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Meeting and Reflective Thinking

This was the first day of our PDC facilitator training. Luckily, my group is the best one in the building. At least, I think so. We have 2 precious trainers Christina and Aysel. They are so kind and cute. After a warm up activity we have talked about PDCs. What are PDCs, what are the benefits of PDCs for the stakeholders. Then, we talked about being a facilitator. I almost forgot. Most importantly we disscussed reflective thinking. Through reflective thinking we can figure out which areas could be developed in ourselves in order to create our better version. After that, we did some activities about reflective thinking. In short, it was a good day for me.

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Veli, thank you for your positive Padlet entry for Day 1, as well as including a photo as an aide memoire :-) Remember to be even more specific about how a particular task or activity would be useful to you in the future; both for your classes and for your PDC.

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Veli, thank you for your positive Padlet entry for Day 1, as well as including a photo as an aide memoire :-) Remember to be even more specific about how a particular task or activity would be useful to you in the future; both for your classes and for your PDC.

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Listening and Instructions

Today our topic was listening, that's why we started with a warm up activity called as "Parasite". First of all we had a chat about active listening. Then, we discussed listening problems. I got aware that most of the problems are related to planning decisions. Then we talked about stages of the listening activities. My friends gave me lots of ideas about while stage. Then we focused on instructions and how should they be. At the end of the day, for listening activities, I dare say I want to use a combination of authentic materials, coursebook and other sources, because each of them has its unique advantages and disadvantages. So it's the teachers' job to modify or supply the material. Also, it's necessary that developing active listenig skills because active listening helps students better understand the material being presented. By fully engaging with the speaker, students can grasp key concepts and details.

In conclusion Day 2 was wonderful for me.

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Veli, thank you for your reflections on Day 2. What specific listening tasks from the sessions would you like to apply in your classroom and share in your PDC meetings, and why?

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Veli, thank you for your reflections on Day 2. What specific listening tasks from the sessions would you like to apply in your classroom and share in your PDC meetings, and why?

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Speaking

Today's topic was speaking. We started with a warmer again which was really funny. Then we faced with the speaking related problems in our country. There are lots of problems, yet for me main problem is students are afraid of making mistakes and they become shy. In today's session we agreed that we can encourage students to speak and persuade them that mistakes are natural. This suggestion may help me with this problem. Because confidence is nearly everything in speaking. Jim Rohn said " Effective communication is %20 what you know and %80 how you feel about what you know. In short, we need to encourage students to speak more, if we see a structural mistake we should correct it as soon as student finishes speaking. Yet we should give delayed feedback for fluency in order not to offend student. At the final session, we talked about digitalization and discussed some websites and applications.

That was a wonderful day for me again!

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Veli, thank you for your insight into the common problems your students have with speaking activities, and your description of the day. Which specific speaking task or digital tool from the sessions would you like to share in your PDC meetings, and why? Think about how you will "sell it" to them :-)

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Veli, thank you for your insight into the common problems your students have with speaking activities, and your description of the day. Which specific speaking task or digital tool from the sessions would you like to share in your PDC meetings, and why? Think about how you will "sell it" to them :-)

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Reading, Monitoring and Feedback

We started this day a warmer activity called "Sleeping Panda", I really liked this activity. I will definetely use in my classes because competetion in this activity will help my students to attend more actively. After that, we talked about sub-skills of reading such as skimming, scanning and detail reading. I could use all of them from time to time in my classes and PDC sessions since they all have unique advantages. Then we had talk about task types and stages, we categorized the activites into stages. We differentiated a couple of text through modifying and supplying. Now I'm sure how to adapt a text according to my students' level and needs. Today I had lots of chances to discuss with my friends in the clasroom. This gave me opportunity to look from different perspectives. In the end we disscussed the importance of monitoring both in schools and PDC sessions. Before this day, I thought that how closer I be to the learners, the better will it for them. Yet, today I realizied positioning is really crucial. So I will be more cautious about where I stand during the lessons and sessions. In addition, feedback is important in communication. Today I realized feedback helps ensure that the intended message is accurately received and understood. It allows the communicator to confirm that their message was clear and that the recipient interpreted it as intended. If there are misunderstandings or misinterpretations, feedback provides an opportunity for correction. It allows the communicator to address any misconceptions promptly, preventing the propagation of misinformation.

