To Some Extent I Can't Bare Technology....

Technology is very helpful for teachers and makes their teaching way easier than before but to which extent??? I have tried once using technology, so I took my students to the computer lab to have our lesson presented on the computers, but all what I was hearing is students' whispers talking about the different skills and games they can apply using the computer, and they were really distracted. Maybe the lesson wasn't interesting for them, or that I didn't present it in a way that attracts them, or maybe the students were only interested in the games they play on computers and the internet.
That's why most the time I try to avoid using technology in the classroom so that I can keep the students engaged in the lesson and focusing without being distracted by the computers. I think that it is easier to use technology with elder students an not young ones because they can understand and listen to you much more than young students and they can understand the importance of using technology in learning. 
I hope to change my view about technology and its uses in the classroom, or in other words I would like to teach high levels using technology to check if they are able to understand and work with me more than younger students.  

Preparing for School During the Summer

       When I started teaching, I didn't start from the beginning of the year. I started as a substitute teacher and continued with my students. So I didn't have a full idea about the books, the curriculum, or even the school rules, and most importantly I didn't have any idea about the students I was going to teach or their levels in order to prepare activities appropriate for their levels and abilities. But the year after, I had the chance to prepare for the school year during the summer and it was a pleasure to do that since I felt that I am giving myself and my students the right of being prepared. If i am not prepared then I won't be able to teach in a good way and I would be confused about which activity suits which level. 
        Preparing for the school year during the summer is very helpful and important even though many teachers think that it is a kind of punishment, but for me it was a reward. I felt during the year that I know what I am teaching and I am able to modify in everything I am explaining, and the best thing is that I planned activities that are equal to all students and that presents different skills and levels of learning targets.

 

How Could We Improve The Validity of The Scores?

         The scores of our assessment procedures must be valid in order to be fair with our students and their work. So a specific criteria was developed in order to improve the validity of the scores. This criteria includes seven sub-headings that will help the teacher in providing valid scores. 
       Content representativeness and relevance is the first important sub-heading that helps in improving validity. It is very important that the teacher provides assessment procedures that are related to the content that is explained and presented in the class, and this content must be worth learning. 
       The second one is related to the thinking skills and processes presented in the assessment procedure. The teacher must provide tasks that require students to integrate and use several thinking skills that they must use and apply.
       The third one is related to consistency with other classroom assessments. The tasks that teacher provide must not be too easy nor too hard because there won't be consistency in the results and the students will attain nearly the same results and thus leads to lower validity.
       The fourth one is related to reliability and objectivity of the assessment procedures. The results of such assessments must be reliable, i.e. consistent, and this would happen when scoring rubrics are used. Also objectivity means that two persons assign the same scores to the same students, which leads to consistency. 
      The fifth one is related to fairness to different types of students. The assessment tasks must be understood by students with different backgrounds and abilities. The students' abilities in learning must be taken into consideration, since there are students who have learning difficulties or certain disabilities.
      The sixth category refers to economy and efficiency in which the teacher uses a reasonable amount of time to construct and administer assessment, and the assessment procedure must not be immediately put, but the teacher must take her time in developing it to be fair with all students.
      The last category is related to multiple assessment usage in which the assessment results must be used in conjunction with other assessment results such as those taken from homework, classroom participation and projects. 
All these points help in improving the validity of an assessment procedure, and that each teacher must take into consideration when crafting her own exams and assessments.

A Writing Rubric of My Own

Here you will find a writing rubric that I have developed, I think that it needs more modifications but I am proud to share my first rubric that I ave crafted with you. 

