Creating Meaning: New Learning by Juan Carlos Valenzuela Reyes

Activities and Ideas for Making Meaning

valenzuelaj49 — 2024-04-25 05:29:49 UTC

We shall review a number of activities which we employ to move participants from states of readiness to encounters with new ideas. They are complements to represent the final pieces of a jigsaw of ideas which enable us as trainers to help participants make sense of training activity and learn from the experience.

Trainer Suggestions

valenzuelaj49 — 2024-04-25 05:31:06 UTC

Thinking questions is a way of helping groups and individuals to become more aware of the significance of their experience and of avenues for further exploration. We also use the same device in order to support participants in their quest for ways forward in a session.

Professional Reading

valenzuelaj49 — 2024-04-25 05:32:13 UTC

There’s no doubt that there is much for teachers and trainers to earn from reading. It has certainly contributed to our own development and we continue to benefit from it. Course participants who may have lost the reading habit are often overawed by long reading lists and may not know where to start, and how to extract what they need from reading material. We see it as our responsibility to help them through guidance and tasks, and here we mention some ways in which we do this.

Seminars

valenzuelaj49 — 2024-04-25 05:33:02 UTC

We find that in-session discussion of key articles can be helpful and stimulating, and there are various ways in which we ask participants to prepare for these.

Reading Tasks

valenzuelaj49 — 2024-04-25 05:33:52 UTC

Professional reading is just one kind of reading, and we have found it useful to apply some of the principle of reading methodology in the design of tasks which can either be carried out individually, between sessions, or started individually and completed through discussion in the next session.

Book and Article Reviews

valenzuelaj49 — 2024-04-25 05:35:02 UTC

This involves participants in reading and commenting a book or article, and presenting their findings to the group un one of three ways:

- A poster for display

- A speech given to the group

- A written review

Quotes

valenzuelaj49 — 2024-04-25 05:35:35 UTC

A way to promote reflective and conceptual thinking is to put up on the training room a selection of short quotes about the topic we are dealing with.

Mapping

2024-04-26 03:03:30 UTC

This exercise we have used with some success as a way of pulling together a series of issues on a programmed or to enable a group to review, "where they are at" after an extended sequence of training experiences we call "mapping"

Some Further Thinking Tools

2024-04-26 03:07:23 UTC

Some ways that we can help participants conceptualize is to provide them with string models or images to work with at the exploring ideas/conceptualizing stage of a training sequence. Some ways can be:

activity make students talk about " What we already know and What we don't know" about a specific topic

New learning: Issues and implications

2024-04-26 03:16:36 UTC

Some ways we can enable training groups to move from concrete experiences and immediate reflection to more abstract and conceptual thinking patterns, to a point where principles may be formulated or refashioned, the point at which new learning is possible.

Types of thinking

2024-04-26 03:20:33 UTC

Thinking and action-conscious and unconscious- are complementary elements of the trainer's and the teacher's working lives. Teachers and trainer development initiatives provide unique opportunities to explore thinking types and styles, and develop our thinking about professional issued and practice.

Problem solving and problem posing

2024-04-26 03:38:15 UTC

This type of practical thinking skill is extremely useful for professionals, much of whose working life is spent " problem-solving'. Some activities to keep in mind

are:

Reflective-exploratory/introspective:
These practices often involve self-reflection, examination of beliefs and values, and exploration of one's inner landscape.
conceptual thinking: Is essential for navigating complexity, fostering innovation, and making informed decisions in various domains, including science, philosophy, art, and business.

Knowledge in training.

martinezanais — 2024-04-27 03:06:43 UTC

Taking training courses is needed so we can acquire new skills and develop new ways of teaching. It is important for us to stay up to date and gain awareness of our teaching tecniques.

Key knowledge of EFL teachers.

martinezanais — 2024-04-27 03:08:46 UTC

Knowledge about training.
Knowledge about methodology in the classroom.
Knowledge about how people learn.
Knowledge about issues involved in language teaching.

Professional bookshelf.

martinezanais — 2024-04-27 03:14:36 UTC

All trainers must be full of knowledge and ready to answer all sorts of doubts. Trainers can guide and suggest. To incorporate ideas from professional literature we support our course and show evidence of professional reading.

Time

martinezanais — 2024-04-27 03:17:39 UTC

As trainers it can be difficult to find time for urselves but it is something we must do. Finding time to read professional paper work is an oportunity to develop our own ideas of the content we are consuming and capture experiences to share with our students.