Week 7

Hello again, 

Firstly, I would like to thank you all for the hard work that you have put so far for this course. Well done!

Secondly, I would also like to congratulate you all on your Interactive PPTs as they were all well-developed and you took us through all the features that you had included. Keep using the knowledge that you have either started using or enhance the skills that you already had.  

You have also started working on your projects and we already had the first group presenting their work to us. So far we can all agree that a good start is half of the work done. 

There is also something else that I would like you to take into consideration. I think that I have already mentioned that together with the PPT presentation/video/Prezi and the materials designed for your classes, you need to submit your lesson plan. There are some templates for lesson plans that I am sharing, so you can use them as models to develop your own lesson plans. 

I have designed some flashcards on Quizlet and I would actually like you to develop a lesson plan and we will discuss it together during the lecture and then you will be asked either to adjust it or submit it as it is. You should all determine a specific time for each activity, in order to see how long it will take you to teach it in the real classroom. I will also submit the first page of the lesson and a summary of all the activities planned for that class. So, you have the flashcards prepared with Quizlet, the activities to check vocabulary acquisition and some quizzes that you can either decide to do in the classroom or to assign them as a homework. 

Thirdly, the assignment of this week is the first step that you are taking as part of a series of steps, which will help you in the end by putting together everything that you will do over these weeks. The first step for this week is for you to describe as in many details as possible (imagine them) the class you would like to teach. Provide details about the students, the setting, the goal/objectives and what are the needs of your students and how are you going to address them. Based on these details, you are actually planning the class that you are going to teach. They will help you choose the right materials, activities or even the technology tools that you will be using in the classroom. It should be like a reflection and trying to provide arguments for any decisions, if you are making any, at this stage. 

Finally, I would encourage you all to read carefully the rubric for the assessment of the presentations, so that you will be constructive with the feedback that you give in the classroom. I would also encourage that you all participate actively in the classroom and with the feedback, thus, it would be better that you are all prepared to take down notes. So you will have a double role, that of the observer as a master student and novice teacher, and that of the students of the level that your friends will assign us to be. 

Since it has been difficult to collect your assessment for the first group, who had their first class on Wednesday, I have changed things and decided to follow the assessment with an online tool such as the Mentimeter; you will be shared the link on the spot as soon as one group finishes their project and instantly you will submit the assessment.

Perhaps starting from next week I would request that you start sharing some of your journal entries as well. I will let you know more about it when the time comes. 

You will not have any specific topic for the Blog this week. You could use you Blog space to post something about your reflections and feelings in relation to the project that you are preparing. 

If you have any questions, please write in the Blog. 

Have a nice weekend :)