Monday, November 26, 2012
ENG 345 Post # 11
The readings from this past week dealt with assessment. In my 346 class, we have been discussing the differences between assessment and testing and the various types of assessments you can use in order to assess students. As Brown has said, a test is something that measures knowledge in a specific domain where as an assessment measures a wider domain in an ongoing process. An example of this would be a portfolio that a student could look back on and see how much they have progressed and the knowledge they have gained. I personally prefer assessments in the elementary and secondary school settings. The purpose of school is for students to learn and progress. With diverse assessments students can explore their abilities and talents and learn and experience more than in just one test that is not always valid and reliable. Also in the readings, Brown discusses norm-referenced tests and criterion-referenced tests. I became aware of norm- referenced tests last year due to my professor grading our exams and papers in comparison to the rest of the class. I hated this. Since the class I took was a Spanish history class, there were many native Spanish speakers in there. Therefore, my level of ability was seen as lower due to my L2 being compared to someone's L1. I did not think that that was entirely fair. In my future class, I would be sure to use criterion-referenced tests. I feel that it is only fair to base a students performance off of what they can do and not compare it to everyone elses. Every student should have the opportunity to obtain an A, not be scattered through out a scale based on comparability.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Eng 345 Post # 10
Brown's readings that were assigned this past week talked about curriculum and unit plans. Curriculum can be very overwhelming in the idea that not everything goes to plan. You may have planned out numerous activities for a day that dealt with the topic matter you were teaching and were not able to get to all of them due to the students not grasping the idea of the concept immediately. It was a relief to see that Brown talked of this because things never always go to plan and it is a crazy to believe that in a classroom of diverse students a teacher will be able to follow the curriculum or their unit plan word for word or step of step. Brown discusses the needs of the students as objective and subjective. The objectives are what we have all been used to preparing and planning, "The students will be able to demonstrate...etc" in our lesson plans. Of course these are important and essential because students attend school in order to learn. However, because things change from year to year, day to day, and especially from student to student, we need to keep in mind the subjective needs of the students when teaching in order to accommodate to their needs.The question that arouses for me, is how exactly do you incorporate all of these subjective needs in a lesson plan? Do they necessarily have to be written out, or can we simply imply that things are not going to go as planned and give our plans and curriculum flexibility?
Kumar took a different approach in what was discussed in the readings and focused on M&M/ macro-strategies / mismatch observational scheme. In this observational scheme, the teacher observes themselves in how they approach a lesson, teach it, meet the students needs, and how they can improve themselves in doing so. The three main points of observation include pre-observation, observation, and post observation. I feel that all three of these observation points are important in the idea that this gives ourselves as teachers so observe ourselves before, during, and after in order to compare what we had to planned, to actually what happened, and then focus on the improvements we can make in future lessons to better them. The quote that my C&I 212 teacher would always say is "There is no other profession like teaching where each day you have a fresh start". I completely believe and agree with that. By analyzing and observing ourselves we can definitely continue to improve in order to become the best teachers we can be.
Kumar took a different approach in what was discussed in the readings and focused on M&M/ macro-strategies / mismatch observational scheme. In this observational scheme, the teacher observes themselves in how they approach a lesson, teach it, meet the students needs, and how they can improve themselves in doing so. The three main points of observation include pre-observation, observation, and post observation. I feel that all three of these observation points are important in the idea that this gives ourselves as teachers so observe ourselves before, during, and after in order to compare what we had to planned, to actually what happened, and then focus on the improvements we can make in future lessons to better them. The quote that my C&I 212 teacher would always say is "There is no other profession like teaching where each day you have a fresh start". I completely believe and agree with that. By analyzing and observing ourselves we can definitely continue to improve in order to become the best teachers we can be.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Eng 345 Blog # 9
Reading Blog: Cultural Awareness
The readings from this past week dealt with raising cultural awareness. As we have learned and talked about in the past, it is extremely important to be aware and respectful of other peoples cultures. Being ESL teachers, there are for sure going to be students from diverse backgrounds that we need to take in to account for teaching. Not only to do we need to recognize and be sensitive in order to make students feel comfortable and welcomed in the classroom but we also need to pay attention to the differences of what is culturally acceptable in some cultures and what is not in comparison to ours. It is important to be aware of these factors in order for us to understand actions and behaviors of certain students and also to inform them and teach them the "norms" of the American culture. Due to the probability of having a class full of diverse learners, It would be smart to include lessons of each students culture so that the whole class can also learn and be aware of it too. Not only will it give the other students a better understanding, but it would make the students culture that's being presented feel proud and welcomed in a diverse setting.
Research Proposal Update
The topic that I had decided on from the two that we had discussed was, should the use of the learners L1 be used in the classrooms or should they be English only? Although we had talked about focusing more on one of the skills, reading, writing, speaking, or listening, in regards to a more narrower topic, I have chosen to take a different route. I would like to compare English Only classrooms with respect to reality vs. ideology. It can be very easy to have an idea and feel that that is the right way to go but sometimes we forget to put these ideologies in to play and pay attention to their outcomes in reality. Therefore, I think that this aspect would be very beneficial to research and discuss since this topic of interest is still so controversial.
Articles
http://www.aare.edu.au/10pap/1755HoangJangYang.pdf - This article talks about the use of English -only classroom in a comparison of reality and ideology.
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED467741&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED467741 - This article discusses the opinions and points of view from the classroom including the teachers and students. (reality)
http://www.azcentral.com/families/education/articles/0228ellprimer0228.html - This article discusses Arizona's English only program and also the effects of complications in regards to families trying to fit in, teachers and language struggles, schools and their different directions, and lastly the state in regards to politics and money. (reality)
The readings from this past week dealt with raising cultural awareness. As we have learned and talked about in the past, it is extremely important to be aware and respectful of other peoples cultures. Being ESL teachers, there are for sure going to be students from diverse backgrounds that we need to take in to account for teaching. Not only to do we need to recognize and be sensitive in order to make students feel comfortable and welcomed in the classroom but we also need to pay attention to the differences of what is culturally acceptable in some cultures and what is not in comparison to ours. It is important to be aware of these factors in order for us to understand actions and behaviors of certain students and also to inform them and teach them the "norms" of the American culture. Due to the probability of having a class full of diverse learners, It would be smart to include lessons of each students culture so that the whole class can also learn and be aware of it too. Not only will it give the other students a better understanding, but it would make the students culture that's being presented feel proud and welcomed in a diverse setting.
Research Proposal Update
The topic that I had decided on from the two that we had discussed was, should the use of the learners L1 be used in the classrooms or should they be English only? Although we had talked about focusing more on one of the skills, reading, writing, speaking, or listening, in regards to a more narrower topic, I have chosen to take a different route. I would like to compare English Only classrooms with respect to reality vs. ideology. It can be very easy to have an idea and feel that that is the right way to go but sometimes we forget to put these ideologies in to play and pay attention to their outcomes in reality. Therefore, I think that this aspect would be very beneficial to research and discuss since this topic of interest is still so controversial.
Articles
http://www.aare.edu.au/10pap/1755HoangJangYang.pdf - This article talks about the use of English -only classroom in a comparison of reality and ideology.
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED467741&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED467741 - This article discusses the opinions and points of view from the classroom including the teachers and students. (reality)
http://www.azcentral.com/families/education/articles/0228ellprimer0228.html - This article discusses Arizona's English only program and also the effects of complications in regards to families trying to fit in, teachers and language struggles, schools and their different directions, and lastly the state in regards to politics and money. (reality)
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