The importance of five C while teaching literature online.

 How to teach literature online.

In some of my online classes, students have organized small groups for “remote team working”. They do it in order to give presentations about authors and their literary production, contextualizing them historically, literately and sometimes politically. Thus, a short story “A Summer’s Reading” by B.Malamud was written in 1930s, during “the great depression” in the USA, and reflected the life of immigrants at that historical period. Another short story “Rules of the Game” by A.Tan is also about immigrants. Moreover, Israeli teenagers are supposed to analyze the way of life and language mistakes made by those who lived in America for some years and still did not speak English very well. I sometimes ask my students which mistakes the characters of the story make, which customs and traditions they still keep and which new ones they have accepted. The third novel is “The Wave” by M.Rhue which teaches students a higher order of thinking skills (HOTS) to help them identify why the certain events happened in the history, and the result of those actions. While reading this novel they understand what makes a dictatorship and how Hitler succeeded to make the majority of the German population follow his ideology.

Therefore, while teaching English literature, it is highly recommended to keep student’s attention with the help such Cs as Content, Context, Cultural Engagement, Curiosity and Creativity.

​

1.Content

While teaching, especially in an online classroom, it is especially important to choose the material that can provoke the learners’ interest so that they will be interested what the literature piece is about. Therefore, the Israeli Ministry of Education has created the Literature Program which contains poems, stories and novels whose content is interesting to young Israelis and are easy to follow. Besides, it is highly recommended to give students virtual pre-reading tasks. For instance, general knowledge questionnaires and quizzes for self-checking, working in pairs and small groups. Teaching HOTS while- and after reading together with the traditional content questions, helps to develop critical thinking in the kids of all ages. The content of the certain story or poem can be better understood if you use some pictures and graphic organizers on Miro or Wakelet. Moreover, students can upload them or even create themselves, which also enhances their motivation to learn “boring” literature.

 

2. Context

Bridging text and context is an important part of the final exam in English Literature in Israeli high schools. The context vies with the literature for the students’ attention. It can include the following things:

·  the settings of the poem, the story or the novel

·  how it can been read at different times and in different situations

·  biographical details about a writer’s life

·  how it relates to literary traditions

·  times and places referred to in the literature piece

Thus, context is best used to drive student argument about a text, rather than bolted on to demonstrate knowledge.. Since each context requires a special vocabulary and certain acquired skills, what a course often becomes is the study of literature in a particular context. Therefore, before teaching a poem, such as “Count That Day Lost” by George Elliot, we need to let our students know that it was written in Victorian England and to tell or display some virtual materials about general realities of that period. After you have done that, it is a high time to show them a short film where the poem is recited and kids can see some views that will keep their attention and think about the historical, literary and cultural context. Exposing students to other work written at the time can demonstrate how the past, and its people, were just as nuanced and complex as we are now.

 

3. Cultural engagement

Research claims that learning and understanding literature from a variety of cultures broadens  students’ horizons what the society is, who humans are, and why the world has become as it is. Since Israel is a multi-cultural society, it is very important to make your students pay attention to this aspect. In addition to compulsory pieces of literature, Israeli students are supposed to choose some books for home reading. With the ever growing trend of globalization and modernization, it becomes more and more common to see teaching and learning practices on literature that are different from the teachers’ and the students’ cultural backgrounds. Language exists in a socio-cultural context and the intercultural approach is much wider, more demanding, richer and has authentic interpretation of language more than communicative language teaching (CLT) and content-based instruction (CBI). While taking part in an online discussion, both frontally and in groups, students are supposed to discuss the forenamed aspects.
 

4. Curiosity

As it was mentioned above, it is very important to provoke students’ interest while teaching “boring” literature, especially in virtual classes. For instance, visualizing leads to curious and creative thinking. And brainstorming is a powerful way to encourage students to think creatively. According to the research, it is very important to catch your students’ attention at the very beginning of teaching a new piece of literature, so that it will provoke their interest and motivate them to look forward for next chapters and next literature lessons in general. If you can hook students at the first of a unit, then your job will be a lot easier for the duration of the study and students will be naturally more engaged with the content. Therefore, you can show a short video, tell a proverb, give an interesting quotation or ask a question that will make them think. In other words, you should intrigue them.

