MY LEARNING DIARY by Lamia Büşra Yeşil

Who I am..

lbusrayesil — 2015-04-13 17:40:55 UTC

Hello everyone. My name is Büşra. I teach English in a primary school in Ankara, Turkey. This is my 4th year in teaching. Looking forward to learning more about the course.

Module 1. Q1. Why do I want to use tablets?

lbusrayesil — 2015-04-13 19:53:59 UTC

I strongly agree with the idea that suggests ict is a solution to include everyone. We can see who has cooperated and when. I wish that every child in my class had a tablet so that we could be more flexible and they could be more engaged in lesson. They would be more motivated and had a chance to personalize their learning experience. I work in a primary school, I am not always working with tablets as most students do not have it but I try to use applications in my tablet in order to increase the visibility in my eTwinning projects. While using those application, students show their creativity and have fun while doing this. Technology is a tool that has no ending. Once students discover it, they have a chance to improve themselves with no limit.

Module 1. Tablets in school. What are the challenges?

lbusrayesil — 2015-04-13 20:25:45 UTC

There is no suspicion that all schools would have a difficulty to finance tablets for each student. So it is a good idea to choose a pilot class and try to see the challanges on that class.
Thinking of all challenges, the biggest problem for my case can be definitely this : If any of my students had to use their tablets at home, we would not see that tablet again. There are millions of possibilities that could happen to that tablet at home but most probably they would have lost it, drop it or somehow broke it. I am not sure whether my students are ready to take this responsibility. Most probably not!
Another thing is the freedom that tablets provide both with limitless applications and freedom to surf in the internet. Some students could use it just for games or chat and they could easily distract from the lesson topic we need to focus on. There must be rules to catch up while using devices.

Module 1. Classroom challenges.

lbusrayesil — 2015-04-13 20:58:37 UTC

I can write only my anticipations as a primary school teacher. Some of the kids will wonder what their friends are doing with their tablet and they will give up their task and start watching the one sitting next to them. It is always in this way even they draw a flower on their notebook. Technical things are a major problem too. If the screen freezes, I do not want a child starting crying:) So it is a good idea to choose student trainers who can help the one and calm down a bit. The biggest challenge for me would be the teaching of the notion that a padlet can be an educational device, it is not created only for playing games. With the help of good applications and practices, students would learn how to use them properly but definitely they need time.

Module 1. EDMODO

lbusrayesil — 2015-04-13 21:09:53 UTC

I have heard about it before but never used Edmodo before. Honestly, I have a closed facebook group with my students to communicate and a separate account for parents too. So I did not need any web tool as we share everything (quizzes, homeworks, etc.) on that group. In order to see their progress, I prefer using Class Dojo.
Although, thanks to social media, I could not have a chance to use Edmodo, I see its advantageous and will try to use it soon.

Module2.Introduction of Learning Scenarios

lbusrayesil — 2015-04-20 10:37:54 UTC

I have met Learning Scenarios concept for the first time during Future Classroom Scenarios course and prepared one for me too. It is, in simpliest form, collection of all activities and it is a real good plan to decide steps about what comes next. In my own lessons, I realised I use some similar steps but I didnt know the names of each activity such as dream-explore- map etc.
Working with these kind scenarios, changes the vision of a teacher and the way of teaching.

Module2.What kind of content can you produce?

lbusrayesil — 2015-04-20 10:42:11 UTC

Just for an example that I like most, we created an international calendar page with my students. Each month from a different country is sent to us and we prepared our own page. Students dream and explored a festival that can be used heading to that month. We created tagul clouds, pizap, instacollage apps. We need tablets in every steps of a good job. We also like creating 3d contents for different projects. Collarpix is my favourite while working with children and QR codes also are exciting for them too.

30 Educational iPad Apps

lbusrayesil — 2015-04-20 10:46:46 UTC

Module2.Chatterpix ()

lbusrayesil — 2015-04-20 10:50:34 UTC

I have recorded it for the "I make my first app: MIT app inventor" project!

Module2.Creating content

lbusrayesil — 2015-04-20 11:15:31 UTC

In order to make a creative and unusual presentations we used Chatterpix app. It is really funny and easy to use.
I am not sure is it available on android. We used an iPad for this presentation and iMovie to combine different students.

