Another Brick in the Wall? -- Technology Transforms Traditional Classrooms through Creativity

Another Brick in the Wall?

-- Technology Transforms Traditional Classrooms through Creativity

"Educational Change Challenge"

Nowadays students are growing up in the digital era, where people are more likely to interact with people via blogs, twitter, facebook, etc. through the Internet. Young learners are more used to the electronic devices such as smartphones, iPads. Hence, as educators, we need to alter the way we teach, because the world and the way students learn has changed due to the development of technology.

The traditional classroom is like a factory, where students are like the products and teachers are like the engineers. Instruction tends to be more uniformed within certain time limit based on the standardized curriculum. Students’ imagination and initiative tends to be enclosed within the classroom’s wall. Limited materials and resources can be presented and applied due to the lack of technical support. However, the Internet has broken down the brick wall of the classroom, leading students to an avenue to see the real world outside the classroom and interact with people beyond time and space.

Also, people actually don’t learn exactly at the same pace and in the same way. As George Evans mentioned,“Everystudent can learn, just not on the same day, or the same way.” Technologies give students more room to grow and develop confidence to be successful in learning. Also they can feel a sense of engagement and maintain the curiosity in exploring the subject matters that they are interested in. Hence, in this way, learning is more individual-oriented. In other words learners are the owners of their learning process. They can make a choice and decision in creating their own blogs to share their ideas and findings. Also, sharing common interests, learners can negotiate with each other and work together to present their learning outcomes as a whole through the Internet. Hence, within this cyber community, each individual can contribute towards the same goal.

"RSA Animate-Changing Education Paradigms"

Sir Ken Robinson highligted the significant contribution of the modern technology on education. Technologies do transform the world and the way people communicate, so traditional classrooms are also experiencing a revolutionary change, where more learning opportunities are available for different types of learners. Each student can have a taste of success and a sense of enjoyment in learning. Their creativity and individuality can be better presented in their digital work.

Communicate, Collaborate and Connect

Mid-Autumn Festival

China's Mid-Autumn Festival is traditionally celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunisolar month (see Mid-Autumn Festival Dates), which is in September or October. The festival is the second most important festival after the Spring Festival to Chinese people. Every year, when the festival comes people go home from every corner of the country and the world to meet their family and have dinner with them.

Celebration of the Mid-Autumn festival has a history of over 3,000 years, dating back to the moon worship in ancient times. Read more on history and origin of Mid-Autumn Festival
The festival is celebrated extensively across the country, and is one of the few reunion holidays for Chinese families. On that day, Chinese family members stay together, admiring the full moon and eating mooncakes.

 

Retrieved from: http://www.chinahighlights.com/festivals/mid-autumn-festival.htm

My Hometown

My Hometown is Tianjin, which is a beautiful coastal city near Beijing.

St. Joseph Cathedral 

My Middle School:

Tianjin No. 21 Middle School

Since 1895

Morning Exercise ^_^

Chinese Calligraphy 

Yue Wei Xian Restaurant, an 'edible museum' in Tianjin

Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium 

Jiefang Bridge Tianjin

Concessions in Tianjin

Ms. Wen Guo

Ever since I was a little girl I've been outgoing and friendly. For as long as I can remember, I've had the desire to help people, and that passion has led me to teaching. I feel a great sense of accomplishment every time I am able to help students understand something new. I just love to watch students smiling as they learn.

Currently, I am a graduate student completing a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) program in the USA, which not only provides me with advanced teaching methodologies, but also allows me to identify the difficulties that second language learners encounter, depending on their native languages.

During my time here, I have been a teaching assistant to help local students learn Chinese. I am familiar with the challenges that English speakers face when they learn Chinese, such as mastering tones and characters. I find enjoyment in helping my students build a solid foundation and have close access to the beauty of Chinese language and culture.

Besides teaching, I like to cook. I think a good cook must be a happy one. She is devoted and creative, using the best ingredients to nurture her loved ones. I also like to travel and meet people of different cultural backgrounds. Learning foreign languages enables us to interact with people from other cultures and seek a mutual understanding with them.

Assessment -- 5 principles

          According to Brown, there are five essential principles for assessment: practicality, authenticity, validity, reliability, and washback. (Brown, 2010, p.p. 25-51).

        First and foremost, practicality refers to the logistical, down-to-earth, administrative issues involved in making, giving and scoring an assessment instrument. (Brown, 2010, p.26) In regard to practicality, at least we should think about time, place, people, equipment, cost, scoring and giving feedback. We need to ask ourselves a series of questions, like how long the test will last, where the test will be held, how many human recourses is needed, whether the test needs extra equipment (OHP, sound system, etc.), how much it will cost, how to evaluate students’ performance, how long and how much students can get feedback.

        Second, Brown maintained an authentic test should contain language that is as natural as possible and have items that are contextualized rather than isolated (Brown, 2010, p.36). To make a test authentic, first, we can use a story line, situation or episode as the thematic organization and the knowledge that we assess is contextualized in such a meaningful context, enabling students to find the topic and content engaging and interesting. Moreover, the language in the test should be natural and close to the real life. Last but not least, the skills or the situations that students need to solve the problems should be practical. In other words, they will experience the same circumstance in the real world, either academically or professionally.

         Thirdly, Brown stated that a valid test should measure what it proposes to measure (Brown, 2004, p.30). A test is criterion-related validity if it has demonstrated its effectiveness in predicting criterion or indicators of a construct. For example, doing well in the Listening section in the TOEFL test can predict that the test taker are ready for listening to academic lectures as university students encounter in everyday academic life. Moreover, the construct validity is to examine whether a test can reflect the true theoretical meaning of a concept. Language tests should be correlated to the theories in the SLA domain. Furthermore, the test should relate to the teaching objectives or the teaching content. Last but not least, the face validity requires clear direction, logical organization and appropriate time management, enabling students to find the test familiar with.

        Fourth, a reliable test should ensure students could conduct consistent performance among several testing administrations. On the one hand, the internal factors, like the physical or psychological condition of the student, can decide whether s/he can perform normally. On the other hand, the external factors, like the time we choose, the place where the test is held, and the quality of the test paper and equipment should be under control.

        Last but not least, the impact of a test should be a stimulating factor in teaching and learning. Through feedback, students can know what their strengths and shortcomings are and how to make improvement. Teachers can give students guidance and assistance to make sure students are on the right track, hence making it possible for teachers to know students’ needs better and get the focus for the future teaching. 

Reference:

Brown, H. D. (2010). Language assessment: Principles and classroom practices. New York: Pearson Education.