My UO e-journey

STAY A LITTLE BIT LONGER!!!

                                        STAY JUST A LITTLE BIT LONGER !!!

During this e-journey, I enjoyed every single second of it. I just can’t believe we are departing already.  Why not stay just a lit bit longer??

Our paths crossed each other and made us even stronger and more knowledgeable in a way or another.

For sure, the Webskills course is one of the most highlighting chapters in my e-journey. It is a journey that started with Professor Donna as my North Star and my course mates as stars shinning on me.

YOU ALL, I will treasure in my heart and mind as long as I live.

Week 10 was different from all. Knowing it is the last week, I kept delaying my posts.

The LoTI readings had great impact on me. I felt a bit frustrated. I still need to work on my level 2 as I am determined to achieve higher levels of technology integration.

The course as a whole has added huge amount to my professional development. I learned from different walks of technology. I tasted several flavors of tools. I will keep adding other flavors now that I have become an e-autonomous learner myself.

Long live Tariq and Rashid for being the best examples of sharers I have ever met. I will never forget all the help, guidance and resources they introduced to all of us. Thank you Rashid. Thank you Tariq.

Of course each of my other course mates has a special touch on my UO e-journey.

Please Keep in touch and WELCOME TO MOROCCO  J

Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences in Harmony.

My online journey is about to end and a mixture of feelings has been gathering already. Feelings of achievements and feelings of departure. Departure for a new page of my online learning chapter of life. In deed I decorated my chapter this last 10 weeks, with garments from the University of Oregon. Professor Donna was the star. The friendships I made are my true treasures. The sharings I collected will be the most cherished decorations I will treasure for my professional growth and development.

This week was another challenge for me. I had to think how I could add to my project following my partners Tariq and Mingya’s advices. I am so happy now. I made a change. I will be using Google plus instead of three or four other separate tools. Google plus offers all!!!

Friday 25^th was the deadline to submit the final version of my project report.

I wish I had more time to spend on the readings. Multiple Intelligences and  learning Styles were the hits of the week. Two of my favorite fields. Multiple Intelligences and learning Styles that should meet together in our teaching  to pave the way to a learning autonomy atmosphere in our classrooms.

Celebrate!! It's ANVILL's week

ANVILL’s week

This week was very special in many ways. The learning was very condensed.  So many useful online tools to learn or adapt. HotPotatoes was my choice to experiment with. Thanks to it, I created two activities: a gap fill exercise and a crossword puzzle. Both of them interactive.

I also created a class blog that I am sharing with my 12th grade students for assignments, and link sharing.

Another major task of the week , was our project-report first draft which was due on

Wednedsay 16^th. Both my partners Tariq and Mingya were very helpful with the peer-review. Salute to them!!!!
Buuuuuuut ANVILL  made the headline of the week for it offers a bouquet of tech tools to use by the teachers. I guess the most ideal tech tool for any teacher to use in order to enhance the learners’ autonomy.  I was so excited today as I experimented one the coolest tools from ANVILL thanks to my course mate Rashid.

The Webinar on Friday 18th, was a great addition to our week. This was moderated by Jeff Magoto the creator of ANVILL himself.  The webinar was an opportunity for me to meet some of our course mates. Unfortunately, Professor Donna did not join us!!!! 

One computer...better than none!! :)

And…another week to leave behind!!!! :(

Now it has become very explicit to me that each week of this online course has been adding value to my professional growth and development.

During this week, I felt so much relieved and proud as I understood well that much of what I apply in my teaching on a daily basis goes in line with what is claimed in autonomous learning.  It has always been my main goal to set my students to become independent and responsible learners.

The readings of Samuel P-H Sheu and Dimitrios Thanasolaus really consolidate my knowledge on how I can add a lot more to my teaching style to boost my students’ learning autonomy. Of course, the rich discussion on the Nicenet was very deep and inspiring.

The task of a One-computer lesson on the other hand has given me insights into how I can be more creative and efficient while working with only one computer at hand. No need to keep complaining!!!! J  Better one than none!!!

For long, this seemed to be a challenge. Now, I am convinced that I can achieve my goals using one computer only. Limitations can be overcome through creativity.

This week we had to find a partner among our course mates. I feel very enthusiastic to co-work with Tariq and Mingya Zhou who kindly agreed to be my partners for the three weeks to come. Working with a partner online is another dimension in this course and definitely a new experience for me but I am positive that it will be another added value to my performances in class. My only worry is that I may not be as resourceful as my knowledgeable partners.

Bye Week6....Welcome Week7......

Bye Week 6! Welcome Week 7

Dear Donna, Dear course mates,

My goodness!!!

Where have all those six weeks gone? Gone so fast!

We are already midway!

In a way I feel sad already. Sad for we are getting close to the end of our online course!! 

This week was very special for me. I was able to create my first INTERACTIVE PowerPoint Presentation. “Blogging Quiz”. Even though simple it gave me hints to start new discoveries and tips of interactivity. That is to say getting away from the traditional PowerPoint presentation, leading to engaging and involving the learner who is no longer a mere watcher of the screen but is interacting with the presenter.

Today is only day one of a two weeks holiday here in Morocco, and I can’t wait till we go back to school. My DREAM is coming even closer to reality thanks to all the tools provided in the insightful readings suggested by sweet Donna. It seems very promising. I feel very hopeful. Soon I will be implementing the web tools to start the change. I am planning to have my students bring their personal laptops. We will proceed to creating their Gmail accounts (I am having other students joining the original group), then their blogs as a first step. Students will have to introduce themselves in guided paragraph writing. This is on one hand. On the other hand, I will ask volunteers to work in groups to create INTERACTIVE  PowerPoint presentations that I will assist.