When they are intrigued, they can work in pairs, and you can offer them some space on the smart board, so that they will write their ideas and predict what the story or a poem is going to be about. They can work in groups and this collaboration encourages them work together. In such a case, each student is involved in the classroom activity and responsible for the task. Everyone is motivated and no child is left behind.

 

5. Creativity.

Finally, students can create their own pieces of art. For instance, they can draw pictures of the characters and scenes online and publish them on the walls of the virtual classroom. Moreover, they can invent a different ending of the story or think what might happen ten years later. For instance, they can imagine what might happen if the main character meets someone who influenced his life when he was young and continues to do so. In addition, the main character can find this person, write him a letter, which can be published in the virtual classroom. In my opinion, teachers should divide the class in pairs, so they can play this game. The main character might become a famous and rich person and give interview to different journalists or other people. These activities develop the skills of negotiation and leadership.

Read the whole article, pp.4-9

 

Week 10. Reflections

Time flies. I can't believe that the difficult but really exciting course is over. Thanks to Sean and other moderators I have learned a lot of tools of modern technology and started using them. I see that my way of teaching has greatly improved.

I am also grateful to all my virtual co-students who were very helpful and cooperative. I have learned a lot from them and really enjoyed working together. I hope I will "meet" them on other virtual courses I am going to take.

This week I researched the articles from Washington and Florida which were really interesting. According to Tiers of Technology Integration, I discovered that my school is being practicing the second tier, which means conducting the lessons with the help of the only class computer and a video projector. I use it mainly for teaching English Literature and other audio-video materials. Unfortunately we have only one computer room in our school, so I cannot use it every day. I take my students there mainly 2-3 times a month.

Despite highly developed technologies including hi-tech, Israel still lacks computers in the classrooms. There are only special computer rooms in schools. But some changes are being made. The Ministry of Education is going to introduce taking matriculation exams only online, so Israeli schools will have to make the rocess of learning more computerized. I believe that our country is on the way to the third tier, a it was described in the article from Washington University. Some hi-tech schools have already done it.

All the best!
Julia

Week 9. Reflections.

This week seems to me the most difficult one because we had not only to check our peers' rough versions of the projects, but complete checking, correcting, or maybe redoing ours. Finally our projects are ready, so the main part of this course has ben done.

This week we have been researching learning styles. There are seven ones:



 

I teach at school for special education, so when we accept new students, we create a learning profile for each one, which includes:

 

- the student's age

 

- gender

 

- cultural background and native language

 

- emotional and social maturity

 

- IQ

 

- which LD he/she has

 

- learning style.

 

How can one teacher adress all of these needs of each student?

 

- by variety of methods

- by flexibility

- by providing multiple options and have another plan of the lesson in store

- by recognizing that NOT all students need to do the same things at the same time and in the same way.

 

In accordance with this data we make an individual educational plan (IED). That means which ways of teaching all the teachers are supposed to use and compound the lesson plans using differentiate instructions. Fortunately we have only 8 kids in each class, so it is not very difficult to work in acordance with the IED. Besides, our school has a team of teacher's assistants who sometimes sit in the classrooms during the lessons and help us. Some kids prefer only solitary learning style, so we try to provide him individual consultations during the school day. Mainly teacher's assistants do that outside the classroom.

 

To sum up, everything that LD teachers do at school is acceptable, even if it has beed considered strange or senseless. Even sitting with a hyperactive kid outside during the lesson and watch the view of the Mediterranean Sea and trying to make him study at least only few words in English or playing a game with him thal looks like a card game. There is only one motto of a LD teacher: "Don't give up!"



Reflection of Week 8

Hello everybody!
I can't believe that we are going to finish the course soon. My students and I are on holiday now because we are celebrating Hanukkah. Nevertheless I have a lot to do.  This week I have been busy mainly with my project, so I had very little time to explore the toos offered by Jeff and Sean.

