Teaching with Technology
When I began my first teaching assignment in Fall 2009, I struggled in how to structure the class. The class that I was teaching was ESL 015, which is an academic composition class for intermediate to advance non-native speakers of English. In that class, students were expected to be "familiar with the various stages in the process of writing and develop strategies for reading and writing various models of American academic discourse. Overall, students will be able to use what they have learned in this course to successfully participate in academic reading and writing tasks throughout their university experience in the United States" (1).
I believed at the time that once a structure is established early on in the semester, then the learners will be able to get the most out of the class. Several activities and classroom requirements were centered on the use of technology inside as well as outside the classroom. I asked myself why I used technology in my teaching? I found that technology created more opportunity for learning in a very organized manner. I used ANGEL, a Content Management System, as a mean for facilitating learning and establishing a semi-permanent environment for the learners to access whenever and wherever they are. Throughout the semester, I have utilized presentation programs, such as PowerPoint in instructing class to teach particular lessons. In my lessons, also, I have used and created other electronic tools and various forms of media that assists in facilitating a learning environment and get the points across. Nevertheless, if the students found some aspects of lesson confusing, and wanted to communicate with me, I have established multiple options for them to use to contact me. Technology, without any doubt, helped me quite a bit in my first teaching experience. Although it may sound cliche, however, I found all the tools that I have used in my teaching to be ones that eased the pressure of teaching for the first time.
I have provided several examples in this sites of each of the following as I used them in my class:
Course Web Space
Class Presentation
Electronic Communication with Students
Pedagogical Innovations with Technology
Media Use in Classroom
Of course, I also use technology for other creative purposes as seen here: Media Free-Play
I believed at the time that once a structure is established early on in the semester, then the learners will be able to get the most out of the class. Several activities and classroom requirements were centered on the use of technology inside as well as outside the classroom. I asked myself why I used technology in my teaching? I found that technology created more opportunity for learning in a very organized manner. I used ANGEL, a Content Management System, as a mean for facilitating learning and establishing a semi-permanent environment for the learners to access whenever and wherever they are. Throughout the semester, I have utilized presentation programs, such as PowerPoint in instructing class to teach particular lessons. In my lessons, also, I have used and created other electronic tools and various forms of media that assists in facilitating a learning environment and get the points across. Nevertheless, if the students found some aspects of lesson confusing, and wanted to communicate with me, I have established multiple options for them to use to contact me. Technology, without any doubt, helped me quite a bit in my first teaching experience. Although it may sound cliche, however, I found all the tools that I have used in my teaching to be ones that eased the pressure of teaching for the first time.
I have provided several examples in this sites of each of the following as I used them in my class:
Course Web Space
Class Presentation
Electronic Communication with Students
Pedagogical Innovations with Technology
Media Use in Classroom
Of course, I also use technology for other creative purposes as seen here: Media Free-Play