Marco Ibarra
Language IX
Crystal Hickerson
25 May 2008
BAD RESULTS IN TEACHING ENGLISH
In this chapter, the author states that there are two marked tendencies in school, Teachers and Testers. The first ones are centered on students’ learning process; the second ones are more focused on testing students, and both have different points of view that could be considered dangerous, when any of them thinks that can do the best without the other one. This is directly connected with the idea of getting bad results in when teaching English, for the reason that some teachers tend to believe that what they do is the best, and what other teachers do is wrong or does not work in class.
The way Johnson explains the topic, is basically organized and schematic, he takes an idea, such as ‘The psychometric approach’ and explains it clearly step by step and with useful examples, which helps to comprehend much better the chapter. Keith argues that instead of having these differences between Teachers and Testers, they can have integrative testing, in order to group these. Another characteristic that we can find, is a communicative test in which we get information from the for basic skills, and we have the necessary information to come up with results to be used in further tests, because with the results, we are going to have the evidence that will support further learning process, avoiding results that can be interpreted as bad results through the learning process and the assessment.
Apart from that, the author let us know that there are some easier ways of testing the four skills: receptive (reading and listening) through note taking, information transfer, matching, and passage assembly; speaking, oral interview, role play and simulation, imitation; writing, picture stimulus (from a picture, the teacher has to suggest students to write something about it, maybe a letter of complain, if it’s about buying an mp3 player). Not until we read the whole chapter, we realize that the author sometimes is lacking of deeper examples, due to they tend to be superficial, and they do not get the idea of making ideas much clearer.
Therefore, it is suggested to have in consideration more detailed examples, that truly help readers to put in practice what they are reading, not just getting information from the text in a lecturing way with not-well developed examples. Finally, the idea of keeping together Teachers and Testers is accomplished, the author makes us think of a complete process, in order to facilitate the students’ learning process, for the reason that they together make a positive impact on education, and provide more tools for teachers throughout their performance in the classroom.
Reference:
Johnson, Keith. An Introduction to Foreign Language Learning and Teaching, chapter 15. Harlow, England: Longman 2001.
Analytic Essay Correction
Book Review
Bibliography
Rose, Mike; Kiniry, Malcolm. Critical Strategies for Academic Thinking and Writing. Boston: Bedford, 1998.
In academic thinking and writing, we can find information and detail explanations to develop further strategies to increase students’ skills. Rose & Kiniry try to help students in college that present a lack of critical strategies when they have to do papers, research or essays.
The authors state that students don’t know to differentiate whether a text is suitable or not to write an essay, and when they choose the book, the book is not appropriate for the essay. For that reason, in the text appears an introductory discussion with examples that make easier to comprehend the mistakes students make, followed by an explanation (examples included) that help to realize and point out the main ideas of how a good paper, essay or research have to be done. It can also be found, some suggestions to develop and increase the critical strategies.
Nevertheless, the book after introducing the main ideas, changes into a group of papers that are hard to follow and tiring, which is not attractive for young readers. This kind of help, we can take it to the school life, for the reason that students in High School do not think and write critically, their works are mostly vague, lacking of deep opinions and thoughts. They just follow weak structures to develop papers.
Annotation
Burns, David. "Will I do as well on the final exam as I expect? An examination of students' expectations". Journal of the scholarship of teaching and learning. 8.3 (2008). Burns states that students' expectations play an important role when they anticipate results before a test. Throughout the article, we can find detailed information that indicates that many factors are related to test results. Thus, we find important aspects, such as that this behavior could probably have an impact on the amount of effort or that the absences during the semester. These students, when they begin a course, tend to bring previous expectations on how good they are going to do. But if they get bad grades, at the end, they will have low expectations on the final exams, due to the fact that they think it reflects on what they did from the beginning. On the other hand, we find that there are some Hindrances which are: self-handicapping, test anxiety, time spent studying and absences. These hindrances are not detected by students realize but they are going to be reflected on the preparation and results on final exams. As a consequence, the results and the information of this article, can be useful for the research objective because it helps us to be aware of that there are other factors - self-handicapping, test anxiety, time spent studying and absences- that directly affect the improvement of test scores, therefore it is a suitable article to be considered in our research. Finally, the author came up with privileged information that might help to think about the implication of the results, which showed that expectations and factors such as anxiety or self-steem can be an influence which is evident in results they get.