I have created the blog for my students. http://jkoifma.blogspot.co.il/
for more details click here:
 http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=9157355328329368896#editor/target=post;postID=1159859414913094865;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=6;src=postname

I will introduce it to my students next week when we return to school from holiday. In this site I posted the topics for project that are supposed to be writen in the 11th grade and in 12th grade the students take an oral exam and a presentation with th external tester.

Now I have been exploring such sites as Hot Potatoes http://hotpot.uvic.ca/index.php and the Easy Test Maker https://www.easytestmaker.com/  I have never heard about these sites, but I will certainly use them in my teaching. I used to compose tests in another way, mainly copying texts and downloading grammar exercises from the Internet, but now it will be much easier. This is my first quiz about the story "A Summer's Reading" by Bernard Malamud. https://www.easytestmaker.com/Test/6B8FDEC7C5EF4B9A8B7CCB49C58FDEC7 I think I'll give it to my students a week after the end of the Hanukkah vacation. I often give them quizes for 10-15 minutes, so I'll compose them only on the Test Maker Site.

I have also started to develop the Literature Course in the ANVILL. I have a lot to do, of course, so currently you can see only these materials https://anvill.uoregon.edu/anvill2/node/49936
 In my opinion, audio-visual tool will work well, but the problem is that we have only one computer room in our school and each teacher has to wait for his\her turn to use it. Therefore I will recommend my students to use it at home after I have completed it myself.

Happy Thanksgiving to all American friends!

Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate Jewish holidays!

Reflecton of Week 7

Learner's autonomy... This is something very important in our school that specializes in learning disabilities. There are 8 pupils in each class and all of them have different LDs: dyslexia, dysgraphia, lack of concentration, hyperactivity and so on. As a result, they all need individual approach and much more attention than their peers in regular schools.

As a rule, the classes are heterogeneous. Some kids are native speakers and have an excelent command in spoken English, but their spelling, grammar and reading comprehension can be rather poor. Some are quite good learners but they get distracted very often and sometimes it is difficult to catch them again and make them participate in class. And the third group of kids are non-readers who can understand spoken English but they read and write with a lot of mistakes which causes misunderstanding and frustration. Therefore each of them needs autonomy to study.

As I have written in the Nicenet, it can be gained in some ways.

a) Traditional method

The teacher works with each sub-group in the classroom according to their level, gives a set of tasks and the kids work. Afterwards she checks what they have done while other sub-groups are still working. At the same time the teacher is helping each of them.

Thus, I usually start with the students of the highest level. I explain them what to do (mainly a text for reading comprehension or some grammar exercises in order to practice the material they have already studied and this time they do some more exercises. While they are working, I can work with the kids of a secondary level. The weakest students can still practice alone - mainly in writing letters and/or reading rules. After a while I change the activities and work with the group of the lowest level while two other sub-groups are still working. Each kid needs autonomy, of course, in order to check his own ability and to make sure he or she has been making progress. I certainly give them success-oriented materials.

b) Only one computer in the classroom

Sometimes I practice this method. I connect a laptop to the projector and show the kids something specific. It might be a film or something connected to the Everyday English, so that the students of all levels will watch it and discuss. I can divide the class into two groups, strong and weak students can work together, and the first ones can help the second ones. In this way they learn to collaborate.

Then I give them activities for individual practice, connected to the video they have just watch, and they do the exercises in acordance with their level. While they are learning autonomously. I am helping and checking what they are doing. At the end of the lesson I check their works frontally or sometimes they check each other's ones.

c) Studying in the computer room

This is a brilliant opportunity for the autonomy. While doing speific activities online, everyone works alone and checks his/her own results just pressing a specific button "check the answers". Kids can also pick up unknown words in the online dictionary or using the "Google Translate". Besides, they can do some extra activities if they do it quickly. Some students are too slow, some are to quickly, so studying in the computer room gives them a chance to do tasks in accordance with their own abilities and level of knowledge.