Another issue I read about this week ,was how to handle teaching large classes and engaging my students. Many of the techniques provided in the readings, that I find very interesting and useful, are new to me.  Wait and see!! I will try to apply all that can be applied in my classes. You will hear about me!

All you need is wish me good luck just the way I wish you good luck for the three weeks to come.

Best,

Khadija the Determined,

Rubrics, Webquests,PBL Which to take? None but ALL!!!!

Hello Donna,
Hello course-mates,
I hope you had a wonderful week filled with learning the way I did. It's amazing how the weeks are passing by. This online course has really made me reshape every piece of knowledge I had gained before.
In the broadest sense of the word I have become more and more autonomous in my learning. Learning by Doing is what this course is providing me with. More practise, Less theory.
I feel upset though, as it seems time is never enough for me to learn all the good things offered to me.
Thanks Delicious. NowI can go back there and find what I am looking for. The links i have stored there since last week.
Thanks RUBISTAR for making my life a lot easier. Now I can be fair to my students working with clear rubrics to evaluate their work.
Project Based Learning was one of the components of our readings. It tells how students can acquire all different types of skills while involved in a team work in a very autonomous way.
I did visit Zunal.com but was unable to finish creating my Webquest for now. I am still working on it trying to take into considerartion my students needs in a very attractive way, the way I always hoped for !!!!
Khadija the challenged but DETERMINED.

Week 4 reflection

Dear Donna,
Dear all,

The task of writing a technology enhanced lesson plan made it tough for me this week. It was exhausting
since I am no computer skilled teacher. But thanks to my friends' posts, and after reading about lesson planing and its components, I  managed to write one.
The readings however were rewarding. The two articles I focused on both tackles how the use of technology can enhance and improve reading and writing skills for learners.
Task 3 was to search for some web pages that could work for our classes and write an ABCD objective.
My findings were overwhelming and I was unable to quit browsing different sites.

Khadija, the challenged but determined.     

Week three....Reflection

 Hello all,

Where did week three go? I can’t believe it. At first it seemed to go smooth and all of a sudden time flew by!!  But, I think I am going to say it out loud that I am proud of what I did learn this week!! Creating my Delicious page was a journey in itself. Thanks to this social bookmarking, now I can be very organized. I won’t waste time looking for my favorite links. I will be able to use tags and stacks.

Reading the sample project report of a former course mate gave me clear vision of what we are supposed to end our course with. I identified myself a lot to the author.

Is it because we are both from the same continent?  The one thing I am sure of is that we both have common points: Large sized classes, multi levels of students in relation to learning languages, and above all our educational systems don’t focus on teaching writing while this latter is a huge component of the final national exam our students have to sit for.

Another task was reading three articles about how the integration of technology in the teaching field has revolutionised our career as educators, and made it pleasant to teach the language in all its different aspects and dimensions. A new era of my career is here to stay.

Donna, my course facilitator as well as my course mates have become have become part of my daily life. I am very thankful.

Khadija,

TEFL: Questions to answer

TEFL: Questions to answer: There are threequestions to answer before you start your serach: 1. What are you going to search for? 2. How would select the appropriate ...

Dreams

“Dreams remain dreams until you put them into action”

This is one of my favorite sayings that I used to read each time I would enter or leave GCI (Global Communication Institute) a private school I worked at few years ago.

Before this course, I had always wanted to improve my computer skills. I felt myself lagging behind especially when I would attend a forum or a conference where people took out laptops to take notes or the speakers used some technical jargon related to the computer and Internet. At home, my two young daughters, the young one with her iPod and the elder one with slim notebook, are considered to be digital natives of their classes and therefore not easy to communicate with if you don’t master the tech tools they are using.

Now, that I started this course, I am driven to invest more time in developing my technology skills. I feel I am on the right way to achieve my dream. I have never had an opportunity like this. This will not only help me improve my computer skills but it will also encourage me to apply and integrate them into my teaching. I am a mother whose teenage daughters require my full attention and care, a homemaker who tries hard to provide all the needs of the family, and a full-time teacher who dedicates her time to her students.

Now, I am a student too! That’s wonderful! But I need to struggle with time and find a way to keep up with the required work expected from me. To achieve my main goal, to make my dream come true, to meet my course facilitator’s expectations, I will try my best to organize myself more so as to avoid being overwhelmed.

I wonder if I am the only one in this course having to manage my time efficiently in order to stay up to the level of all the requirements.

From blog to blog!

First of all, I am so happy to embark on this new experience. Here, I would love to tell something about the kind of learner I am.  Because I am not very familiar with using technology, I take my time to grasp what I am supposed to learn. It takes me a while to assimilate and get acquainted with the tools and applications before I can start. That is the biggest challenge that has always been a hindrance to my progress.

Now, being a member of this group, with the help of my course facilitator and my course mates, I hope I can overcome this challenge.

Another factor that kept me away from the first week of this course was the start of the new school year here in Morocco.  It has been tough trying to adjust seven groups each of 45 to 50 students within these last few days.

However, September 30^th, 2011 will always remain vivid in my memory, as I was able to create my first blog ever. This is a new beginning for me! I feel extremely motivated and excited to just go on and on.  This coming week, I will sit down with my students and make them create their own blogs!!!!

I feel so proud. Now I can do it so I can cascade to my students. That has been my dream for years! Thank you so much Donna! My students and myself will be using these blogs to improve their writing skills in an innovative way. I am absolutely certain that this will be a motivating factor for my students as well as a new shift in my teaching career.

Reflections

It has been a very long and hard week. I will tell you why later.