Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Week 12 Reflection


It is hard to classify myself as teacher-centered or student-centered as I feel I tend to dabble in both equally. I believe that good teaching maintains a healthy balance of the two. Some items require direct instruction and there is no other way around it. Other times content could be better taught and affirmed through more engaging lessons and activities.

That said, this course and others in the EDTECH program have really challenged me to consider how I will go about creating a more student-centered learning environment online. Below is a list of lesson activities that pertain to the English content area and would be suitable for live meetings:

  1. Interviews- Students could conduct interviews with peers to practice for jobs, help build class culture, etc.
  2. Peer Review- Students can collaborate to review one another’s work using various tools that would allow them to teach each other.
  3. Role Playing- Students could engage in drama or demonstrate understanding of things like dialect by acting them out and practicing creating the elements highlighted by the teacher.
  4. Collaborative Concept Mapping- Students can use various digital tools to develop visual representations of their understanding of content.
  5. Digital Presentations- Students could take all of their researched information and build group presentations through things such as Prezi or Google Slides.
  6. Guest Speakers- In a video conference format, the teacher could invite a guest speaker to share with the class.
  7. Discussion- This can be formal or informal, but students could have a live debate, seminar, question-answer time, etc. to facilitate academic conversation.

These are just a few activities that could be employed during live meetings. I believe there are an abundance of options, but these seven lay some foundation for future discussion.

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