Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Ashley's YouTube Channel
Here it is, for those of you who wanted to see the other student videos. Let me know if you want help setting up your own YouTube channel or creating videos with your students.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Jamie went to the VESA conference!
Well, a while ago. But here's her presentation about what she learned!
Extensive Reading
Here is Angela's presentation about her extensive reading project. Please also check out the link to the Edinburgh Project on Extensive Reading.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Differences between the IELTS and TOEFL
Found this link online today, and I thought it might be helpful to keep handy when our students are asking us which test they should take. I've never seen the IELTS, and it would be nice to be able to tell my students something when they ask me if it's an easier test.
Call for Contributions: New Ways of Classroom Assessment
The bestselling book New Ways of Classroom Assessment is being revised for a second edition, and you can submit a contribution to the book. Anyone have any interesting assessment ideas? The deadline is January 15. Here's a link to the website.
Symposium on Second Language Writing
This annual conference held at Purdue sounds great. Each year, they discuss issues related to second language writing. They are accepting proposals now through May 1, 2012. Here's a link to the website. If you're planning to submit a proposal, or you'd like to collaborate on some research, let me know!
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
NAFSA Advocacy Day
From the email:
Registration for NAFSA’s annual Advocacy Day, being held March 20-21, 2012, in Washington, D.C., is now open.
Advocacy Day provides you with an opportunity to develop a relationship with your members of Congress and their staff through sharing stories about real-life people who are affected by their decisions as well as valuable and timely information that illustrates the importance of international education in their state and district.
Registration information can be found on the Advocacy Day Web page. The deadline for early registration is Friday, February 10, 2012, and the general registration deadline is Wednesday, March 14, 2012. Registration will be limited to the first 125 participants. Don’t delay, register today!
There is a block of rooms available at the Doubletree Hotel for Advocacy Day. Reservations can be made by calling 202-232-7000. When making a reservation, participants should refer to the "NAF" room block to secure the discounted rate of $232/night. Reservations must be made on or before February 16th.
Please contact me if you have any questions about Advocacy Day.
Best,
Kari Lantos
Manager, Grassroots Outreach
NAFSA: Association of International Educators
Registration for NAFSA’s annual Advocacy Day, being held March 20-21, 2012, in Washington, D.C., is now open.
Advocacy Day provides you with an opportunity to develop a relationship with your members of Congress and their staff through sharing stories about real-life people who are affected by their decisions as well as valuable and timely information that illustrates the importance of international education in their state and district.
Registration information can be found on the Advocacy Day Web page. The deadline for early registration is Friday, February 10, 2012, and the general registration deadline is Wednesday, March 14, 2012. Registration will be limited to the first 125 participants. Don’t delay, register today!
There is a block of rooms available at the Doubletree Hotel for Advocacy Day. Reservations can be made by calling 202-232-7000. When making a reservation, participants should refer to the "NAF" room block to secure the discounted rate of $232/night. Reservations must be made on or before February 16th.
Please contact me if you have any questions about Advocacy Day.
Best,
Kari Lantos
Manager, Grassroots Outreach
NAFSA: Association of International Educators
NAFSA Region VIII Newsletter
If you're interested in submitting anything to the newsletter, please let me know. Here's the email forwarded from Laura:
Submit to the Region VIII Spring Newsletter
For the next issue of the Region VIII
newsletter, due out in January 2012, we would like to feature any news,
announcements, accolades, photos, educational fairs, events, activities,
networking or other opportunities that you would
like to share with the Region. We also encourage you to consider
submitting book or movie reviews, interviews, essays or other creative
pieces that relate to the field and would be of interest to the Region.
The submission deadline for the spring newsletter is:
MONDAY, DECEMBER 19
As always, we welcome and are grateful for your input and ideas for this and the Region’s other communications.
Sincerely,
Jenny Quijano Sax
Region VIII Communications Coordinator
Ashley's conference presentation
I don't know if there will be an opportunity for me to share my presentation from the VSTE conference. I'm adding here a link to my presentation website, and as I get my notes together, I will add links to the many wonderful ideas and resources I learned about at the conference.
