Maybelle+Pangilinan


 * LOTEHAT Workshop Reflections **

Day 1 Modules 1-3, 5 and 10 || (Reflections are handwritten in folder of Modules - need to post here!) What a big day! I have handwritten my morning notes (internet was playing up) so now I am doing my final reflection for today. Main thoughts are: I could set so many goals, so I really need to consider what can be achieved. Ultimately, I would like my students to be able to understand how to they use strategies of learning a language into other parts of their life. Also, as mentioned in dot point one, I would like students to be able to have intercultural understanding where they didn’t need to notice other cultures and realise it is a part of our own identity. || Session with Joe Dale using Ipods and Ipad applications || A lot of different apps to use in a language classroom. Detailed notes written in my exercise book. We explored:
 * **Module**
 * & Date** || **Reflections** ||
 * Thursday 22nd March
 * FINAL REFLECTION for Day 1**
 * How does my experience of language influences my teaching? Has this affected my expectations of students? Recent conversation with colleagues and other teachers has made me think that my expectations of my own teaching and students learning may need to be adjusted. Also, how do I know a student has “intercultural understanding”? (Module 10)
 * Resources for language learning – I think I need to update and audit these. Key question: have I been doing my own professional reading to keep cultural information relevant and up to date. I used to bring my own objects to school and honestly, I have not done this in a long time. May need to consider bring something in once a fortnight to stimulate cultural discussion. (Module 5)
 * How do I know my students? I do pretests but do I ask them about what they know about Japan, the culture, how to learn a language, their first language etc? (Module 3)
 * Ipads and Ipods session was great but how much time will I need to invest in such apps? Will they help achieve the learning outcomes? Check if links with module 3 (learning and learners) and module 5 (using authentic resources).
 * 22nd March
 * Fotobabble
 * Line Learner
 * Make a dice Lite
 * Photocard (from Bill Atkinson)
 * Creative Book Builders (paid app)
 * My Story (sometimes a free app)
 * Explain Everything (paid app)
 * Educreations
 * Flashcardlet
 * Comic Life (PC version too?)
 * Upad (paid; Lite version has five books)
 * Notability
 * QR voice.net
 * Socrative (teacher app; student app)

Huge afternoon session and once it was over, I really think I can only use a couple apps so that I could get better at using it and show students the benefits of using this app. I may try Socrative for a smaller class setting as the network may be overloaded. It would be good as homework activity. The other one that I may use is Explain Everything or Educreations so I can post detailed grammar points. This may be good for students to replay the grammar point at home. It seems more interactive. I wonder how much of my time would be needed to create this? Would the students actually use it? (It only requires MP4, Quick file?). Perhaps I could investigate this as a learning tool for students who may need extra tutoring, independent learners or students who wanted to preview topics, grammar ahead.
 * PERSONAL REFLECTION** (written at the end of the day)

I__NTERESTING__ Make Dice Lite – can be used to create sentences, story writing, conjugation Photocard – good for postcards to use language; can add audio note, own photos CREATIVE BOOK BUILDER – paid app but will need to investigate its use; could be applied to other subjects MY STORY – good to use on Smart Board; record pages; save in ibooks EXPLAIN EVERYTHING – paid app; will be good to use for tutorials or for further explanations EDUCREATIONS – free app; use stylus; can access lessons on websites; similar to Explain everything FLASHCARDLET – this would be good for students in learning vocabulary in categories; a lot of kanji; can I send the set of flashcards to students? Need to investigate this… SOCRATIVE – teacher and student app; have web version; can do live or prepared responses; can get spreadsheet report of student responses; help to see if students are struggling with certain language concepts; very interactive || Day two Modules 4, 6 and 7 || **MODULE 6**My views of language are it is a way of communicating, behaving (gestures) and knowing how to respond appropriately (culturally bound).
 * Friday 23rd March