Good Online Sources For Research In Education
academic or professional journals
1. QUESTIA: this journal has information about where researchers studied or where they teach, which is an evidence that gives reliability. There is a free trial for a couple of weeks, then you have to pay for it.
http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=JycK1tvNbq1hqbGRGrbHqDG0mT8FGQpSDTg0zGK2xHQV89B1vMnd!569501316!-957050587?docId=5000422134
2. ELT OXFORD JOURNALS: as part of a well-known university, this journal has the support of an important school. It has advice for teaching English as a foreign or second language. Downloadable for free!
http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org/
3. TEACHING JOURNAL: Mr. Belzs, a literature teacher, publishes every week articles about poetry, it's a complete course on-line. Free!
http://www.belz.net/teaching/journal.html
4. THE HIGHER EDUCATION ACADEMY PSICHOLOGY NETWORK: an online psichology network with articles about psichology and teaching. There is a link for resource searching. Free!
http://www.psychology.heacademy.ac.uk/html/teaching_practice.asp
5. IDEAS.REPEC: this website has authors, institutions, chapters and bibliography. Free!
http://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/econom/v3y1975i2p123-150.html
database
1. WIKIPEDIA: This database has articles wich include links to let you know every meaning of what you don't know. Free!
http://www.wikipedia.com
2. RIPE: it has settings to accurate the research that even include organisations or persons. Free!
http://www.ripe.net/db/whois-free.html
Religion in the classroom
As it is known, lot of people have the sense of life alter life, therefore, they might believe in superior life or lives that rule/s the World and their lives. It helps to make life easier, due to that to be part of certain religions or believes, people have to live under directions .On the other hand we have education, which is a way of learning and getting use to life in society. Thus, these two important aspects in some people’s lives are defined by their relationship and how they live together in education. As Sacerdote and Glaeser state in their study "Education and Religion," "The positive effect of education on sociability explains the positive education-religion relationship"(8).
When teachers have to teach, they certainly express personal experiences to help students understand some concepts. It is almost impossible not to show personal ideas or ways of seeing life in general while teaching. Therefore, if a teacher believes in god, or belongs to a religion or believe, he will probably share what he thinks. But in this case, there should be done carefully, because in public education we find dissimilar religions that have different concepts about simple topics such as life or family.
However, in Education we have another discussion, which is about how good the Education is, and how much students learn. Cline, an atheist blogger, argues that "Teaching about religion has some value, but not nearly as much as a more comprehensive education that includes philosophy as well"(145). Some people can say that other subjects such as Philosophy or Language might be more important than religion. Others can say that Math is important. But the important point is that students learn, no matter what they or teachers believe in.
Subjects are free to believe or do what they want to do, but respecting others. In this aspect, teachers have to be neutral in what they truly believe, because, as important adults for students, they can make a deep impact on students’ thoughts unwillingly. Education will always be important in life, generating discussion on sensitive matters, and religion plays a relevant role when teachers, parents and students talk about how a good education has to be.
Sources:
Sacerdote, Bruce; Glaeser, Edward L. Education and Religion. NBER. January 2001.
< http://www.nber.org/papers/
Cline, Austin. Education and Religion. September 17th, 2006.
< http://atheism.about.com/b/
A place I visited! (corrected)
Original!
Some years ago, when I went to La Serena with a group of friends, on our way to this city, we saw a route sign that said “Fray Jorge Park, 10kms”. Most of us did not know anything about that national park, for being honest, nobody knew it.Thus, we decided to turn right and go to the park. After driving one hour away from the main route we got “Fray Jorge”, but it wasn’t an attractive natural feature, why? It was a deserted place, full of cactus, there was no living beings more than 2 hens feeding on dry plants. But the forest ranger, who welcomed us, said: “this is the beginning of our park; you have to climb up that hill to see something you cannot find in this part of our country.We took our car to the top of the hill, and suddenly the hill filled up of fog, we couldn’t see more than 4 meters. Finally, we found a beautiful place, a forest in a deserted area. Why is it possible? It has to do with the fog, thousands of years ago, La Serena and places around were a forest, but a humid forest called “Valdiviana” like the Chilean city in the south of Chile, and not a desert as we see nowadays. The climate change wiped out the forest, but at the top of the hill, fog provided enough humidity to keep these plants and trees alive.As a consequent, we loved that place. We never thought we could find that kind of place in a northern area of our country.