Persuasive Essay
CATEGORY	4 - Above Standards	3 - Meets Standards	2 - Approaching Standards	1 - Below Standards	Score
Focus or Thesis Statement	The thesis statement names the topic of the essay and outlines the main points to be discussed.	The thesis statement names the topic of the essay.	The thesis statement outlines some or all of the main points to be discussed but does not name the topic.	The thesis statement does not name the topic AND does not preview what will be discussed.
Evidence and Examples	All of the evidence and examples are specific, relevant and explanations are given that show how each piece of evidence supports the author\'s position.	Most of the evidence and examples are specific, relevant and explanations are given that show how each piece of evidence supports the author\'s position.	At least one of the pieces of evidence and examples is relevant and has an explanation that shows how that piece of evidence supports the author\'s position.	Evidence and examples are NOT relevant AND/OR are not explained.
Accuracy	All supportive facts and statistics are reported accurately.	Almost all supportive facts and statistics are reported accurately.	Most supportive facts and statistics are reported accurately.	Most supportive facts and statistics were inaccurately reported.
Sentence Structure	All sentences are well-constructed with varied structure.	Most sentences are well-constructed and there is some varied sentence structure in the essay.	Most sentences are well constructed, but there is no variation is structure.	Most sentences are not well-constructed or varied.
Grammar & Spelling	Author makes no errors in grammar or spelling that distracts the reader from the content.	Author makes 1-2 errors in grammar or spelling that distract the reader from the content.	Author makes 3-4 errors in grammar or spelling that distract the reader from the content.	Author makes more than 4 errors in grammar or spelling that distracts the reader from the content.
Capitalization & Punctuation	Author makes no errors in capitalization or punctuation, so the essay is exceptionally easy to read.	Author makes 1-2 errors in capitalization or punctuation, but the essay is still easy to read.	Author makes a few errors in capitalization and/or punctuation that catch the reader\'s attention and interrupt the flow.	Author makes several errors in capitalization and/or punctuation that catch the reader\'s attention and interrupt the flow.
Closing paragraph	The conclusion is strong and leaves the reader solidly understanding the writer\'s position. Effective restatement of the position statement begins the closing paragraph.	The conclusion is recognizable. The author\'s position is restated within the first two sentences of the closing paragraph.	The author\'s position is restated within the closing paragraph, but not near the beginning.	There is no conclusion - the paper just ends.

In this rubric there are four levels or standards in which I have stated to check the level of my students based on several categories they have to meet in their essays. These standards are: above standards, meet standards, approaching standards, and below standards. The categories that I have included here are the ones that I thought are the most important to look for in a student's essay, and these categories are: focus or thesis statement, evidence and examples, accuracy, sentence structure, grammar and spelling, capitalization and punctuation, and the closing paragraph. It is very important that the students' essays include a thesis statement or what is called the focus of the writing in which they have to outline in a sentence the main points of their essay and the ones to be discussed. Since it's a persuasive essay, the students must support their position with the appropriate evidences that are relevant to their topic. Also the students must provide accurate evidences and example, as well as using accurate language. Moreover, for the essays to be well organized and developed, they must use good sentence structure that improves their essays and enhances their language. The students must avoid  grammar and spelling errors as much as they can to make their essays more organized and structured, and they must pay attention to capitalization and punctuation and avoid errors. Adding to that the closing paragraph must be strong and attracting and it must attracts the reader's attention the same as the introduction.  

"i" Before "e" Except After "c"... A Confusing Rule

It is well known that some English rules are hard for students to understand and keep in mind and apply them, not only for kids but also for adults who are learning it. Many of them prefer if there would be one general rule that don't lead to their confusion and hinders their ability to learn. 
One of the rules that most of us remember from school is the one that states: i before e except after c, such as in "receive" but not in "efficient".
This is a bit confusing for the students because they come to many words that dont apply this rule, and they will think that they have bee taught in a wrong way. There are violations of this rule some of the words that violate this rules are like: " efficient, protein, glacier, eight, height, science.." Here comes the teacher role in teaching and helping the students to understand and apply this rule, also she must make them aware that there are certain violations for this rule even if the teacher doesn't teach them but she can explain for students that there are certain exceptions, and never get confused when they encounter such violations.

 

Between the Past and the Present

              Education has changed a lot through time, and we can notice that from way students nowadays are dealing with teachers, books, and knowledge. Education has developed greatly and has affected many learners positively and negatively. Nowadays education has changed because of the integration of technology in all aspects of teaching and learning a language.
   
