TOEFL Reading - Autonomous learning - Journal
This is a journal of my TOEFL reading class, in which I tried to apply the theory of autonomous learning. This journal will reflect my observation mainly about students' motivation and interaction in class. An interesting point about this class is that it is promisingly more like a speaking class with a lot of presentation and interactive activities (Link to students' entry)
23 June, 2008
This is the first day of the class. When I come in, there are only three students. I have planned to talk with them about the project today, so we will not do any reading. I started the class with general inquiries to know more about their learning background and their attitude toward learning reading. All of them admit that reading is difficult in terms of vocabulary, grammar and long passages.
Then I lead them in the first activity in class using this hand-out:
+++ HANDOUT +++
In groups of two, discuss the following statement (10 minutes). Take note and prepare a one-minute presentation about how you understand the idea and how you relate that idea to English learning.
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime” - Lao Tzu
+++ END OF HANDOUT +++
After 10 minutes, the three students (now four) are able to come up with short talks, in which 'fish' is 'money': if we have money we may use up, but if we 'can fish', or if we have a job, we never use up our money. They then put a good point in telling that learning at school is also the same; learners come to school to learn strategies, not knowledge because they can use the strategies to get more knowledge. To my opinion, this class go beyond my expectation.
I rephrase their talks, then emphasize that students should be aware and responsible for their own study; that I will teach them the method but they have to work hard for their own knowledge, their own study, their own job, and their own future. To this point, every body in class is fully aware of the lesson from Lao Tzu (and my implication).
Then I go on to tell them the method to be used in this class. First I get them in 3 groups; more people come in after that, and the total student even reach 12 when the class is over. When all students are put in group, I show them my project on the blog for teaching (click here for detailed requirements and students' homework. Though the post is not yet ready, it is still useful in telling them the tasks and roles of learners and teachers. Also I use the unfinished post to demonstrate how to summit group work through the comment function. When finish demonstrating, I resume attention wait for their questions.
To my surprise, they have more questions (which shows that they are really engaged in the project) than expected, and all the questions are practically related to the project. The questions are generally about how to access the blog, accounts, when to start, how to organize work group, how to get together to work, deadline for submission... I group the questions then solve them one by one.
You can imagine how I feel when I see eagerness and keenness in my students' eyes. They are young, so just like me, they like something new and even adventurous. At least, they may have experienced too much of the traditional style for teaching reading skill, and this one offer a promising journey for them. All of them agree about the group work and laugh happily when I tell them a joke. I know that I, to this point, am successful in terms of orienting and motivating my learners. Isn't that the best a teacher can do?
25 June, 2008
So all the three groups' representatives have contacted me for the accounts and passwords, which enable them to post and edit their comments. I've talked to group 1 and they said they had not mentioned about the homework, although they met and chatted very often. I met one of the group leader and suggested him to schedule the next meeting for their group.
I think it's good that they contacted and exchanged ideas with each others. This is a good signal for starting off, although some comments about the homework or the project could be better.
30 June, 2008
I come to class early, and write down three things to do today: discussion about effective note-taking in books, discussion about difficulties in groupwork, and presentations. (This is what I learn from the ALTM unit)
Things do not turn out as expected. Only 4 ss show up at 5:40, so I got them to talk about their difficulties. The only problem was about time, so I remind them that they should be able to manage time and spend at least 15 mins a day for effective studying. Also, they have different choices of how to get in touch with their group
At 6:00, with 7 ss, I put them in a talk about 'effective note-taking in student's book'. In this task, they discuss in their group to decide the most effective ways of keeping the notes and present to the class. They come up with different ideas, but they have a common problem: look up new words while doing practice. I ensure them that they can pick any strategy that suits their style, but they should not use dictionary before finishing the questions. They ask many questions about this, and I explain the importance of being able to focus on the main ideas instead of the new items. Finally, I conclude the task, and present my tips about keeping notes. In my books, I circle the key words for main ideas, and write my answers under the pages so that I can always go back and do the exercises again without seeing the answer keys. Also, writing new words at the end of the page is a good habit, because next time I open the book, I have another chance to guess the meaning of the items in the context of the book. They pay attention, and take notes carefully.