I know that we've had several other conference presenters this semester, so if you'd like to share your presentation with us, I'd be happy to help you set something up on the blog. I know with the end of the semester upon us and CDW next week, we're all going to be pressed for time. But, if you have a moment, please check out my website, and let me know if I can share what you learned from or presented at a conference you attended recently.
I know that we've had several other conference presenters this semester, so if you'd like to share your presentation with us, I'd be happy to help you set something up on the blog. I know with the end of the semester upon us and CDW next week, we're all going to be pressed for time. But, if you have a moment, please check out my website, and let me know if I can share what you learned from or presented at a conference you attended recently.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Fun new resources
Just wanted to share a few fun new resources I found through Twitter (really, you should join Twitter!)
Vocab Genii - a fun vocabulary building game online. I played it and came across several words from the Academic Word List, which I use with students all the time.
Room for Debate - a wonderful resource from the New York Times, with articles about current events and controversial issues.
StringNet - great tool that allows you to see how words are used in context. This would be excellent for vocabulary building.
Classroom 2.0 - a social network for teachers who are interested in using technology and social media in the classroom. I just joined, and there are lots of great groups discussing many different issues in educational technology.
Vocab Genii - a fun vocabulary building game online. I played it and came across several words from the Academic Word List, which I use with students all the time.
Room for Debate - a wonderful resource from the New York Times, with articles about current events and controversial issues.
StringNet - great tool that allows you to see how words are used in context. This would be excellent for vocabulary building.
Classroom 2.0 - a social network for teachers who are interested in using technology and social media in the classroom. I just joined, and there are lots of great groups discussing many different issues in educational technology.
Faculty Innovator Grant
I'm sure you all got this email, but Laura let me know that anyone can apply for this (not just tenure-track faculty). Deadline is December 1, so this year is probably out, but let's keep this in mind for next year! Nice little grant for technology!
The
Faculty Innovator Grant (FIG) program encourages Old Dominion
University faculty to explore the use of technology in teaching and
learning issues that are targets for improvement and innovation.
Proposals involving collaboration of two or more faculty members from
the same department, or different departments in the same or different
colleges, are encouraged.
Grant awards will range from $1500 to $3000.
Faculty members who have not been awarded a Faculty Innovator Grant within the last 12 months are eligible to apply. Also, prior awardees from years 2005-2010 who have completed their projects and submitted final reports are eligible to apply.
Completion of all sections of the RFP is required. Failure to complete all sections will result in disqualification.
In an effort to maintain consistency we are providing the necessary forms in document format. Download the forms and complete them using Microsoft Word.
Each proposal must include:
DEADLINE:
Proposals are due NO LATER THAN 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 1, 2011.
ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION:
Deadline: December 1, 2011
Grant awards will range from $1500 to $3000.
Faculty members who have not been awarded a Faculty Innovator Grant within the last 12 months are eligible to apply. Also, prior awardees from years 2005-2010 who have completed their projects and submitted final reports are eligible to apply.
The lessons learned
by Faculty Innovator Grant recipients will be shared as an important
step in promoting or fostering a campus-wide dialog on innovation in
teaching and learning. Final Reports from grant
recipients will be submitted when the grant activity is completed. The
Final Reports will be published on the CLT portal as a resource for the
campus community. Recipients will also present their completed projects
as part of CLT's series of workshops, panels,
and/or special events.
In the preparation phase,
CLT staff will be available to
consult with you regarding available and applicable technologies. An
instructional designer will be assigned as the primary point of contact
for each grant recipient to assist with the implementation
of the approach, development of the technology enhancement, and
evaluation.
As you prepare for the proposal consider the questions listed below. The
selection criteria are also available.
- What are the specific teaching and learning issues being addressed by the proposal?
- How did you identify the learning issues and how do you perceive their effect on students' learning?
- What are the learning outcomes related to the issues and how will they be measured?
- What solution do you propose to address the teaching and learning issues?