Corrected
Some years ago, when I went to La Serena with a group of friends, on our way to this city, we saw a route sign that said “Fray Jorge Park, 10kms”. Most of us did not know anything about that national park, to be honest, nobody knew it.Thus, we decided to turn right and go to the park. After driving one hour away from the main route we got “Fray Jorge”, but it wasn’t an attractive natural feature, why? It was a deserted place, full of cactus, there were no living beings more than 2 hens feeding on dry plants. But the forest ranger, who welcomed us, said: “this is the beginning of our park; you have to climb up that hill to see something you cannot find in this part of our country.We took our car to the top of the hill, and suddenly the hill filled up of fog, we couldn’t see more than 4 meters away. Finally, we found a beautiful place, a forest in a deserted area. Is it possible? Why? It has to do with the fog, thousands of years ago, La Serena and places around were a forest, but a humid forest called “Valdiviana” like the Chilean city in the south of Chile, and not a desert as we see nowadays. The climate change wiped out the forest, but at the top of the hill, fog provided enough humidity to keep these plants and trees alive. As a consequent, we loved that place. We never thought we could find that kind of place in a northern area of our country.
Gaining weight!
When I went through internet, I realised that there are some people who want to gain weight instead of loosing, can you believe it? Yes, it is true. But they have arguments, because of a sport, medical reasons, or even fashion.
Here you have some links to visit and get informed of these new wave:
http://kidshealth.org/teen/nutrition/weight/gain_weight.html
http://www.gainingweight.info/
http://www.armymedicine.army.mil/hc/healthtips/03/200311gainingweight.cfm
Blogs in the Classroom
It’s for that that teachers have to take advantage of internet; internet is not an enemy, it’s an allied. There are several activities we can prepare for our students to be handed in and handed back through internet.
One of these helpful tools is to have a blog. However, do we know what blog means? What is it a blog? A blog (an abridgment of the term web log) is a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. (Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog )
After knowing what it means, we can say that blogs mean direct interaction, because teachers can upload some information, tasks, thoughts or the class they had in the morning. If it is a task, we can ask students to comment what they think on a determined topic, and as teachers, we can give them feedback.
By using blogs, students develop their reading and writing skill, they do not realise that they are learning through having fun. Teachers can go to internet to check what their students are commenting and check if they are working from their houses.
Nevertheless, working with blogs has some disadvantage. When students have blogs, they do not have to work in group, it is a single work, because nobody else can write on blogs, people can only write posts; therefore, teachers have to ask students to post their classmates to have interaction. Therefore, when you become a teacher: Would you work with blogs?
“La Recoleta” is a fashion place in Buenos Aires, but this guy said to me: Why don’t we go to see the giant Flower? And I said to him: How big is it? He replied: Look at it!
It was across the street, so I saw it immediately. A huge flower!! It opens its petals when the sun rises, then it closes them when the sun sets. I think its size called my attention, besides that, it is beautiful, I felt impressed and I was moved. If you have any chance to go to “La Recoleta”, visit “The Giant Flower”, a monument dedicated to means of communication.
What was your least favourite school subject?
I think I disliked it because of the perspiration, I hate it, I cannot stand my body wet, or my forehead dropping perspiration, and however I have to work on it, for the reason that nowadays it important to have any physical activity. This happened through my twelve years at school.
Correction
As same as all my classmates’ title: “The commitments”
When Simon said: "compare the book with the movie" I wondered: "how am I going to do that!" At the beginning I thought in creating a special way of telling the story, or having a little research, but unfortunately I did not find anything creative to develop this task. Nevertheless, since I chose this career, I must be a teacher who is always doing his best, not staying and keeping useless ways of teaching. Thus, I wondered again: "Simon's task is going to be useful for me, great!"
Here we go!
The commitments, the movie; as in the book read, live in Dublin, Ireland. They are part of the working class, looking for better opportunities in a hard society full of difficulties. For that reason, Jimmy found a very interesting form of living the life: R&B and soul hits. But he needed a particular group of artists, the ones who could feel and live music . Consequently Derek, Outspan, Ray, Mickah and the sisters were the ones Jimmy wanted to have in a band.