Reading Task: Today we did a group activity in the class and it really helped us to improve our differentiation skills. In short, in a mixed-ability grade 9 classroom, a differentiated reading task involves offering varied texts, modified questions, flexible grouping, visual aids, and differentiated tasks.

In my opinion, my friends will benefit pre-reading activities the most. Because we talked about variety of activities. This will give chance to my colleagues to solve a common problem, which is students lack of interest in reading texts.

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Veli, thank you for your thoughtful  Day 4 journal entry, which focuses on your local context and the needs of both your students and teachers. Tell us about which specific activities your colleagues would be interested in you sharing with them, and why?

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Veli, thank you for your thoughtful  Day 4 journal entry, which focuses on your local context and the needs of both your students and teachers. Tell us about which specific activities your colleagues would be interested in you sharing with them, and why?

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Writing

Hello again, today's topic was writing. As warming activity we drew our hands on a paper and our friends wrote some adjectives on each finger. I will definetely use this activity in my clasrooms, because this is really funny and prepares students to a writing lessons. Our main problem in writing is that students even don't know how to write in an organized way in their mother langugage. So, we need to work colloboratively with Turkish Language and Literature teachers. Agony Aunt letters activity was useful, I might use it in my lessons and PDC sessions. Since, it gives context and meaning to local problems. Art gallery technique should be used as well, in that it gives chances participants or students to view others' writing. After today's session I realized that I should pay attention more on process writing since when I focus on product too much students might not develop writing skills.

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Veli, thank you for your insight into the issues in your region and which activities your colleagues might be interested in. Remember to also give linguistic reason for why an activity is usually, and not just social or cognitive developmental reasons. 

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Veli, thank you for your insight into the issues in your region and which activities your colleagues might be interested in. Remember to also give linguistic reason for why an activity is usually, and not just social or cognitive developmental reasons. 

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Grammar and Vocabulary

We had Grammar and Vocabulary in today’s session.  We started our session “I have never” game, it was really entertaining I will definitely use it in my PDC sessions since it will allow participants to make bounds with the others. It could be used with students in schools as well. We focused on teacher centered and student centered types of teaching. Both of them has its own advantages and disadvantages, so it’s better to use both in need. I usually shape my lessons according to levels of my students. Yet, this year I have 12 grade Language Class that will experience university exam at the end of the academic year. So, I only use GTM and teacher centered approach. I’m aware that controlled activities is better for them. I’m planning to apply freer activities in the future for fluency. In this training I really improved my differentiation skills, this will definitely help me with different levels of students and participants. For the vocabulary part, I generally use matching activities for my language class students. I learned how to write concept checking questions today. I think that this will help me in lessons, especially my students to get the meaning. For me, today's pair activity for ilnesses was useful. Because it gave us to correct each other. At the end, we worked on websites again and designed a game on classtools.net. I’m planning to use that website as it will add more variety to the activities I use in my lessons.

PS: Christina was not shouting.

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Veli, thank you for another insightful journal entry. Try making your reflection more constructive, by giving reasons. How will you raise awareness of implicit vs explicit in your PDCs meetings? In addition, what are your top tips for producing CCQs, which you could share with your PDC teachers?

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Veli, thank you for another insightful journal entry. Try making your reflection more constructive, by giving reasons. How will you raise awareness of implicit vs explicit in your PDCs meetings? In addition, what are your top tips for producing CCQs, which you could share with your PDC teachers?

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Day 7                                             Veli, it would have been great to have read your thoughts on what you learned on Day 7 (Assessment and PDCs).           However, I'm sure that your colleagues in your local area will appreciate your positive manner and all the ideas you have to share :-) Good luck in January and beyond; I'm sure that you will be a great facilitator!                  

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Day 7                                             Veli, it would have been great to have read your thoughts on what you learned on Day 7 (Assessment and PDCs).           However, I'm sure that your colleagues in your local area will appreciate your positive manner and all the ideas you have to share :-) Good luck in January and beyond; I'm sure that you will be a great facilitator!                  