tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280038762024-03-08T03:28:48.326+09:00One Teacher's JourneyA place to reflect on professional development opportunities and experiences learning to use technology...
Reflections on participation in online communities of practice Learning with Computers, Webheads, and TESOL EVO (Electronic Village Online) sessionsMary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.comBlogger66125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-61474537829665523982013-03-09T08:06:00.000+09:002013-03-09T08:06:29.377+09:00Webheads and Friends in Dallas 2013I'm looking forward to attending the <a href="http://www.tesol.org/convention2013" target="_blank">TESOL Convention in Dallas</a> later this month. I'll be sharing what's happening here on my blog and on <a href="http://wia-in-dallas.blogspot.jp/" target="_blank">Webheads and Friends in Dallas 2013</a>. <br />
<br />
Denise and I will be giving a presentation on our EVO session, *Neuroscience in Education: Braining Up Your English Lessons* in the Electronic Village on Friday, March 22 at 8:30.<br />
<br />
Can't wait to see my TESOL friends and colleagues! <br />
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<br />Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-27313320003353094492013-03-07T20:40:00.003+09:002013-03-07T20:40:56.294+09:00Personal Literacies Part II<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.5641180899595771" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In <span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://maryhillis.blogspot.jp/2013/03/personal-literacies-unit-part-i.html" target="_blank">yesterday’s post</a></span>, I briefly introduced the personal literacies unit. </span>The following passage is from<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> “<span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/8430" target="_blank">Engaging Emotions: Role of Emotions in Learning</a></span>.” </span><br /></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I
have witnessed this to be the case for many students who repeatedly
disengage from new learning material and attribute this to a lack of
confidence. These students lack confidence in their abilities which are
often attributed to repeated experiences of difficulty and/or failure.
This generates a negative interpretation in the limbic system fostering
negative behaviors that exhibit frustration, anger, intimidation. It is
not surprising then, that when students do not think they can do
something, they often pretend to not care about it and denounce it. Even
on the occasion that they do make an attempt at learning, they are
quick to give up, proving to themselves that they cannot do it. The
negative feelings associated with learning repress the students’
engagement in the learning process. To combat these negative feelings
and encourage perseverance, the teacher must find a way to create a
positive learning experience for the student, transforming their
negative associations into positive ones. By doing so, the teacher
sheds light upon the vast capabilities for the students’ success and
paves the way for future learning endeavors. </span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Many
students come to my class with a dislike of reading books and writing
essays. They associate feelings of difficulty, failure, and disinterest
with these activities. Some even say, “I hate reading” or “I can’t write
in English.” Through the personal literacy unit, I want students to
examine these sentiments. First, they read personal literacy narratives
of well-known writers. After reading these essays, students prepare
their own personal literacy narrative in order to examine something
related to their experiences with reading and writing. Through this
process, students often realize that they dislike reading because they
usually don’t “enter” the story or don’t choose texts that interest
them. Or perhaps they dislike writing because of a humiliating
experience in their childhood or their fear of failing to meet their or the
teacher’s expectations. By encouraging students to reflect on these
previous experiences, they can become better prepared to make a fresh start
and to believe that reading and writing can actually be enjoyable! </span></span></span>Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-47518777582085901702013-03-06T20:29:00.002+09:002013-03-06T20:29:54.380+09:00Personal Literacies Unit, Part I <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.7121585724677034" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Last week I read </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What I Talk About When I Talk About Running</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> by Haruki Murakami. An excerpt can be found in the article, </span><a href="http://99u.com/articles/7068/Haruki-Murakami-Talent-Is-Nothing-Without-Focus-and-Endurance" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Haruki Murakami: Talent is nothing without focus and endurance</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As
someone who occasionally runs and writes, I loved the content of this
book<span style="font-size: small;"> because </span>I’m interested in learning about how people work and
construct their life routines. I plan to use the above excerpt as part
of my Personal Literacies unit. In this unit, students read texts on the
themes of reading and writing by authors such as </span><a href="http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/3663" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Terry Tempest Williams</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and </span><a href="http://orwell.ru/library/essays/wiw/english/e_wiw" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">George Orwell</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.
Then the students reflect on their own literacy experiences and how
these have affected their attitudes about reading and writing. As I
prepare to teach this unit again, I’m going to further develop these
ideas and teaching materials. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This is the first in a series of posts about the personal literacies unit. </span></span></span></span></span></span>Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-7234899735782344192013-03-05T09:45:00.003+09:002013-03-05T09:45:58.491+09:00Memory<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.9192214607896497" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">My favorite article from this week of <a href="http://hottopicselt.pbworks.com/w/page/58745260/FrontPage" target="_blank">Neuroscience in Education</a><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://hottopicselt.pbworks.com/w/page/58745260/FrontPage" target="_blank">: Braining</a><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://hottopicselt.pbworks.com/w/page/58745260/FrontPage" target="_blank"> up Your English Lessons</a> </span></span>was <a href="http://www.teachthought.com/learning/how-the-memory-works-in-learning/" target="_blank">“How the Memory Works in Learning”</a> by Judy Willis. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The most interesting section of this article was entitled “Memory is Constructed and Stored by Patterning.” This article is written especially for <span style="font-size: small;">educators<span style="font-size: small;">. </span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One
point the author stressed in this section of the article was the need
to link new information to prior knowledge. Taking a pre-quiz, making a
prediction, or brainstorming about the topic may all be methods of
setting up the connection between old and new information. If we
consider this EVO session, one of the first tasks in week one was to
take a neuromyths quiz.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In
this section of the article, Willis also claims that teachers should
work to make links between information clear. One practical suggestion
she makes is to use graphic organizers. The classic K-W-L chart comes to
mind because it includes the following three columns: what I know, what
I want to know, what I learned. In my class, I like to use a variety of
graphic organizers, such as time lines or charts, to analyze reading
content. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The
last point from this section of Willis’ article that caught my
attention was the importance of reflecting on experience. In both this
EVO session and in my classes, learners write reflections on each topic.
