Tech Log Week 3

No doubt the amount of work was higher this week: much more readings to do and more websites to browse.

In spite of the workload I found all the assignments highly stimulating and challenging.

The emphasis on aural/oral skills is extremely important, as listening represents “more than forty percent of our daily communication” (Lindsay Miller), and paradoxically it is probably one of the most neglected skills in our classes. In my school we started having this notion a couple of years ago and tried developing more listening activities, but I must confess the teaching of the four skills was not equally distributed. The lesson plans I’ve read this week and the websites I browsed made me understand things will not be the same when I go back to school. ;-) I’ll have a teacher session with my colleagues and show them all we can do, the materials we can use and all the available resources just waiting for us to use them. I really liked the way listening activities were intertwined with the other skills, allowing us to prepare lessons including all 4 skills, which sometimes is not that easy. I learned a way to make listening a pleasure, by simply not asking the students to take notes. They will feel more relaxed if they know there is no testing involved.

The easiest and “tastiest” part of the assignments was creating our Delicious page. :-) I hadn’t created one before because I hadn’t felt the need yet, but I’m sure I will be glad I have one now. I already feel it’s going to be essential, if not for accessing my saved websites - I’m working at home and don’t really need to work elsewhere for now – but to check what other people saved that relates to my interests. I also recognize its potential as a student learning tool and I learned a lot from Steve Mackenzie’s “Social Bookmarking in relation to teaching and learning activities”. Meanwhile I found this other blog post on Delicious Blog that gives further ideas on using Delicious in class. Check it HERE.

Finally, step 2 of our Project Task: scary but exciting! Just by reading the Report Samples we get a hint of the work expecting us over the next weeks… Will I be up to it? That is the question! However, Camila Pagila’s report made me wish to learn more, on account of all the excellent tools she used in her lessons. It really is exciting having a whole unknown world in front of us, just waiting to be discovered and explored.

I’m glad I embarked on this fantastic journey!