Making my lessons a more authentic experience.

2.1.4
From my experience with school practice supervision, I noticed that student teachers all teach their lessons in the same way- not distinguishing one lesson as being different from the other;not taking cognizance of the fact that no two classes are the same; and not taking care of his/her own creativity nor that of the student.

The crux of this matter lies with the way I as a lecturer could have presented my self and my mode of teaching- telling them to do one thing , while I do not strictly follow it during my delivery of the lecture- making them detached from the actual practice.

I would like to use this illustration from Jonassen et al (1999), to illustrate what I would do to make my learning experiences more authentic:

 Meaningful learning occurs when learners actively interpret their experience using internal, cognitive operations which  requires that I change my role from sage to guide. 

Since students learn from thinking about what they are doing, my role becomes one of stimulating and supporting activities that engage learners in thinking. 

 Meaningful learning requires knowledge to be constructed by the learner, not transmitted from me  to the student 

To experience meaningful learning, students need to do much more than access or seek information—they need to know how to examine, perceive, interpret and experience information.

Therefore, a authentic learning experience is one that is:

• Active (manipulative): We interact with the environment manipulate the objects within it and observe the effects of our manipulations. 
• Constructive and reflective: Activity is essential but insufficient for meaningful learning. We must reflect on the activity and our observations, and interpret them in order to have a meaningful learning experience. 
• Intentional: Human behaviour is naturally goal-directed. When students actively try to achieve a learning goal that they have articulated, they think and learn more. For students to experience meaningful learning, they must be able to articulate their own learning goals and monitor their own progress. 
• Authentic (complex and contextual): Thoughts and ideas rely on the contexts in which they occur in order to have meaning. Presenting facts that are stripped from their contextual clues divorces knowledge from reality. Learning is meaningful, better understood and more likely to transfer to new situations when it occurs by engaging with real-life, complex problems. 

Cooperative (collaborative and conversational): We live, work and learn in communities, naturally seeking ideas and assistance from each other, and negotiating about problems and how to solve them. It is in this context that we learn there are numerous ways to view the world and a variety of solutions to most problems. Meaningful learning, therefore, requires conversations and group experiences

This can be achieved by use of technology to re -imagine learning.

Learning experience in class -To what extent?

2.1.4 

To what extent do I create learning experiences in my classes?

I am no longer an active and practicing teacher trainer. However, I will look back on how I used to train the teacher trainees at the National Teachers' college.

 To a larger extent, since I was training teachers, I managed to create learning experiences in my class.

The training curriculum has emphasis on integration  -across the curriculum, with co curricular activities,and with real life.

My lectures would take the following shape:

1. I help students find a motivation for learning by awakening  their   insight- teaching  from the known to the unknown (build on prior knowledge) 
2. I use pathways to learning (things that help bridge the known to the unknown: metaphors, experiences, etc.) and  provide  knowledge that addresses a need, solves a problem, or satisfies. 
3. I concentrate in helping them learn  concepts and principles other  than learning facts or receiving information.
4.  Lecture, explication, problem-posing -these have been my most helpful pedagogies.
5. The lecture objectives for Literature in English and English Language is based on the development of skills and sub-skills. I  identify knowledge category (skill, information, concepts, principle, self-understanding, and lecture on concepts and principles (not information).
6.  At appropriate intervals, I  test for comprehension and check for misunderstanding by use of  dialogues, question and answer, self-assessment, test for misunderstanding.
7. I then share information, provide sources of information or knowledge, test for comprehension, test for misunderstanding using appropriate assessment taxonomy.
8.  the most creative part of designing the learning experience is allowing the students to manipulate the knowledge by Interpreting it, enhancing it, diagramming it, depicting it, changing it, deconstructing it, combining it, illustrating it, interpreting it, modeling it by providing them with the appropriate experiential learning activity.
9. I  Plan intervals for revisiting and rehearsing core concepts by  designing multiple ways for students to revisit, manipulate, and apply the concepts at intervals during the course through rehearsal, memorisation and recall, association and application.
10. Through  simulation, experimentation, application in context and  projects I encourage the students to apply knowledge  in the context it must be used, applying what they are learning in the "real world," outside the classroom while I provide feed-back on application.

Examples of tasks that I give students:

ROLE PLAY: Students take roles of various characters in a case study and act out the parts.

Project work: Prepare files for school practice, Prepare a mock lesson and teach a mock
                               classroom.

Group work: prepare and present a character analysis or theme in a text.

School Practice: the immersion into the real world of school that prepares the student in
                              making the transition from trainee to professional.Student teachers are
                            exposed to experience the complexities and richness of the reality of being                              a teacher.                             

Experiences of True Learning

Sylvia Bahiga's experience
Learning the language was a difficult process.
Learning is a cyclic process.
The more she interacted with the learning material, the more she learnt.
She had a positive attitude towards learning
She was not shy to accept corrections and constantly laughed at herself.
She was open minded, friendly and persistently experimented with the language
She developed her own learning style- looking up difficult words, listening to music, watching soaps,was totally immersed in the language learning environment.
Her colleagues were prompters and the school provided a conducive learning environment.
In the end, she mastered the language, she is very happy and very confident since she is able to share her experience.

My Experience
Having to make a video documentary was the most daunting task that I have undertaken so far.I had little or no knowledge about making videos, shooting pictures, editing, making the voice over,writing the sub titles, making the video tell a complete story in itself in an interesting and engaging manner.

