The endless ways of using technology.

Hi everybody!
Hope you are doing well!

"When students travel they don't carry grammar books, they carry dictionaries" (Krashen in Lewis).
What does this quote bring to your mind?
I guess you found that today we are going to talk about the importance of vocabulary and how can we use technology to teach and to learn it.
Without vocabulary people cannot understand one another and they can't express their ideas.
Of course, grammar has its own importance, but we can still understand each-other if we use ungrammatical sentences, we can still get the meaning, while if we don't have words ( the right ones ) we can't express anything.
Let's take the example of the little kids. Do they know grammar or its rules?
NO.
Can they convey a meaning by using vocabulary and ungrammatical sentences?
YES.
If a kid says: " I water want.", we can understand that it needs to drink water.
Vocabulary is important not only for communicating, but also for comprehending what we read and listen. Good vocabulary makes us persuasive and also helps us to create a good impact to the others.
People can judge us by the way we talk, we express our ideas and so on. Based on that, they can even decide if they want to build a relationship with us or not.
Vocabulary affects all the areas of communication: listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Since vocabulary is so important, what can we do to improve it?
How can we use technology to achieve that?
•Online images and photos are a great way to teach new words to students. We can show them the picture and they may guess the word or its meaning. Visualization helps students to memorize things better and longer. Not only to memorize, but also to comprehend them better.
• PowerPoint slideshows. We can create an interactive PowerPoint presentation by including different effects such as: the hyperlinks, online quizzes, pop up text and so on.
This makes students learn by being engaged and involved in what they do.
•Online exercises are another way of teaching vocabulary. We can create crosswords, match exercises, quizzes, fill-in-the gaps and other activities with exercise generators. In this way students learn by having fun, since they are very interested in technology and in making it part of their learning.
•Songs, videos and movies. We have all learned something new from them. Music helps us learn by being relaxed at the same time. You learn by following the rhythm. Videos and movies are also important, because while watching them we also hear the pronunciation of the words.
•Online dictionaries and translators. Printed dictionaries seem to be 'old-fashioned' nowadays. People are becoming lazy and an online translator or dictionary, which is only a click away, saves time and we don't have to go through different pages.
The most common language translators are: Google translator and Bing translator.
•Listening to digital texts or audio books. It seems like even books are more preferred online nowadays. People like more when they hear somebody else while they try reading it itself. It improves the pronunciation of the words and also the accent.
•Games. Online games are thousands. One of them is the Anagram online game, which trains vocabulary fluency. You have to rearrange the letters, in order to come up with different words. There are also : 'Synonyms game, homophones game and so on'.

Other online tools we can use to teach and learn vocabulary.
Online tools are important, because they provide a broader information about words and their meaning. They:
-allow students to hear pronunciation. In this way, students will improve the way they say the words.
-allow students to view photos and images related to the words. This is a great chance for visual learners.
-allow students to play with language and to explore it.
-allow students to collaborate with their classmates. We have always said that technology encourages team work. This can be done by giving a work which requires different interpretations and also different abilities.
•Lexipedia.I think we all know Thesaurus dictionary in which we can find different synonyms of a certain word. Lexipedia is a visual thesaurus. It presents words with their semantic relationships displayed in an animated visual word web.
•Word Hippo is another tool, which has a lot of functions. It defines a word, provides a meaning, provides an opposite word, pronounces it, places the word in different contexts and translates it.
•Padlet is used to create a collaborative digital word wall. It allows users to create sticky notes that can include: text, links, videos, images. We hused Padlet this semester and actually it is a helpful way of sharing information and interesting articles with the others. In this way, we had the possibility to read and watch information that we couldn't find ourselves.
•Vocabulary.com allows us to create quizzes. It is a good tool mostly for elementary students, because it provides a hint for students if they don't know what the word is. (You can click it and it will direct you to its page)
That's how it looks like.

Technology always 'finds' ways to make us use it. There were some of the tools and aspects of technology, which I find not very difficult, but also beneficial to use.

Thank you!

Technology as a useful tool.

Hello everybody!
How are things going?

Now that we are closed in our home, we have become more related to technology. We use it to communicate with our loved ones, to keep in touch with our teachers, to complete our assignments and so on.
I want to ask you: Could you go a day without technology?
I guess the answer is 'NO!'
Technology has become an inseparable part of our lives and I can say that we are addicted to it sometimes.
So, let's take the best from it.
We are all future teachers and as a generation which has been so much in touch with technology, we should know how to make use of it in our classrooms. We should know how to implement it in order to meet our students' needs and interests.

