IWB part 1

Hello again and i have again found another very detailed article on the IWB(Interactive WhiteBoard) in the ;Modern English Teacher' magazine. One can obtain this magazine on the 2nd floor of the main UM library. i obtained this article from the April 2005, Vol 14, No 2 edition.

it was a very long and well explained article. however i could only finish half of the article, with some of the basic points taken.

apprently, there are 3 types of whiteboard usage i.e the infrared/ultrasound which has very minimal usage, next the passive whiteboard which is touch sensitive and finally the active whiteboard which the most commonly used type. the reason the last type being the most popular, due to its advanced usages (the name itself is self explanatory)

there are specially designed flipcharts that was desighned using software that controls the advanced functionality of the whiteboard. frankly saying, i cant really imagine the physical appearanace of it and mostly understand the actual functionality of this chart until i see a live example.

but mainly, the article explains the technical basis of the gadget and the ability to bring all audio, viseo and most importantly internet functions all in one.

and one of the speciality of this IWB is that it provides the basic necessaity to special children. functions have been created to serve these needy students to enable them to control objects on a more user friendly and less troublesome way. Now, thats what i call 'ultimate success', when you are able to make everyone happy.

unfortunately Dr. RM, I am still unable to obtain the direct link to these articles. however, those of you who are interested, can proceed to go to the main website of this magazine as i had included in the last posting as well. nevertheless:

www.onlineMET.com

hope to learn more on the IWB and hope to come across a flipchart.

have a good day ahead.

Amrita Sivapatham

Engagement

Hi, everyone. I would like to share my experience in school on how I made form 1 students to engage in classroom discussion. The topic discussed was "Recycling".

I instructed my students to collect things that people normally throw away such as bottles, boxes, plastic products and toys.

During the lesson, these things were heaped in the middle of the room and the students sat in a circle around them. First, I showed the class how I had used a mineral water bottle into a beautiful vase. I described the procedures to make and decorate my model. My presentation was to serve as a supportive base for my students to describe their own models later. In other words, teacher demonstrated how learners could make something and then talk and write about the creations.

In describing their products orally, it was evident that students self-corrected with their grammar and vocabulary usage that they always use in daily communication. Thus, I can say that existing or prior knowledge is activating in learning process. And I would make corrections for any misuse of the English Language in grammar or even their sequence connectors used. In this way, learners able to learn new words or phrases besides their demonstration skills. Students worked on communicating their thoughts on their model and focused on the decisions they made in order to make the model look authentic. Thus, I can be sure that their new knowledge is demonstrated from their thought about what they were to say to the class. I hope in future if there is any rubbish or debris that could be recycled, my students will take them and began to model-making them as instructed in my class. If that happened, I can say that my learners are applying their new knowledge in real world problem solving. Isn't it?

In presenting their ideas in written form, students again used language in the context of a recent experience. The lessons had provided learners with the opportunity to make authentic use of oral and written language. Many teachers are making mistake when they discussing about essay writing. Oftenly, they will give a few sample of essay followed by class discussion and then ask students to proceed with their own writing. This type of engagement could make our children bored and blurred on what they are going to do. Let them engage with the real world situation and automatically they could generate as many idea on what they are going to do. As Dr RM told us, don't ever enrage students with the boring class but pay more attention and have 100% eye-contact with them.

Last but not least, all the best to my beloved classmate in engaging students. As long as, we as a future teacher to-be can choose the most appropriate teaching materials to suit the cultural, cognitive and proficiency level of our students. Hopely, that WE wouldn't have any problem in 'Engagement'.


Rasheeda Kamal

Printer Installer URL

Hi, 2 my cute lecturer DR RM, here are my URL add;

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Uninstallers/Alagus-Printer-Installer

and

http://printer.installation.businesscoholics.com/sh.cfm?sq=Printer%20Installation

Regards,

Rasheeda Kamal

Yesterday 23/01/07, We have learned how to use the...
Yesterday 23/01/07, We have learned how to use the IWB and digital camera. I searched through the web to get details IWB, how's its being used, what is the technology. i wasn't sure how to use it until yesterday. THe hands on experience was fun. I am going through http://www.drivers.com/ to get the assignment done today. I am not very expert in using the Internet but i am learnig with the guidence of the group. I am sure i have lots to learn. Well the following are URL address for installing drivers http://www.printersdrivers.net/epson-printers.htm for Epson printers . There is another address for downloading drivers http://driveragent.com/scanorsearch.php?fn=printers. I hope i am giving the address, but i'll learn.

regards
Selvi

This is new to me, but very interesting. i am sure it will attract the students. i did do some reading but was umable to take down the names of the reading material. i knew from the reading material that the IWB was introduced in 1990's. Introducing it in the schools would certainly raise the interest of the students in studies altogether.
Thats all for now.

1st day of class

a very inspiring and motivating class both emotionally and academicaly as i had also answered to the question 'what do you expect from this class', that i would like to learn to use new gadgets (including the Smart Board) to make my teaching more interesting an accomodative for my students in the future. it was also the first time i am actually seeing a Smart Board. which we have envisioned, to use when teaching in the future.

did some reading over our freetime today, and eventually came across an article written by a fellow acedemic on the benefits of blogging to students. apprently, she has used the blogging method to encourage her/his students to write on anything ranging from their opinions to firing discussions, provided they write in full sentence (no short forms) and of course with no foul language or violent firing, involved. (Ref to this article - Modern English Teacher, April 2004, 'Using weblogs to encourage English language' by Michael Vallance. Very inspiring. will use this a method to improve my English as well. so, Dr. Maznah, your idea of blogging will certainly lead us to better and more interesting path, of improving our usage of English'

Modern English Teacher website - www.onlineMET.com

hope the above will be of some help. till our next posting. good day.

First Day

Today we learn on 'Engage' and 'Enrage'.

How to activate existing knowledge in students , add new knowledge, demonstration, application and finally integrating in their works.

We should not have FEAR in engaging, personalized, empowering, virtual learning, learner centric and physical contact.

Students should engage with learning process, context, and object of study.