March 2009 Blog Posts (259)

Reflecting and Revising

My students and I are beginning a unit on reflective writing as well as working on revisions to their portfolio pieces. I plan to use this blog as a media for posting what we did during this unit and reflecting on it. It is my hope that as I begin to teach what I'm concerned will be the hardest thing my students have done this year, I can learn how I can improve this.

The problem with asking my students to reflect on themselves as writers is that many of them do not see themselves as… Continue

Added by Amanda Addison on March 3, 2009 at 6:00am — No Comments

Using 3 Online Course Management Systems in EFL Instruction

Nicenet, WebCT and Moodle were used to teach grammar to freshman students at King Saud University in Saudi Arabia. The aims of the experiment were to find out whether the complexity of an online course design and multiplicity of tools used would affect its frequency of usage, to identify technological and linguistic barriers to students' participation and interaction in those online courses and to report students' perceptions of their online learning experience. The subjects were divided into 3… Continue

Added by Reima Al-Jarf on March 3, 2009 at 5:00am — No Comments

Cross-cultural Communication: Saudi, Ukrainian, and Russian Students Online

Three English-as-a foreign language (EFL) college instructors in Ukraine, Russia and Saudi Arabia and their undergraduate students shared a cross-cultural online writing project. The aim of the project was to develop students' writing skills in EFL, to develop their awareness of local and global cultural issues and events, and to develop their ability to communicate and interact with students from other cultures. Thirteen discussion threads, twenty external links, nine documents, three… Continue

Added by Reima Al-Jarf on March 3, 2009 at 4:30am — 2 Comments

Large Student Enrollments in EFL Programs

Year after year, EFL and translation programs at King Saud University are experiencing significant increases in female freshman student enrollments. This study aims to investigate the effect of female freshman student enrollment figures in EFL programs on student achievement and attitudes, program staffing, classroom instruction, management, assessment, resources and facilities utilization on the basis of female faculty demographic, female faculty teaching load, number of courses and total… Continue

Added by Reima Al-Jarf on March 3, 2009 at 4:30am — No Comments

Impact of online instruction in EFL classrooms

Technology is not currently used in EFL classrooms at King Saud University. Therefore an attempt was made to use online learning in EFL vocabulary instruction from home, as a supplement to classroom instruction. Two groups of freshman students participated in the study. The pre-test scores showed no significant differences between both groups in their vocabulary knowledge. Then, both groups studied the same vocabulary textbook, and completed the same lessons and exercises in that textbook. In… Continue

Added by Reima Al-Jarf on March 3, 2009 at 4:30am — No Comments

Online Instruction and Creative Writing

Many students and instructors feel that writing in a foreign language is a chore rather than an enjoyable task. Students are always hesitant to write because they are inhibited and are afraid of making mistakes. Many cannot generate ideas. In the past six semesters I have used online courses in teaching EFL courses to freshman students. Blackboard and Nicenet were used as a supplement to in-class instruction. We used our PC's and internet connection from home. Students posted stories and poems… Continue

Added by Reima Al-Jarf on March 3, 2009 at 4:30am — No Comments

Connect with Daraja Academy

I was hoping I could find some teachers who are looking for a service project for their schools. In short, my best friend has started the first free all girls secondary school in Kenya and would love to have as many "sister" schools as possible.

You can read more about my connection with the school at my blog under the category Daraja:

http://intrepidteacher.edublogs.org/category/daraja-academy/

or at Daraja's blog… Continue

Added by Jabiz Raisdana on March 3, 2009 at 4:00am — No Comments

Using Online Dialogue to Develop Cross-Cultural Understanding

The study recommends that cross-cultural online dialogue be part of the EFL college classroom in Saudi Arabia. It proposes a model for dialogue skills, cross-cultural themes that can serve as a basis for selecting dialogue topics, print and electronic resources for locating stereotypes and misconceptions about Saudi Arabia, Islamic and Arabic cultures. Examples of online instruction and collaborative and interactive activities; and recommendations for successful dialogue between Saudi and… Continue

Added by Reima Al-Jarf on March 3, 2009 at 3:30am — No Comments

Primary Teachers Network

Hi All

Would like to let you know about a great new site Primary Teachers Network: www.primaryteachersnetwork.ning.com .... please also read Elementary Teachers Network :)... that's right... just for the teachers who deal with the little guys!

To get straight to the point, the differentiating factors are:

1) Huge bank of interactive white board activities for… Continue

Added by Geoff Blaik on March 2, 2009 at 8:30pm — No Comments

Women's History Month

Greetings to all of you out there in Classroom 2.0!