As we already know, books taken to the cinema factory always have differences that a reader can find. For example, and most of my classmates agree with me, in the books, Some of The Commitments wanted to be performing again, some of them not. In the movie, everyone kept having their previous life (before being part of the group).
Finally, what we can save, like a piece of advice, is to have always a dream, a dream made come true, not a thing we cannot reach. By this it means, we have to overcome tough situations to get what we really want to get, even though there is no chance to obtain anything. Dreaming waiting for the day when everything will be true.
Another corrected Post
My favourite Gadget
When Simon asked us to put in our blogs the piece of technology we like the most, I could only think about my mp3 player. It is a useful piece of techonology that is part of my daily life. It goes with me everywhere. I can save more than 200 songs!!!
If I don't feel happy, I plug myself in and I have good time.Apart from that, I've got another favourite gadget... my laptop! What a smart person who created that gadget! It's wonderful to be writting down papers in bed, jejeje ; ) Most of the time I'm very lazy, so having my computer means I'll become lazier.
Finally, I've got a question for you blogger who are reading my blog... What is your favourite gadget???
One-to-one
The corrected version!!!
Some months ago I was in an electronic party, while on a wall of that club a movie was being projected. I could not find out its name, thus, I went to talk with the Dj to ask him what the name was…"Party Monster”.This movie tells the story of Michael Alig, a guy who organized huge and fabulous parties in New York; therefore it would be great if I could ask him why he invented such weird electronic parties, and certainly, I’d go to his parties, without trying drugs as he did.Apart from him, I would like to meet Benedict XVI…why? I’d ask him if God agrees with him, why Catholic Church does not donate its money, to eradicate poverty and famine in Africa and America. Two different characters that do different things, one of them made people have fun, the other one tries to manage his flock of sheep. Now, try to guess or to find out who is a murderer.
Rumble Fish
The Motorcycle Boy
Rusty James’ elder brother. A mysterious guy, who is in his early 20’s but he seems to be older. He was a gang leader when he was teenager. Besides that, The MCB is colour blind and a little bit deaf
Steve Hays
The good guy. He is a boy whose hobby (if it is considered as a hobby) is to study. Steve is very important for Rusty James, he is the person who advices Rusty James about dangers in life.
Patty
Rusty James’ girlfriend. A teenager in charge of her siblings, for the reason that her mother works fulltime. She is also attending a catholic school, but she wants to have fun with RJ.
Cassandra
The Motorcycle Boy’s chick, not actually his girlfriend, but she is always behind him. Cassandra is a drug addict, especially heroine addict. She does not know what to do whit her life.
Patterson
The police man. Patterson is the person who is always trying to catch MCB doing illegal things. He is a disgusting person, not nice. His character has to be the bad guy to give a dramatic touch to the movie
Smokey
He is a boy who has a close relationship with Rusty James and Motorcycle Boy. He does not have an important role in the movie, but his loyalty to MCB is showed at the end, when MCB is on the floor and Smokey is saying “Get away from him”
Rusty’s Parents
The only thing we can say, his father is an alcoholic, but it is seen in a scene, when MCB and Rusty are in a mattress with him showing a bit of love. Rusty’s mother leaves home when Rusty is 2 years old, she is living in Hollywood, she cares more about MCB than Rusty James, however, Rusty does care about his mother.
Movieaholic at UAH
From May 26th up to may 30th, UAH will have its 1st Cycle of movies in English
How much is it????
FREE!!!
Coming soon.....
CLOVERFIELD
JUNO
PARTY MONSTER
and...it's missing one movie more.
No more I love you's
While surfing on internet, this video appeared, I like this song, but I didn't have seen it
The person she admires the most
The person she admire the most
Checking this post, I found some mistakes, so I highlighted them in a list showed below:
“…for example what happen after death?...”
…for example, what happens after death
“…Why is life unfair for some of us?...”
…why life is unfair for some of us
“…Finally I would ask him to meet to his father…”
…finally, I would ask him to meet his father
“…I would do more questions…”
…I would ask more questions
“…we believe God is energy …”
…we believe that god is energy
“…his gorgeous energy in home…“
…his gorgeous energy at home