Handout 2: Statements about language My views of language are shared by the following statements My view of languages most certainly shapes my practice and may make it narrow for my students. I expect them to behave in a certain way with the language (use of voice, knowing what words are appropriate, how to act with other). Perhaps I have not investing a lot of time in explaining the culture and how to be. I think because I act in a certain manner (role modelling), I would think the students notice me and “how to be Japanese”. Their identity influences how they use the language, which in Japanese will come across as someone who does not have cultural knowledge and has limited communication. I have some students who I would consider to have some understanding of the way of using the language to behave, but are they just being themselves? Do they share similarities to the values of Japanese people, hence they act appropriately as judged by me?
 * How to behave in a certain way of behaving statements 2, 9 (putting on another face)
 * Wanting to communicate in the language statements 7, 12

Handout 3: Language awareness At first the problem solving for this activity seemed easy, but as I continued I really had to use what I knew about my own language learning (English and Japanese) and other strategies (left brain strategies- patterns, problem solving, trial and error). I found it a bit distracting with other discussing about it. Perhaps I am more aware of what conditions are needed for me to focus on learning the language. Also, how I learnt English and Japanese has influenced my need to decode language in the same way ie. quiet conditions, unforced, think before sharing and discussing. (NEED TO FINISH THIS ONE).

USING THE PROFESSIONAL LANGUAGE STANDARDS I felt quite challenged in doing my reflections on my language use in the classroom and outside of the classroom. (Copy the survey). I feel that I don’t invest a lot of time in using outside of the classroom. Also, as mentioned after day one, how current is my skills and knowledge of the language (linguistic features) and culture? I will need to check in with my goals regularly as they are ways of closing the gap. Will they be achievable with my current working life?

Task 1: Importance of classroom talk and interaction The reading of handout 1 shows that I have modelled the interaction of using speaking. This is used by me for ease but also employing repetition and the hierarchy of learning the language ie. start with greetings, names, age, where you live, family, then hobbies, what you do on the weekend. Also the interaction with the classroom can be influenced by the personality of students, their relationships with others, their expectations of other students, if they know who you are and your expectations.
 * MODULE 7**

Key questions for me to consider in classroom talk and interaction is how much of it features in my classroom? Do I use it purely to get the learning outcomes (reading, writing, listening, speaking tasks) ? Also, what do the students expect in terms of turn-taking and contributing to the classroom talk? I do expect they contribute but often for ease (depending on the task), I use students contributions as a way to get through the work. From year 9 onwards, I don’t ask students to put their hands and all students contribute. They may feel this is a bit confronting, but I believe if they have chosen this subject then they need to challenge their own learning and use the language more often in the classroom. Another key question: Why is interaction in your classroom the way that it is? I need to reflect on my own practices and what students expect of me as a teacher and what they expect of themselves and others.

Goals for interaction – perhaps I took this too literally, but after checking the points for aims for interactions, my goals only cover two of the seven given. I really need to look at the other dot points and consider incorporating it into my teaching in interacting with my students.

Using transcripts – I have never thought to use this except in my English subject. (I have used them with my year 7 English class when analysing language for the news). In this example given in this module, it uses it to examine the features of interaction with the students. I examined the transcripts 1 and 3. Analysing it helped me see that also my interactions are similar and limited. Transcript 3 used ‘building on learner contributions’ and ‘providing feedback and promoting reflection’ well. The teacher was good at giving feedback and building upon what they know and sustaining interaction with the students. However, this transcript did not show the features of ‘creating a learning culture’ and ‘negotiating meaning’. I guess this is only a snap shot of a moment in class, but it makes me more aware of my own practices and the features of interaction I may overuse and which I may want to employ to improve my classroom interactions. Transcript 1 is similar to how I would explain counters ie. using strategies of patterns, previous knowledge to get students to identify linguistic features of such words. However, I think the teacher could have used more personal insight/reflection why he/she could not explain why the counters sounded different. She quickly moved on and this could be an opportunity for students to learn more about how the teacher learnt these words and connect (empathise) with students in the difficulty in learning exceptions in the Japanese language.

