I have been thinking about how the tutor is used as a resource and couldn’t seem to work out how the student can be used as a resource, even though I have been doing it in my teaching for a while. Stephen (2002 online) states a few of these methods that were in front of me all along. For example, how a student is an able body and can be used physically to demonstrate a point. I have done this when demonstrating how to divide, by asking the class to stand and then divided them into four groups. Another method mentioned by Stephen (2002 online) is how the student has prior knowledge and experiences. I have drawn on these when discussing relevant topics in PSD classes which seems a great way to make the learner feel part of the lesson and that they are not just attending a lesson.
Stephen, S.(2002) The not so hidden resource - student.[online]Available: www.teachingenglish.org.uk [27.01.2009].
Tuesday 27 January 2009
ARE YOU A RESOURCE?
As a teacher I feel that we are looked upon for answers. However, I don’t believe we are there to spoon feed information, but to guide the learner in the right direction. Petty (2004 pp.354) argues that the tutor as a facilitator is crucial, but not always done correctly. A tutor is there to help a student towards independence, therefore using a question and answer based conversation, you are able to guide the learner to the correct answer without actually giving them the information directly. By doing this, the student and teacher become a partnership, but the learner is always given the lead initially.
Petty, G. (2004) Teaching Today: A Practical Guide. 3rd Edition. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes
Petty, G. (2004) Teaching Today: A Practical Guide. 3rd Edition. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes
Wednesday 21 January 2009
NO COMPUTERS?
Although there are many positive aspects to including new technologies into the classroom, it isn’t always possible. In this case we need to make the most of what we have and in the past, computers weren’t used in education.
The Learning and Teaching website (Atherton 2005, Online) offers a wide range of do’s and don’ts when using different resources. For example, it is stated that a whiteboard or flipchart could give the impression that the planning of the lesson was rushed or that you are being spontaneous by making notes on it before the lesson starts. To avoid this appearance, Petty (2004 pp.369) advises that tutors should start with a clean board and if you intend to use the board to take notes throughout the lesson, ensure that this is explained to the students to avoid confusion over copying. However if you do wish students to make notes from the board, you should make sure you write in blue or black and write neatly to aid readability but also to encourage the learners to write neatly as well.
Another resource used frequently is the handout. Reece and Walker (2007 pp.175-174) state a number of ways in which handouts can be used, from an information sheet to a worksheet. Worksheets are good when wanting to save time as they can prevent the tutor from having to repeat themselves, especially when teaching a class of mixed ability, but do need to be tried and tested first.
Contrary to this, the Learning and Teaching website (Atherton 2005, Online) advise tutors to be aware of the timing of issuing worksheets as giving a comprehension worksheet at the start of the lesson will give the learner no reason to listen to the tutor as they can read it themselves. I personally like to use worksheets to break up a lesson with a lot of discussion and to enable quieter learners to participate especially if they are too shy to contribute to a large group. However if used too frequently, handouts can become tedious.
Overhead projectors also have good and bad points. Some good aspects mentioned by Petty (2004 pp.361) are that a tutor can face the class whilst writing on the OHTs and are able to spend more time explaining content rather than writing it on the board.
On the other hand, Reece and Walker (2007 pp.360) believe that copying from the board and OHP transparencies is not a good use of class contact time and feel that issuing students with handouts can save a lot of time. OHPs seemed to be an instrument of the past to me, personally I have never had one available to use in the classroom and I have not seen one being used for a while. With the Interactive Whiteboard becoming more and more popular, I imagine it may phase OHPs out. The same can be said for worksheets as it is possible to create and complete them on the computer; however the likelihood of each learner having individual access to a computer other than in an ICT lesson can be even less likely than being able to use an interactive whiteboard.
Atherton, J.S. (2005) Learning and Teaching: Handouts. [Online]. Available: http://www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/handouts.htm
[21.01.2009]
Reece, I. & Walker, S. (2007) Teaching , Training and Learning : A Practical Guide. 6th Edition. Sunderland: Business Education
Petty, G. (2004) Teaching Today: A Practical Guide. 3rd Edition. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes
The Learning and Teaching website (Atherton 2005, Online) offers a wide range of do’s and don’ts when using different resources. For example, it is stated that a whiteboard or flipchart could give the impression that the planning of the lesson was rushed or that you are being spontaneous by making notes on it before the lesson starts. To avoid this appearance, Petty (2004 pp.369) advises that tutors should start with a clean board and if you intend to use the board to take notes throughout the lesson, ensure that this is explained to the students to avoid confusion over copying. However if you do wish students to make notes from the board, you should make sure you write in blue or black and write neatly to aid readability but also to encourage the learners to write neatly as well.
Another resource used frequently is the handout. Reece and Walker (2007 pp.175-174) state a number of ways in which handouts can be used, from an information sheet to a worksheet. Worksheets are good when wanting to save time as they can prevent the tutor from having to repeat themselves, especially when teaching a class of mixed ability, but do need to be tried and tested first.
