Dig Into Digital - Face-to-Face Workshop at Shlomi (North of Israel)

 

Moodle to help pupils improve speaking

This post is meant to help teachers discover some of the possibilities of using Moodle to help pupils prepare for COBE. I will be teaching this in the coming Moodle workshop.

Welcome to the November 2021 Moodle Workshop

Hi!

There are a few places left. Wouldn't you like to learn to use as a teacher THE BEST Learning Management System available? There is a workshop for that. It is an Israel Ministry of Education Workshop, so you pay just a few Shekels. It will be worth your money, time, and effort. And you will get a GMUL. Just jump at the chance and join. Happy Moodling!

Using Moodle to get ready for COBE - January 2021

I share the way I help my pupils get ready for their Oral matriculation exam. While there are digital tools that enable teachers and pupils to record themselves and practice to get ready for the Computerized Oral Bagrut Examination, there is ONE ENVIRONMENT that makes it easy for us to do this in ONE PLACE: Moodle. As for me, I use Moodle Mashov, I appreciate both the great work done by Mashov people to get the environment to function well and the support Mashov provides. If you have access to Moodle Mashov, give it a try. If you do not, you may want to get your free Moodle Platforms from the Ministry of Education. Why use two or three different tools (and you can't be sure they are available at all times, and for free, and that you can store data without endangering your privacy and that of your pupils) instead of one, Moodle?. If you use Moodle (Mashov or the Ministry Platform), you can be sure you do not risk any danger or harm, and probably get a good job done.

Women and employment: Inequality - Learning Activity

Women have always been hard hit in terms of employment (unemployment/lack of proper employment/ lack of opportunities/ etc.), but the situation has worsened during the current Cooronavirus times. Having learned of the new unemployment figures in Israel, and once again, having learned of women murdered almost on a weekly basis, I think it is important to bring the matter of gender (in)equality to the front over and over again. Incidentally, "She codes" and similar ventures do a lot to change the situation. To create this Activity I have used Moodle Choice (it's a poll), Moodle Lesson (as practice because I did not want to have grades registered for this Moodle Resource), and Moodle Assignment (it is for grading). I could have added more, but the less, the better).

Teaching and Learning in the Information Age

I completed this excellent course during the lockdown and beyond.

This is the syllabus (link)

Time for Reflection in Coronavirus Times

While the Coronavirus lock-down has disrupted this school year, it has given us a chance to teach and learn English in ways that are different from those of “normal” school times.

No, I do not mean that it has given my teenage pupils more time to spend watching films in English without translation. And, no again, I do not mean thaא   ..READ MORE https://www.elearningworld.org/time-for-reflection-in-coronavirus-times/

Israel Independence Day Posters 1959 Learning Activity

ElearningWorld writers are so different…

https://www.elearningworld.org/elearningworld-writers-are-so-different/

ElearningWorld writers are so different…
 21st April 2020  ElearningWorld Admin  0 Comments ElearningWorld, Writers
ElearningWorld writers represent hugely diverse sectors of the e-learning spectrum.


One of the reasons we have such a wide range of articles on ElearningWorld is that our staff writers have such rich and diverse backgrounds…

All are ‘teachers’ in the broadest sense of the world – although some have more experience in schools (John, Gareth, Richard, Eduardo), others in the University sector (Scott, Stuart, Tabitha), and others in the commercial sector (Ruth, Ben, Tish, Anna, Catherine).
Dome of our writers operate in a freelance / contract / project type environment – Gareth, Richard, Stuart, and others employed full-time by organisations as varied as Healthcare, Consultants, tech companies, and TAFE.
Cultures and languages are also varied – from Europe (Ruth, Anna, Stuart), Asia-Pacific (Tish, Scott, Tabitha), and America / Canada (Ben, Eduardo, John).
Technical and non-technical focus – Ben, Gareth, Richard, Stuart, Catherine are all tech geeks (in the nicest sense of the word!) whilst others put ‘teaching and learning’ at the top of their list (Anna, Tabitha, John, Eduardo).
Ultimately it’s the combination of all the above factors that result in ElearningWorld having such variety, with ‘EdTech’ (Educational Technology) being the single factor that unites everyone.

Moodle Mashov for Home and Blended learning

Since Moodle is available to teachers who teach in schools that work with Mashov, and since Mashov does a great job at helping teachers use Moodle, I have got this Digital Book ready to provide further help.