- Will the project have an impact on your colleagues, department, college, or community?
- What application of technology do you believe would help address the issues described in the proposal?
- Are there other faculty in your department, college, or other colleges who may benefit from collaboration on this project?
Completion of all sections of the RFP is required. Failure to complete all sections will result in disqualification.
In an effort to maintain consistency we are providing the necessary forms in document format. Download the forms and complete them using Microsoft Word.
Each proposal must include:
DEADLINE:
Proposals are due NO LATER THAN 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 1, 2011.
ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION:
- Email the Proposal Request Form to Dr. M’hammed Abdous, mabdous@odu.edu, with the subject "FIG Proposal 2012"
- FAX the Memorandum of Understanding to Dr. M’hammed Abdous at 683-3176
HAND DELIVERED SUBMISSION:
- Deliver printed RFP and Memorandum of Understanding to Dr. M’hammed Abdous, Gornto 336, in sealed envelope labeled "FIG Proposal 2012."
Selection is based on the
Faculty Innovator Grant Selection Criteria and will be judged by a team that includes past grant recipients. Selections will be announced on
December 16, 2011.
Have a great day!
M’hammed.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
NAFSA poster proposals
Just a reminder that the deadline is approaching for NAFSA poster proposals. If you're planning to submit, let me know! And, here's the link.
A great list of online resources for ESL
Found this page today, and it's fantastic. This guy (Larry Ferlazzo) has put together a list of the "best" websites for various topics, so if you're looking for a quick activity for your class or a good article for your students to read, this is a great place to start. Here's the website!
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Create your own comic strip
Found this cool tool today from ReadWriteThink: It's a Comic Creator, and it looks like a really fun way to practice vocabulary. Students can create their own comic strips online. What a fun way to make vocabulary teaching more dynamic! If you try it out, let me know. I'd love to know if students enjoy this activity.
I originally found all of this from a nice blog post on another blog about teaching vocabulary. I liked this quote from their post:
Do you have any interesting articles or blog posts to share? Please leave a comment!
I originally found all of this from a nice blog post on another blog about teaching vocabulary. I liked this quote from their post:
Multiple-choice tests aren’t necessarily bad, but there are many other ways you can go about creating authentic assessments when determining the level of reading comprehension. The same is true and possibly more important for evaluating vocabulary comprehension. Retention, not just memorization, is key.
Do you have any interesting articles or blog posts to share? Please leave a comment!
Monday, November 7, 2011
VESA Conference - Accepting Proposals
The VESA conference is coming up in February 2012. They are currently accepting proposals. Check out their conference website, and let me know if you're planning to submit a proposal. If anyone wants to collaborate on a project, comment under this post so others will know.
It looks like from past conference presentations that you can present on just about anything related to ESL. They don't give any guidelines or topic preferences that I can find.
It looks like from past conference presentations that you can present on just about anything related to ESL. They don't give any guidelines or topic preferences that I can find.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Preparing Future Faculty - Technology in the classroom
Today, Kitty and I attended a great workshop through the Preparing Future Faculty Program. It included three presentations on using technology and social media in our teaching. I wanted to share some of the things we learned. They're planning on posting a video of the workshop soon, so I'll link to that once it's available.
Here are the websites we explored during the session:
Twitter
Facebook
Delicious
StumbleUpon
Digg
VoiceThread
Google Sites
Association for Social Media & Higher Education
Higher Ed Twibe
Being a bit of a social media geek, I was excited to learn about new ways to use Facebook and Twitter with students. With Facebook, you can create a group for your class and post updates or share links and articles you find. It's a great way to keep the sense of community in the class going even outside of the classroom.
