Saturday, July 23d, 2011
Rubrics are so important for me as a teacher, because they are a wonderful way to clarify expectations for grading, for writing or speaking, especially when a teacher wants to emphasize one specific aspect of that performance, in summary they are an agreement between the teacher and the students.
During this week I have learnt about Project-based learning, where learners are given instructions and resources, and then they work in groups to create a project. And I find this method very useful to apply with my students.
I have used WebQuests, but I didn't know they are a form of Project-based learning, now I know, that's why a webquest follows an specific pattern where students work in groups and the teacher clarifies the evaluation in the form of rubrics. With the example of the webquest I can understand easily the concept of Project-based learning and from now on I am going to try to use more webquests.
Last year I presented my students three webquests, but the one I liked more was the one that talked about water, first I presented them a video about how water will disappear for year 2050, and they the webquest, in this project students presented very good ideas. I really liked their work. Another webquest I did was about the global warming, and I titled it, what can we do to help?, students also did a great job. And the third one was about avoiding pregnancy in teenagers.
I don't want to be a traditional teacher, using traditional methods of teaching English that have not given good results so far. I want to help my students to develop language skills while conducting meaningful projects with meaningful language and about meaningful topics which are according to the student's interests and needs.
Dear Monica,
ResponderEliminarI agree with you that having a rubric clarify the expectations for grading for students. I am interested in your experience in using WebQuests, perhaps you could share your WebQuests with me? Thank you very much, and have a good weekend!
Regards,
Yea-huey
Hi Mónica,
ResponderEliminarI loved your reflections. It's good to see that another language teacher is keen on trying new teaching methods. As you write in your post, it is important to meet students' interests and needs. What's more, interests and needs of today's students are not the same as yesterday's students. So, it is also important to keep informed about today's learners' habits and learning styles and learn with them and from them. You seem to be doing that. Congrats! :)
Abdullah from Turkey
Hi Monica,
ResponderEliminarIt is great to hear you have used WebQuest before. I hope I can learn from your experience. May I know your WebQuest especially on water?
Thanks
Susi
Indonesia