User:Marthagonzalez

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= My profile =

This is your personal user page in WikiEducator. Tell us a little about yourself ..... be bold and try an edit now by starting to fill out your user page. This is a great way to practice your new wiki skills :-).

Professional background
I am a language teacher and I love my job.

Education
I have a Master´s degree in Education and I have learned through these years that reflecting on our own teaching is a great opportunity to really become a better teacher.

My interests
I like sharing experiences and learning from people.

Personal goals for this semester
For each of the three sections below, discuss what your goals are and how you plan to achieve them.

related to becoming a better communicator of English
We never stop learning, so I will continue to prepare myself as much as I can in order to be able to communicate the language.

related to pedagogy
I am really interested in learning more about Critical Pedagogy so I will try to read more about it.

related to how languages are learned
I work as an English teacher at Universidad Autónoma of Aguascalientes and I know from experience that practicing the language gives you the opportunity to learn more about it. If you do not practice you forget! I highly recommend to make an effort and practice as much as you can.

Personal
Beside teaching I always try to spend as much time as I can with my 12 year old daughter and my family, I also like baking and swimming.

My wiki projects
I am going to try to be a good learner because I do not know anything about wiki, but I am a responsible person and I am always willing to learn so I hope I will not have many problems!

My optional community service (learning contract) project
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Feedback and notes from my WikiNeighbours

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My Sandbox
My sandbox I am going to try to learn more about wikis and I promise that this semester I will improve my computer skills by practicing them and I will not be afraid of doing it.

'' La ausencia de deseos conduce a la paz interna 

Talking about Tasks
What is a task?

It is a classroom activity whose focus is on communicating meaning.

What is the objective of a task?

To reach some consensus on:

An issue, to solve a problem, to design something, to persuade someone to do something.

'''What do we expect in the performance of our students? '''

That students use their own language resources individually or in pairs or in small groups.

"Different criteria for classifying tasks have been suggested. For example, tasks can be open-ended or closed"

What is an open-ended task?

It is one in which learners know there is a predetermined solution: planning an excursion, debating a topical issue.

What is a closed task?

It requires learners to discover the solution to a problem: identifying the differences in a spot-the-difference task.

Tasks can also be classified according to the kinds of operations they invlolve, such as:

Ranking, Selecting, Sorting, Comparing, Surveying, and Problem-solving.

PERFORMANCE TASKS
Performance tasks are open-ended, multi-step problems that require students to apply information, understanding, and previous knowledge to create their own learning activity. These tasks should be designed carefully, both to engage students' intellect and to incorporate sound and significant mathematics. Ideally, performance tasks offer students time to investigate and grapple with a problem and to devise their own responses and explanations for how they arrived at an answer. It may be helpful to start with simpler tasks and work up to longer, more complex ones. Assigning students to work on performance tasks in pairs or groups of four will enrich the teacher's observations and notes about strategy, results, and attitude.

Teachers often evaluate performance tasks using a rubric, which is a hierarchy of performance standards and expectations. Whether task-specific or general, the rubric makes it possible to determine a student's score based on overall performance on a task, as opposed to simply the number of correct or incorrect items. A sample rubric could consist of a scale of three to six points that are used to rate performance. Rubrics can be shared with students to help to engage and empower them in the learning process. link title

Self-assessment is the process by which students evaluate their own work, given criteria established by the teacher. This is important because, ultimately, the responsibility for learning belongs to the student. A teacher might ask students to validate their thinking on certain problems or to explain how they arrived at a particular solution. It is important that a teacher asks about correct answers as well as incorrect ones, in order to support the idea that students have control of the subject and that questioning is not related to students' mistakes or failure. Student self-assessment helps to build students' self-esteem, and it helps them to see how incorrect answers can be valuable in the process of arriving at correct solutions.



Sample self-assessment

After students complete a mathematical problem or investigation, ask them to evaluate how they felt about their work by writing "yes," "no," or "not sure," in response to all of the following questions. Be sure to explain that there are no correct or incorrect responses.