Let's focus on its benefits:
•First of all, the use of technology in the classroom engages students more.
They are used to technology and using it while teaching, increases their interest and helps them to have fun. If students are interested in something, they will participate more, they will be active, they will share their opinions and knowledge.
•Technology improves knowledge retention. Students who engage, have better language retention, because they will be part of the lesson and being part of it they will construct their own knowledge and understanding and it will be easier for them to remember things. Not only that, but by integrating technology in teaching we can use different aspects of it such as: pictures or videos and this will help students to memorize things better and also for a long time.
I can make a comparison from my experience.
In subjects where teachers only explain the lesson with their words, without using any kind of multimedia parts, I can hardly focus on what the teacher is saying and I can't remember most of the information.
On the other hand, when the teacher uses power point presentations which contain also pictures, it is easier for me to understand and to memorize things.
•Technology encourages collaboration.
What we can do is to give students a project and ask them to work on it as a team. This project can be about any kind of topic, but students should make a power point presentation and share it with the class.
Students may also present their project by creating their own videos and upload them on YouTube so other students may see it, or they may present their video in their laptop. This encourages also students who are shy to speak in front of a public.
•Through technology, students learn different skills. One of them is cooperation, which I previously mentioned.
It also helps them to develop their critical thinking. Since students have to do a lot of research using internet, they will have to choose which is the most appropriate information, which is reliable or not and so on.
It also develops practical skills such as creating presentations. Students may create a power point presentation as I mentioned above, they may create a video of themselves, or using pictures and different information, they may use graphics etc.
Technology helps us to write emails. Students may write an email to their teacher if they have any kind of request, if they want to clarify something and many other formal things.
Writing emails serves not only for teachers, but also for other formal people they will meet throughout their life.

How to implement technology(multimedia) in our teaching?
•If we have to do with elementary school pupils, pictures, games and music are the best ways to make them learn and have fun at the same time.
If we are dealing with vocabulary, we may use images to show them the meaning of a new word.
We may allow them to play games, which at the same time helps them learn, such as the hot potato game in which students toss a small object to each- other while the music plays and they have to tell a word about a certain topic. The player who is holding the object when the music stops, is eliminated.  In this way they also learn from each other. One online game, which I came across the previous semester is the Kahoot game. It is a user-generated multiple- choice quiz that can be accessed via a Web browser.
Our classmate introduced it for us and I really enjoyed it.
She presented it with a projector, we logged in and we completed it by our phones. It had colours, so it can also be used for young learners. It is a good way to make all students engage and also to make sure they don't cheat.
We may also add music to our teaching. They will have fun while listening and singing to a song and at the same time will learn something new.
We can also use different power point presentations created based on students' need.
Also, students can create or design their own magazine using different aspects of multimedia. This allows students to work together, to show their strongest abilities and to learn different apps.
•Technology is advancing and we can also use different WebQuests for our students. They are a kind of online teaching lessons. One of them is Zunal, which is very easy to deal with.
We may create online exercises for them using online generators.
•What about a class Webpage?
It allows learning to take place everywhere and anytime. Here, we can all post announcements, different materials, photos.
Students can access objectives, notes, worksheets, extra information and so on.
We can create a blog, or we can also use online platforms such as: Google Classroom.


Look at all these ways we can use to integrate technology in our teaching and learning.
I have only mentioned some of them, but they are much more.
But, do not get confused, technology is not a solution, it is a tool. A tool which helps us to improve our way of teaching, but never to replace us.
We should be careful while using it. We should always keep in mind that technology is there to 'serve' us.

P.s Feel free to share your opinions.

Thank you!

DDD-E Model and Constructivism

Heyyy.
Welcome back to my blog!
Today' topic is about DDD-E Model, Constructivism in teaching and the role of Multimedia.

DDD-E Model was a new term for me, so I had to take a look on Google and I found that it is a model of how you organize a project.
Have you ever heard it before ?
Each letter stands for a specific action.
D- stands for Decide.
During this phase, we determine what kind of project we wish to do. We decide the topic/subject, roles of team members and so on.
D- stands for Design.
In this phase you use different tools to structure your assignment such as flowcharts and storyboards.
D- stands for Develop.
In this phase you pull together all the materials you find and you support the framework you built on the design phase.
E- stands for Evaluate.
In this phase you reflect on your success.