Ted-Ed Lessons with Moodle

Using Ted-Ed lessons with Moodle, we, teachers, can help teenage pupils dream big, reduce prejudice (pre-judgment), learn that looks aren’t everything, have the self-confidence to lead the way, and more. (...) Stuart: "I like the idea of previewing content in class.
It gives learners a better understanding of the “Why should I be doing this?” or “What should I be watching this?”
Too often teachers just ‘give a link’ and expect learners to make the connections.
Some will, but some may not, and therefore miss out on the intended value"
https://www.elearningworld.org/ted-ed-lessons-with-moodle/

Moodle: Facilitating Learning Experiences for High School Pupils

Moodle and Ted Ed Lessons

Ted-Ed Lessons with (and on) Moodle can turn out to be a very useful combination.

New Learn Moodle course January 2020

I have created this video to invite colleagues to take part in a free course that is designed for anybody who wants to use the Moodle learning platform for teaching. Find out by yourself if using Moodle suits you. Sign up at https://learn.moodle.org/ I am sure you will not regret it

Learning activities: "Become a Thinking YouTuber"

English as Foreign Language Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking activities using some Google presentations

Our pupils share a lot of content on Social Media (mostly on "Whatsapp", but also on YouTube). As teachers of English, we can make them aware to post wisely and help them improve their English. The activities attached here may help us do so.

It is common knowledge that YouTube has become the platform where many teenagers become celebrities. Teens spend more time watching YouTube videos than TV, so most are passive watchers, but some are active creators. We can engage them to learn English creatively by taking up the topic of posting on YoutTube.

While helping every one of our pupils become celebrities is an unrealistic goal (and perhaps not a wise one), it is realistic to assume that creating their own Youtube channel can benefit them in many ways:  they can upload their own videos in English and become more proficient in both English and Digital Technologies. The following Google Presentations are one way I  will try to do so this year with 10th, 11th and 12th-grade pupils at The Six-Year Kugel High School in Holon, Israel.

The first Google presentation is meant to raise pupils' awareness that it is important to think before they post (wherever they do so). The content is based on a Common Sense Education and Flocabulary video (I wish to stress that I have not made an unauthorized copy that would infringe copyright.) - Link to the "Think Before You Post" Google Presentation

"Becoming a Thinking Youtuber" is the second Google Presentation of the series aimed at both introducing “Youtube Creators [Creator Academy]” to EFL learners. While some the contents have been adapted from the Youtube Creators channel, I have also adapted activities suggested in the book "Video in Action". Link to the "Becoming a Thinking Youtuber" Google Presentation.

"Subscribers" is the third in the series and continues the work done on the previous two presentations. While many of the activities are guided ones, there is much room for creative pupils' input (check, for instance, the "It's your turn" slide. Link to the Subscribers Google Presentation. 

"Why branding matters" is the last of the series (at least, so far). It follows the same pattern as the other presentations. Link to the Why branding matters Google Presentation.

Note: There is one more lesson on the Youtube Creators channel devoted to Copyright. Since it is important that those of our pupils who do want to become YouTubers learn how to do so well, we have to suggest they take the free Youtube Creators course. It will teach them the subject and help them to learn English. We Israelis like to have two for the price of one, don't we?

This Common Sense Education document will, I hope, help me get my pupils to work in groups better

.

Creativity in the classroom

Through the use of interviews with renowned scholars in the field and practice based narrative, this module gives an overview of the use of creativity in a classroom context and supplies teachers with strategies to use creativity every day to enhance academic outcomes. The main message conveyed by the module is to have creativity as part of every teacher’s toolbox and develop strategic use of eliciting creativity

The full module is 47 minutes - Link to the APA website page where it is possible to watch each segment separately http://www.apa.org/education/k12/creativity-module.aspx

Flipped Learning for Amy Tan's "Rules of the Game"

I have prepared four You Tube Videos to help me teach Amy Tan's "Rules of the Game". I will share the videos on this post because there might be colleagues who might want to use them, too. Colleagues might even suggest additions and / or improvements, which will be most welcome.

My idea is to do the following:

Step I. I will have different groups of pupils use " Collabrify"  (if that fails, then a simple Google Doc) to connect to the story before they read it. This will be done at home BEFORE class (Flipped Learning)

Some will work on a document to carry out the following task: 

 Read the article “Difference Between American & Chinese Culture” ( https://goo.gl/1bSZ6s ) and find out the attitude of Chinese and Americans to the following values:  

1. Family

2. Harmony

3. Humility


4. Obedience

Note; There is more - Click here to see the template I will use (I hope you can, at least)

Others will do some vocabulary work  - Click here to see the template I will use (I hope you can, at least)

Other pupils will do the  Pre -Reading activity about Chess and Life  - Click here to see the template I will use (I hope you can, at least)

I also hope to have a group of pupils fill in the following KWL chart - - Click here to see the template I will use (I hope you can, at least)

Step 2: Pupils will present what they have done in class (This means that this part of the lesson will not be teacher centered, but pupil-centered. I hope the presenters are the ones who teach.

