WEEK 7

ONE-COMPUTER CLASSROOM

As far as my work as a “Class Tutor” is concerned, I teach “Citizenship” and lately I have been using the computer in the classroom to promote a more student-centered environment. I formed three teams (this is a group of 14 students) and we are taking part in the Safe Internet activities. This means the teams do the activities in turns as we only have a computer in the classroom.

As a teacher of English, I use the computer in the classroom to write the summary of the lesson and project it so that the students can copy it. Apart from writing on the board, I also write on the computer and project the information.

The computer in the classroom is a wonderful tool to show the students some videos, films and analyze texts.

Lately, and as a result of my project, I have asked the students to use the computer in the classroom and write their assigned tasks. This is something I can only do with 4 or 5 students in each lesson and they have to do it in turns. I have to carry on working with the others so that they don’t get distracted. Last week we started a new topic area (Environmental Issues). After asking for 4 volunteers to read 4 short texts, I told them that they were supposed to underline the main ideas in the texts and then, in turns, they should write those words on the computer. The others students should also underline the main ideas in the texts. As I had introduced a new technology tool in class (Wordle), they were then asked to use Wordle to present their suggestion of main ideas.

Last term my students were assigned a speaking task. They were supposed to talk about Discrimination and Tolerance. Some students used the computer in the classroom to show some videos and then talk about the topic they were assigned.

“Strategies and Applications for the One Computer Classroom” gave me more guidelines to plan my lessons. We cannot move on if we are not comfortable with these tools. I must say that I identified myself with some of the activities such as correcting sentences, taking a quiz, using Thesaurus or dictionary, using database of characters in literature books, demonstrating writing or editing skills, demonstrating concepts and using live access to a selected Internet site to enhance discussion and find authentic data.

One of Glori Chaika’s is encouraging student writing. I think this is a very easy activity that can be developed in a one computer classroom and motivate students.

I enjoyed reading “Technology Tip of the Month: Microsoft Word and PowerPoint in the Classroom” by Deborah Healey. As far as using artwork, it reminded me of something my students are doing. One of their subjects is Art and after being assigned the English project related to Romeo and Juliet, some of them did some research on the web and started drawing Juliet’s dress. Now they are writing the description of the dress and we are going to publish it on the web.

I suggested a partner for peer review. Julio Palma answered my call and now it’s time to complete the draft report.

My lesson plan was inspired by something I learnt in a course in England in 2010. Cinquain poetry uses a 5-line pattern and it is defined by guidelines. Adelaide Crapsey invented the American Cinquain (the modern form).

Listen...
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break from the trees
And fall.

Crapsey's "November Night":

We can communicate a mood or a feeling by writing a 5-line poem:

Line 1: One word

Line 2: Two words

Line 3: Three words

Line 4: Four words

Line 5: One word

or

Line 1: A noun

Line 2: Two adjectives

Line 3: Three ing-words

Line 4: A phrase

Line 5: Another word for the noun

As far as the other project task, I continued to implement my technology change. This week the school web server must have registered high traffic or some kind of other trouble and we had to keep trying until the pages loaded. In spite of these problems, the students managed to carry on with their work. Some of them worked in the school library which is next to the computer lab.

I managed to witness collaboration in the classroom and even learnt something about the new version of Paint. Being taught by the students can also be a very rewarding experience.

Some of the students will have to scan part of their work as there are also creating some pictures by sketching. They will add the pictures to their work.

Times urges…