Hi again,
I cannot believe that this is one my final posts for this course.
Obviously I have hardly noticed how far these weeks passed. They were full of
amazing resources, interesting thoughts, ideas, and reflections, open and
thought-provoking questions. Our highly qualified and professional guide
Courtney did a wonderful work.
For the first, she opened the new horizons for Web tools and resources.
Having quite extensive work experience I cannot remember a course I have
benefitted so much. This course has already changed my teaching style but there
is a lot ahead. My students use web resources drilling grammar and vocabulary
skills (www.a4esl.org is their favorite now). The ‘Best sites by Larry Ferlazzo’ are fully
utilized by them too to improve speaking skills and expand the vocabulary. They
are very enthusiastic to work with Padlet wall. Students willingly create the Word
searches and crosswords. They find it more interesting than just learning the
words by heart.
This week we were focusing on learning
styles and I was specifically interested in the article by
Howard Gardner. I completely
agree with his opinion that ‘human potential lies in the fact that people have
a unique blend of capabilities and skills (intelligences)’. He provides a wonderful example of student mis-labeling
because of inappropriate assessment. http://www.niu.edu/facdev/resources/guide/learning/howard_gardner_theory_multiple_intelligences.pdf.
I have to admit that it happens rather often in the classroom because
instructors do not consider the variety of learning strategies and styles. There
is a helpful chart in the article highlighting the primary
seven intelligences with further details on their attributes. Refer to this
chart I have easily identified my husband learning style and preferences and my
own: my husband - logic and numbers; my personal - words and language.
Summing up I would like to say that this week readings
made me rethink my teaching style in terms of addressing to multiple intelligence.
Good bye week 9 for now,
Hugs,
Marina,
Kyrgyzstan
Hello Marina!
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to thank you for cooperation and feedback throughout the course!
Thanks a lot colleague!
All the best,
Zulyar Kavashev
Kazakhstan, Almaty