Contrary to this, the Learning and Teaching website (Atherton 2005, Online) advise tutors to be aware of the timing of issuing worksheets as giving a comprehension worksheet at the start of the lesson will give the learner no reason to listen to the tutor as they can read it themselves. I personally like to use worksheets to break up a lesson with a lot of discussion and to enable quieter learners to participate especially if they are too shy to contribute to a large group. However if used too frequently, handouts can become tedious.
Overhead projectors also have good and bad points. Some good aspects mentioned by Petty (2004 pp.361) are that a tutor can face the class whilst writing on the OHTs and are able to spend more time explaining content rather than writing it on the board.
On the other hand, Reece and Walker (2007 pp.360) believe that copying from the board and OHP transparencies is not a good use of class contact time and feel that issuing students with handouts can save a lot of time. OHPs seemed to be an instrument of the past to me, personally I have never had one available to use in the classroom and I have not seen one being used for a while. With the Interactive Whiteboard becoming more and more popular, I imagine it may phase OHPs out. The same can be said for worksheets as it is possible to create and complete them on the computer; however the likelihood of each learner having individual access to a computer other than in an ICT lesson can be even less likely than being able to use an interactive whiteboard.
Atherton, J.S. (2005) Learning and Teaching: Handouts. [Online]. Available: http://www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/handouts.htm
[21.01.2009]
Reece, I. & Walker, S. (2007) Teaching , Training and Learning : A Practical Guide. 6th Edition. Sunderland: Business Education
Petty, G. (2004) Teaching Today: A Practical Guide. 3rd Edition. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes
Friday 16 January 2009
The Big Blog!
A blog is a great way to express and share your knowledge and opinions in any subject. Downes (2004 online) states many ways in which a blog can be used from a personal interest to a classroom discussion. A blog can be set up by a tutor to inform the learner of up and coming classes, suggested readings and summaries of readings.
Blogs can also be used as part of a summative assessment, and in this way be a good indicator of gained knowledge. One issue with this, highlighted by Reece and Walker (2007 p.g.191) is that due to the ease of use, blogs can be created by anyone, therefore questioning the authenticity of the content. Similar to this, the Staff and Departmental Unit of Leeds University (SDDU 2006 Online) state that because the blog is controlled entirely by the author, colleges and teachers have no control over how explicit, challenging or offensive the content of a student or teacher blogs is. This would be my main concern with using student blogs as part of measuring knowledge gained. The reason for this is the learners in my care are quite prone to using inappropriate language and enjoy being ‘the class clown’. Therefore they may use this as an opportunity to write an anonymous, offensive comment on a teacher/ student blog and may find it rather amusing. On the other hand, using blogs for students of a higher level who have a large interest in the topic they are studying, may find it useful for exchanging ideas.
Downes, S., 2004, "Educational Blogging", Educause Review, vol. 39, no. 5, pp 14–26 (http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0450.asp viewed 26th Feb. 2007).
Reece, I. & Walker, S. (2007) Teaching , Training and Learning : A Practical Guide. 6th Edition. Sunderland: Business Education
SDDU, 2006, “what is a Blog’’ [online] Available: http://www.sddu.leeds.ac.uk/online_resources/blogging/risks.htm [16th January 2009]
Blogs can also be used as part of a summative assessment, and in this way be a good indicator of gained knowledge. One issue with this, highlighted by Reece and Walker (2007 p.g.191) is that due to the ease of use, blogs can be created by anyone, therefore questioning the authenticity of the content. Similar to this, the Staff and Departmental Unit of Leeds University (SDDU 2006 Online) state that because the blog is controlled entirely by the author, colleges and teachers have no control over how explicit, challenging or offensive the content of a student or teacher blogs is. This would be my main concern with using student blogs as part of measuring knowledge gained. The reason for this is the learners in my care are quite prone to using inappropriate language and enjoy being ‘the class clown’. Therefore they may use this as an opportunity to write an anonymous, offensive comment on a teacher/ student blog and may find it rather amusing. On the other hand, using blogs for students of a higher level who have a large interest in the topic they are studying, may find it useful for exchanging ideas.
Downes, S., 2004, "Educational Blogging", Educause Review, vol. 39, no. 5, pp 14–26 (http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0450.asp viewed 26th Feb. 2007).
Reece, I. & Walker, S. (2007) Teaching , Training and Learning : A Practical Guide. 6th Edition. Sunderland: Business Education
SDDU, 2006, “what is a Blog’’ [online] Available: http://www.sddu.leeds.ac.uk/online_resources/blogging/risks.htm [16th January 2009]
TO TEC OR NOT TO TEC!
I recently taught an equality and diversity class using quite a lot of technology which had its plus points and bad points. My lesson was prepared on a PowerPoint presentation I had adapted from one I found on Google simply by typing ppt after my search. I then copied the presentation onto handouts for the learners. One aspect of the presentation looked at a video which I had found on You Tube about the KKK. When I clicked on the video link on my slide, sure enough it began to play. However, as I hadn’t fully loaded the video prior to the session, the clip stopped 30seconds in and took a while to get going again. Luckily I was able to talk my way out of the problem, although as Reece and Walker (2007, p.193) suggest there can be a lack of confidence in people using technology, which in this particular case, was me. During my frantic panic to get the clip to work, I managed to open the clip again in a separate window which then caused the video’s to play over each other at different times causing an echo.