However, I set myself to it and made my first video documentary.
I widely  read around the subject, sifting information and noting what was pertinent. I then embarked on the actual production process, making many mistakes,doing, re doing, undoing, reconstructing;persistently giving it a lot of time. In so doing, I kept learning more and more.

Despite this, I consulted the tutor and other participants and the activities undertaken augmented my learning, giving me a premise, a platform, a thrust! The sense of victory still lingers..... I remember the saying: "the tasting of the pudding is in the eating!"

There is a strong correlation between Sylvia's experience of learning and mine.

2.1.2
Gleaning from my experience and of my course colleagues in relation to the overview by Marilyn, learning  is facilitated by the following

1. Who? -The learner

• Motivation for learning
• Open mindedness (Creativity, Flexibility)
• Curiosity
• Determination, optimism and effort
• Learning style 
• Desire to learn
• Collaborative spirit
• Reflective practice

    2. What? The content

• Real life 
• Thought provoking
• Authentic
• Well defined problem

    3. Where?

• Classroom
• Learning platform

    4. How?

• Authentic Activities
• Guided discovery/investigation
• PLN
• Tutors
• Integrated assessment
• Multiple sources
• Reflective practice

 

THE STATUS OF NELLIE'S PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT : 1.5.4

I can now proudly boast of the confidence with which I articulate issues regarding learning with technology. ( these ideas slip out of my tongue even during meetings at the Ministry!).

 I am already making good strides- I have gained the vocabulary that emanates from learning with technology:Crowd sourcing, curating, tags, bookmarks, etc.this picture represents my envisioning- which I am slowly but surely working towards.

Each of the participants in his/her own virtual learning space but collaborating, sharing, encouraging one another towards this goal- My professional learning network has expanded beyond the confines of Uganda in to the world of  different sites, blogs and wikis ,groups and 'likes'

with this expanded PLN I am not limited in my  search  for information that I want, in evaluating a site, creating links, saving useful links on Delicious. Most of all - I have developed an information seeking attitude/behaviour - learning re learning and un learning and learning to be innovative.

The group Wiki page is still not collaborative at all! this kills the spirit of  editing or productiveness in order to bring out the best in  content sharing. On the other hand, it is an indicator of the power of collaboration since I am able to use a link to a blog created by members of the research group.

My strength  is in my ability to integrate technology not only in the classroom, but in my daily life.

1.5.2: SITES IN SUPPORT OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR INNOVATIVE TEACHING

http://www.fmthttp://www.techforteachers.net/systems.com/04-news/Impl-7-prin.pdf
This is a model organisation site that promotes my professional development goal and my staff development for it provides a novel approach in  the use of most cost-effective and appropriate
ways to use computers, video, and telecommunications technologies to
advance the Seven Principles of learning with technology.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4UzD8bL8yc

This is a link to a blog -Video tour of Edutopia -  a portal which  provides very insightful resources  videos, tools , ideas, teacher development,  technology integration,and project based learning - for the teacher in the following learning areas:

Comprehensive Assessment
Integrated Studies
Project based learning
Teacher development materials
Technology integration in Education
Free classroom guides

http://www.techforteachers.net/
This is a site for teacher professional Development for innovative teaching
This site provides an extensive list of very high quality reliable and valuable websites  and organize them in such a way that it can be used by 'non tech' teachers  for purposes of enriching the learners' learning environment.

Listed below are some of the links to the various websites on various subjects:

http://www.techforteachers.net/mobile-devices.html - the use of mobile devices -Resources for teaching with ipads.https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=24R1QJAXL4s

Tips for technology integration in classroom instruction:http://www.techforteachers.net/technology-integration.html

Using images and sounds in projects:http://www.techforteachers.net/classroom-presentations.html and the video:http://youtu.be/OC1OixM_118

Teacher resources for lesson planning and instructional strategieshttp://thinkfinity.org/
http://www.techforteachers.net/teacher-resources.html

enhancing instructional core content area including reading and writing:http://www.techforteachers.net/content-area-resources.html


http://www.educatorstechnology.com/
Education technology and Mobile Learning:
This is another teacher - tailored  resource  site providing an A-Z list of e-resources for educational web tools and mobile apps for teachers and educators.

 It also provides resources for learners:Coding apps for learners.
http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2014/12/new-collection-of-powerful-ipad-coding.html
a new collection of powerful ipad coding apps for learners

Sites that support Teacher Professional Development

Static sites:

Can contain text, images, multimedia content and HTML tags hosted on a web server.

Pages may contain animated or interactive media- movie clips, Adobe flash presentations and mictosoft silverlite.

BLOG and Wiki

     Their pages are defined by interactivity

These are dynamic sites which have features that are defined by the interactions of the user.

They draw ever- changing content from external information sources

Their pages can provide create, retrieve, update, delete functions

 More specifically,

BLOGS:

1. Are author centered

2. Organised in reverse order most recent posts show on the  entry page

3. Reflect the author's identity in tone look feel and content

4. Used to reflect and review eg learning reflections

WIKIS

1. Are content/document centered

2. Editable website with a complete version history kept

3. Aims to reach a consensus or compromise on the content of  the page

4.used to collaborate and synthesise ie group projects.

These differences are further elaborated in the following 

links: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY5acLmS3RQ
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY    
http://ethosconsult
 www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXl

In conclusion,

1. A teacher's professional Development is highly dependent on both the static and the dynamic websites depending on his/her purpose although for creating a net work or learning from one another, the dynamic sites are the best why?
2. 1. The teacher has the ability to pull information from sources external to the website proper.
3. 2. It allows for editing, adding website pages(content) from within a browser.