DDD-E Model is a practical step-by-step approach to teaching multimedia skills as well. We choose and determine which media components are better to use, which are the most productive ones.
I think all the teachers should teach this model to their students, because it will be a big help for them when dealing with different projects. This model allows us to have a very-well planned and a detailed project.
So, first we decide the topic and we determine the project's goals.
Next we find tools.
Then we find and develop all the materials.
At the end we assess its success.
Actually, evaluation happens every time, it is behind every stage.
DDD-E Model clarifies what we really want to do with our project.

What about Constructivism? What is it?
It is a theory which states that people build, construct and even create their own knowledge through experiencing things.
To do this, we have to ask a lot of questions and at the same time assess what we already know and what we want to learn.
It is not a passive method and this is very important.
It is a student-centered approach. Everything is focused on them.
Maybe, we are not used to this method, because what traditional teachers use are only textbooks and workbooks and everything is based on them.
Sometimes, using only the textbook can be a framed method, since learning is based on repetition.
Of course, repetition is the mother of learning, but it becomes boring if it's the only thing happening in the class.
Traditional teachers has always been the authority in class and sometimes students learned nothing. Teachers speaking all the time and students just listening is not fruitful.
A quote by Benjamin Franklin says:
         "Tell me and I forget
          Teach me and I remember
          Involve me and I learn."
So, students learn better if they are actively engaged during the lessons. That's what constructivism suggests.
In traditional teaching, students work mostly alone. Yes, there are students who work better individually, but team work is proved to be highly productive, because students have the possibility to share their opinions and to 'get' from others what they don't know. Students learn more by their peers than by their teachers. While working in groups, students may display their talent or what they are good at. This allows every student to work on and to show their strongest abilities.

Teacher's role in Constructivism is very significant because it stimulates students to formulate their questions and it allows for different points of view. In constructivism there's not only one interpretation.
Teachers help students develop what they already know and use that knowledge to solve problems. Ideas should be reinforced. Reintroducing concepts already learned in a  'spiral' format helps students to reach a deeper level of understanding.
As you can notice, this method is closely connected to Cooperative Learning, Multiple Intelligences and Project Based Learning, as it emphasizes the importance of team work and projects.
We can make Cooperative Learning, MI and Constructivism part of our teaching by using Kagan structures.
The focus of Kagan structures is to find a funny and fresh way to deliver a content. This method allows students to work as a team. Students don't just learn about the skills, they acquire them, because they practice them daily.

Here are some of the benefits of Constructivism and at the same time of Kagan structures.
•Students learn more, because they are active, involved and engaged in what they learn. They experience things themselves. This method has nothing to do with just memorizing things and repeating them, but it emphasizes the idea of critical thinking and understanding.
•Constructivism gives students ownership of what they learn. They understand that they have created their knowledge and they feel proud of it.
•Since students work primarily in groups, they collaborate with each-other and improve their communication and social skills.
•Kagan structures lead to authentic assessment, because the teacher can listen to all the students in the classroom, what they are thinking and what they know.

What is the role of Multimedia in all this?
As we have said Multimedia is the integration of texts, graphics, animation, videos, pictures and sounds.
The most used form of Multimedia in our classrooms is Power Point Presentations used mainly by the teachers, but even by the students when they present a project.
By using multimedia students:
•Can apply real-world skills related to technology.
•Are encouraged to work together in order to solve problems and construct knowledge. They learn the value of teamwork.
•Learn the importance of different media.
•Learn how to present information in compelling ways by including pictures, audio and all elements of Multimedia.
•Learn the importance of research and organization skills. Since students are going to make their own research, they will learn how to choose the most appropriate information and how to organize it in order to be fully conveyed.

All in all, the methods mentioned above can be highly productive if they are used properly. As future teachers, we have the opportunity to include them in our teaching, not just to make it efficient, but also attractive and funny.

Hope you enjoyed my post!
Stay safe!
Thank you for your time! :)

Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences and Cooperative Learning.

Hi. Hope you are doing well!
Today's topic is about Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences and Cooperative Learning.
•What are they?
•What are their benefits?

According to Gardner's theory, Multiple Intelligences states that each person has different ways of learning and different intelligences they use in their daily lives. Everybody may have different intelligences, but there is always a more dominant one.
This theory proposes that we are all able to know the world through language, logical-mathematical analysis, spatial representation, musical thinking, the use of the body to solve problems, an understanding of other individuals and an understanding of ourselves.