Through writing, students can clarify their understanding and draw
connections between their experiences.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Throughout all of these activities, peer and teacher feedback also play an important role! </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></span>Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-85655649334397170702013-03-04T16:25:00.004+09:002013-03-04T16:27:47.616+09:00Paying Attention <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.09064254480243783" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The topic for week three of our EVO session was attention and memory. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.09064254480243783" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br /><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: purple;">How
important is attention to the learning process?</span> </span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Of course attention is
an important part of the learning process. Incidentally, last year, I
surveyed my students on what they thought the benefits of reading
literature were. One student remarked that her ability to concentrate
improved. Paying attention to a lecture in class, to the pages of a
novel, or the scenes of a movie are all important because these are ways
for us to obtain new information. </span><br /><b><br /><span style="color: purple;"><b><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How hard is it to keep students' attention engaged in what is happening in the classroom?</span></b></span></b><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It
can be difficult to keep students’ attention in the class. Even if the
teacher does his/her best to keep learners engaged, they may still not
pay attention because students have full lives and they can get
distracted by personal problems, lack of sleep, or other matters that
are outside the realm of the classroom. </span><br /><span style="color: purple;"><b><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What can we do to help our students pay attention?</span></b></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Although
I haven’t tried it extensively, we could encourage students to lead
healthy lives (get enough sleep, exercise, manage stress, eat healthful
foods, use time management strategies, etc.). As previously mentioned,
although we cannot control what happens to students outside the
classroom, we could give students some tips to help them. I once
listened to a talk by an expert in ESP (English for Specific Purposes)
who mentioned that he uses life skills information as content for his
grammar lessons. I wrote several sample sentences below that could be
included in a lesson about sentence structure and variety. </span></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Simple Sentence: Sleep is important. </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Compound Sentence: Sleep is important, for people who don’t get enough sleep will have difficulty paying attention in class.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">An
adequate amount of sleep is necessary for paying attention and
consolidating memories; therefore, sufficient rest aids learning. </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Complex Sentence: When a students are sleep-deprived, they may become irritable or forgetful. </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Compound-Complex
Sentence: Although getting a good night’s sleep is important, many
people do not sleep enough, so they have difficulty paying attention and
learning new information. </span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In
this way, while learning about sentence structure and variety, students
are also exposed to some information that may help them to become more
successful learners. Before writing the above sentences, I read <a href="http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/benefits-of-sleep/learning-memory" target="_blank">Sleep, Learning, and Memory</a>.</span><a href="http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/benefits-of-sleep/learning-memory"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span>Please consult the article for more information. </span><br /><span style="color: purple;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What effective strategies do you use with your groups to help the students to pay attention? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I
try to choose interesting, engaging, and useful materials and
activities for the classroom. Also, I try to vary the types of
activities students perform during the class period, for example, silent
reading followed by discussion or desk work followed by movement.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></span>Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-23976115270137950462013-03-01T10:17:00.000+09:002013-03-01T10:17:16.250+09:00TGIFI had a great time blogging this week and had a chance to interact with educators around the world and here in Japan. In fact, through Thomas' post <a href="http://biericep.blogspot.jp/2013/02/f2f-instructional-strategies.html" target="_blank">F2F Instructional strategies</a> and comment here, I had a great chance to reconnect with one of the first people I met when I moved to Japan 10 years ago. Also, he informed me that my <a href="http://voicethread4education.wikispaces.com/EFL+%26+ESL#Using%20VoiceThread%20for%20an%20international%20collaborative%20project" target="_blank">globalcookbook international collaborative project</a> appears on the <a href="http://voicethread4education.wikispaces.com/" target="_blank">Voicethread 4 Education wiki</a> <a href="http://voicethread4education.wikispaces.com/EFL+%26+ESL" target="_blank">EFL & ESL page</a>. Although I haven't worked on this project for a while, I'm happy to see that it might still be inspiring other educators.<br />
<br />
<br />
To finish off this full week of blogging, I'd like to recommend this random collection of recent and interesting articles:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/02/20/five-habits-of-great-students-lessons-from-top-ranked-stem-school/" target="_blank">Five habits of great students: Lessons from top-ranked STEM school</a><br />
Studying the humanities, developing good habits, and choosing one's own reading material<br />
<br />
<a href="http://writing.msu.edu/how-to-have-the-best-appointment-ever/" target="_blank">How to have the best. appointment. ever.</a><br />
Be prepared before consulting a tutor (or teacher) about your writing.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_03/b4163032935448.htm" target="_blank">The Disposable Worker</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/30-scariest-books-ever-written" target="_blank">The 30 Scariest Books Ever Written</a><br />
The Stranger by Albert Camus is on this list so it caught my attention. Do you agree with the author's picks?<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.collegehumor.com/article/6872071/8-new-and-necessary-punctuation-marks" target="_blank">8 New Punctuation Marks we Definitely Need</a><br />
Just for fun!<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Have a good weekend!</b>Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-45179145382843866772013-02-28T14:25:00.000+09:002013-02-28T14:25:06.279+09:00Learner DevelopmentIn January, I went to the Learner Development SIG get together in Kobe. If you have a chance, you should consider attending the next get together in Kyoto. There are no formal presentations at these events, so participants
have plenty of opportunities to meet new people, discuss topics related to
learner development, and share ideas. On March 23, the theme will be <i>LD related plans for the 2013-2014 school year</i>. Check out the <a href="https://smore.com/ma90" target="_blank">flyer</a> <a href="http://space4growth.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Gretchen</a> made with <a href="https://www.smore.com/?ref=logo" target="_blank">Smore</a> for the event!<br />
<br />
At the last get together, the theme was <b>learner autonomy</b>. We wrote about our definitions and
experiences with learner autonomy and then discussed them in groups. Although I haven't studied much about learner autonomy, I decided to give it a go and came up with the following definition: <i>designing learning for oneself within the context of a broader community</i>. <br />
<br />
During the next stage of the event, each participant made a mind map about some aspect of learner autonomy,
and I chose to make mine about <b>technology and autonomous learning</b>. It was interesting to share some of the things I have learned about online learning through EVO and to reflect upon these through the lens of learner autonomy.<br />
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<br />Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-41307318948251612102013-02-27T08:27:00.000+09:002013-02-27T08:27:44.772+09:00AnnotationI'm getting ready for the new school year that starts in April and I have been thinking about my upcoming lessons. One of the skills that students learn during the first few weeks of my class is annotation. While reading fiction and nonfiction texts, I encourage students to mark important information and take notes. Although each student is free to develop his or her own system of annotating, I do provide some instruction on the basic methods. In general, it seems like a skill that students tend to improve by practicing and comparing annotations. Peer and teacher feedback on annotation can also help students refine their system. <br />
<br />
During our EVO session, Carla, Karen, and I have been discussing this general topic through blog posts and comments. Carla wrote a post, <a href="http://collablogatorium.blogspot.jp/2013/01/learning-by-retrieval-forget.html" target="_blank">Learning by Retrieval: Forget Highlighting</a>. I started thinking that annotating is a step above highlighting because the reader is more engaged with the text and can use these annotations at a later date to help prepare for an examination or essay. Karen's post, <a href="https://krnhaines.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/are-tags-the-answer/" target="_blank">Are Tags the Answer</a> further explored the ideas of marking texts and retrieving online information though tagging. Although everyone has different preferred methods, the key point is that students need to USE their annotation! By simply asking students to compare annotations, summarize main points of the text, or write review questions, they can revisit the content. Furthermore, students need to take one more step and reflect on their readings and annotations too. By engaging in class discussions, writing responses, or even dramatizing scenes from a novel, students need to revisit the text, their notes, and their understanding; these will lead to deeper processing. <br />
<br />
I think annotating and notetaking serve several important purposes. One is to be an active reader. Another is to make thinking visible through writing questions, connections, summaries, or ideas. Annotating can even be a way to communicate with others. Most of us have the experience of borrowing a book from a friend, buying a used textbook, or paging through an old, forgotten book in the family library. These books and their notes are windows to the minds of those who read the words before us. Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-73891974587453819742013-02-26T10:09:00.000+09:002013-02-28T14:32:43.437+09:00Surprises and Stories <span id="internal-source-marker_0.43366532736294383" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Recently I was a co-moderator of the EVO session, <a href="http://hottopicselt.pbworks.com/w/page/58745260/FrontPage" target="_blank">Neuroscience in Education: Braining up your English Lessons</a>. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Some people asked me how I became interested in this topic and one of the reasons was attending </span><a href="http://fab-efl.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">First Annual Brain Days: Connecting Neuroscience with ELT Conference</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.
