Unfortunately, because of copyright disputes the Turkish government has blocked access to blogspot.com in Turkey. So I've migrated my blog over to wordpress. I hope you'll find it even better and more helpful! So please check it out, leave some feedback, let me know what you like.http://justawordinthegrandstory.wordpress.com/
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Sorry...I've Moved...
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
We're All Still Kids . . .
So, I haven't gotten back to my reading experiments yet. Last week I tried to give a one-sided interview, and the students had to read the passage to find the answers. It was okay, but my students are really just not into reading at all. Then, this week I tried cutting the story up into paragraphs, and having them fill in some of the blanks with their opinions. Even with the shorter reading assignment, I know several didn't read much at all. They are good at scanning though! So . . . we will continue on the journey to find a profitable way to make stubborn students read.
However, I must say that I had a very enjoyable lesson today. I was teaching airport language. I teach 18-22 year olds in a University Prep School, but rearranging the room into an airport and airplane was one of the most effective things I've done recently. Maybe it is just the change of pace, but I can finally get my students to calm down and listen to me, and at the end of the lesson in the review time they did awesome with their retention. So, all that to say, just because they look big, doesn't mean they don't enjoy old fashioned pretend. Pretty sure I'll be looking for more ways to incorporate this into my classroom.
On a side note, just because my students are stubborn, doesn't mean they aren't logical. In teaching airport vocabulary, we obviously went over take off. I loved when I asked what it was when the plane was coming down, and got the excited answer "take on!" Of course! Why not?
I love when my students make me smile.
However, I must say that I had a very enjoyable lesson today. I was teaching airport language. I teach 18-22 year olds in a University Prep School, but rearranging the room into an airport and airplane was one of the most effective things I've done recently. Maybe it is just the change of pace, but I can finally get my students to calm down and listen to me, and at the end of the lesson in the review time they did awesome with their retention. So, all that to say, just because they look big, doesn't mean they don't enjoy old fashioned pretend. Pretty sure I'll be looking for more ways to incorporate this into my classroom.
On a side note, just because my students are stubborn, doesn't mean they aren't logical. In teaching airport vocabulary, we obviously went over take off. I loved when I asked what it was when the plane was coming down, and got the excited answer "take on!" Of course! Why not?
I love when my students make me smile.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Shut Up and Teach!
Well, this has been an interesting week. First off, I'm glad to be able to write again - for a couple of days blogspot was blocked. So, sorry for the delays. Secondly, I've been sick most of this week . . . and this has led me to contemplate practical ways to effectively lower my teacher talking time in the classroom. I'm still a rookie teacher, and it is hard to get past the instinctive, "If I'm not talking, I'm not teaching." But, this week, I was driven to find ways to get my students to do the talking for me, so I could save my voice. I wasn't extremely successful, but it made me start thinking again.
Here are a few of my ideas:
1. Have students organize teams and groups. Give them a number, and have them put the other students into groups for you.
2. I often have to repeat what I am saying for my students several times as they are not listening or paying attention to me. If I have one student listening, I then tell him to give the instructions to his classmates. This serves as a bit of a rebuke seeing as a classmate already knew what they should, and the offender didn't. (I realize this is opening up my need for more work in the classroom management area, and I will not deny that in the least! Please send any ideas my way!)
3. Brainstorming. I love having students brainstorm vocabulary words for a certain topic, and then let them decide whether or not the word fits the vocabulary topic.
4. I printed out the vocabulary words in a graphic organizer on one page, and then the list of definitions on the other page. I then gave both pages to the students, and they were to find the definition for their specific word. They could then share that definition with the rest of the class, and I only had to expound as necessary.
I have many other ways to implement this, I know. But, I was thankful for the opportunity to start thinking about it some more and coming up with more ideas. Please send me your thoughts on this topic! I'd love to hear how you've successfully lowered your teacher talking time in class!
Here are a few of my ideas:
2. I often have to repeat what I am saying for my students several times as they are not listening or paying attention to me. If I have one student listening, I then tell him to give the instructions to his classmates. This serves as a bit of a rebuke seeing as a classmate already knew what they should, and the offender didn't. (I realize this is opening up my need for more work in the classroom management area, and I will not deny that in the least! Please send any ideas my way!)
3. Brainstorming. I love having students brainstorm vocabulary words for a certain topic, and then let them decide whether or not the word fits the vocabulary topic.
4. I printed out the vocabulary words in a graphic organizer on one page, and then the list of definitions on the other page. I then gave both pages to the students, and they were to find the definition for their specific word. They could then share that definition with the rest of the class, and I only had to expound as necessary.
I have many other ways to implement this, I know. But, I was thankful for the opportunity to start thinking about it some more and coming up with more ideas. Please send me your thoughts on this topic! I'd love to hear how you've successfully lowered your teacher talking time in class!
Monday, February 28, 2011
My Reading Experiments
Well, somedays I leave class thrilled with how my students responded to an activity. Somedays, I walk out thinking, well . . . I made it through. I'm in the process of trying different methods of presenting the reading material to my level B Reading and Vocabulary classes. The traditional, open your book, read the story and answer the comprehension questions hasn't been working so well for me lately.
So, today's approach was to put the story in chunks on the Keynote, and give them questions to answer for each paragraph as they read. I felt that this was slightly more successful, but I could not get them to stop speaking Turkish, and it quickly became a group activity rather than a read and reflect activity. So . . . now I will be brainstorming some new approaches, and hopefully writing about their success! If you have any tried and true methods, please leave them in the comment section! I'd love to hear about them!!
So, today's approach was to put the story in chunks on the Keynote, and give them questions to answer for each paragraph as they read. I felt that this was slightly more successful, but I could not get them to stop speaking Turkish, and it quickly became a group activity rather than a read and reflect activity. So . . . now I will be brainstorming some new approaches, and hopefully writing about their success! If you have any tried and true methods, please leave them in the comment section! I'd love to hear about them!!
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Saturday Mornings
Ah . . . the respite of Saturday mornings. I love taking my time waking up, reading a great book in bed for an hour or two with baklava and coffee, then cutting my husband's hair while watching 24. What a wonderful morning! No English musings this morning . . . that will all take place in a whirlwind later today and tomorrow. Have a wonderful weekend!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
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