Nevertheless, the teacher's presence in the computer room is compulsory. I mean, he or she must give the instructions and make sure that the students really study and don't do any side activities, such as using facebook or other sites of social communication. Moreover, the teacher can organize a competition in the end of the lesson, e.g. "Which mistakes did you make?" "Who did without any mistakes?" The last on is a winner. I think these activities motivate students to make more amd more progress.

P.S. I have shared an article about the learner autonomy in Israel
http://padlet.com/wall/WebskillsF2013/wish/17284622

and a video recording http://padlet.com/wall/WebskillsF2013/wish/17284572

Week 6. Teaching Large Classes

Teaching large classes is considered a challenge in Israel mainly for two reasons:

a) Due to the local mentality and cultural background, Israeli people are rather talkative and get distracted in class too easily. Therefore it is sometimes very difficult for a teacher not to lose 35-40 pupils during the lesson.

b) Lecture method makes students passive learners. Besides, they often get bored during the lectures.
Anyway this method is used mainly at universities, not at schools.

In order to get students interested and engaged during the lesson, the teacher must be really well prepared and make the lessons exciting, success-orienting and highly motivating. And the moders technology really works for us. I am sure that combining traditional teaching and web-technology will enhance the way of teaching and learning perfectly well.

I have explored this article http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/earlycareer/teaching/LargeClasses.html
Using classroom communication system (and not only) sounds great because it can keep the students busy all the time. Many of them like doing quizes online, to they will be concentrated on such activities. Besides, such systems help sick students not to miss the lessons. They can enter the class site and participate in all the activities and do the homework.


Another god way is working in pairs and small groups. The groups can be of the same level or heterogenuous, depending on the task. Thus, for learning English Grammar, kids should work in the same-level groups, but while learning literature or practicing spoken English tasks, they can collaborate, and strong students can help weak ones. Usually group work is good for active learning, while for passive learning each student should work individually.

The second article I have explored is "Using Online Assessment in Face-to-Face courses. http://tep.uoregon.edu/technology/blackboard/docs/Online_Assessment_Blackboard.pdf
 I aggree with the author that it is time-saving, it is more challenging and exciting and it develops personal skills in using modern technology. But it also has some problems, and among them there are technology problems, lack of technology skills and cheating. That is one of the reason why I think that it is not a good idea to use mobiles and iPods in class: kids might send each other the answers and do something not connected to the program of the lesson. In my opinion, while studying in large classes, kids must use only the class computers, connected only to the certain sites and nothing more and controlled only by the teacher or a computer technician.

Week 5. PBL, WebQuest, Alternative Assessment and Rubrics.

This week I have found out the benefits of Project Based Learning. It helps us motivate our students and integrate their language skills in a more natural way. It promotes group work and studying individually as well. Besides, when they collaborate, teach each other, that also enforces their general knowledge and language abilities.

I have started the projet work with my students. They are suposed to choose one of the stories or poems from the list and start working. It can be the biography of the author, his/her outlook, bridging text and context and many other activities, even imagine the same characters ten years later. The projects are supposed to content 750 words for 4-pointers and 1000 words for 5-pointers. The more sourses ids explore, the better they do the project. Since they will have to take an oral exam a month before the written one, I have created such rubrics. http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&rubric_id=2377993

The idea of WebQuest was something new for me and it is one of the best ways to write projects. It is built to do the work step by step which guides very well both teachers and kids and provides a lot of rubrics and checklists. At the beginning it was a bit difficult but I understood it finally. I have created a lesson plan both on the WIKI https://sites.google.com/site/juliaslessons/julia-s-lessons  and on the Questgarden http://questgarden.com/164/23/8/131108113141/.

The alternative assessment is a great thing because it focuses on students' strengths and weaknesses. Therefore they can realize what they are good at and which skills need to be improved. Creating rubrics with the help of http://rubistar.4teachers.org/ saves teacher's time and efforts and creates rubrics for him. And I used to spend too much energy to do them myself!