This event was held in 2011 (Osaka) and 2012 (Kitakyushu), and when I
attended TESOL 2012 in Philadelphia, I discovered that <a href="http://collablogatorium.blogspot.jp/" target="_blank">Carla</a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> had also developed an interest in the brain. We discussed the
possibility of developing an EVO session on neuroscience with <a href="http://hottopicselt.pbworks.com/w/page/58763796/Moderators" target="_blank">Denise</a> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">as content expert. In this post, I’ll briefly describe last year's Neuroscience
and ELT conference and make some connections to our EVO session. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">At
the 2012 Neuroscience and ELT conference, there were many
presentations, and here is a sampling of the presentations I attended:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">R. Murphy: Neuromyth-busters, Brain Anatomy for TEFL, Memory & Learning</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">C. Oana: Why is music helpful in teaching English: Some cognitive neuroscience evidences</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">C. Kelly: The neuroscience of lesson design</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">D. Paul: Personal Construct psychology and it’s implications in the classroom</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">M. Broide & I. Shiloh: Harnessing the narrative brain: An account of a learning experiment</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I
found Kelly’s presentation on the Neuroscience of Lesson Design to be
interesting and practical. He discussed factors of learning. Students
need to have physiological and psychological needs met, such as getting
enough sleep and not having too much stress. Also, the lesson should be
meaningful and relevant to the students and should include some emotion
and challenge. For deep-processing, repetition, engagement, problem
solving, and multi-sensory input can be taken advantage of. Finally, he
highlighted that for brain compatibility, the lesson could include
elements such as surprise and stories or songs. Audience members were
encouraged to think about how to get dopamine into
the class!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">For
me, the most interesting points from this session were <b>surprise</b> and <b>
stories</b>. Since hearing Kelly’s presentation last summer, I’ve become
more aware of the element of surprise in the classroom. For example,
last semester, I was able to observe one of my colleagues teaching a
humanities class. When I looked at the class handout, I noticed that it
included some numbers and names, but there were no explanations and this
was surprising! The teacher asked the students to speculate about what
these meant within the context of the short story and the themes that
they were studying. This led students to be curious and to engage with
the material. Also, I noticed that when I’m teaching my humanities
class, students are interested in novels, stories, and films when
they’re surprised by the plot or characters. As previously mentioned,
including a blank slide in a presentation is another way to surprise the
audience. Just doing a little something different is enough to catch everyone's attention.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In
addition to surprise, stories are also brain compatible. In his
presentation, Kelly delivered some information in lecture style and then
in story form. He asked the audience questions about the content, and
everyone remembered the details of the story more readily. I think that
not only telling stories, but also reading or writing stories can engage
learners and their emotions. During our EVO session, Carla brought up
the topic of attention hooks and stated that she often uses stories to
illustrate grammar points, even keeping the same characters throughout
the semester. These strategies also allow space for creativity in the
classroom. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Finally, check out this information on </span><a href="http://helgesenhandouts.weebly.com/diy-neuro-elt.html"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">DIY Neuro-ELT</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> from M. Helgesen. If you remember, I blogged about his <a href="http://maryhillis.blogspot.jp/2007/12/happiness.html" target="_blank">ELT and Happiness</a> site at the end of 2007. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Karen, a participant in the EVO session, wrote an excellent <a href="http://krnhaines.wordpress.com/2013/02/03/hooks-not-just-for-starting-a-speech/" target="_blank">post on attention hooks</a>.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I hope to be able to attend another conference on neuroscience to continue learning and sharing with others!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-21036644984420951382013-02-25T15:26:00.000+09:002013-02-26T10:12:07.532+09:00Week Two: Emotion and Learning<a href="http://hottopicselt.pbworks.com/w/page/60146105/week2"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Week two</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> of our session, Neuroscience in Education: Braining up your English lessons, covered the topic of emotion and learning. </span><br />
<b><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Fbdh7yJeR4c?feature=player_embedded" width="640"></iframe><b>
<br />
</b></b><br />
<i>From James Zull book, The Art of Changing the Brain, page 58</i><br />
<i>
</i>
<i>Narrated by Mary Hillis</i><br />
<i>
</i>
<i>Images by Brazilian educator Cleide Frazão</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When
recording the above video, My Student Tony and Me, before the session started, I
started thinking more and more about the role of emotion and learning,
so for the “expanding your learning” task, I chose to research this
area.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">After
all, I’m not only a teacher, but also a learner. I’m always learning
about something and recently I’ve been studying Japanese, neuroscience,
literature, and writing pedagogy just to name a few. However, since I’m a
language teacher, I’ll focus on my recent experiences as a learner of
the Japanese language. Actually, this is why I chose the topic of
emotion and learning because I have complex emotions about studying and
using Japanese and these affect my motivation and performance. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Living
in Japan, I have felt frustrated when I get a cafe mocha everytime I
think I’ve ordered a cafe americano. I have felt left out when I’m talking with a
group of Japanese mothers. This frustration has even led me to take
breaks from studying. On the other hand, these examples cannot be
classified purely as negative because they helped me to identify my
weaknesses and reinforced the need to continue studying. As a result,
these so-called negative experiences could lead me to be motivated. In
contrast with the real world, during my private Japanese lesson, my
teacher is extremely supportive and creates a positive learning
environment. Nevertheless, my experiences and emotions come with me
every time I attend Japanese lesson. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">From
the various readings I’ve done recently, I’ve learned that negative
emotions are linked to the amygdala and the fight or flight response
while positive emotions are linked to dopamine and the frontal cortex.
As the previous example demonstrates, emotions are not always easy to
classify as positive or negative and there may be some interplay between
the two. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">For practical tips on emotion and learning, this </span><a href="http://www.google.co.jp/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=9&ved=0CIEBEBYwCA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.readingprof.com%2Fpapers%2FEmotion%2520and%2520Learning%2F1_Emotion%2520and%2520Learning.pdf&ei=tUwoUY-dOs-DkgWS4YCwBw&usg=AFQjCNEgaFrWR3ecwJz0dI4OoxVXV4jOqQ&sig2=gA0Lb-8CDDTyxb4dy16Zfw&bvm=bv.42768644,d.dGI"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">pdf file</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
was useful. Because I teach a literature themed course, I was
particularly drawn to the following tips from the list which inspired me
to consider my current teaching practice from a new perspective:
emotion. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
</b></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Discuss people’s and literary characters’ motivations”</span></b></b></div>
<b><b>
</b></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Incorporate storytelling, myths, legends, parables, and metaphors”</span></b></b></div>
<b><b>
</b></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Try role-playing, skits, and debates”</span></b></b></div>
<b><b>
</b></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Incorporate suspense, cliffhangers, and things left open-ended and unresolved”</span></b></b></div>
<b><b>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There
are some other aspects of emotion and learning that I will leave for
further research and many more useful resources and points to consider
about emotion and learning. This is just the beginning! </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></b></b>Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-58296137794030829922013-02-24T09:19:00.000+09:002013-02-24T09:19:19.080+09:00Art<p>In preparation for Neuroscience in Education: Braining up your English Lessons EVO sessions, I read <i>The Art of Changing the Brain</i> by James Zull. As you can see, the title of this book includes the word “art.” Although the field of education can be informed by science and quantitative research, I believe that teaching remains an art. When I read “Plenary: Neuroscience and teaching” in the <i>IATEFL 2012 Glasgow Conference Selections</i>, Zull discusses the question of how to change the brain and I found the following quotations that speak to the idea of teaching as an art:<p/>
<blockquote>“This is why the title of our first book is <i>The Art of Changing the Brain</i>. The skill of generating such change in learners remains an art. Many teachers have discovered their own art through years of experience, but still cannot explain or define its elements. And despite the intense interest in neuroscience, the art is not revealed there either.”
