Web 2.0 Group Assignment

Well, we are almost finished our group assignment. We used Flickr to develop an online lesson.

Evaluation of my contribution.

Both Amrit and I got a bit of a later start than Kim and Leona, so naturally my role was more of a helper than a leader. I find teams work well when participants accept roles. Tha analogy would be a sports team. Sometimes the best teams are those with many role players as opposed to superstars. If there are too many superstars, no one is willing to do the "dirty work".

In the case of our team, Kim and Leona took the lead and I was satisfied playing a support role, asking what I could do to assist and then following up with those tasks. For example, my role was to try out other people's instructions, assignment steps, and provide feedback for improvement. I was glad to do this.

Next time, If I had gotten actively engaged a bit earlier, I'm sure my contribution could have been more 'meaty' and concrete -- I like producing my own things rather than just giving feedback on others, so i will try to be more of a leader than a follower next time round.

I learned how to use Flickr for setting up group projects, and i will probably try using this in my teaching for a photo-speech assignment for speaking classes next semester.

Jason

Moodle Tool Assignment

This was a fun and interesting assignment. I have wanted to use Moodle for a long time, but have never gotten around to it. I've seen workshop presentations of instructors using the glossary function in the past and felt that would have been an excellent activity for my ESL students.

Of course, having live students in the course and trying to follow the instructions you've given for using the technology could open a whole new host of issues that need troubleshooting, but just making a start like this gives me confidence to actually try this out for next semester with no excuses.

Well, it is just a start but with more time devoted to creating new online activities and re-vamping of f2f activities, I'm sure I can produce course experiences that students will enjoy and feel satisfied the courses offered an opportunity to learn and grow.

Jason

Audio-Visual Assignment Blog Entry

I enjoyed doing this assignment as I like to work with both sound and video in my classes.

I would have liked to have completed some Camtasia clips to go along with the assignment and i should have broken the module down into smaller bits to ensure all learning objectives were met by each student as opposed to just being met by groups of students.

It was interesting to provide feedback on Kim Stegman's submission as it was professionally put together. I was very impressed and the quality of her work is something I aspire to.

That's all for now.

Jason

Do you currently read any blogs? Why or why not?
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Yes, I currently use blogs in my teaching for several reasons.

The main reason I use blogs is as a way for my international students to have a forum for creating a social network of classmates by having them each create their own online persona on a blog with links to all other classmates in the class. This helps them get adjusted to the new culture by establishing friendships more quickly, by allowing these second language learners time to reflect on and self-edit their language when posting, and by establishing a portal to share information about their own culture thereby establishing an online identity in the new culture.

A secondary reason for using blogs is that they serve as an on-line portal for students to check what their homework is and to compare their own submissions against answer keys posted to the instructor blog.

A third reason for having blogs in my classes is that it gives students extra motivation as they have authentic audiences and contexts for completing their writing assignments – current classmates and various world-wide visitors such as family and friends back home.

How does it feel to have your own blog?

Satisfying. It is fun.

Are there any issues?
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Not so far.

How could you use a blog as a learning activity with your students? Be as specific as possible.

I use blogs in my ESL writing classes. I have a semester-long project called the blog-on-test. In this contest, students add writing, music, videos and various links to sites containing information about their own interests to share with other classmates. This encourages visitations from one another and technology sharing as they see something “cool” on their friends’ blog and then ask that person how to set it up on their own site. Furthermore, it creates an authentic audience for the writing assignments assigned as classwork as other students visit and read their friends’ submissions.

At the end of the semester, we have a contest whereby each student gets to present their blog from the front of the multimedia classroom. It is set up like a knock-out tournament where students vote for their favourite blogs. Each winner goes to the next round and receives bonus points with the grand champion receiving a total of 3% bonus for their final course grade. This really encourages students to work hard on creating a great ‘space’ where visitors can come and view their compositions and share other cultural information.

Chapter 6, page 158, Practise 3 Answers

2. His mother, who neglected him and his brothers, wants to keep him.
3. He wants to be adopted by the Russes, who are his foster parents.
4. Foster parents are people who take care of abused or neglected children.
5. A box that contained marijuana was in the living room.
6. Mrs. Kingsley smoked marijuana, which is an illegal drug.
7. The boys' father, who did not live with their mother, did not want the children to live with him.
8. This case, which was the first child-parent divorce in the United States, received a lot of attention.
9. The lawyer who represented Mrs. Kingsley was a woman.
10. The judge made a decision that most people agree with.

Transition Signals with Reasons

Pattern 1 First of all, ……….(reason)…………

Second, ……….(reason)………..

Examples: First of all, Jordan has a lot of ancient landmarks.

Second, Jordan has the Dead Sea.

Pattern 2 The first reason is ………..(reason)………

The second reason is……..(reason)………..

Examples: The first reason is Jordan has a lot of ancient landmarks.

The second reason is Jordan has the Dead Sea.

Pattern 3 The first reason _____(thesis)_______ is that ………..(reason)………

The second reason ____(thesis)_____ is that ………..(reason)………

Using pattern 3 brings cohesion to your writing. Cohesion means your writing sticks together. Good paragraphs and essays should have only one thesis – one main topic. Repetition of the thesis helps the reader remember the main point of your writing.

Examples: The third reason Jordan is a wonderful country to spend a vacation is that tourists can try to eat a lot of different delicious Arabic foods and desserts.

*** Don’t use a comma when the transition signal is included in the subject!

Conclusion Signals with Reasons

For these __(number)___ reasons, …..(conclusion)

Examples: For these three reasons, Jordan is a wonderful country to spend a vacation.

Transition Signals with Examples

Pattern 1 For example, ……….(sentence)…………

For instance, ……….(sentence)………..

Examples: For example, Petra is one of Jordan’s ancient landmarks.

For instance, Petra is one of Jordan’s ancient landmarks.

Pattern 2 ……….., such as …… (+ nouns in a list)…

……….., for example, …… (+ nouns in a list)…

…………, for instance, …… (+ nouns in a list)…

Examples: Jordan has a lot of ancient landmarks, such as Petra.

Jordan has a lot of ancient landmarks, for example, Petra and Jerash.

Jordan has a lot of ancient landmarks, for instance, Petra and Jerash.

Homework: Weekend of March 6th

Please complete Practise 5, Editing Sentence and Punctuation Errors, p.136 in your text.

Also, please complete the TRY IT OUT exercise on page 137.

Upload both compositions to your blog by Monday evening, please.

Have a great weekend. Remember, you can also feel free to add personal writing, photos, links, slide shows, music or any other gadgets to make your blog sites more attractive to other readers.

Jason