Jigsaw #4: Technology

I love technology. I love how they improve the quality of our life, makes a lot of our works easier and more efficient.

But I'm worry. I'm worry that with helps from the technology, no one will want to write with pencil on a paper (thanks to emails and text messages), no one will remember phone numbers, and people will become like ET: big head, fat body, short leg (because did not use it as often), long finger with fat fingertip (result of tapping on smartphone, tablet, computer and other devices) , or become like the humans in the cartoon <Wall-E>. 

Human, Wall-E

ET
Copy Right: Infinite Hollywood

I really worry that one day we might lose technology and we will not be able to go back to the old way as we lost all the life skills (maybe I'm thinking too much). Well, I wish that day will not arrive. 

As educator in the 21st century, we cannot avoid technology, and I think we should include technology and start to build a community with it instead of banned them in school (a lot of the schools still banned the use of smartphone and computer in classroom, at least the last two schools that I went to still are until today.) Jeff Utecht, an international educator and educational technology consultant, made a very good point about this in his TED talk ('Community trumps content') in my school three years ago, he said that a lot of our students (almost all) born in the era that is full of technology, they will not understand what were we doing with our computers when internet was not invented. 

I think it is more challenging for many teachers to get comfortable with technology compare to our students. Many teachers are 'cross-era' teachers, from the old-school style era cross into the high technology era. It is very important for teachers to get familiar with the technology tools, get to comfortable using them, like the article <Exploring the use of iPad for literacy learning> mentioned, teachers should be familiar with the tools before using it in the lesson. Also it is the schools and administrators responsibility to make sure teachers get enough professional development on information and communication technology (ICT) before implementing any technology integration policy into curriculum. 

One common message from all the articles is, teachers should have a clear goal, lesson objectives and outcomes, then choose suitable tools to assist them to deliver the lesson more efficiently. Also choose suitable technology tools to assist students to learn effectively.  

I love technology, but I will try not to rely too much on it. 

Jigsaw #3: Radio Lab -- Language vs Thought

It's a mix feeling after listening the potcasts. I am very glad that Eldofanso finally got the meaning of language, yet I feel sorry for him for loosing the connection with his friends. What I understand about language from the potcasts is: it is the media that helps make connection; it can be verbal or non-verbal, some might driven by human instinct; it's dynamic; it will evolve and it's cultural.

So, was Eldofanso thinking of anything when he was wordless? I think so. From genetic point of view, thinking should happen before language, as language was created by human with their thought base on their needs. As time goes by, the relationship between language has become more complex due to the the change of the environment and vise versa. Maybe Eldofanso's thought back then could not last long and might be just image (just making assumption as his friends able to act out the scene, so there must be images remained inside their head), but definitely there's something happening inside his brain. It is very difficult for any of us, who has the privilege to learn language(s) to even imagine the world without language. I feel so struggle and frustrated that I have to use the language that I'm not good at to express myself, not to mention without words to express. 

I am interested in how language changes the way we think. Each language has their own system and specific meaning that tie to the culture and environment of the culture group. It provides different cognitive experiences and development. Therefore these differences will definitely affect a person's cognition. The example about the concept of block and street in TED talks that Derek Sivers gave, (Weird, or just different?) is a good example of how the differences affect our thought. 

As teacher, a foreign language teacher, I should always be aware of some of the differences and try to bridge the gap of the students' understanding toward learning new language. Sometimes it's really difficult due to my lack of knowledge of the students' language background (e.g. I have no idea how the Koren word works in order to help my students to make connection.) and I know the experiences will not be the same, as I am just using my assumption based on my understanding (which affected by my language) to 'imagine' the way they think (just like you 'imagining' to understand the way Chinese speakers think while they learn English). But I will keep on learning and trying. 

Jigsaw #2: Vocabulary

What does effective vocabulary instruction require and why is vocabulary instruction so important?

Words ~
Copy Right KerGL 2013

Language is the window to the world, to learn a language you have to know the vocabulary. Most of the time, vocabulary is the reason why a lot of the students (even adult) stop learning a language. 
  
All the articles shared in the expert group have a similar theme, bridge the concept/ words to the students' environment, to make the words relevant and meaningful for them. Before all this can happen in the classroom, we should know our lesson, why are we teaching this, and also know our students in order to help them in their learning. 

Learning without clear instruction is like walking in the thick forest without knowing the end point. A little effort to know our students and list down the clear goal before lesson will definitely help teacher in deliver a more effective lesson. I like how Kevin Flanigan and Scott C.Greenwood said in Effective content vocabulary instruction in the middle: Matching Students, purposes, words and strategies :All words are not create equal (P.228) We should not spend equal time in teaching each of the vocabularies on the list. In fact, we should level each words according to their purposes, relation with the lesson and students, then think of the strategies to teach them to students. This is a bit similar to the Understanding by Design framework, know our objectives and work backwards. I really like the idea as it helps both teachers and students focus on tasks. 

After sharing in the expert group, I concluded that knowing the students' background (which stage is the student in learning alphabets, Bridge between decoding and reading comprehension), use different strategies to make connection to the concept and real life (Vocabulary Self Collection), provide them with choices and empower them to help themselves (Bumping in to spicy, tasty words that catch your tongue) will contribute to a more effective vocabulary instruction. 

The vocabulary instruction will help bridge the students background knowledge to the content/ concept that we want them to learn. It will help us to access to the students' prior knowledge in a systematic way. Not only the teachers have a sense of control over the students learning by providing clear instruction that align with the goals of the lesson, the students too will have a sense of responsible to their own learning. We don't want to be like the jungle guide, Bill in one of the article, wondering around the thick forest without considering the people following behind him. Teaching for me is like getting the students from point A to point B, there are various route to get to point B with different kind of transportation depends on the students' interest, ability, choices and etc. A clear and well planned vocabulary instructions will help different students get to point B in different ways.    

Effective means the students learn the words, use the words, and remember the words. (When Kids can't read, P.178) If a school do have a planned vertical curriculum on vocabulary instruction, it will definitely help the students in learning vocabulary in a more effective way.