The Final Week (Last class 27 August)

First of all, here is the assignment description and rubric for the final portion of the blog project:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hN04-FiDDPXSHYlHR1-NvNd1hBGMbbHFdRDJasKoKK0/edit?usp=sharing

Please be aware of all of the following deadlines.  Missing any of these could have a negative effect on your final grade!

24 August (Sunday): Final blog post due integrating Youtube video

27 August (Thursday - last class): Quiz on final readings - article (authentic materials) and textbook excerpt (instructional technology)

27 August (Thursday): Blog Project - final reflection writing assignment due (submit by email)

1 September (Tuesday): Final Project due (submit by email)


Email me with any questions you have!  See you next week.

August 13th: Class Prep

As discussed last week, we will have a quiz this week on Chapters 5 and 6 of our primary textbook (Empowering English Language Learners with Tools from the Web).  This quiz will be longer than usual (it covers two chapters) and will count double.  In addition to the reading, please view the file linked below, which was handed out last class.  It summarizes some of the basic ideas we discussed about online media sharing in TEFL.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxTF2n3M9Ex3NVZIS1pVMVlkWHc/view?usp=sharing

The final project will also be introduced this week.  I am attaching a link to the project instructions now so you can look at them before class tomorrow.  Please read through and see if you have any questions.  I will ask that you save your questions for class rather than emailing me.  The reason: your questions are probably relevant to the whole class, and other students may benefit from hearing them.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wdy0HTZ0FtCbaVxDeeQOVHsLG_oiRhnC6CI8gHn7VDQ/edit?usp=sharing

This week we'll close our discussion of online media sharing (visual media and videos) and you'll be given your final reading assignment.  You'll also be given your final blog post assignment.  Next week, the blog project wrap-up instructions will be handed out.  This "wrap-up" will involve a short writing assignment (1-2 pages), which will be worth 35% of your grade for the project.

August 6th: Class Recap

I want to briefly review what we talked about in class last Thursday.  A few of you were absent, so please pay close attention to the following:

First, the homework:

1. [For those of you who were absent: Read the post below this one and watch the videos.]
2. Blog project: 1 blog post with photo album embedded (see blog post below for instructions), plus comments on two other blogs.  I am going to give you a few extra days for this - it is now due before midnight on Sunday, 16 August.
3. Read Chapters 5 and 6 in the main textbook (I emailed you several chapters from this book last week - let me know if you have any questions about the proper chapters to read).  This is still due Thursday.

We will have a quiz next week on the reading, so please be sure to finish it before next class.  The chapters are not long, and the material is not difficult.  The quiz will focus on main ideas, not small details.

Moving on, this is the situation with the remainder of the semester:

• We will have 3 more classes: 13, 20, and 27 August.  

• We will have two more quizzes, both of which will count double.  They will be on 13 and 20 August.
• Due to time constraints, there will be NO WRITTEN TEST.
• The blog project will include 2 more posts (one with an embedded image album and one with a Youtube video made by you).  There will also be a final write-up due 27 August.  Instructions for this will be provided on 20 August, so please do not start before that date.
• For the final, there will be a short project.  It will be introduced next class, and it will be due Tuesday, 1 September.

This has been a difficult semester, especially for this class.  Even before the strike, we missed close to a month of class due to administrative cancellations and a "volcano day" among other things.  However, we will finish strong!

In closing, here is a quote from Plato´s Republic - an educational concept that showed up way ahead of its time and relates to what we´ve talked about in class:

“Now, all this study of reckoning and geometry and all the preliminary studies that are indispensable for dialectic must be presented to them while still young, not in the form of compulsory instruction.” “Why so?” “Because,” said I, “a free soul ought not to pursue and study slavishly; for while the bodily labors performed under constraint do not harm the body, nothing that is learned under compulsion stays with the mind.”

Online Media Sharing: Posting Online Albums in Blogs, Creating YT Videos

We´ll begin with online photo sharing.  Putting an image gallery in a blog post can be very useful in order to share visual aids with students in an interactive way.  Image galleries have many applications in TEFL. Being able to create your own gallery - tailored exactly to your needs for a particular lesson - and share it on a tutor or class blog is a powerful educational tool.  The video below shows how to use a web app called QuickGallery to post albums from your existing accounts on sites like Facebook or Flickr to your blog.  This is not the only way to post an album, but it is a very convenient method.  Take a look:

Now, let´s move on to online video sharing.  You already know how to put a Youtube video in a blog post, but what about creating your own YT video?  This can also be a very useful tool for an EFL teacher.  You can create videos of yourself in order to communicate with your students outside of class, or you can incorporate existing media into a new video that fits your particular educational needs.  For now, we are going to focus on some of the more basic elements of creating and posting a Youtube video.  Please watch the 2-part video series below:

In your homework readings, you will delve deeper into the educational applications of Youtube videos and online image galleries.  You will also practice using these tools - and creating your own material - in the final two posts of the blog project during the next two weeks.