I am not good at managing time (because they have too many questions), so we end up with only 15 minutes left. So I ask about the presentations, but they do not seem to be ready. So I postpone the presentations, but they will have do double the work next week. I use the remaining time to make a sample demonstration about a presentation that they will make, and solve the problem of wrong text book. The school issues different textbooks among learners, so it seems that we have to ask for the correct one. We go downstairs, but the school do not seem to be able to solve it at once. Maybe I will have to restart the course if we have a new text book...
07 Jul, 2008: First presentation
| What happens | My reflection |
|---|---|
| The school did not schedule a computer practice class for use, so we have to change the plan. In addtion, when we go to class, they forgot to set up a projector and the air conditioner did not work. As a result, we ask to move upstairs. | First, they gave us the wrong book, now they ruin the plan and interrupt the class. The students look as if they did not mind, but these things demotivate the them somehow |
| The came late again. I started the class 10 minutes later than schedule with only 4 students, but they showed up one by one later on. I had asked them to go to class early the week before, and they said Yes, but nothing changed. I talked to them again, explaining that coming late meaning missing and interrupting the lesson, and once again, they promised to be on time. | Were my lessons so boring? Were the student enough of this teaching method? It did not seem so. Frankly speaking, I still can see enthusiasim in their eyes |
| I did not remember to write a list of 'tasks of the day' on the board, which I had planned to. Anyway, the plan was interrupted, so it was not my faults. I did my best to cope up with the situation. | |
| I explained the lesson by comparing and contrasting the differences between the two skills in IBT reading. Sometimes they looked not comfortable, but they were then more engaged in my questions about the differences. The practice with short reading went on smothly, though it was till in the form of 'teacher as knowledge transmitter'. | I hate this part of teaching the most. It is not that I do not know the answer or the text, it is just because of the learners' slow responses why I do the lecture. I think I will give them some group work next time when they do the practice on short text |
| The presentation in the final session did not turn out very successful. Though the speaker's voice was good, her written-like language and poorly-prepared visual aids surely made the talk less informative. Also, she missed some points in the requirements. When she finished, we cheered her and I carefully explained the quesitons. Then I went on to teach them 3 basic things about presentation: outline, visual aids, and choice of language. They looked eager about the new off-topic information | I knew that group one worked hard on the topic. It was just because of their lack of knowlege in preparing and presenting a speech. Now they have some ideas about presentations through their own experience, so I hope the lesson stay in their mind and group 2 will do a better job |
14 Jul, 2008: Computer practice
| What happens | My reflection |
|---|---|
| Once again, I just could not start the class until 6:50, which meant 20 minutes later than scheduled. That also meant we just could not finish the plan. Reasoning that they had to go out to work and so they could not make it in time for class, together with a warm smile, they stopped me from any further complaining. | What esle could I do? As time went by, I realize that there were just too many things against the project... |
| The lesson was about 'clicktionary, in which they were instructed to install and use a handy tool for easy vocabulary look up. To my surprise, most of them stop at the page ' Voice of American' to follow the news in English with the help of 'Clicktionary'. Click here to see the task in details | So they liked it. The instant explanation feature caught their attetion and interest, though some of them were still trying to get through the process of installing (some computers were not working well...) |
| The Personal Vocabulary (PV) features astonished my learners because it was totally portable across computers, and virtually across any connected network. | |
| At last they came to the stage to work with the PV trainer. They tried to get the highest score, and raised some questions about difficulty level. | Personally I also like the PV trainer. The fact that they paid attention the the PV trainer and they raised questions showed that this was going to be a promising tool for them in their study |
| I concluded the lesson by reminding them that they could always go back to the blog instruction to install the free software on their computer. Also, I summarized some of the oustanding features and asked if they would use the software. All of them voted for 'Yes'. Then I postpone the presentation till the next class, which meant they would make 2 presentation for the forthcoming class. | Once again, the lesson was not in the book and was no where else to be found, which really impressed the learners. To some extent, they trusted me witht the project together with all the handy tools and stragegies for self study... |
21 Jul, 2008: Second presentation
28 Jul, 2008: Skill focus
| What happens | My reflection |
|---|---|