After this module, I need to assess how much of my students interact in the second language. Handout 1 says about 30% and if I am wanting them to interact in the language, this means most of their learning is quite passive. I am wanting them to become better listeners in their first and second language and build their confidence. How do I currently practice this? And how will that then transfer to speaking and using the language if they are only improving in their listening? These questions formed from module 7 connect well with my audit of my language skills and goals set on the reflections of using the Professional Language Standards.

It was great to see some examples and have focussed questions to guide me. My colleagues discussed improving the listening skills of students. My experience of being a language learner has been that I have always developed listening skills first before I could participate in a language. Therefore, I really like to incorporate a lot of listening tasks in my teaching and having a listening component in my unit tests.
 * AFTERNOON SESSION** (Classroom-based investigation report)

I decided to focus on a year level where I had more than one class to be enable me to compare other factors that may affect t a students’ development of listening ie. module 6 language learning and language awareness and module 7 teacher talk and classroom interaction. My colleagues teach the same year level and can compare their data. Also, we can discuss the implication of focussing on doing listening tasks at the junior level rather than demanding them more of it later (years 10-12).

I will need to investigate the resources available to me and whether it will produce the data needed to see a development in listening skills. I will have to invest some time sourcing the resources and evaluating them for my investigative report. || Modules 11-13 || ** MODULE 11 ** - End of morning sessionQuestions to consider: The session on formative assessment was interesting. It really raised different questions relating to my investigative report and also, examining my own teaching practices. Sometimes as teachers we are so focussed on assessment that we are following a journey that may not be dynamic ie. students being able to identify what’s happening, what they see. What sort of curriculum is useful to teachers and parents? Frameworks can limit the teaching as we can be focussed on outcomes and getting to it and not critically assessing whether what we are teaching is the most important to teach. The assessment cycle is a good way to plan my unit of work. Also, expanding language assessment can help me to plan the unit to include discursive assessment ie. where students are asking questions about what they are doing, what is happening The assessment module was very useful as I have only an idea of the set tasks, but don’t know how to group them, check whether they are purposeful, are they valid, are they knowledge based, useful and include intercultural awareness etc. Grouping the task into three areas was very useful. I need to make sure that I provide a range of listening tasks that can cover: 1. Language knowledge 2. Language use 3. Have intercultural engagement. Having the sample of tasks showed me that we can have tasks that are specific to a type of assessment or can cover more than one of these assessments. As language learner I seem to use language knowledge tasks and language use tasks. I guess my intercultural engagement tasks are not so explicit, but more inexplicit eg. explaining a word’s roots, what it means as a compound word, how the word is used by its speakers. Perhaps I need to explain more why sometimes expressions and words are related to an intercultural experience and used in a particular context. Sometimes students like to use words they have learned and not considered the cultural context of the vocabulary, expressions used. It was good to see the criterion to use for evaluating assessment tasks. The table from the PSP will be good to check whether my tasks (listening tracks and answer sheets) cover some of the points. It seems in the past doing certain tasks have been centred around practicality and reliability, therefore students get set result. When designing my playlists for my investigative report, I will try to include tasks that are reliable, authentic, have interaction and have impact. I guess having a range of listening tracks and ways of answering could help me design a unit with more breadth. The “Going beyond tasks” is a good checklist I can use before I finalise the inclusion of tracks and tasks for the investigative report? Questions to consider are: check how tasks are linked? Does it cover some criteria? Does it consider the points in “going beyond task”, in particular formal and informal ways of eliciting evidence, range of assessment tasks used, ways that current tasks prepare for future tasks. What I took away from this module was looking at an alternative paradigm assessment that looked at social aspects of learning (cultural beliefs and relationships). Andrew informed us that Palomar erased the ideas of models and allow things to happen. Schools are very centred on reporting and assessment hence at times we follow a model that does not always allow to assess the social aspects of learning a language. A good point to observe when recording my teaching diary is to ‘divert attention from other valuable forms of learning’ and making ‘an invitation to expand evidence and expand judgments’ ie. not being so focused on discreet data, number results. I liked the idea of ‘reconsidering tools for making judgements’, so I may consider looking at data including peer-reviews and just making sense of what is happening / happened, what came from the process and/or experience. As Andrew pointed out, that language was like an actor out of the spotlight, who had many people behind him/her and that it was a large collective activity. It is important to remind myself in my investigative report of not looking at the final outcome, but other factors have contributed to the outcome being achieved. It was certainly a big day, considering it was a Friday and the middle of term two. After the phone call from Kylie this week and the modules we did today, my investigative task has been clarified. __ 10 July __ I am on school holidays and I have finalised the listening tasks available. I re-read module 12 and will check these tasks using the “going beyond tasks” checklist. The work unit I will be using in my investigative task is related to the following unit, so it is important to ensure the tasks will prepare us for future tasks. I am still working out the sequence of listening tasks and deciding on the practical issues ie. individual and group tasks; being able to observe the learning of the students over a period of time; supporting students for individual and group tasks; recording students’ learning without it being about just about marks (discreet numbers). ||
 * Friday 25 May
 * Should I have a self-assessment of the listening tasks?
 * Could the students have some input into the rubric or criteria?
 * Kylie mentioned an example of a teacher who used a small leadership group that puts some ideas in criteria
 * How to teach students to critically assess their errors?
 * Ideas from another teacher was getting students to select tasks (using MI and Bloom’s taxonomy). I could possibly design my bank of listening tasks to have a range to choose from
 * MODULE 12 ** – end of midday session
 * MODULE 13 ** Consider evidence of learning
 * END OF DAY REFLECTION **

