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Learning Log Day 3 2011/7/5
1. Concrete Experience The topic that Dr. Haley taught us today is “Successful ways to use technology and brain-compatible teaching.” The very special thing was the warmup activity—get to know your colleagues. She gave us each a piece of paper with some spaces on it and we had to find out the person who could satisfy the request [what request?] and we have to fill all spaces in 7 minutes. This is a very good and interesting way for us to get to know each other in a very short time. Then the most important things are three questions below: 1. what do I want students to know and be able to do? 2. students will be able to… 3. how do I measure it and can I measure my adjective? In the middle of the class, we had “brain gym” which means “to oxygenate the brain.” We were asked to stand up and do some exercises. Dr. Haley also reminded us of two important teaching skills: 1. do I teach the way I was taught? 2. am I aware of my own preferred intelligence? Then Dr. Haley made us know three technology tools “wordle, google earth and tagxedo” and we used two of them to do the brief presentation about the 5 famous spot lights in Taiwan. 2. Reflective Observations In this class, we did many discussions as a group and shared with classmates immediately. Usually, Taiwanese teachers don’t do this, but ask students to do their homework and present once at the end of the semester. Therefore, students don’t care much about what the class is and what the teacher does while in class. So I think this is a good chance for students to join and pay attention in the class. 3. New English word today Brain-Compatible Teaching There are some general characteristics for brain-compatible teaching, but I prefer the characteristics below: 1. often rich with talking, music, and activity 2. use of totally positive language 3. learn for joy of real learning and real life 4. suggest, ask, tell 5. learning is collaborative Once if I can do some of these above, I think the class must be full of fun and joyful atmosphere. Students will also enjoy the learning. |
Learning Log Day10 2011/7/13
1. Concrete Experience This morning was Bill’s presentation about how he got the teachers’ license and master’s degree in GMU and his experiences on teaching. This really helped us a lot. I think if I have a chance, I will also try to apply for the scholarship for the Phd. program. But I think I have to sharpen my English ability first. In the afternoon we had the reflection which included a reading comprehension strategy. We started from writing the best and worst learning or teaching moments we had and reviewed SQ3R of Dewey’s reflection. Mr. Brown gave me the comment that when our students perform well or not, that will be my impressed moment. That is, no matter my best or worst teaching moment, it depends on the students’ performance. And then was the fish bowl time. I liked Felicia’s story very much which could be one of my reflections. And now, I know what reflection is. Reflection is “After you teach, you learned about what to teach next time.” Just like what I said in class, “When we learn to ride a bike, we may fall down. But if we can practice and practice, we will not fall down and we will know how to ride a bike.” 2. Reflective Observation Since we didn’t have homework today, Felicia, Heidi and I took CUE bus and Metro bus to Fair Oaks for relaxing. Unfortunately, we waited at the wrong direction when we transferred the Metro bus. So, it took us more than two hours to get to Fair Oaks. The worst thing was, we saw there’s a time table of Mason’s shuttle bus on the bus stop of Fair Oaks, and Felicia also confirmed by phone. However, we waited for a very long time so Felicia decided to check again, but the person said she mistook, there was no shuttle during summer vacation. Then we had to wait for the next Metro bus since one of the buses just passed while Felicia was calling. The only lucky thing was, we caught the last CUE bus to school and went back to the dorm before 12 p.m. Hereafter, we made the decision that we will never take Metro bus after 4 p.m. Taiwan is so small that we never wait for a bus or a train longer than 2 hours. But today, we created a new record in our life. Kolb Model Reflection are 4 steps:
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