</blockquote>
<p>I think this is one of the main reasons I enjoyed Zull’s book so much; he incorporates the science of the brain with the art of teaching. Furthermore, he acknowledges the complexity of learners, teachers, and classrooms. As an educator, it makes sense to look at education in this way and I’m happy to have been a co-moderator of the EVO session Neuroscience in Education: Braining up your English Lessons.<p/>
Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-31708414004492945972013-02-24T08:53:00.000+09:002013-02-24T08:53:54.359+09:00Chapter 8: Sense Luscious<p>Note: This post relates to Chapter 8 of <i>The Art of Changing the Brain</i> by James Zull. It was originally posted on Braining-up your English Lessons Posterous blog. Since this service closed in April 2013, I have copied the post here. If you’d like to know more about the one-minute paper and similar activities, please refer to <i>Engaging Ideas: A Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom</i> by John C. Bean. If you’d like to know more about teaching The Great Gatsby, I highly recommend <i>The Great Gatsby in the Classroom: Searching for the American Dream</i> by David Dowling.<p/>
<p>The brain receives input from concrete experiences and enters the body through sense organs (eyes, nose, mouth, ears, skin). The input from these organs goes to different parts of the brain, so for example, input from the ears will go to the auditory cortex or input from the eyes will go to the visual cortex, and input from the skin, muscles, bones, etc. is related to the somatosensory cortex. The brain can detect little bits and see many details, but we can make mistakes because of barriers to paying attention or general misunderstanding. However, if the sensory input is threatening or dangerous, instead of going to the sensory cortex, it will go to the amygdala which will trigger instinct, and although the resulting response is fast, it misses details.<p/>
<p>Zull uses the term “sense luscious” to describe experience which involves data from all the senses. He suggests that teachers should make use of concrete learning experiences and active learning methods, such as internships, research projects, collaboration, role playing and other active learning methods. Although Zull focuses on visual input, such as the use of pictures and diagrams to show concepts, he states that all senses--sound, smell, taste, touch, body position, as well as emotion--have a powerful role to play in learning.<p/>
<p>I think that many of the activities that teachers set up in the English language classroom involve the pictures, senses, and active learning techniques. As you know, I primarily teach academic writing and literature, so here are a few activities that came to mind when I read this chapter.<p/>
<p><b>Using pictures to show concepts:</b> In a writing class, it might be useful to use images to represent the construction of different sentence types (compound, complex, compound/complex). Also, asking students to take photos or draw pictures to accompany their written work can be effective. When teaching literature, ask students to draw pictures of specific scenes, characters, or settings. At first, students might balk at the task and think it is easy or childish; however, once they realize how closely they have to re-read the text to gather details, most understand the value of this task.<p/>
<p><b>Engaging all the senses:</b> Sometimes when I teach compare/contrast essays, I teach the basics of the essay and then use a candy theme for skill practice. I bring in two different kinds of chocolates, like Snickers and Kit Kats. The students should look at the label design and information, taste/smell the different flavors, think about memories related to the candies, and anything else they can think of. Then, in pairs, students make a chart detailing the similarities and differences they found. Finally, they write a comparison/contrast paragraph.<p/>
<p><b>Research Projects: </b>Students conduct research projects on various topics. This semester, in preparation for reading <i>The Great Gatsby</i>, students conducted a 1920’s research project on topics such as flappers, prohibition, baseball, and jazz music. The did internet research, created documents with written text and pictures, and presented the information to their classmates. I had always thought that this project required students to learn/use a variety of skills, but now I’ve discovered that it is also brain-friendly!<p/>
<p><b>Collaboration:</b> Pair and group work is often used in any English language class. Asking students to make or discuss questions, brainstorm in groups, do peer review, participate in literature circles, perform jigsaw tasks, do think/pair/share, compare work, and so on are all examples of collaboration.<p/>
<p><b>Role Playing: </b>Thinking of <i>The Great Gatsby</i> again, students act out some of the scenes from the book. This requires them to read carefully to understand the situation and the movement of characters; also, students must grasp the voice and personality of each character in order to play the role effectively. I think role play is not only limited to speaking activities, however, Students can write diary entries, letters, and blog entries as if they were characters from a book.<p/>
<p>Other active learning methods: I was curious to find out about other active learning methods, so I did a Google search and looked through a few of the top links. I came across something called “Just in Time Teaching.” This is something I’m not really familiar with, but it might be useful, especially for content based courses.<p/>
<p>And a suggestion <a href="http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/teachlearn/tutorials/powerpoint/learning/index.html">here</a> (#6) is to insert a blank slide into the presentation to catch students off guard. This use of surprise and curiosity was mentioned many times at the <a href="http://fab-efl.com/">Neuroscience in EFL Conference</a> I attended earlier this summer.<p/>
<p><b>The One-Minute Paper: </b>This is something I learned about when I was doing my MA when I took a class on Writing Across the Curriculum. Students write for a short period of time of the topic of the class. Writing is one way that teachers can see a student's thought process. Often, I ask students to spend about 10 minutes writing a reflection about what we did in class that day. This is an open question, so sometimes they summarize the topic, ask questions, reflect on the various opinions from the discussion, and so on.<p/>
<p><b>Do you have any additions or corrections to my summary of Chapter 8? How do you use the senses, images, and other active learning techniques in your classes?</b><p/>Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-30034662820863738782013-01-22T10:06:00.001+09:002013-01-22T10:08:33.104+09:00New beginningsThis year I'm a co-moderator for the 2013 EVO session, <a href="http://hottopicselt.pbworks.com/w/page/58745263/Syllabus">Neuroscience in Education: Braining up your English lessons</a>. This morning as I was reading and commenting on participants blogs, I realized that it has been over four years since I've written a blog post. Time for a new beginning!
Here is my new online introduction on about.me
<script src="//about.me/embed/maryhillis"></script>Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-25049760208798351382008-11-07T06:32:00.003+09:002008-11-07T06:45:37.616+09:00Online Circles of LearningCarla Arena and I gave a presentation called Online Circles of Learning: Your Micro-revolution for the <a href="http://www.trainersineurope.org/">Network of Trainers in Europe</a> Conference. Our abstract: New and emergent technologies enable trainers all over the globe to pursue professional development out of their institutional settings. Connections are now possible in new dimensions of the online world. In this session, presenters will show some possibilities of informal learning through the participation in Communities of Practice, online sessions and spaces that can impact positively on the way trainers learn and enhance their professional development. <br /><br />We had a fabulous time presenting, although the time went too fast- we had 15 minutes to present! During the 20 minute discussion that followed, we had some great questions and discussed the concept of "amplified worker" in more detail. According to <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/mhillis/personallearningenvironments?tab=250">The Future of Work</a>, the amplified worker is someone who is social, improvisational, collective, and augmented - the worker for the future who uses social media for his or her own professional development. Check out our slides below and if you'd like more information, and see what online spaces and communities of practice Carla and I use during a day in our amplified lives! We also invite you to go to our <a href="http://trainersineurope.pbwiki.com/Online_Circles_of_Learning">wiki page</a> where you can also join in the conversation on our Voicethread. <br /><br /><div style="width:425px;text-align:left" id="__ss_721679"><a style="font:14px Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;display:block;margin:12px 0 3px 0;text-decoration:underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/carlaarena/informal-circles-of-learning-presentation?type=powerpoint" title="Informal Circles Of Learning">Informal Circles Of Learning</a><object style="margin:0px" width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://static.slideshare.net/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=informal-circles-of-learningoct2008finalversion-1225839582578911-9&stripped_title=informal-circles-of-learning-presentation" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><embed src="http://static.slideshare.net/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=informal-circles-of-learningoct2008finalversion-1225839582578911-9&stripped_title=informal-circles-of-learning-presentation" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><div style="font-size:11px;font-family:tahoma,arial;height:26px;padding-top:2px;">View SlideShare <a style="text-decoration:underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/carlaarena/informal-circles-of-learning-presentation?type=powerpoint" title="View Informal Circles Of Learning on SlideShare">presentation</a> or <a style="text-decoration:underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/upload?type=powerpoint">Upload</a> your own. (tags: <a style="text-decoration:underline;" href="http://slideshare.net/tag/training">training</a> <a style="text-decoration:underline;" href="http://slideshare.net/tag/learning">learning</a>)</div></div>Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-83433442413831751202008-10-16T00:05:00.004+09:002008-10-16T00:28:58.110+09:00Poverty: Blog Action Day 2008Poverty. <br /><br /><a href="http://blogactionday.org"><img src="http://blogactionday.s3.amazonaws.com/banners/180x150.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://site.blogactionday.org/">80 Ways to do something about poverty</a> #14: "Share your skill or knowledge, so they can improve their knowledge to increase their life/prosperity."<br /><br />ESL/EFL teachers can do something about poverty. for instance, i will never forget volunteering as a teacher in a rural area, teaching ESL classes for migrant farm workers. some students had very bad experiences with formal schooling and were hesitant to try. some students couldn't read or write, yet they were there. some students didn't have a babysitter, let alone extra money or reliable transportation, yet they were there. students. workers. families. they came to class each week, hoping to learn English. my mentor told me that teaching students English meant not only that they could seek better opportunities for themselves, but also that they could reach out to their community and become a part of something bigger. education truly empowers people and can lift people from extreme circumstances. it helps people not only to help themselves, but to help others.Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-74174682047177395002008-10-05T09:18:00.005+09:002011-09-02T18:58:05.849+09:00Getting students involved in an EFL Class blogParticipants in WebTools4Educators are really moving forward on the tasks this week about blogging. In the forum and on their blogs, participants have asked for some ideas on how to get students more involved in their class blogs.<br /><br />I wanted to share some ideas that have worked in my classes. First, the blog should be an integral part of the course. Also, the posts should be interesting and use a variety of media (photos, audio, text, etc.). If possible, use the class blog as a place to make connections and start conversations with people outside of the classroom. In this flowgram, I've narrated a few examples from my class' blogs. I know that other teachers have other ideas and other examples, so please share them! Looking forward to sharing more ideas on how to get students more involved in the class blog!