Just wanted to let you know that Women's History Month has officially started!

Check out Remix America's new Women's History Channel, where we feature some of the bravest and most groundbreaking women in American History

CHECK OUT THE CHANNEL, HERE: http://www.remixamerica.org/channels/women-s-history-month

Possible classroom ideas: Ask your students… Continue

Added by Erika Johansson on March 2, 2009 at 3:50pm — No Comments

Calling all K-12 Educators

I'm currently trying to determine if and how dogs are being integrated into the K-12 classroom.

If you are a K-12 educator: I was hoping that you might take 5-10 minutes to complete the survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=WzFKW5b4UN2e7ZePI1ZCTw_3d_3d

Also, if you could pass this survey link along to any other K-12 educators that you know, it would be greatly… Continue

Added by Vanessa on March 2, 2009 at 1:26pm — No Comments

Ubiquitous Equity: Student Access, Socio-Economic Status, Poverty, and Homelessness

I have been thinking lately about how our district ensures ubiquitous access to all students and there are definitely bright spots, but for a number of reasons there are serious discrepancies. We have serious geographic complications, as a sizable region of our district has very limited access to high speed Internet. There are also populations with little interest in the Internet as a tool for learning or even as part of their life. Poverty and economically disadvantaged families cannot afford… Continue

Added by Scott on March 2, 2009 at 10:56am — No Comments

Help!! 4th Grade Light Unit

I teach in a science discovery center. One of the units I teach is the 4th grade light unit. We do great activities with the light box and lenses to demonstrate the visual light spectrum and refraction. We've done an activity with the PASCO light sensors to help the students learn reflection and absorption, however, I don't feel my students are getting the main point that light colors reflect and dark colors absorb. Does anyone have a great activity. Ideally that uses technology?

Added by Carol Barsotti on March 2, 2009 at 10:33am — No Comments

Wrestling with Technology

I spent the last two weekends working at our Regional Team and Individual wrestling tournaments. I have have been involved in the sport of wrestling for more than 30 years, first as a participant, then as for two and a half decades as a coach and , finally as a volunteer at meets. If fact I run a couple of meets a year because I have the right software. Looking back over this involvement, wrestling provided me with some very useful guidelines about working with technology.

1. Setting a… Continue

Added by Bob.Snyder on March 2, 2009 at 7:20am — No Comments

Using Digital Storytelling in Your Classroom

First of all this is a great tool for the classroom, and I never really thought that this tool could be useful in the classroom. I have done picture slideshows before, but never thought of using this tool in the classroom. I really like the picture slide show, with music playing. Those I really enjoy to watch and listen to the music. I could use various slideshows and videos for Physical Education and Health. Taking from the my piture I made with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, I could use… Continue

Added by Ryan M Smith on March 1, 2009 at 9:07pm — No Comments

Cool Web 2.0 for k-4

Looking for and sharing k-4 web 2.o tools.

Number one: Kerpoof.com

Powered by Disney; students can create stories, cards, doodles, and animated movie shorts by dragging and dropping. Also comes with great video tutorials. [Free]

Number two: ToonDoo.com

Powered by JamBav; they are working through a beta version that allows teachers to create a classroom specific url. Much like Kerpoof, students create cartoons that are commented on by others. Great for teachers… Continue

Added by Jason Kornoely on March 1, 2009 at 6:35pm — No Comments

Presentation for Education Supervisors

I'm working on a presentation for my fellow supervisors. What are the "essentials" for understanding technology today?

Added by Dawn Ferreyra on March 1, 2009 at 2:09pm — No Comments

Teacher centered tech vs student centered tech

My recent educational/philosophical leanings are toward a more student centered/student empowered classroom experience in the k12 environment where the teacher serves as a formal teacher of background knowledge but where students do the majority of the work, and therefore, do the majority of the learning.

Freire’s conscientizacao construct and ed tech can go hand in hand if ed tech is implemented in a student centered manner. In many schools technology purchases are usually teacher… Continue

Added by Jovan D. Miles on March 1, 2009 at 10:31am — 3 Comments

Using Facebook with my students

As one of the trailblazers for using new technology at the college - (we prefer this phrase than guinea pig) ;) I started using Facebook to work with my students.

I wanted to get the students to upload the graphics they were designing to a facebook group to then allow the other students to see what wonderful creativity there was. This also allowed links to be shared, discussions to be used and also to invite ex-students now working in the industry in to the group and get them to… Continue

Added by Sylvianne Lambert-Hutchinson on March 1, 2009 at 2:49am — 7 Comments