Twitter provides a lot of possibilities for learning. I've always enjoyed using Twitter for my own professional development (I follow other ESL teachers, educational technology enthusiasts, and people who work in higher ed. It's a great way to network and learn from others). For students, Twitter can be wonderful because they can tweet about what they're learning in class and share links to articles or websites they've found. They can follow accounts on Twitter based on a topic you assign them, and this becomes another way to do research and to learn more about a particular topic. There are tons of people on Twitter who post daily grammar lessons, idioms, ESL podcasts, etc. If our students joined Twitter, they'd find a wealth of English learning resources. You should join Twitter too and follow me: @greenae
Delicious, StumbleUpon, and Digg are all social bookmarking sites. You can save links to interesting sites you find and then share your links with your students. These sites are great for supplementing what you've taught in the classroom.
VoiceThread is a site I'm really excited about, and I hope to use it soon with my students. You can create videos online (which can be posted on your class website, if you have one), and your students can leave audio responses to your video. What a great way to give speaking/listening homework! Students listen to your lecture, then respond orally online. This site is extremely popular for people teaching online courses, but I think it's also a great way to get our students to keep speaking English outside of class.
Google Sites is an easy way to create your own website. One of the presenters today created a Google Site just for her presentation. It was great - instead of using PowerPoint (which gets boring after a while), she created a website that we can now all visit as many times as we want. I've used Google Sites before, and it's incredibly easy to set up a website, even if you're completely tech-phobic.
Finally, the Association for Social Media and Higher Education and Higher Ed Twibe are great organizations dedicated to using social media and Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. If you're on Twitter, you can join the Twibe (get it? cute, huh?)
Wonderful presentations today! I learned so much from them, and I can't wait to try some of these ideas out in my classroom next session. Let me know if you have any questions because this is the stuff I love talking about!
Here are the websites we explored during the session:
Delicious
StumbleUpon
Digg
VoiceThread
Google Sites
Association for Social Media & Higher Education
Higher Ed Twibe
Being a bit of a social media geek, I was excited to learn about new ways to use Facebook and Twitter with students. With Facebook, you can create a group for your class and post updates or share links and articles you find. It's a great way to keep the sense of community in the class going even outside of the classroom.
Twitter provides a lot of possibilities for learning. I've always enjoyed using Twitter for my own professional development (I follow other ESL teachers, educational technology enthusiasts, and people who work in higher ed. It's a great way to network and learn from others). For students, Twitter can be wonderful because they can tweet about what they're learning in class and share links to articles or websites they've found. They can follow accounts on Twitter based on a topic you assign them, and this becomes another way to do research and to learn more about a particular topic. There are tons of people on Twitter who post daily grammar lessons, idioms, ESL podcasts, etc. If our students joined Twitter, they'd find a wealth of English learning resources. You should join Twitter too and follow me: @greenae
Delicious, StumbleUpon, and Digg are all social bookmarking sites. You can save links to interesting sites you find and then share your links with your students. These sites are great for supplementing what you've taught in the classroom.
VoiceThread is a site I'm really excited about, and I hope to use it soon with my students. You can create videos online (which can be posted on your class website, if you have one), and your students can leave audio responses to your video. What a great way to give speaking/listening homework! Students listen to your lecture, then respond orally online. This site is extremely popular for people teaching online courses, but I think it's also a great way to get our students to keep speaking English outside of class.
Google Sites is an easy way to create your own website. One of the presenters today created a Google Site just for her presentation. It was great - instead of using PowerPoint (which gets boring after a while), she created a website that we can now all visit as many times as we want. I've used Google Sites before, and it's incredibly easy to set up a website, even if you're completely tech-phobic.
Finally, the Association for Social Media and Higher Education and Higher Ed Twibe are great organizations dedicated to using social media and Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. If you're on Twitter, you can join the Twibe (get it? cute, huh?)
Wonderful presentations today! I learned so much from them, and I can't wait to try some of these ideas out in my classroom next session. Let me know if you have any questions because this is the stuff I love talking about!
The new (and possibly improved) website
I've decided to host our professional development site on Blogger because I think the website name will be easier to remember, and you can sign up for email updates so you don't have to remember to check the site when something new is posted. The site still functions as a wiki, so if you'd like to be added as an author, just let me know. You'll need a Google account, but once you have one, you can send me your Google account email address, and I'll add you. Then you can post whenever you want.
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