Module2.Apps for content creation

lbusrayesil — 2015-04-20 17:59:28 UTC

End of the modules

lbusrayesil — 2015-04-20 18:05:16 UTC

MODULE 3. Challenges of collaborative work

lbusrayesil — 2015-04-27 07:56:18 UTC

As I am working with primary school children, outside school activities are hard for me to organize. Students can be grouped only if there is a volunteer parent watching them. Anyway, I'd like to organise such an activity inside the school building. It evokes Map treasure hunt as they use QR codes too. I think groups will equally contribute the task because it is completely new and they have fun while doing it. Each group member may take note of his/her own answers if there are set of questions so we can track their own progress as well as group work.

MODULE3. Forming Groups

lbusrayesil — 2015-04-27 08:06:18 UTC

It is really important to give each of the student in a group a responsibility. Otherwise, a hardworking student does all the job and the others gossip during the required time of that task. In my classrrom I let students to pair with the ones they like most. If they hate their partner, there wont be a good product at the end. Specially younger students even start to cry which is really disturbing. I choose group work only when I believe it would be good for them to learn from each other.

Module3.School-to-school Collaboration

lbusrayesil — 2015-04-27 08:31:11 UTC

I am an eTwinner for a long time. I have involved in many projects with many European countries. Each project has a different subject to work on but all has one common thing that all requires collaboration. Here is one photo showing one of our Skype meetings. One of this sessions, we did not say students which country we are connecting. So it was a fun Mystery Skype session. We played numbers game, sang traditional songs and even watched a drama Croatian students prepared. It is a great opportunity for students to work with other students outside their own classroom.

Module3. APPS FOR COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

lbusrayesil — 2015-04-27 09:05:49 UTC

I suggest FLOCKDRAW. It is an online whiteboard that you can draw with your partner schools. We used it in our flags projects. Students draw and the other school tries to know which country it is. Simple to use! It is not free in IOS but you can use it on pc.

Module4.Learning.Styles

2015-05-07 17:24:15 UTC

Honestly, I do not collect data for each of the student to know how they learn best but I try to organise my lessons containing variant activities so that the lesson has the required element for each type of learner. A bit tpr for kinaesthetics, flashcard game for visuals, listening materials for auditory learners. I know there are simple tests to identify the learning method. I solved one of them once and I am a 100% visual. Simple survey but effective!

Module 4. Tablets and Personalisation

2015-05-07 17:36:58 UTC

Tablets are great for the individualisation of the process. They have a right to decide, can be creative in the way they use applications. They can create films by using iMovie or videos such as Animato. They can create collages with various applications and present their own creation proudly.
I also suggest to use Kahoot.
It is an online quiz show that everyone participates and have fun.

HOW TO PLAY KAHOOT!

Kahoot works in any web browser, on computers, laptops, tablets or mobiles. When you play in class:
- A Teacher has a
unique link for the quiz (play.kahoot.it . . . see above), he presses the PLAY button and then the START NOW button, he receives the Game Pin (eg 5461)- A student on his
computer or other mobile device (which is connected to the Internet)
goes to kahoot.it, types the pin, enters the game and writes his name, the game can start
- A teacher presses
the START NOW button and first question appears, the students choose the correct answer on their devices (the faster answer, the more points you get)

Module4.Flipping the classroom

2015-05-07 17:54:42 UTC

I love the idea of flipped classroom and want to implement it in my classes but not all the students have internet connnection in my school. Some of them even dont have computers, let aside tablets, at home. Thats why it is impossible in my country's conditions and with the low awareness degree of parents. If I intend to use this method, it can only be applicable to a small number of students who has more priviledges than the others.

Module4. Challenges of flipped Classroom

2015-05-07 18:08:05 UTC

The biggest challenge of course is the students who do not have an access to the videos at home because of lacking internet connection or tablets.

Second one is the time. Students and teacher need to spend a big amount of time both for preparing and studying. Students may come to school without watching it.

Another one can be the parents or colleagues who do not understand the process.

MODULE4. Apps for personalization

2015-05-07 18:16:24 UTC

lesson plan

2015-05-07 19:46:32 UTC

It is an imaginary and I am not sure about its feasibility. Here it is!