The topic of the S3 lesson I observed this morning was 'How to be happy.' Half way into the lesson, it dawned on me that these students would be aged 14 or 15. "Are they happy?"
Later when I was leaving the classroom, I asked the whole class: "How many of you can honestly say you're happy?" To my amazement, almost 80% of them put up their hands. I had anticipated a much lower percentage.
One of the boys asked me back: "Are YOU happy?" I replied: "Yes, definitely."
I had been thinking of a catchy title, but when I finished writing the article, it still eluded me. Then two days later while strolling in the park, the title 'The subject of subjectless sentences' suddenly popped into my head, and I submitted the article immediately.
Compared with Symbaloo, Padlet is even easier for creating differentiated learning paths. The only limitation is that we cannot create a quiz directly inside a Padlet. On the other hand, we can directly add a recording to a Padlet wall!
Just tried creating a differentiated learning path with Symbaloo. It works!
A choice board and a bingo card may look similar, but they serve difference purposes.
Students use a bingo card somewhat receptively. They are given a Bingo card, listen to some prompts (e.g. words read aloud by the teacher), and circle what they hear on the Bingo card.
But a choice board contains mainly tasks and activities for students to perform. They choose a row of cards on the choice board, and proceed to the corresponding tasks.
Examples:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/134685845091954503/
Depending on one's objective and creativity, the tasks:
- can be of different cognitive demands (e.g, Bloom's taxonomy - compare; analyse ..)
- may allow students to present their findings in different modes (e.g., a written text; a photo album, ...)
- may involve different elements (e.g., structure; vocabulary; theme) of a broader topic (e.g., a short story).
As such, many writers have asserted that choice boards are good for differentiated instruction.
這陣子是實習觀課季節，有時候碰到一班學生超好教，會令我有走到課室前面，教教這一班的衝動。對我來說，「好教」的一班不一定指精英班，而是他們好學，投入，活潑，快樂，同學之間關係好，課室氣氛積極踴躍。
但我也知道這樣的classroom dynamics 不是自然發生，而是經過班主任或原任老師鍥而不捨的班級經營的結果。
先前有一天我便有幸遇到這樣的一班，離開學校後我忍不住text message原任老師，讚賞她的一班，和她先前的努力，使實習老師可以在這麼良好的環境下，學習教學。
Google Slides 的branching 功能，很適合用來製作differentiated 的self~paced study units，我嘗試用Pear Deck add~on加入interactive 元素，令self~paced learning 更engaging。可惜以self~paced 模式開啟Pear Deck 後，先前的branching 功能卻不運作，不能兩全其美。
昨晚EDB的e-learning workshop,完場時舊學生特意上前告訴我她發現我有一口頭襌，就是「很好玩」，三個小時中我不知說了多少遍「這個app很好玩」，「那個e-learning task很好玩」。
我先前不知自己有這樣的口頭禪，但聽她告訴我後也不覺得詫異。我喜歡e-learning, 就是因為覺得它很好玩，所以不斷鑽研，而不覺得是工作或責任。
