Week 07- Modifications in Project Plan

Dear Participant Friends

A Pleasant Good Morning to all!

This is all about our Project Task in Week 07.

Before I proceed further, I want to add that I don’t have a Class which is going on right now.

 The classes will resume on 1^st  of July.

So I will be preparing a Plan of Action only to be implemented later.

This week, I decided to be very specific while modifying my project.

I decided to focus on only “Self-Introduction” part which is a key for any interview.

To prepare a Class of 130 students for this is a heavy task and I have four such Classes.

So that’s why I decided to be very pin-pointed.

For this I browsed and then found the following links which will be helpful to me. The links are as follows:-

·         www.englishforums.com/.../MySelfIntroduceTomorrowsInterview/

·         www.manythings.org/caw/intro.html

·         www.citehr.com › ... › Human Resource Management

·         www.indiabix.com › HR Interview

·         www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic35735.html

Moreover with the help of Rubistar, I also prepared a brief rubric.

So the ground is almost set for me.

Waiting for its implementation…….

Shirish More

Week 07- And My Invaluable Gains

Dear Fellow Teachers

Good Evening!

With the dawn of Saturday, we all have successfully completed another eventful week together.

For me this journey is becoming more and more enriching with every passing week.

This week was also no exception.

The two topics which came up for discussion were both lively and relevant my context.

I was so puzzled with the instructions that I clarified with Janine whether we are required to discuss both or only one.

The confusion occurred because one topic dealt with my real classroom and the other one “Learner Autonomy” has something to do with my idealized notions.

As a student, I always thought that why we the students don’t get the freedom to select our teacher, our subject and the way of evaluation? Why we are always subjected to torture through out the year?

Then I became a Teacher and continued to do the same with my students but with a positive thought that one day the situation will change.

This lively discussion throughout the week gave me enough inputs to try out this at least in my class. This will be a shocking change for my students if I do it directly. So I will try to implement it in stages so that they won’t even realize that things are changing.

The other topic of ‘One Computer Class’ is quite dear to me because I am handling it in my own clumsy methods for the last 2-3 years.

My students feel happy with the way things move on because they don’t have any other option.

But the links, activities and lessons suggested by my friends are really worth remembering and trying out. So their inputs have also given me something to broaden my teaching sphere.

All these inputs will be beneficial to my students (A) in developing (B) their different language skills while doing regular tasks in the Class (C) and thus sharpen their overall performance (D) by 75%.

Rest is fine.

So happy weekend to all.

Shirish More

Week 06-Project Task (Stepping Forward)

Dear Friends

A Pleasant Evening to all!

This is all about our Project Task.

Before I proceed, I want to say that the Class which was going on when our course started has also completed its term.

So now I don’t have any class going on to experiment these technological tools.

I am sorry to add that all the classes will resume on 1^st  of July.

So I will be left with no option but to try out these things later.

Now coming back to our task, I mentioned that I regularly face the following problems:-

·         The students are expected to face an interview at the entry point in a Professional College. But they are not able to communicate clearly, correctly and confidently.

·         With 45 students in this Class and nearly 130 in other ones, giving individual attention becomes impossible and also runs into the problem of Time Management.

·         Apart from speaking, they are also required to draft an Application, a C.V. and some Composition like a Tourist Leaflet. But checking all these assignments and explaining every shortcoming to each student again is a daunting task.

But to start with, I have decided to focus on the First issue. I feel that my students should be able to express themselves.

For this I tried and browsed through many sites for useful material and tools.

The links which I found to be useful are as follows:-

·         www.socialmedia.biz/.../5-ways-to-improve-your-presentation-skills/

·         www.mindtools.com › Communication Skills

·         www.interpersonalskills.co.uk/what/what.cfm

Moreover I have also decided to create a rubric for this with the help of ‘rubistar’.

I hope that in the coming days I will be able to focus and modify it more closely.

Rest Cheers!

Shirish More

My Views on Week 06's Learning Experiences

Dear Participant Teachers

Good Evening!

As we are coming to the end of the week, it’s time to discuss and share what we learnt in this week.

Friends, the issue of the Management of Large Classes and the use of interactive PPT really captivated the whole week.

As a novice, I tried my hand in preparing an interactive PPT.

Though not good, I made an humble attempt in that direction.

For my Higher Secondary and Tertiary Level students (A), this novel use of interactive PPT will be a pleasant change. They can  use it for learning and practicing (B) different grammar, composition and other language items  in a regular class (C) as well as outside the class and it may improve their performance up to 70%.

I hope to bring in some positive and motivating changes in my classroom with the help of thiese novel technological tools.

This will help my students in putting a step forward towards learning and knowing some new aspects of language learning through technology.

Still desirous to learn new things……..

Shirish More

Dear Participant Friends
Good Morning

Use of Technology for Teaching is a novel change for me and my students.
But for using the technology, we need to have our own tools.
When I tried to create an interactive PPT, I struggled a lot and somehow managed to create a small one which is based on Checking Out Common Errors.
I have posted it on our Course Wiki.

The aim of that activity is to make the students understand the common errors made by them while writing.

Cheers!

Shirish More

Initial Views on the use of PPTs

Dear Fellow Teachers

Good Morning!

Halfway through the week, its time to assess what I learnt in this part of the week.

Friends, the issue of Large Classes and the use of PPT is very close to my heart.

On regular basis, I deal with a large class of 130 students.

I face some usual and some unexpected problems every now and then and try a way out.

For me, the use of PPTs is not the new thing as I do it periodically.

But to use the same in an interactive way in order to create a student centered classroom is an absolutely novel idea for me.

For my Higher Secondary and Tertiary Level students (A), it can be used for learning and practicing (B) different grammar, composition and other language items at least once a week in a regular class (C) and it may improve their performance up to 70%.

I feel that with the help of available technology, I can use it for dealing with the same topics in some different ways by making the students to do it.

This will engage them and also give them the feeling that they are learning it through self-efforts.

Trying to learn new things……..

Shirish More