1. To improve students' listening so that they can understand increasingly complex ideas. 2. To develop ways of teaching listening skills to the students to enable them to identify keys sequences and themes in the target language. 3. To audit the types of listening tasks we currently use and analyse types of tasks (ways of answering) that students feel are achievable (or difficult) and to cater for different ways of using spoken texts. ||  ||   ||   || ** Listening tasks: ** 1. Survey students on how they feel about listening tasks ie. what is helpful, tasks that are easy or difficult, class environment, teacher support, different ways of answering etc. Also, I will need to examine current teaching practices and what students feel is helpful (or not so helpful). I will need to incorporate teaching strategies that I may not practice in my delivery of teaching. 2. When auditing and planning units of work, should I aim for frequency of tasks or range or graduate tasks (from easy to difficult) or differentiate tasks to cater for different listening abilities? I will need to consider the abilities and learning needs of each class and survey given. Also, examine my teaching and include teaching strategies I have learned. 3. Recording students' results will include summative (listening tasks results) and formative assessment (unit listening tests). Also, survey students at end of term of how they feel about their listening skills and unit tasks (feedback / self-evaluation). For myself, I will need to record a diary of lessons eg. class observations, student observation and dialogue, self-reflection of my teaching, the lesson etc. ** Data to be gathered: ** 1. Record of units of work, highlighting the extra listening tasks included. I aim to write the reason for the inclusion of the tasks and the teacher support used in class to do these tasks. 2. Teacher diary - my observations, self reflection, student feedback after the task 3. Student results (tasks and tests) - analyse whether tasks were achievable 4. Student survey - feedback / self-evaluation eg. on listening improvement, tasks that were achievable, teaching support strategies etc. || (Ohayoo and Kimono 1). Quotation given by library AV technician. || * More listening tracks to develop the skills of year 8 students. These coursebooks cover the same topic from the current text/work book Obento Deluxe used by my students. (Intext book company) || Increase range of listening tracks available to develop listening skills of students. || 1 || 203.50 || 203.50 || (Intext book company) || Increase range of listening tracks available to develop listening skills of students. || 2 || 138 || 276.00 ||
 * Classroom Based Investigation Planner**
 * Focus of Inquiry || Assessing listening development. ||
 * Student Learning Question || What data can be gathered through assessment to provide evidence of our students' ongoing learning in listening skills? ||
 * Teacher Learning Question || What data can I gather from my assessment practice to develop my understanding of the use of formative assessment to support my students' learning and my teaching in reference to listening skills? Whta type of tasks are best used in the classroom to increase the confidence of students in developing their listening skills? ||
 * Rationale || To improve the listening skills of students in the target language based on previous data.
 * Design || **Process**: I will investigate two year 8 classes. This is their first year of doing the target language as a year long subject. Their listening practice is limited as in year 7, the two languages offered at the school are a semester based "taster" course. In particular, year 7 Japanese is focussed on learning how to read and write hiragana and numbers. Data I will gather about these students are pre-tests and current listening tasks (semester one). I will need to audit units of work and source extra listening tasks to provide a range and depth of spoken texts. I will need to find some readings on developing listening skills (I recall some readings in a subject I did previously "Teaching and Learning Japanese") and incorporate teaching strategies in these units of work. Also, some self reflection and discussion with colleagues can help find out ways to develop listening
 * **Implementation** ||
 * 1. Look at results of previous listening tasks and tests and develop survey for students on listening abilities, opinion of tasks, teaching, class environment. 2. Using student surveys, audit of my own teaching in developing listening skills, new strategies (from readings and discussion with colleagues) develop listening tasks and assessment in unit of work. Record the listening tasks that have been included in the unit of work and reasons for their inclusion. Also, record whether the task (ways of answering) has been changed to cater for class and/or students' needs.3. Students do series of tasks. I will record in a diary my teaching (was it explicit teaching about how to listen or was it just explaining the task?); class or student observations and dialogue; general self-reflection about the task. My end of unit tests always have a listening component and students are reminded in the start of unit the importance of listening practice. My current teaching practices already encourage doing listening tasks every lesson.4. Tasks will be marked and ongoing feedback to students during the unit. Discussion with class and/or students about what has been helpful or difficult. 5. At the end of a unit, survey students (possibly similar questions to first survey). Collate students' data (tasks and tests) and analyse it with student surveys and teacher diary notes. ||
 * Analysis & Reporting ||
 * Analysis ||  ||
 * Reporting ||  ||
 * Evaluation ||  ||
 * Implications ||
 * Budget Proposal**
 * **Item** || **Application**
 * (how item will be used/how it links to project)** || **Quantity** || **Item Price** || **Total**
 * Price** ||
 * Conversion of audio cassettes to digital form
 * The current text/workbook of Obento Deluxe has very limited listening tracks. Students should be able to listen to spoken texts with different voices, speed and types of tasks. I have found the current listening tasks are quite limited and only practise the set expression or grammar once. In the past, I have had to make the time to source more listening tracks and adjust tasks and create a worksheet dedicated to listening tasks only. || 4 || 40.00 || 160.00 ||
 * TDK CR-R spindle of 50 CDs || Burn copies of digital tracks after conversion || 1 || 25.00 || 25.00 ||
 * Mirai 1 Audio CDs
 * # Kikitori no Tomo Teachers Book and audio CD
 * 1) Kikouyo Junior Teachers Book and audio CD
 * CRT one day allowance || * Use this time to assist AV technician to mark digital tracks (after conversion) and explain best way to organise new tracks for teacher use (on CDs and school server; extra copies)
 * Spend time listening to spoken texts (listening tracks) and planning cohesive units of work to coordinate with existing text/work book tasks. || 1 day ||  ||   ||