Step 3: I hope steps 1 and 2 leave me time to introduce the story, having time for discussion.

Step 4: Active reading of Part 1 of the story ( Flipped Learning)

Step 5: In class: Follow up to step 4 (Instead of reading the story in class, I hope to  discuss (and have pupils discuss) different aspects of the story. There will be work using the text book (We use ECB Literature for 5 points Option 1). I guess HOTs will come in here.

The following steps follow the pattern set on Steps 4 and 5




The method I have decided to use for teaching the story is "Flipped Learning" (Click here for more on this method). My idea is to have pupils actively learn outside of class and before we take up the story.

I will use pre-reading activities that build the background. You can learn about them on this post: "Using Collabrify to teach "Rules of the Game" by Amy Tan (click here to reach that post on this blog). You can learn more about "Collabrify" on this other post I have published (Click here)

The following is a link to a video that provides some background to this post.

Following are the four videos that I hope to be using with my pupils. I have created one for each part of the stroy. The videos include a very short introduction, a reading of each part of the story by Markette Pierce, some active reading questions for pupils, and a word concerning the follow --up activity for each video.

Hopefully, my attempt to apply "Flipped Learning" for teaching "Rules of the Game" might free me from having to read the entire text in class, and give me lesson time to deal with so many other things: getting pupils to actively (the following is not necessarily in the order they might occur)  analyse and interpret the story, learn and use vocabulary,, deal with LOTs and Hots, write, speak , etc.  I guess it will be better than what I might have done had I not invested time on creating the videos. Time will tell. 











Useful resources:
1. Link to to the short story "Rules of the Game" that has been used on the videos
2.  Markette Pierce reads "Rules of the Game" ("Students in English 12 who need to listen to "Rules of the Game" to answer active reading questions can do so here." - MORE THAN 38.000 views!)
3. Flipped learning 
4. Plot Elements (video)
5. enotes "Rules of the Game"
6. "Rules of the Game" Worksheets (written by / uploaded by somebody whose name I do not know)

Using "Collabrify" to teach "Rules of the Game" by Amy Tan

The following is one example of the use of "Collabrify". This is the first time that I make use of the app, so I am sure there must be much more than can be done with the tools.

See this post for more on "Collabrify"

Google Drive Tools and "Collabrify": a set of several digital tools for collaboration.

"Collabrify": a set of several digital tools for collaboration.
I have just found very good Free Google supported Tools that are great for student collaboration. In my final assignment for the PPBL (Practical Problem Based Learning – English Literature workshop, I mentioned using Google Drive Tools such as Google Docs and Google Slides as Digital Tools that make it easy for pupils to collaborate. I also pointed out that I would encourage using Google Docs for a specific activity before pupils begin to work on a topic / subject / issue: "KWL". Well, I have just found out that through Google Drive it is possible to access "Collabrify", which is a set of several digital tools for collaboration. Great stuff, indeed. 
When the workshop opened, I wondered out loud where PPBL meets both the use of Digital tools and the teaching of Digital Skills as the Ministry of Education wants to encourage. Well, this is one more meeting point.
The attached video shows how to get "Collabrify", and a glimpse into what pupils can do with the tools, which, as I show, can be added via Google Drive. 

Incidentally, the attached video clip shows how I tend to use Google Tools to help pupils collaborate when "doing Projects" When encouraging pupil collaboration, via PPBL we can teach Digital Skills and engage pupils in a way that meets the requirements of the st century (team work, use of technology, etc - It's part of "life" out there) BTW, the fact that everybody (not just pupils) is hooked on smartphones does not mean that pupils know how to use Digital Tools for something other than play (as important as that can be) I just wonder how different what I show here is to using "Collabrify" (see the other video clip I have just uploaded)

How autism freed me to be myself | Rosie King - A Ted Ed Lesson

This is one of the Ted Ed Lessons based on Ted Talks that I have been trying to put together. It is not final yet, but to know if it works, it needs trying out... I share it as an example of what I hope to be sharing with pupils (They will not "do" the work during the online lesson, but they may want to do it later. I hope to showi one way kids can work on their English on their own and, if teachers want to, in class). "Lemida Becherum" is a "Targil". which means we will be practicing the delivery of online lessons (and content). It's worth giving it a try (and learning from mistakes). Please do let me know if you eventually use this lesson and find, as you probably will, what to improve). Best wishes!

Link to the Ted Ed lesson