Update: Unfortunately, Flowgram is no longer online and I lost the data for this presentation.)Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-49210172682763553052008-10-02T15:00:00.004+09:002008-10-02T15:16:21.255+09:00WebTools4Educators: BloggingThis week I am a guest in Carla Arena's WebTools4Educators online course. This week the group is exploring educational blogging, and I'm thrilled at the chance to interact with everyone. <br /><br />One of the assignments for this week is for the participants to create a class blog on Blogger and to write their first post. Carla has asked everyone to make a good first impression by including a picture or embedding a video.<br /><br />In fact, I am setting up a new blog titled <a href="http://eng3334.blogspot.com/">English I Computer Lab Blog</a> for my first year writing class that meets in the computer lab every other week for 90 minutes. Since I've been thinking a lot about the <a href="http://tesl-ej.org/ej46/int.html">2007 LwC Cartoon Festival</a>, I was inspired to use the topic of friendship again and to ask students to use the dVolver movie maker. My first two posts are related to this idea. <br /><br /><div class="kwout" style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://kwout.com/cutout/c/tu/8s/2uk_bor_rou_sha.jpg" alt="http://eng3334.blogspot.com/" title="English I Computer Lab Blog" width="340" height="333" style="border: none;" usemap="#map_ctu8s2uk" /><map id="map_ctu8s2uk" name="map_ctu8s2uk"><area coords="6,18,214,265" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDCDJDWnMUrrWAq6YjokzVYtCzh_SIvDO-sgutmrVHmi16ZuHJltidz4hUdP6iRb_i6xDw_fphGNUhif4vLNaDyjqrNVT4n_ARL9cder-LFvFOlyNVq1ybKLKknD-9aOBm3M_G/s1600-h/CIMG2058.jpg" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="39,3,102,14" href="http://eng3334.blogspot.com/2008/10/friendship.html" alt="" shape="rect" /></map><p style="margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://eng3334.blogspot.com/">English I Computer Lab Blog</a> via <a href="http://kwout.com/quote/ctu8s2uk">kwout</a></p></div><br /><br />In the <a href="http://eng3334.blogspot.com/2008/10/friendship.html">Friendship post</a>, I wanted students to discuss their definition of friendship and also to explore the ups and downs of friendship. In order to catch their interest, I included a picture of one of my best friends and me. The blog is a perfect place for me to share a more personal side of myself and to encourage students to do the same. This post not only opens up the channels of communication, but also engages learners with the material we are working on in class which just happens to be writing definitions! <br /><br />In the <a href="http://eng3334.blogspot.com/2008/10/review-cartoon.html">Review a Cartoon post</a> (inspired by Carla R) I wanted students to look at some cartoons that previous students made about friendship using dVolver movie maker. I embedded these into the post and asked students to make a comment. In the future, they will be making their own cartoon, so this preview may get them excited about the project, and will give them a chance to develop multiliteracies.Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-52434547357183038672008-10-02T14:28:00.012+09:002010-11-12T16:19:51.141+09:00Updates on summer learning!It is hard to believe that so much time has passed since my last post. I have been on summer vacation since the end of July, but that doesn't mean that I stopped learning! I had three main goals for this summer vacation: to study Japanese, to write an article for publication, and to continue connecting with online colleagues. Here are a few of the things that I was up to during this long summer holiday!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Back in the classroom!</span><br />I took a three week summer intensive Japanese course. I decided to go on a new blogging adventure, and I started a <a href="http://posterous.com/">Posterous</a> blog, <a href="http://maryh.posterous.com/">Mary's Posterous</a>, in Japanese! I was in the beginner part 2 course, and was lucky enough to study with students from Canada, U.S., Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, and Spain. Even though we only had 9 members in our class, we were a diverse group, with people from many countries who were all different ages and had different reasons for learning Japanese. It was a great experience to be a language student again, and I've decided to continue my studies in preparation for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test in December of this year.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid9tIklkvli6b50fhqZbskRfWtBMlLbgCq96vZ2k6x5Q63q1FlHUFx4qVuopZd6cgvpBueAD9O2yGKte19Wejt_EGFA6dJVmbK-UPx6-WI5cnu8PigYm44f93dHZPVrLRvrYCoeA/s1600-h/JapaneseClass.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid9tIklkvli6b50fhqZbskRfWtBMlLbgCq96vZ2k6x5Q63q1FlHUFx4qVuopZd6cgvpBueAD9O2yGKte19Wejt_EGFA6dJVmbK-UPx6-WI5cnu8PigYm44f93dHZPVrLRvrYCoeA/s200/JapaneseClass.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252437772635626482" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Writing an article for TESL-EJ</span> <br /><a href="http://tesl-ej.org/ej46/int.html"><br />Cartoon Festival: An international collaborative digital storytelling project</a> is an article published in the TESL-EJ and co-authored by Carla Raguseo, Jose Antonio da Silva, and me. In 2007, our students created comics to explore the theme of friendship and shared them with each other. This was a really fun project that helped explore topics of importance to young people around the globe. I hope to use <a href="http://www.dfilm.com/live/home.html">dVolver</a> again in my classes this fall! Here is one of my favorite examples of student work: No Eyebrow. (Update: I've removed this link.) <br /> <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Reading with friends</span><br />Reading books is a favorite past time of mine, and so I am very pleased to be part of an online book club, called LivingLit. We are a group of educators from different parts of the world, and each member chooses a book that is somehow related to the place where he or she is currently living. Our first book was chosen by Carla Arena, who is living in Key West; she chose Waiting for Snow in Havana by Carlos Eire. After reading the book, we are all posting our reflections on our book blog titled <a href="http://livinglit.edublogs.org/">Living Lit: Using Social Networking to Travel the World with Literature</a>. The next book we are going to read is 36 Views of Mt. Fuji which is about an American who teaches in Japan and then builds a Japanese style house in the U.S. The chapters of this book really resonated with me, and I'm looking forward to discussing it soon!<br /><br /><div class="kwout" style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://kwout.com/cutout/8/d8/xy/jbq_bor_rou_sha.jpg" alt="http://www.shelfari.com/groups/27166/about" title="About the LearningwithComputers group - Shelfari" width="477" height="498" style="border: none;" usemap="#map_8d8xyjbq" /><map id="map_8d8xyjbq" name="map_8d8xyjbq"><area coords="3,135,292,149" href="http://www.shelfari.com/groups/27166/discussions/61523/Week-One-Any-questions-or-comments-about-Shelfari-" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="390,5,454,17" href="http://www.shelfari.com/groups/27166/discussions" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="206,375,262,456" href="http://www.shelfari.com/books/3983209/Disrupting-Class-How-Disruptive-Innovation-Will-Change-the-Way-t" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="407,326,454,338" href="http://www.shelfari.com/groups/27166/lists/read" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="3,212,214,226" href="http://www.shelfari.com/groups/27166/discussions/62802/A-Blog-Post-you-Might-Consider-Reading" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="3,265,25,277" href="http://www.shelfari.com/birgitferran" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="3,57,155,72" href="http://www.shelfari.com/groups/27166/discussions/63082/Ideas-for-Extensive-Readings" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="3,188,47,200" href="http://www.shelfari.com/carlaarena" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="3,226,47,238" href="http://www.shelfari.com/carlaarena" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="333,375,391,456" href="http://www.shelfari.com/books/93244/Blogs-Wikis-Podcasts-and-Other-Powerful-Web-Tools-for-Classrooms" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="3,19,389,33" href="http://www.shelfari.com/groups/27166/discussions/64518/Week-3-Book-Short-Stories-Suggestions-for-the-Classrooms-and-Act" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="83,375,134,456" href="http://www.shelfari.com/books/57762/Kate-Chopin-Complete-Novels-and-Stories-At-Fault-Bayou-Folk-A-Ni" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="143,375,197,456" href="http://www.shelfari.com/books/636942/Everything-Is-Miscellaneous-The-Power-of-the-New-Digital-Disorde" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="3,173,95,187" href="http://www.shelfari.com/groups/27166/discussions/63172/Technical-queries" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="3,72,32,84" href="http://www.shelfari.com/pabeaufait" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="3,96,172,110" href="http://www.shelfari.com/groups/27166/discussions/63104/Exploring-The-Story-of-an-Hour-" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="3,33,31,45" href="http://www.shelfari.com/MaryH" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="3,111,31,123" href="http://www.shelfari.com/MaryH" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="3,149,31,161" href="http://www.shelfari.com/MaryH" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="3,250,258,264" href="http://www.shelfari.com/groups/27166/discussions/62516/How-does-Shelfari-compare-to-other-online-tools-" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="270,375,325,456" href="http://www.shelfari.com/books/2660976/Teaching-Online-A-Practical-Guide" alt="" shape="rect" /></map><p style="margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.shelfari.com/groups/27166/about">About the LearningwithComputers group - Shelfari</a> via <a href="http://kwout.com/quote/8d8xyjbq">kwout</a></p></div><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Literature and Technology</span><br />It seems that the integration of technology and literature is something really of interest to me lately. Not only the book club, but also blogging about books with my students and leading a LwC <a href="http://learningwithcomputers07.pbwiki.com/LwC+Living+Lit">Living Lit session</a> on <a href="http://www.shelfari.com/">Shelfari</a> have been projects I've been working on. Last semester, my humanities students blogged as they read The Little Prince on our <a href="http://mhillis.edublogs.org/">IES Book and Literature Circle Blog</a>. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Guest in WebTools4Educators</span><br />In a <a href="http://maryhillis.blogspot.com/2008/06/tagcrowd-cloud-for-one-teachers-journey.html">previous post</a>, the online tool <a href="http://tagcrowd.com/">Tagcrowd</a> found that "blog" was one of the most frequent words here! I guess that's one of the reasons why Carla Arena invited me and Cris Costa to be special guests in her Webtools4Educators online course for teachers in Brazil. Those enrolled in the course are just setting up their blogs, learning about the technicalities, and exploring the possibilities for fostering authentic communication and conversation through blogging. I'm really honored to be a guest there.Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-73794088213931201762008-07-02T06:05:00.002+09:002008-07-17T20:53:48.548+09:00Exploring Diigo with Learning with Computers<p><a href="http://learningwithcomputers07.pbwiki.com/online_bookmarking3">learningwithcomputers07 wiki / online_bookmarking3</a></p><br /><p> </p><br /><p>We're exploring Diigo this month at Learning with Computers! This week we're in week three and I'm just exploring creating a blog post through Diigo. If you have the Diigo toolbar installed, you can click on the Send button to send your links elsewhere on the web, like to a blog, Twitter, or Facebook. I thought I would share this link to our Diigo <a href="http://learningwithcomputers07wiki/online_bookmarking3">week three tasks</a>. Please join us and check out my <a href="http://www.diigo.com/profile/mhillis">Diigo profile</a> to see what I've been up to!<br /><br /></p><br /><div style="margin-left: 22px; margin-bottom: 33px; line-height: 150%;"> </div>Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-39180496703135804752008-06-28T07:57:00.004+09:002008-06-28T08:02:21.787+09:00TagCrowd Cloud for One Teacher's JourneyAfter seeing <a href="http://tagcrowd.com/">TagCrowd</a> on <a href="http://michelemartin.typepad.com/thebambooprojectblog//2008/06/tag-cloud-wisdo.html">The Bamboo Project Blog</a>, I just had to give it a try. All you have to do is go to TagCrowd, put in a URL, and you'll get a cloud with the words that are used most frequently. Here is the cloud for One Teacher's Journey. <br /><br /><!--<br />begin tag cloud : generated by TagCrowd.com<br />Feel free to modify as long as you keep this notice.<br /><br />This code and its rendered image are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License.<br />http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/<br /><br />For commercial licensing, contact Daniel Steinbock, daniel@steinbock.org<br />--><br /><br /><style type="text/css"> <!-- #htmltagcloud{ font-family:'lucida grande',trebuchet,'trebuchet ms',verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; line-height:2.4em; word-spacing:normal; letter-spacing:normal; text-decoration:none; text-transform:none; text-align:justify; text-indent:0ex; background-color:#fff; margin:1em 1em 0em 1em; border:2px dotted #ddd; padding:2em}#htmltagcloud a:link{text-decoration:none}#htmltagcloud a:visited{text-decoration:none}#htmltagcloud a:hover{text-decoration:none;color:white;background-color:#05f}#htmltagcloud a:active{text-decoration:none;color:white;background-color:#03d}span.tagcloud0{font-size:1.0em;padding:0em;color:#ACC1F3;z-index:10;position:relative}span.tagcloud0 a{text-decoration:none; 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font-size:0.7em; color:#333; margin-bottom:0.6em; font-family:'lucida grande',trebuchet,'trebuchet ms',verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;}#credit a:link{color:#777; text-decoration:none;}#credit a:visited{color:#777; text-decoration:none;}#credit a:hover{text-decoration:none; color:white; background-color:#05f;}#credit a:active{text-decoration:underline;}// --> </style> <div id="htmltagcloud"> <span id="0" class="tagcloud10"><a href="">blog</a></span> <span id="1" class="tagcloud1"><a href="">blogger</a></span> <span id="2" class="tagcloud6"><a href="">blogging4educators</a></span> <span id="3" class="tagcloud0"><a href="">book</a></span> <span id="4" class="tagcloud1"><a href="">carla</a></span> <span id="5" class="tagcloud1"><a href="">challenge</a></span> <span id="6" class="tagcloud1"><a href="">class</a></span> <span id="7" class="tagcloud0"><a href="">classroom</a></span> <span id="8" class="tagcloud0"><a href="">comment08</a></span> <span id="9" class="tagcloud7"><a href="">comments</a></span> <span id="10" class="tagcloud1"><a href="">connections</a></span> <span id="11" class="tagcloud1"><a href="">conversations</a></span> <span id="12" class="tagcloud0"><a href="">discussion</a></span> <span id="13" class="tagcloud0"><a href="">encourage</a></span> <span id="14" class="tagcloud1"><a href="">important</a></span> <span id="15" class="tagcloud0"><a href="">information</a></span> <span id="16" class="tagcloud0"><a href="">inspiring</a></span> <span id="17" class="tagcloud0"><a href="">interesting</a></span> <span id="18" class="tagcloud0"><a href="">japan</a></span> <span id="19" class="tagcloud2"><a href="">labels</a></span> <span id="20" class="tagcloud0"><a href="">language</a></span> <span id="21" class="tagcloud4"><a href="">learning</a></span> <span id="22" class="tagcloud3"><a href="">links</a></span> <span id="23" class="tagcloud2"><a href="">mary</a></span> <span id="24" class="tagcloud2"><a href="">online</a></span> <span id="25" class="tagcloud0"><a href="">others</a></span> <span id="26" class="tagcloud1"><a href="">participants</a></span> <span id="27" class="tagcloud1"><a href="">people</a></span> <span id="28" class="tagcloud1"><a href="">pm</a></span> <span id="29" class="tagcloud7"><a href="">post</a></span> <span id="30" class="tagcloud0"><a href="">powerful</a></span> <span id="31" class="tagcloud1"><a href="">practice</a></span> <span id="32" class="tagcloud0"><a href="">reader</a></span> <span id="33" class="tagcloud2"><a href="">reading</a></span> <span id="34" class="tagcloud2"><a href="">really</a></span> <span id="35" class="tagcloud0"><a href="">reflect</a></span> <span id="36" class="tagcloud4"><a href="">rss</a></span> <span id="37" class="tagcloud0"><a href="">smielt</a></span> <span id="38" class="tagcloud1"><a href="">something</a></span> <span id="39" class="tagcloud1"><a href="">started</a></span> <span id="40" class="tagcloud7"><a href="">students</a></span> <span id="41" class="tagcloud2"><a href="">tagged</a></span> <span id="42" class="tagcloud4"><a href="">teachers</a></span> <span id="43" class="tagcloud0"><a href="">things</a></span> <span id="44" class="tagcloud1"><a href="">think</a></span> <span id="45" class="tagcloud3"><a href="">topic</a></span> <span id="46" class="tagcloud3"><a href="">week</a></span> <span id="47" class="tagcloud4"><a href="">writing</a></span> <span id="48" class="tagcloud0"><a href="">wrote</a></span> <span id="49" class="tagcloud1"><a href="">year</a></span> </div><div id="credit">created at <a href="http://tagcrowd.com">TagCrowd.com</a></div><br /><br /><!