1:1 Class Expectations

Here is the link to my 1:1 classroom expectations. This blog is short and sweet.

Rounding Third

And heading for home! We are closing in on the end. As I mentioned previously it has been one of the most informative courses I have ever taken.One of the projects that we completed that I didn't expect to be as useful as it might be was the audio recording/Screen Cast. After completing the assignment, my head definitely filled with possibilities for using more audio lessons in my classroom.  Teaching ESL,  I can easily see the benefit of students learning how to record themselves and using each recording they make as benchmarks in their progress. I am considering getting the students to record themselves on a weekly basis so that at the end of the two terms they can see if they have made any improvement in their pronunciation, intonation, and fluency. I like the idea of using Screen casts a bit more than just plain audio as I think the students will have more to say if they can play off the visual cues provided by computer screen. Along the same lines, having my students do a video project will also provide them with an opportunity to reflect back over time to see if they have improved.

I also see myself making more audio recordings and screen casts for my students. I can set up a Dropbox or Google docs site so students can at anytime go into it and view or listen to pre-recorded lessons. I can provide my students short lessons( couple minutes) and they can review these lessons at their leisure. Our students are beginner level so they can benefit from having access to the materials at home. I also sometimes have students tell me that they have problems with the speed of my voice or my accent. Making recordings that they can review will allow them to listen to me more frequently which will hopefully lead them to understand me better in class.

There are many ideas floating around in my head to improve the quality of my classrooms lessons, I am going to be stuck for time to get everything done. But, after seeing the way my students have reacted to just a few of the tools we have learned over the duration of the course, I am determined to totally revamp the way I approach my classes.

Down the rabbit hole

Myself and Tristan had a lot of fun creating our movie project. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed creating it for you guys. I have also included the link to the original trailer we "sweded" and a few links to some of my favorite "sweded" trailers.

Our classes are primarily targeted at low to high beginner ESL students. The issue we saw with having students create their own scripts from scratch is the burden on the students might be too great.  We have both tried to get our students to create dialogues for role playing before and to be frank it went terribly. By having them parody a trailer, the script can be easily copied down. Then they can focus on the pronunciation, fluency and intonation. It will give them some extra time to put together some props and costumes as well. The main goal at Bucheon is to get the students speaking English as much as possible and we think the ease of which they can come up with a script will allow them to focus on delivering a good presentation.  

Here is the original trailer and our sample parody trailer:

Click HERE for the student handout, lesson explanation , storyboard template and rubric.

Here are a couple of my favorite Sweded trailers. The inspiration for our project.

Audio Slave

Here is the recording and  rubric for my Audio Recording Project. This is a lesson that could be easily implemented in class. The topic I chose was a website review but the topic can be adjusted to just about anything. Movie reviews, music reviews, restaurants reviews, you get the idea. I would prepare an in class lesson where I showed my students how to make a recording with their computer or phone. There are lots of other ways to record these reviews but I would likely choose the path of least resistance and get them to use the recording device on their computer. After the students understand how to make a recording, I would then show them how to either use Soundcloud or YouTube to upload their reviews. For my example I used YouTube. To do this, I used Movie maker to create and publish my review on YouTube. I would show my students the simple steps to do this. Once all reviews are submitted, I would share all reviews in class.

Below is the YouTube Video I recorded. This lesson could also be easily done as a screen cast and students could navigate the viewer through their favorite website.





Music: Eddie Vedder: Satellite
            From: Ukulele Songs, 2011.
            Monkeywrench Records

Styling and Website Profiling

Here is a sample website that I would us for a project in my class.

Here is the basis break down on how I would introduce the lesson.

1. I would use this project in the first few weeks of my course where my ESL students are learning how to introduce themselves and talk about themselves.

2. I would use a presentation or screen cast to guide the students through a free website building site. Ex. Wix

3. After the students understood the basics of building a website. I would inform them that they have to create a profile of themselves. In this profile,  they would have to include a Bio which would cover general information about themselves such as name, age, hometown, etc then they would have to create 4 pages of their interests. Some examples would be sports,fashion, food, travel, family, photography, music and so on.

4. I would give them a week to complete the website then the students would have to send me the link for final approval. Once all the students have completed the task to my satisfaction, then they will have present their websites in class. Guide us through it and explain their pages.

Rubric ideas.

Students could be evaluated on website presentation, content, grammar, and their verbal presentations.

If you have any suggestions on how to make this lesson better, feel free to add a comment below.

Here is my sample site for my students.

The End is Nigh

Hard to really believe we are wrapping up this course in a week. Lots of stuff to complete before we finish but reflecting back on what we have learned so far I would have to say that I think being introduced to Prezi will definitely change a lot about the way I teach from now on. There have many countless little tips throughout the course that I will take away and utilize in my class but Prezi will definitely have a big influence on how my students will view my class from now on. I think most of the teachers from Bucheon University have made it clear that it can be a challenge to get and maintain the attention of our students. I really believe that Prezi will help out a lot in getting the students engaged and focused on the lessons I am introducing to them.

I am planning on combining Prezi with a number of other tools we now have in our repertoire. I can easily see my students creating Prezi presentations that have audio tracks they have created themselves using Garage band, screen casts that they can embed into the presentations, or even short films that they create. Using the dynamic templates available to them I can see my students getting excited about presenting rather than dreading it.   It is really hard to pick just one thing that is my favorite from this course, as I can honestly say that this course has been one of the most informative classes I have ever participated in. When Steve said at the beginning he wanted to arm us with new weapons to bring to class he wasn’t kidding. The hardest part from now on will be finding enough days in the term to get a chance to use all the tools.    

My Post has been Invaded. UPDATE: STILL WAITING FOR BLOGGER TO GET RID OF THE MALWARE.

Hey folks, there is a pop up that comes up prompting you to buy something or fill out some survey or something...anyways, I am trying to get rid of it. Hopefully, I'll figure out how to disable it soon. If not, I'll contact the blogger tech people to complain.

Update: I deleted an image that might have had some malware attached to it. Hopefully it resolved the issue. If you can comment and you are still getting the pop up about earning cash then let me know please...I have contacted blogger to get this resolved for good. Sorry about the problem...BuddyHost is the da Devil.

Update 2: Issue has not been resolved. If you want to comment on my post use chrome or firefox for now. Until the Blogger techs get back to me. In explorer there is not option to X out the earn money box but in chrome you can X the pop up and make you comments. Sorry.

Update 3. Still no word from Blogger. I hope they resolve the malware issue soon.

Update 4: Still waiting for a reply back from Blogger. Please use chrome or view this blog or to make a comment. you can X out the stupid pop up.

Update 5: After countless emails sent to Blogger, there has been no response. Again, if you use chrome and click comment..if the stupid box pops up again. just refresh the page. Should go away. then you can comment. This is seriously peeving me off.