The ways I would like to improve as a teacher are many. Like most teachers, I find daily ways to improve areas of my lessons. I have no illusions of grandeur when it comes to my teaching abilities. I know that there is a lot of room to improve. One specific area, I would like to improve is being able to engage my students to participate more freely in my class. I have access to some tools to help me achieve this but maybe I am lacking the ability to integrate them fully into my classroom setting. One the reasons, I got excited about this course was seeing the syllabus and really getting the sense that the practical nature of the materials would allow me to easily implement them into my lesson planning. Just from one morning session, I think my first impressions were right as I have already thought about a dozen different ways to improve the way I teach.
Another area, I feel I need improvement in is connectivity with my students. I want my students to fully engage themselves into my class but with the language barrier that exists it is difficult to form real relationships with them. Without some sort of connection between teacher and student, a disconnect can occur which can form a barrier to learning. Once again, I think there are already a few ways that this course will help me resolve this issue. I definitely see the potential that getting my students to participate in Schoology could help break down some of the barriers that exist between student and teacher. As we discussed, some students are more introverted than others and given the opportunity to communicate freely via a posting board on Schoology would allow these students to connect with me and the others students in a way they might not be able to in person. As others suggested as well, Facebook can also be useful in creating this type of environment. Korean students are especially interesting in creating an digital identity so I think using some of these digital mediums above will help encourage them to create one within the context of my class.
I'm sure there will be countless ways that this course will help me improve but from just a brief introduction I am excited about potentially being able to truly integrate technology more efficiently into my lessons.
As Bugs Bunny says.....That's all folks.
That's exactly what I thought when I saw the two options for our first blog post. This one seemed like a perfect place to start.
ReplyDeleteI'm loving the fact that everything we are doing in class is something that we can almost immediately implement in our own classrooms. I also feel that I have to find a better way to connect with my classes. Even beyond just the language barrier, many students in Korea have very little life experience and it makes them very hard to find a common ground with. We grew up in very different ways and it's hard for us to relate. We really need to find a way to challenge them and peak their interest at the same time. That is one of our greatest challenges as teachers.
Next semester, perhaps we can all work together to establish some kind of Bucheon University Online English Community that our students could freely participate in. English is very important for them and could be very beneficial to them when it comes time to apply for jobs. The more exposure we can give them in their time at our university, the better!
I like the idea about you all working together to establish a community. Facebook might be a good place to start something like this.
ReplyDeleteChris, I think Schoology is a great idea. I know we already have a Bucheon Drop-Box file but perhaps, with a little work, we could get a course set up through Schoology. This would be a great way to share ideas and Adam and I could send out messages and updates this way instead of sending out emails. I don't think it would be hard to sell the idea to the rest of the professors who didn't take this course.
ReplyDeleteI agree with how schoology shows great potential on increasing connectivity with the students. I think this course making everyone excited about the possibilities of integrating more technology into their everyday lessons. Your blogs overall appearance is topnotch, very creative and well done, but I would stay away from using facebook as a teaching tool.
ReplyDeleteI agree with how schoology shows great potential on increasing connectivity with the students. I think this course making everyone excited about the possibilities of integrating more technology into their everyday lessons. Your blogs overall appearance is top notch, very creative and well done, but I would stay away from using facebook as a teaching tool.
ReplyDelete