Reflections....3rd week !!

Dear Friends,

I’m thankful to you all for having set the ball rolling. It becomes easy for me to join in the discussion after reading your contributions and postings each time. I realize I've never been one of the first ones in any of my assignments so far. When it comes to technology I normally take a back seat. I must admit in this course designed to enhance our Webskills I’m one of the back benchers. But I’m someone who is keen to learn and grow.

When I look back I feel this third week has generated a mix of emotions in me. I quite enjoyed reading the three articles on CALL and while browsing the various websites I found quite a few [including the ones on Real English] that I've decided to add to my favorites on the delicious site. My God !! opening up the delicious account was a huge pain. It might appear a simple task for most of you but for me it’s been quite the toughest task so far. I tried and tried and couldn't decipher the letters which we are supposed to type as an evidence that we are humans and not robots.

Paradoxical as it may sound, Delicious has so far been quite unpalatable for me!! But hopefully I’ll soon acquire a taste for it and will not have to struggle for too long.

Going through the Reports I must admit some of them are pretty impressive. I become aware of my inadequacies when I compare what a fine job some of them have done. The same feeling overwhelms me when I see and read some of the blogs and discussion posts of my fellow participants. But the silver lining to this tinge of envy is, it’s a learning experience for me after all.

Reflecting and blogging is an interesting exercise and now that I've got the hang of it I wonder why I didn't attempt blogging so far. I still have to add the links to my delicious site. So I better hurry up. See you again next week, for I certainly don’t plan to come up with any more additions this week.

Shaila

My first 'serious' blogging attempt

As experimenting with technology has been a constant challenge for me, this whole week has been a bit of a roller coaster ride. I’ve somehow managed to create a blog (with help and guidance from our wonderful Instructor Robert) and this is my first posting in the blog named ‘Sharing n blogging’. Besides gaining in confidence , the creation of my blog has initiated me into an area which I’ve been hesitant to enter for over three years.

‘ Blogging ‘ , I think is a powerful tool with numerous benefits in ELT or for that matter any teaching-learning situation. To begin with it helps the teacher to reflect on his/her competencies and also gauge what he/she has been able to achieve. It’s also a platform to connect and share experiences with peers . Last but definitely not the least it’s a medium to communicate with students and encourage them to enhance their knowledge base and skills in a variety of ways.

Understandably there’s a consensus in our group that blogging has several educational benefits and I have resolved to use it in my future teaching and training ventures. One way in which I envisage using it is in the area of developing the writing skills of my students. At least, students would read my and other peer blogs and hence would be motivated to put their ideas and organize them in meaningful ways.