The day before the lesson I managed to get hold of eight laptops one for each learner. This was a quick and easy way to add differentiation to the lesson by allowing the learners to research in pairs or alone tightening search options if able and looking for extra information should they finish quickly. Cole (2007 Online)argues that having laptops with internet access is a problem as learners can easily stray from the lesson to visit social networks and even shop online. I agree that this would be an issue especially with the age group I teach. However, if the class is small enough and the lesson has a mixture of written exercises, discussions and ICT, I believe internet use can be monitored and controlled.
Cole, D (April 7 2007) Laptops V Learning. Washington Post [online] Available:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/06/AR2007040601544.html
[14th January 2009]
Reece, I. & Walker, S. (2007) Teaching , Training and Learning : A Practical Guide. 6th Edition. Sunderland: Business Education
The day before the lesson I managed to get hold of eight laptops one for each learner. This was a quick and easy way to add differentiation to the lesson by allowing the learners to research in pairs or alone tightening search options if able and looking for extra information should they finish quickly. Cole (2007 Online)argues that having laptops with internet access is a problem as learners can easily stray from the lesson to visit social networks and even shop online. I agree that this would be an issue especially with the age group I teach. However, if the class is small enough and the lesson has a mixture of written exercises, discussions and ICT, I believe internet use can be monitored and controlled.
Cole, D (April 7 2007) Laptops V Learning. Washington Post [online] Available:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/06/AR2007040601544.html
[14th January 2009]
Reece, I. & Walker, S. (2007) Teaching , Training and Learning : A Practical Guide. 6th Edition. Sunderland: Business Education
Thursday 8 January 2009
Move On
I have found an excellent site that helps learners with basic skills in Maths and English. Move on allows learners to have their own individual login code and gives them a variety of tasks and tips to help them with their basic skills. It ranges from e3 to level 2 in both subjects and has helped my learners progress by enabling them to access the site from both college and at home.
This site also has a range of mock exams at all levels mentioned above which is good for both teachers and students as once the learner has completed the test, the site will mark it and explain why they have gone wrong, where they have gone wrong and gives a list of weak areas for the learner to develop on.
Move On also promotes inclusivity as it allows the learner to change the size of text and colour of text/ background. This has been useful for learners with dyslexia and problems with vision.
Click Here to visit Move On home page.
Reece and Walker (2007pp.192) state that ILT is a great way to enhance accessibility for learners. Like with the Move On resources, when creating PowerPoint presentations and Word document resources, it is easy to change font size, zoom in and out and change background colour to aid readability.
One issue highlighted by the Qualification and Curriculum Agency (QCA, n.d. Online) is that although sites such as Move On can encourage home study, socioeconomic factors may limit some pupil’s access to ICT at home therefore creating a barrier to learning.
The Learning and Teaching Scotland website (LTScotland, 2007, Online) offer a range of links to help tutors promote inclusivity in classroom and highlights the key areas to consider when creating resources such as Physiological, psychological, learning styles, perceptual, cognitive and linguistic ability.
LTScotland, 2007,”Inclusive Education”, [Online] Available;
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/inclusiveeducation/ictandinclusion/webandlearning/materials.asp
[19/01/2009]
QCA, n.d, “Inclusion Issues”, [Online] Available;
http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_2222.aspx
[19/01/2009]
This site also has a range of mock exams at all levels mentioned above which is good for both teachers and students as once the learner has completed the test, the site will mark it and explain why they have gone wrong, where they have gone wrong and gives a list of weak areas for the learner to develop on.
Move On also promotes inclusivity as it allows the learner to change the size of text and colour of text/ background. This has been useful for learners with dyslexia and problems with vision.
Click Here to visit Move On home page.
Reece and Walker (2007pp.192) state that ILT is a great way to enhance accessibility for learners. Like with the Move On resources, when creating PowerPoint presentations and Word document resources, it is easy to change font size, zoom in and out and change background colour to aid readability.
One issue highlighted by the Qualification and Curriculum Agency (QCA, n.d. Online) is that although sites such as Move On can encourage home study, socioeconomic factors may limit some pupil’s access to ICT at home therefore creating a barrier to learning.
The Learning and Teaching Scotland website (LTScotland, 2007, Online) offer a range of links to help tutors promote inclusivity in classroom and highlights the key areas to consider when creating resources such as Physiological, psychological, learning styles, perceptual, cognitive and linguistic ability.
LTScotland, 2007,”Inclusive Education”, [Online] Available;
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/inclusiveeducation/ictandinclusion/webandlearning/materials.asp
[19/01/2009]
QCA, n.d, “Inclusion Issues”, [Online] Available;
http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_2222.aspx
[19/01/2009]
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