Students learn in distinctive ways. The teacher may introduce his students to the existence of MI and guide them in making use of their intelligence through different activities.
MI has lots of benefits.
•Each student is seen as individual with his/her own strengths and weaknesses.
•The teacher learns how each student may learn best and give suitable tasks to teach the content.
For example: if a student is good at drawing, he/she may not find himself in subjects such as: maths or biology.
Teachers need to provide areas where this student can show his ability.
•Students may be motivated and confident when using an intelligence they know is one of their strengths.
A teacher may give a task which include different abilities. For example, he/she may give students the task to design a magazine.
In this case, somebody who is good at drawing may design the cover, somebody who is good at using the language may write the articles, somebody who is good at maths may calculate which is the cost they will need and so on.
In this way, the classroom becomes a dynamic place that shows art and contains active learners.
•It encourages self-development and formation.
In using the theory of MI and by adding technology, teachers can allow students to use their strongest intelligence in order to understand and learn best.

Teachers should be very careful about how they are going to meet each student's need and strengths.
Actually, today's teachers do not use this method ( if we can call it so). They are more interested in just explaining the lesson and have students tell it by heart. But, they should be aware of the fact that there are also students who are not good at all subjects, because their intelligence is focused on something else.
The teacher's role is to make sure students develop their strengths and not to force them love something they don't.
It is not easy, but they should be more involved, because they affect students dreams and goals.
One way teacher may do this, is by giving them the opportunity to work on groups.

Cooperative learning takes place when students work together to accomplish shared goals in small groups.

In this kind of learning, everybody has its own responsibility.
Students work together , interact with each-other  and explore the curriculum like never before.
What are some of its benefits?
•Students are actively engaged in the learning process. They are committed  because everybody should achieve its own part and is responsible for the group's success.
•Students enjoy working together. It is proved that students learn better by their peers than by their teacher.
They get to know each-other more and they share knowledge. In this way, they all contribute in their group work.
•It develops thinking skills.
Each student is going to have a different task from the other part of the group and this makes them think more.
•It increases liking for school. Since they are doing something they like, they feel better and they start loving school. By working in groups, they don't feel the pressure of saying the lesson in front of the class and they feel more comfortable while working with their friends.
Researchers have found that teams increase students' self-esteem.
A great example of cooperative learning activity is when teachers use jigsaw, where each students is required to research one section of the material and then teach it to the other members of the group.
Each section is put together at the end, just like jigsaw puzzle.

In the previous semester, we had a very interesting team work.
Our professor, Etleva divided us in 4 groups and each one had its own time.
Each group had its own task.
Team A was the executive team, which had to come up with a warm up activity, an ice-breaker and so on.
Team B was the review team. It had to make an interesting, creative review about was told the previous week.
Team C was the teaching team. It had to make a summary for what was going to be talked and prepared hangouts for different activities.
Team D was the evaluation team, which gave feedback for the other groups.
Initially, I was skeptical, because I thought that we are used to the idea that in a group of  5 people, only 2 really work. But, it was not like that. We were all involved. This helped us to be active and to give our own ideas. It taught us that people with different background knowledge can accomplish the task by offering their own ideas.
This team work  improved our sense of responsibility. Our performance affected the group so we had to do our best in order to get good results. Not only that, but team work helped us to be more organized. We calculated the time everybody had. We divided the topics among each other, so everybody had its own part. We became more hardworking and even innovative, because we tried to come up with new ‘methods’ in order to transmit what we wanted to.
I really liked the idea that there was even an ‘Evaluation Group’. Giving feedback for our classmates developed our critical thinking, because we had to think as a teacher. We had to be objective, not depending on our relationships.

The use of Multimedia helps those methods. Teachers may bring powerpoint presentations to the class, different audios, videos, pictures, since everybody learns in a different way.
Not only that, but while working on different projects, students may also learn how to use different apps that may be very useful to them.

Well, as you can see I highly support cooperative learning.
It may have its own problems, but its benefits are thousands.
MI and cooperative learning are closely connected.
As I said above, in a team work each student has its own part and does what he can do best.
That's why we should encourage the usage of these methods in our schools.
The integration of Multimedia in these methods make them work better.
Including the Project Based Learning, these can be the best methods teachers can use in their classroom.

P.s Feel free to share you comments and suggestions.
Thank you!