             Long before education had great focus on using books to enhance learning; nowadays accompanied with books technology is an important feature that is integrated in language teaching and learning. Technology is very helpful for both the teachers and the students and it facilitates the learning process and encourages students to work more and be interested in what they are learning. But technology is not used appropriately by the teachers and students, that's why we can't notice the great positive influence of it. Students think that technology is a way to spend time in class or home, and that they can't use it to learn anything, that goes back to the misconceptions that many teachers create in students' minds about technology, and to the ineffective ways of using technology. 

          In my opinion, technology is very important to be implemented in the classroom and used by the students and the teacher, but after the teachers have mastered the beneficial use of it and after teaching student about the importance of integrating technology in learning because if the students are not convinced in the use of technology then they won't be willing to use it for their own benefit. Moreover, I'm a teacher that supports the continual use of books at schools and to never be substituted by tablets or any technological device because books are proven to be much more better than technological devices in improving student's thinking processes and skills.   

Avoid Using The Word Very..

How often do students use the word very in their writing?
How often does the teacher notice the repetition of this word and never tend to change any thing about it?
How often does the teacher teach her students to use more sophisticated and attractive words in their writings and avoiding repetition?

Well as you can notice above, a picture that is titled "45 Ways To Avoid Using the Word VERY". This picture attracted my attention because I used to suffer from this problem when my students used the word "very" a lot in their writings. I used to help them to use other words and avoid this repetition, but I didn't know this much of words that could be used instead. So I wanted to share this picture with other teachers to benefit from it and teach their students to use a variety of words that would enhance their writings. Having a piece of writing that has a lot of repeated words makes it less cohesive and coherent, ad it makes it fragmented and hard to be understood. Whereas when a variety of words are being used, you would notice that your student is knowledgeable about what he / she is writing, and that they have acquired the skill of writing in a very developed way.

Learning English

Many people think that learning English is a difficult task, and requires a lot of studying and work and effort to be learned. In fact, I'm one of these people who thought that developing my English Language is difficult; but I worked on my skills and practiced the language and achieved high levels in it. 

English has become the most international language and widely recommended in most if not all the domains; and or the people who are native English speakers, they must be immersed in English speaking environments if they want to improve their language.

Here are some tips that I used to improve my English language, and you can use to improve yours:

1) You must learn the basic abilities or skills of listening and reading in English. Listening is a very important skill that will help you learn a lot of vocabulary words and everyday terms. Also reading could help you build a repertoire of vocabulary words and phrases.

2) As you learn and acquire these two skills, you must practice them on daily basis, since practice is one of the important aspects of learning English lanuguage.

3) You must listen to native speakers in order to learn the alphabets, pronunciation, and to acquire the accent.

4) Try to build up relationships with native English speakers so that you can communicate more with them and benefit from this relationship to learn the language.

Listening in the Classroom

One of the most important questions that we must ask ourselves as teachers is: "Are we applying the listening skill appropriately in class?"

 Listening is one of the important skills that a student must learn since a lot of things depend upon it. When students listen accurately it means that they are receiving messages and they are able to interpret them and understand them. Listening is considered the key to effective communication, and when listening is not taking place appropriately then communication will break down.
  
Listening has a great effect on students personalities and it makes them sense self - confidence and it allows them to share their thoughts and ideas with others easily; also this helps them to communicate in a better way with their friends and makes them wanting to listen more to others and wanting to communicate.

But what we see in classes nowadays that most teachers don't apply listening as it is supposed to be, rather they present it in a way that makes students feel that listening is a punishment. Teachers must provide activities for students that make them encouraged to listen effectively and listen to understand not only listening for grades and exams.

Moreover, the teacher must first understand the difference between listening and hearing, and then teaching this difference to students since many teachers and students think that they are the same. In fact, hearing refers to the sounds you hear, whereas listening requires more focus.