Eg. confident, unsure, mixed || Possible ways to address gap || WRITING SPEAKING LISTENING |||| Often often occasionally often ||||  |||| confident mixed mixed mixed || update it with more intensive language learning. Issues with scholarships and timing (leave) || Feature |||| What I know about it |||| What I need to learn about it |||| Possible Ways to Address Gap || Feature |||| What I know about it |||| What I need to learn about it |||| Possible Ways to Address Gap || Feature |||| What I know about it |||| What I need to learn about it |||| Possible Ways to Address Gap ||
 * **// Reflections on Language Specific Annotations //**
 * ** Classroom Language Use ** ||
 * Language Feature |||| How consistently I use this |||| Examples from my Practice |||| How I feel about my capabilities
 * READING
 * ** Language Use Outside the Classroom ** ||
 * Language Feature |||| How consistently I use this |||| Examples from my Practice |||| How I feel about my capabilities || Possible ways to address gap ||
 * |||| Honestly, I only use it when I am reviewing teaching and learning materials ||||  |||| Poor. I really should try to immerse in my free time, rather than passive activity. || After day 1, I have acknowledged that I need to update my knowledge and skills of the Japanese and its culture. ||
 * ** Explicit knowledge of the linguistic system ** ||
 * Language
 * |||| My experience of it is what I have learnt at university, grammar books and general reading of the language. ||||  |||| Maybe audit my year levels and what linguistic systems are applicable to each level. ||
 * ** Explicit knowledge of language use ** ||
 * Language
 * |||| Appropriate expressions; when to use certain words; how to approach a subject. Knowledge acquired from university, reading of Japanese culture and from personal experrience (use) of the language when I lived there. |||| Different situations that I am unaware of |||| More professional reading and updating language skills and knowlege ||
 * ** Attitudes, Values, Cultural & Linguistic Practices ** ||
 * Language
 * |||| From living in Japan, I observed the attitudes and values of their culture. I have learned to understand them |||| Have these attitudes changed in the last ten years? Have the use of certain words changed? Also has the culture changed with change in society? |||| More professional reading. Also, incorporating more culture in class teaching, so there is an appreciation of the culture, which can motivate language learning. ||
 * ** Personal Professional Learning Program **
 * Ø Goals, objectives & timeline for future learning ||
 * * Using the language more outside of the classroom
 * More professional reading to check if my understanding of linguistic system and culture is current
 * Engaging in more speaking tasks that are flexible for students. Importantly, building up that confidence needed to feel having a conversation is achievable. ||

