justify, apply and encourage

Today i figured out three secret words for engaging learners.

 

As learners we had our concerns about the APA referencing emphasis. But a small sentence was introduced in the session followed by an information i heard from a relative couple of days ago about her masters thesis simply justified it's importance.

secret # 1 JUSTIFY the importance of what you know is importance but the learners can't see eye to eye with you.

Now i know why the APA referencing is important i still could not get where did i go wrong because i simply used the word formatting option for bibliography. Then came the second secret word APPLY. The designed activity along with the sheets came in handy. First i never knew there were that many types of references. Actually filling in the field and recognizing the differences by simply applying the knowledge or doing the activity did help a lot.

While we were simply engaged in doing the task because we were asked to after justified the reason, a gentle whisper was made to a couple of students about their reflection and how they need to master this skill to excel. hence secret number 3 ENCOURAGE. 

So yes if you want to make a difference as a teacher in your learner's perspective all you have to do is Justify by giving reason why, Apply by letting them do the actual task , and Encourage using individual comments for each learned as a feedback on their work.

e-teacher

Although i have graduated from faculty of engineering, i gave up on technology a long time ago. I was either too busy or too lazy to catch up with the revolution. i had a personal computer when I was in college but i felt the need to have a laptop when i started teaching eight years ago.
Back in college i was CONNECTED but now it takes twice the effort and 10 times the time to catch up.
But thinking back at the session if i wanted to be able to speak the same language as my students i need to pick up the pace.
I started the academic year by subscribing to one of the home internet services because all of my siblings live abroad now and i wanted to be CONNECTED, but it does help to be connected to my student via Facebook and their school communication system the e-connect.
I agree that i need my own resource kit if i want to be an e-teacher and this includes a smart phone , a lighter laptop, speakers and scanner BUT i should start with what i have now and take it one step at a time.
The next day i decided to take time to search the internet for resources for my new math lesson "factorizing polynomials". the point is i didn't only come up with a power point for the class or send it via mail or e-connect to save their copying time the point is i had a look at other teachers plan for the lesson, the way they introduced the instructions in a smooth and sequential order. so instead of reinventing the wheel why not simply start where everyone else stopped. I do believe that i need to change from within and embrace the technology in order to use it effortlessly.

Yes i CAN !!

challenged and frustrated with last week's feedback on my paper, i decided to talk to Dr. Joy about it. I felt exactly like my students ... why re-do the work without argument!
The moment i opened my mouth i found the instructor ready and prepared with an extremely smart activity that gave me the answer without saying a word.

I don't know if Dr. Joy used this stretching activity before or how long it took her to come up with such a solid proof evidence that people tend to put more effort and explore their potentials when they are pushed further. the exiting idea was how to convince a student that you are putting him or her through hell just because you believe in his or her potentials and not just for sports. And the impact of this information on a student A.K.A myself is huge ... i know we were supposed to re-do the same reading but when motivated and challenged enough i went the distance and read a new article and did the work from scratch ... not only did i do so but i had help from a fellow English teacher when it came to summary writing.

yes motivation does miracles ... you can change a frustrated student into an eager learner IF and only IF you could tap smoothly into his or her head.

not only that but the energy shift that happened to the whole class was huge.

I really hate to be in the instructor's shoes, she had to plan for an energy altering session- and i know this consumed a lot of thinking from her side but i did enjoy my learning experience. 

If this is what it takes to motivate my learners ... thinking constantly about how to motivate them to get the best out of them... it's definitely worth the thought.

Thanks Dr. Joy for turning back on my learning enthusiasm at the end of the diploma :)

"you can't understand me" ... may be i can't !!?

Sick with common cold, exhausted with the day's traffic, overwhelmed with the day events ... i switched gears from the teaching mode to the learning mode ...but the transition was not as smooth as i hoped.

how could i forget ... something i learned 2 years ago and it made a HUGE difference ... ADOLESCENTS CAN NOT READ FACES LIKE WE DO !! yes i learned this in my 501 course and it did make a difference but it slipped my mind ... and i was wondering the same day how can't one of my girls figure out that i am upset with her sitting inappropriately in class or speaking to me with an attitude ... i remember telling them to avoid me on Sundays and Wednesdays to make it easier for them but that was a Tuesday!

Thank God i remembered.

how hard could this be "you can't understand me" .. a girl saying the i can't understand her ... but yet i was so caught up in my days' events and my student having a trouble understanding the context ... i was totally convinced with my interpretation to the extend that i could not understand the grammar of the sentence ... yes apparently some times when you are a teacher worried with exams and curriculum and grades unfortunately you become too focused on our thoughts that you totally block any other explanation even the simplest ones. i think i should always put their thoughts into considerations and try to be in their shoes like we once were A LONG LOOOOONG TIME AGO !

mmmmm... motivating the unmotivated or the absent minded how frustrating could that be .. we are always talking about the student but how can we motivate the teacher to keep trying and trying and trying and.... trying and hopefully the learner will respond IN HIS OWN TIME .... so yes as frustrating as it might be i guess persistence is the key word.