Thank You ED661!

Our Saturday session was meaningful for me thanks to Dr. Rivera and my fellow classmates. Thank you for all your kind words. Reflective activities, such as the one we engaged in, will definitely remain in my schema. Speaking of schema, the whole semester was an engaging one with the many ESL curricular topics we've reviewed, as well as the critical issues papers we had to complete relating to second language theory and development. In the short time that I've known all of you, I knew you were a special group who are committed to the positive development and growth of our ELLs. We've done so much this semester, but we're not quite finished yet. We still have to present our LiveText Portfolios this Saturday. Good luck with finalizing your portfolios, and I'll see all of you then!

Positive Experience Approach

I'd like to thank all of you for the nice quotes you said about me. It's a good feeling to have positive feedbacks from my classmates. The first time I encountered a similar activity like this, was in an English communication course that I took a few years back which was about 23-25 students. It was at the end of the semester but it wasn't positive, it was comments about what you think that person is like, (personality). I'm glad our class was small enough to do this PEA. Even though we only met once a month, and sometimes one or two would be absent at times, I still feel that we all had that class/student connection. We had other ways of communicating like blogging, which we were able to view our classmates reflections and comment on them. We also had a group project which we had to get together to get organized to do a power point presentation. And even though we had just met Lois, I felt that she was someone who would easily click with her peers. I enjoyed all my classmates and if we had to comment on a negative approach, I wouldn't be able to do it.

PEA Reflection

Thank you all for your kind words. I believe that positive feedback is essential in any learning process. And even though we do not physically meet often, I feel that I have gained so much from sharing information whether it is online or in the classroom. As professionals, we must acknowledge our strengths and recognize the perceptions they may have on our peers and students as well. Each of you have taught me something about myself and so I hope that I have helped you in the same. I hope all teachers will be able to implement this activity in their classes so that students will feel positive and capable of eventually crossing that finish line.

Not-so-Halfway Through

Note: My midterm reflection appears to be a little over the half way mark but suppose that we turned back time, the following is what I probably would have stated then.

This course has been a test of my dedication, determination, and ability to meet deadlines. Knowing that this course allows busy professionals the opportunity to complete assignments outside of a classroom has transcended into late work. I work two jobs, and I’m also taking three classes through the university. And despite my efforts to maintain an energetic approach to succeeding, I managed to submit late assignments and eventually affecting my grade significantly. This was my first partially online class that afforded me with only one meeting hour a month. Unfortunately, I succumbed to its convenience and now I struggle to keep up.

Critical Discussion

Contrastive Analysis is an area of critical importance. I want to evaluate the differences in some educational strategies that effectively meet the general difficulties in language use and acquisition for non-native speakers. There appears to be a general deficiency in learning a second language because there are drastic differences that prohibit total understanding.

One example is the arrangement of words in a statement. A Japanese would say, "O namae o wa nan desu ka? translated to "your name what is ("desu ka" question intonation). Whereas English speakers say, "what is your name?"

Establishing specific areas that distinctly affect language acquisition will enable a course developer to plan lessons that address these areas and work toward illustrating coherence even before the semester begins. These strategies will save time in planning and completing course outcomes.

Curricular Engagement

This lesson planning is a great tool for us to gather ideas for our course development. I always enjoy asking other teachers for effective ways of communicating information with students, more importantly using interdisciplinary strategies. If staff development days at my school were to inquire ideas for lesson planning from teachers to share, then there will be more diversity in the student learning and more focus on addressing student needs. At a recent conference, I realized that some teachers have the laminated lesson plans that they have been using for so many years. There is no validity in a lesson that works for every student every year. I have only been teaching for two years and already I have witnessed such an array of student performance levels that I could not imagine sticking to the same lesson plan for each class. Thanks again for your input those who have contributed to the discussion.

Mid Term Reflection

Hi everyone,
Here's my mid-term reflection. As we started out this course in August, I thought this course was going to be okay because I knew that we would be doing moodling and going on live text. I had taken a course with Dr. Rivera last year which we had to moodle and go on live text. This course has taught me so much more than the previous class. Throughout the course, I'll admit, I never did so much reading this semester than I had in my other courses. At times, I would feel overwhelmed but all in all, it was worth it. To read the articles in our "Teachers as Course Developers" book, made me see a lot of things that I never knew before. The different strategies, obstacles, experiences, and techniques that all the different professors, doctors, and administrators had to go through, and were willing to share with us was a learning process for me. As an educator, you just have to find ways to get through your students in what ever way that you can. Putting yourself in their shoes and experience what students experience, helps in many ways for a teacher to plan their lessons, and do a syllabus for their students.
As for the grade that I feel I deserve, I feel that I should get what ever grade Dr. Rivera feels I deserve. I'm hoping for an "A", but by turning in assignments late I don't think that would happen. I always strive for an "A" but what ever grade Dr. Rivera gives me, I'll accept. Good luck to us all! Aloha, Maka

Article 8 Review

The five C's is my new motto. Hull establishes clarity, continuity, coherence, creativity, and consistency within her planning and development. Although I have yet to teach an entire class of ESL students, I am currently practicing this format with my high school students. I try to incorporate as many C's within each lesson to help learning acquisition. I found that this approach also provides teachers variety and accessibility for effective teaching.

Critical Issues Paper #1

Topic: English Language Acquisition Methods

Through ED661 course I have been studying about course development for English language acquisition. In the textbook “Teachers as Course Developers”, seven articles describes the process of developing a course.
They mention about the key word for English language acquisition is “autonomous learner” respectively.
This means how the teacher can motivate students and after the course completion, how the teacher can make students continue to learn English language.
In the articles of the textbook, each author struggled to design the course as the students become autonomous learners.

I think understanding the English structure and grammar is very helpful in reading and writing even speaking and hearing, especially when native language and target language are not cognate languages.
The grammar-translation method is a kind of classic method, however, I think teaching second language to the students whose native language is not cognate with target language need grammar to understand second language more clearly and more systematically.
If I design the course I will include grammar-translation method in my course content.