-- end tag cloud : generated by TagCrowd.com : please keep this notice -->Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-84081521004577423662008-05-27T20:38:00.004+09:002008-05-27T21:15:07.901+09:00What can students learn from commenting?One task of the Comment Challenge was to write a blog post using comments. I would like to highlight a comment and a blog post from <a href="http://secondlanguagewriting.com/explorations/index.html">Charles Nelson</a> and reflect further on the issue of student commenting. <br /><br />On my last post about comments, <a href="http://maryhillis.blogspot.com/2008/05/comments-on-commenting.html">Comments on Commenting</a>, <a href="http://secondlanguagewriting.com/explorations/index.html">Charles Nelson</a> left a comment and stated,<br /><br /><blockquote>I concur with Kevin that it's not easy, and I agree with you that commenting is something that students need guidance on. But I would ask, Why have students commenting on each other's blog when they can post a more thoughtful response on their own blog?</blockquote><br /><br />I should explain a little more about the context in which I blog with students first. Of course, I would love to have students post well-thought out posts on their own blogs; however, so far I have only used class blogs with students. Last year, I wrote the posts and students and guests wrote comments; this year the students are writing all the posts and then interacting with each other and guests via comments. <br /><br />This semester's blogging project is a <a href="http://mhillis.edublogs.org/">Book and Literature Circle Blog</a>. The students are reading The Little Prince and discussing it in literature circles. Because the students can't hear what has happened in the other groups' discussions, I ask the groups to collaboratively write a post for the blog after finishing their discussion. They usually highlight the most interesting aspect(s) of their discussion and ask other students for their opinions. <br /><br />After the first week of the Book and Literature Circle Blog, I found that students wrote short comments, and there was no flow between contributions in the comment area. During the second week (this week), I specifically asked students to think about how they could connect their comments to previous ones and build up a conversation. <br /><br />Thinking about participating in academic discussions, and synthesizing sources in academic writing assignments, I think that by challenging students to make connections between their comments and their classmates' comments, they are learning a valuable communication skill that they may be able to apply to other types of assignments. In his <a href="http://secondlanguagewriting.com/explorations/">blog post</a>, Charles Nelson made an excellent point: <br /><br /><blockquote>"But for those of us who are educators, I would say that we need to be careful about being sidetracked by the social contagion of commenting and instead keep the goal of learning in the foreground of our blogging and of our students' blogging." </blockquote> <br /><br />In conclusion, even though students are interacting through blog comments, I have tried to keep the focus on student learning. Your comments on other ways to keep commenting focused on learning are most welcome!Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-8085534297627533582008-05-17T23:40:00.005+09:002008-05-18T09:20:26.878+09:00Comments on CommentingRight now the <a href="http://commentchallenge.wikispaces.com/">Comment Challenge</a> is in full swing! I have to admit that although I haven't been doing the daily challenges, I have tried to be just a little more active by reading, writing, and commenting on blogs. Thank you to everyone who has commented on my blog lately, especially new commenters on my blog, Sue and Ines.<br /><br />The issue of commenting came up during the SMiELT session earlier this year when the blogging group considered the value of comments. I posted a message to the forum of the group, in response to some questions. I am going to repost my answers below, adding a bit of context to each of them. If you're a member of SMiELT, you can view the entire thread <a href="http://dekita.org/smielt/forum/groups/blogging/commenting">here</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Do you think commenting is an important part of blogging or not?</span><br /><br />As a co-moderator of Blogging4Educators, I was busy making comments on participants blogs. I found that this was a really meaningful way to engage in conversations with others. After I started using <a href="http://www.cocomment.com">coComment</a>, I noticed my comments were showing up on blogs via the coComment widgets, and this seemed to be a powerful way to make connections and to discover new blogs. As a result, I posted my opinion to the discussion forum: <br /><br />Yes, commenting is an important part of blogging! Blogging is all about making connections and continuing conversations. The interaction through commenting makes blogging really fun! Recently, I started using <a href="http://www.cocomment.com">coComment</a> which allows you to save, track, and tag all of the conversations you are commenting on around the web. Displaying a coComment widget with your current comments may be just one of the ways we can encourage commenting.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">If you do, what can we as teachers do to encourage commenting?</span><br /><br />With one of my classes, we had one blog where students continued interacting with each other outside of class, and we were often visited by people outside of the class. Through online communities of practice, many teachers and students from around the world dropped by our blog and left comments. This really seemed to pique students' interest and to motivate them to use and to visit the blog. Therefore, I thought that one great way to encourage commenting was to invite people outside the class to get involved too, so I wrote these ideas in the SMiELT discussion forum: <br /><br />I think Gabriela had a good idea when she said that teachers could ask for other teachers and students with more blogging experience to comment on the blog too. As teachers, we can encourage commenting by modeling the types of comments that we expect from students. If students have been reading blogs, then they will have a better idea about commenting too.<br /><br />Also, commenting is a skill that students need some guidance on. For instance, as part of this SMiELT course, we watched the video about using comments to start conversations, and then we had a task to practice what we learned from it. Another useful resource about commenting is <a href="http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2006/08/how-to-comment-like-king-or-queen.html">How to Comment Like a King or Queen</a> by Vicki Davis. Just like anything else, we can’t expect that students already know how to do it; we should provide some information to them.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Assignment ideas:</span><br /><br />One way to encourage commenting might be to have a mystery guest on the blog, or a guest who could be interviewed via the blog. Then, students can read the post, and add comments and questions. Here is an example of an <a href="http://www.gethiptolearningenglishi.motime.com/post/683649/Wedding+Cakes">interview with a wedding cake designer</a>. Of course the comments could have been deeper, and we could have gotten more into the cultural differences, but we all have to start somewhere!