I understood the directions to the problem. __________

I found an answer to the problem. __________

I could explain this problem to another student. __________

I enjoyed solving this problem. __________

I thought the problem was too hard. __________

I thought this problem was too easy. __________

I thought this problem was just right. __________

I never saw this kind of problem before. __________

This problem reminds me of other problems I have solved. __________

I would like to do more problems like this one. __________

Peer assessment is a group activity in which students listen to, discuss, and analyze each others' strategies for solving problems. Peer assessment makes it possible for students to see different ways to proceed and to make judgements about which way makes the most sense, which seems easier, and which leads to stumbling blocks. Observing these discussions will benefit the teacher in learning about the students. 

I would like to share with you some of the Performance Objectives that I was able to learn at an English Seminar in 2009. They were designed by AES, Lewis & Clark College.

PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES.

Refine anlytical and critical problem-solving skills.


 * Exchange information.
 * Use questions strategies.
 * Develop cpnsensus building skills.
 * Produce opinion statements.
 * Marshal facts.
 * Make inferences.
 * Analyze and synthesize.
 * Develop an hypothesis.
 * Use argumentation.
 * Develop ability to critique.



FAVORITE TASKS

There are many tasks that we can provide to our students, but the ones that I like the most for my classes are the ones designed by Luke Prodromus [luke@spark.net.gr], who has a Ph.D from Nottingham University in ´non'-native spoken English: a corpus study. Luke defines a successful speaker as a person that can get the message across, and he encourages English teachers to be creative and to teach what students will really need to learn in order to become what he calls "SUE" (The Successful User of English).

Task 1

A PUZZLE

What is 'it'?

The years passed. I've learned it. I've made the English language my profession. It gave new beauty to my world. It changed me into a a different person- more confident, better, stronger. Yet, why do I feel so estranged sometimes, Particularly when travelling to England? As if I am looking for the mysterious something that I shall never find? 'Tatiana, do you follow me?'- a pleasant voice Of Mr. English interferes with my thoughts 'Yes, Mr. English, I do follow you, I'll get all necessary papers ready by the next week'. 'Fine, thanks.' Bye, Mr. English. Merry Christmas. I put down the receiver. Vain search. I know it is there in England, But it shall never be mine.

Task 2

What is it?


 * 'A jungle'
 * 'A dangerous minefield'
 * 'Treacherous'
 * 'Skating on thin ice'
 * 'Slippery'
 * 'A stumbling block.'


 * Two clues


 * 'Pervasive'
 * 'Central' to language use.

FACTORS
Linguistic factors. Cognitive factors. Performance factors.

LEARNER INDEPENDENCE
First, I would like to start by saying what we have been told in a meeting: Our main point is: increasing our students' language skills. A question that comes into my mind is "HOW?" So by my personal experience and after attending some English Seminars I have been able to answer by reviewing the following information:

Source: Fomento's Meeting. October 13th, 2009.

What is learner independence?

It is the capacity to take control of one's own learning (Benson, 2001:47)

We have to keep track of what Learner Autonomy is not:


 * Learning without a teacher or in isolation.
 * Another teaching method.
 * Just a set of skills, rules or strategies.
 * Let students do what they like when they want to.

Nice book!
Students are watching, this is a really 'interesting' '''book, read it! My goals for this semester are... Trying to implement more technology in the classroom. Encouraging students to use English as much as possible not only in the classroom but in the regular basis. Sharing ideas and working together with other teachers in order to improve my classes.

To accomplish these goals, I will do the following: Asking people who have been working with technology recently and learning as much as I can about it. Making students aware of the need of practicing the language everyday and keeping track of their own progress. Willing to be open and implement new ways of teaching.

As an EFL educator, my greatest challenges are... Involving students in the activities by promoting interesting topics and using a variety of strategies. Attending my students' needs by taking into consideration their learning styles.

To overcome these challenges, I will... I will ask my students about their interests and I will prepare my classes so they can practice not only the language but culture as well. I will promote students' abilities and achievements by making them to reflect in their mistakes as part of their own learning process.

Martha González. http://books.google.com.mx/books?hl=es&lr=&id=I4YrlnzBqPEC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=reflective+teaching&ots