| I had a normal startup with all the tasks on board and half the class as attendees. | I am not going to complain about punctuality anymore; guess I gotta accept it as a part of teaching job. |
| I asked one student in group one, the group that were supposed to make a presentation that day. She said she did not know or prepare it. | Immediately I realized that I had not remind them of the forthcoming presentation, though they should have known about it as published on the blog. Whether it is their group's responsiblity or mine, I think I will remind them of the tasks next time. |
| The class started with with a review on the four skills that had been taught in the previous weeks. I told them to name the four skills, but they could only recall 2. | So they need more lectures on the skills? In the hope that they can remember and distinguish the skills, I tried to compare and contrast them. In the next classes, I will keep reviews the skills, often with illustrations and practice help them master the skills. |
We learned 4 skills today instead of 2. That is because 2 of the skills about facts and negative facts are not new to test takers. The next two skills about inference and rhetorical, however, are really challenging for them, and for me, too. Once again, I only have them work on one instead of 2 practices for each skills; the other can be considered homework. | However, from my own teaching experience, I think they are not going to do any 'homework'. So when I review the skills, I will tell them to work on the other ones. |
| I discussed the the whole class about a little modification to the project. Concerning the fact that the audience did not work on the topic being presented in the previus sessions, I decided that the three groups will share the topic and be responsible for their parts, including information, questions and vocabulary. | Of course they agreed. One question was raised that 'why did you do it right on the first topic?'. Well, I told them the truth: I will consider what is best for them and will modify the project accordingly. |
| I wrap up the class by review the 8 skills again. Then I told them what to do next week, including a review, and 2 presentations. | |
| The pictures taken by students during the previous presentations were too ugly to be put on the blog. | I will take my own camera to the class. Putting some really nice pictures of the class and the speakers can turn them on, I think. |
04 Aug, 2008: Teamwork failure
| What happens | My reflection |
|---|---|
| I warm up the class by correcting a word game that I have delivered the week before. It was a WORD LADDER game; it was quite difficult so I asked them to do it at home with a dictionary. But they did not complete it, though some attempted to solve part of the game. But they seems to enjoy the game when we step by step find out meaningful vocabulary items | I think Vietnamese learners at foreign language center do not like homework or anything that is to be done at home, no matter it is an exercise or a word game. Even an interesting game like this does get their attention at home, what happens to those more challenging long reading exercises? |
| The review session is a success when they can recall most of the skills from 1 to 8. However, I have to tell them some cues before they can tell the skill titles, such as 'two contrasting skills' for factual and negative factual questions... | Can they recall all the skills without cues? Maybe they can, with a little bit more time. I'll try it next time |
| The puzzle word activity to revise the vocabulary is a disaster. In pairs, they can only solve around 25% of the items, though all the items are taken from the topics that they have prepared and presented... | So they did it and they just forgot it? This remind me of a book about methodoloy, in which the author suggests 'natural syllabus', a notion demand repetitions for learning something instead of one time lesson of 'school syllabus'. I will get them to revise the vocabulary items again and again |
Teamwork failure! When we start the presentation session, the info presenters refuse to start the talk since their speaker is absent. I have explained this to them; that teamwork means teamwork, that everyone in the team should be able to present all the info in that topic, not a particular single person. Other teams are also reluctant to do the task. They do not look ready as I can see no outline or illustration on the blog | From what I can see, they did read the topic, because they can present the info though with hassles. I assume that the project, to some extent, get them to work more and work together, and that the unsuccessful presentations are partly due to techniques rather than bad preparation. |
| I introduce the last two skills in the series. | These are the most difficult skills in the series. It is a contradict that I spend only 5 minutes on these skills. However, I actually have talked about this since the first day, that they should make a sumary for each paragraph while skimming the passage. These summaries will help the last skills; and now they acknowledge my preparation. These skills are difficult since they include information from the whole passage, but because my learners can make summaries, they can solve them in no time flat. |
| I delay one of the presentations to next week; so next week we will have 2 presentations, a skill review session and a vocabulary session | Also, I will spend some 15 minutes for them to practice on the last skills |
11 Aug, 2008: Fifth presentation