<br /><br />Thanks for reading my reflections on commenting. Even though comments are important, they aren't everything -- they are just one piece of the blogging puzzle. So, what do you think -- are comments important? If so, how can we encourage commenting? Do you have any ideas on encouraging students to comment?Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-12842257570679869092008-05-17T13:18:00.005+09:002008-05-17T13:43:56.334+09:00I was tagged and now I'm it!!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAmvMvPF59M7FPfJix91ixXhn-YnEo3qcSL86EAicvBHL-YvSRVczq8odh95MUOSoaLjPLyapr3dZwfnd40XVI-K2Nyhz0h5dw16Q39zz7oy5Tya6mcp2xZiGMLzt0NwBKY2km-A/s1600-h/s524318722_515252_9504.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAmvMvPF59M7FPfJix91ixXhn-YnEo3qcSL86EAicvBHL-YvSRVczq8odh95MUOSoaLjPLyapr3dZwfnd40XVI-K2Nyhz0h5dw16Q39zz7oy5Tya6mcp2xZiGMLzt0NwBKY2km-A/s200/s524318722_515252_9504.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5201202258440889250" /></a><br /><a href="http://lifefeast.blogspot.com/2008/05/ive-been-memed.html">Ana Maria</a> tagged me to answer these questions, inspired by Larry Ferlazzo.<br /><br />What was I doing 10 years ago?<br />Since today is my birthday, that means 10 years ago I was celebrating my 22nd birthday and getting ready to graduate from college! At that time, my goal was to get a job teaching English in another country; although I took a few detours getting here, I'm happy to say that is exactly what I'm doing now.<br /><br />5 Things you have to do today (for me, things I WANT to do!)...<br />For my birthday, I talked to my mom and my mother-in-law; I ate lunch with my family; took my daughter on campus and sat in front of the fountain; and tonight I'll go to dinner with my husband. <br /><br />Snacks I enjoy...<br />pistachios, raisins, blueberries, apples, peanut butter, and chocolate of course!<br /><br />Things I would do if I were a billionaire...<br />Visit my family and friends more often and travel to new places.<br /><br />Three of my bad habits...<br />Eating too much sugar, eating too much sugar, and eating too much sugar!! Enough said!<br /><br />5 Places I have lived...<br />I have lived in every corner of the state of Ohio; 2 cities in Japan; and the many summers spent in Quebec make it feel like home too!<br /><br />5 Jobs I've had...<br />manager at a restaurant and retail store; periodicals assistant at a college library; volunteer teacher for Migrant Farm Workers; online English composition instructor for a community college; ESL/EFL teacher in the U.S and Japan. <br /><br />5 People I want to know more about...<br />Patricia, Carla, Berta, Carla, and DanielaMary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-47371985574825409702008-05-14T19:55:00.006+09:002008-05-14T20:37:28.239+09:00Reflections on why I blog ... sometimesI haven't blogged lately, so when <a href="http://explorations.bloxi.jp/">Carla Arena</a> tagged me to answer the question, <a href="http://explorations.bloxi.jp/a/so-what-are-you-blogging-for/">"What are YOU blogging for?"</a> I thought it would be the perfect chance to create a post for this blog. <br /><br />For me, I started this blog in the beginning to continue my learning and professional development. At the beginning, I thought learning to blog was just a set of technical skills; however, I quickly realized that blogging isn't just a technology thing, it is people thing, and it is all about learning, reflecting on learning, and connecting with others who are interested in continuing to learn as well. Especially this year, as I co-moderated Blogging4Educators, I found that commenting and sharing our learning was very powerful, indeed! I commented on participants' blogs, and they commented on mine. By working together and finding connections, we discovered the power of synthesizing our reflections through blogging, tagging, and RSS. <br /><br />That's why after watching <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PIiizu4yVg">this video</a>, I couldn't agree more with the second speaker, who stated, <br />"Not only did it [blogging] enable me to comment on their [the students'] learning, which they were reflecting on in their blogs, but they were commenting on my learning, and I thought that was really very powerful."<br /><br />As for this blog, sometimes I blog a lot, and other times I blog little here. Unfortunately, a lot of posts I only think about, but don't carve out the time to actually write. As a teacher, during the last school year, I blogged with students for the first time, and we ended up making some amazing contacts with people from many countries through our class blog. To be honest though, I have blogged most consistently on my personal blog and this has allowed me the opportunity to deepen connections with friends and family, even though we're miles and miles apart. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Blogging lessens the distance somehow. We can see and feel each other's thoughts and that's why I blog -- to feel connected -- both personally and professionally to those I care most about and those who I'm just meeting.</span><br /><br />I would like to pass the question on to a few bloggers who I hope will share their thoughts about blogging: <a href="http://lifefeast.blogspot.com/">AnaMaria</a>, <a href="http://tangram.wordpress.com/">Monica</a>, <a href="http://jenverschoor.wordpress.com/">Jen Verschoor</a>, <a href="http://illyasoet.wordpress.com/">Illya</a>, and <a href="http://monitorhypothesis.typepad.com/">Patricia</a>.Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28003876.post-26704324547517544952008-02-04T02:17:00.000+09:002008-02-04T02:51:01.163+09:00Inspirations and MusingsWe've just finished Week Three at Blogging4Educators about RSS and Tagging. What an amazing week learning about how to aggregate feeds, and I finally got Google Reader set up. Then, the sharing continued as we wrote and tagged posts for the Blogging4Educators challenge. I have learned so much this week not only about technology, but also about the people behind the blogs! What struck me most as I read each post this week was the passion for teaching and learning that comes through in each and every blog. <br /><br />Through the power of RSS and tagging, I found inspirational blog posts:<br /><br /><a href="http://brainenrichment.blogspot.com/2008/02/rss-reminds-me-of-how-brain-works.html"><br />"RSS Reminds me of how the Brain Works"</a> by Sibel on Unfolding the Black Box. Sibel's great post so clearly explains the concept of RSS, and likens it to the brain. Carla A shared Sibel's post with the group in our Wiziq session tonight. You've got to read it!<br /><br /><a href="http://lunas994.blogspot.com/2008/01/thank-you-carla.html">"Thank you, Carla"</a> was posted on Natasa's blog. The feeling she describes of realizing her dream of writing was so inspiring. I'll never forget the feeling of "becoming a loud voice in the blogosphere" -- Thanks, Gladys!!<br /><a href="http://teachersbeliefs.blogspot.com/2008/01/tell-us-your-story.html"><br />"Tell us your story"</a> was posted on Teacher's Beliefs by Angela. She asked participants in Blogging4Educators to share their stories of how they became teachers. Really inspiring! <br /><br />And here are three creative and inspiring blogs:<br /><a href="http://waterblog-vicky.blogspot.com/">Waterblog</a> A beautiful art blog by Vicky.<br /><a href="http://dennis-inspirations.blogspot.com/">Inspirations</a> A tribute to inspirational people by Dennis O.<br /><a href="http://lifefeast.blogspot.com/">Life is a Feast</a> Ana Maria's creative use of images and widgets always inspires!<br /><br />There were many wonderful blog posts this week as part of the Blogging4Educators challenge. My list includes the ones that inspired me this week, and reminded me why I am staying up until past midnight every night to read, reflect, and comment on blogs!! Comments really do make a difference, so stop by <a href="http://www.pageflakes.com/Blogging4Educators">our Pageflakes</a> for all the links to the moderators' participants' blogs, and see what they have to say as they venture into the blogging world. <br /><br />Good night!Mary Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689030632466264856noreply@blogger.com2