Like the previous weeks, week 5 also has brought new
surprises in my life. I have got the opportunity of reading the articles on
rubric, alternative assessment, project based learning and webquests. As I am
quite used to in traditional way of teaching, I found them quite amazing and
become a bit skeptical whether I could apply them in my context or not.
The article on alternative assessment gave me insight on the
use of alternative assessment while evaluating students work. The very
interesting part of it is, it fosters the learner-centered classroom; these
methods give learners opportunities on their linguistics development and their learning
processes. As the features of it are solely based on students’ performance and
evaluation, it provides enough opportunities for the students to participate
not only in their learning activities but assessment as well. I think
incorporating alternative assessment with traditional forms of testing will be
quite useful and effective in ESL/EFL class.
Article by Susan Gaer has given me much more idea on making
the project more effective. She sheds a light on making students learning more
effective by involving them in their work. Unlike traditional teaching and
learning, students identify the problem and moves forward for the solution in
project based learning. They create their own issues and if needed teacher
facilitate in their task. Her suggestion on the projects: The project must be
geared to the population, the students must see value in a project and flexible
timeliness helps teacher to determine the project work where as it gives the
students the impetus to activate themselves for the work they are doing.
Another task, we went through was webquest. Going into it, I
feel like I have found the treasure in Treasure Island. Webquests, in my
opinion, can be very useful for my students and me as well to manage the
project based learning and bind my students in track. The very features of it
like introduction, task, process, evaluation, conclusion, credits, teacher
page, and students’ page can be a complete package for the teachers and
students. I think this web tool will be helpful to my students to know what
their task is, what they have to do from their part, what could be the
evaluation model, what are the resources links etc. I think it will prevent
students digressing from their task goal because they do not need to go beyond
the webquest and search the material for their projects as the materials can be
made available by the teacher in webquest in advance.
This week as a project work, we dealt about the problem that
we face in our class room along with the possible solution. In my class, I
found my students quite oblivious in learning English it’s because they find it
difficult in getting the authentic materials. I think the problem of my class
can be solved by the introduction of Nicenet class which could be helpful in
providing them links of the websites for their study.
Finally, I had a comment on Claudia’s blog. I liked her
train metaphor. Like her, I also have found the journey on webskills amazing
with new surprises each week. I feel like I am growing each day.
Sitaram