SECTION A: Discuss these questions with your table group SECTION B: MY GOALS Set yourself some goals for your use of ICT in your classrooms. Start small and build up, but do challenge yourself. J McCulloch 2008
 * ICT PLAN **
 * What ICT resources have you used in your classroom? ||
 * // From an intercultural perspective //, how did it promote:
 * active construction ** of learning/ideas
 * making connections ** with prior learning, new knowledge, across languages and cultures
 * interaction ** between learners/users of the language
 * reflection ** on language learning and use
 * responsibility ** for learning and for appropriate communication across cultures ? ||
 * Making connections: E.g. interaction between Learners. ||
 * What ICT resources (equipment and programs) do you have access to: Personally? At school? What do your students have access to? ||
 * What opportunities could you create for your students: to ENGAGE with ICT? to CREATE with ICT? ||
 * How would this enhance your teaching of your language? ||
 * What technology would you like to incorporate into your classroom/lessons? ||
 * What technology do your students prefer? What implications does this have for your teaching? ||
 * What ideas for ICT projects do you currently have? ||
 * What technology would you like to incorporate into your classroom/lessons? ||
 * What technology do your students prefer? What implications does this have for your teaching? ||
 * What ideas for ICT projects do you currently have? ||
 * What technology do your students prefer? What implications does this have for your teaching? ||
 * What ideas for ICT projects do you currently have? ||
 * What ideas for ICT projects do you currently have? ||
 * By the end of next week: ||
 * Resources (including how you will get help if needed): ||
 * By the start of Term 3: ||
 * Resources (including how you will get help if needed): ||
 * By the end of Term 3: ||
 * Resources (including how you will get help if needed): ||