. Instead of going into details describing minute by minute how it really was, I am giving here the link https://vimeo.com/56902017 to the video of the presentation for you to judge the quality of our acting and the usefulness of drama to enrich the benefits of extensive reading.

Personally speaking, students will definitely learn more from reading provided they are given extras as this activity because it will be a more meaningful process of study for them. If we, as teachers of English, can still enjoy role plays, there should be no questions in mind that learners will do that as well.

How Did I Learn English?-In 15 Hours???

teachersreflect — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 19:51:24 +0000

As my favorite bloggers have already started to write their first posts for 2013, I feel extra inspired by great words of wisdom from equally great educators. This being the case, I think it is also time for me to write a post to welcome the New Year. Although I previously planned to post a reflection as a review of 2012 or about my resolutions for 2013, one post titled LEARN to “SPEAK” İngilizce…in 15 hours (maybe even 2)! http://allthingslearning.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/learn-to-speak-ingilizce-in-15-hours/ Tony Gurr has changed my mind, and this post has come into existence. I must say I first wrote it as a response in the comment box of Tony Gurr, but due to a problem with WordPress, it was not posted to his blog.

Long story short, below is an account of how I studied for English as a teenager, and I am proud to share it with you all as a teacher of English.

I started to learn English when I was 14 years old. Actually, the reason why I chose to study at the high school where I was enrolled was just to be able to learn English, which means I was intrinsically motivated to do that. With motivation came along more desire to see the learning process like a play of Legos. As I understood what was taught, I grew more interested and did more to perfect what I learnt.

First of all, I took the assignments very seriously. I even did extra work than was asked by teachers. I never saw homework as a burden.

Secondly, I was mad about speaking and writing. I always tried to write stuff in English and got my teachers to check them for me. For speaking, I had myself mostly. I mean I had to speak with the walls practicing the conversations studied at school and creating new ones. I also spoke with my mother who listened to me patiently and encouraged me more to speak although she didn’t understand much of English. All that really helped me to get fluent and I made it better getting jobs in holiday towns where thousands of tourists from the UK spent their summer holiday. When I went to university, I only had to study for vocational practices and some detailed stuff about linguistics.

Thirdly, I always had my vocabulary lists and I looked through them frequently to ensure I still remembered everything. I added new words to the list whenever I read English magazines or newspapers. I was doing that even at high school, and it certainly was a bonus for the progress I made in speaking and writing. I remember I read my first real novel (The Island of the Day Before, Umberto Eco) in English in 3 months because there was simply a lot to learn from that, but the second one from the same author took me 2 months, and the next took only 20 days to read. As I read, I improved more, and at a point I saw that I didn’t need to use a dictionary to understand novels, which showed that my knowledge had increased substantially.

Moreover, I watched movies in English with subtitles in Turkish and English. When there were no movies subtitled in English, I tried to match what was said by the actors with the way it was translated into Turkish. It was a work of comparison and contrast and doubtlessly required a lot of dictionary use. I can’t forget that one movie subtitled in Turkish took me 3-4 hours to watch. But it all worked very well for me. After going through such hard work for 5-6 movies, I could understand any movie without subtitles.

All in all, I really wanted to learn English and did all that I could on my part, which really paid off. Then I transferred those strategies into process of learning Spanish, and now I am fluent in Spanish as well. Everyone should admit that nothing comes easy, but it is in their hands to make it either enjoyable or disturbing. Personal experience reveals that I can do it when I really work for it, so I am planning to the same for French which is to be my third foreign language.

STUDENTS ARE THE REAL JUDGES-FEEDBACK FROM STUDENTS (PART 3)

teachersreflect — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 17:15:59 +0000

One of the points I had asked my class to reflect on on the last day was about their expectations, the question being “What were your expectations at the start of the module and how well were they met?”.

Good news is that all the students who were present for the last assignment wrote that all was right, and their expectations were met.

Two of them even stated that they had had no expectations at all, but some began to emerge as the classes progressed, and that they were satisfied.

Honestly speaking, those two students wrote the words that made me happiest because it is amazing to find out that I was the one who gave them something to expect, and I managed to give them what they needed.

Here come the rest of the expectations that I was able to meet:

1) Teaching out of the book

2) Following a different order than in the book

3) Efficient and interesting lessons

4) Interaction

5) A lot of speaking and listening practice

6) A teacher easy to get on with

7) Love for the lessons

8) Positivity while teaching

9) Learning during the class time

10) English used for instruction

11) Challenging lessons

The answers suggest clearly that my lessons with that particular class were really different than those I had with some other classes. They indicate that I have made adjustments to my teaching and my process of transformation for the past 9 months is just going well.

That all means I can expect better work from myself and there is every reason to keep walking the talk.

Wish you all a happy new year!